The Farthest Shore

Another excellent book by [a:Ursula K. Le Guin 874602 Ursula K. Le Guin https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1244291425p2/874602.jpg]. Here she brings a more adult Ged/Sparrowhawk to the narrative, a fantastic unfolding of what she accomplished in the previous two books. You can notice the growth of the character Ged, now in his winter and on the edge of the land without sun.In a similar manner to the second book, [b:The Tombs of Atuan 13662 The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle, #2) Ursula K. Le Guin https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1166571534s/13662.jpg 1322146], Ged gets to the aid of another character, the immature and passionate Arren/Lebannen, teaching him important lessons about life and death. The end of the book is impressive, showing how [a:Ursula K. Le Guin 874602 Ursula K. Le Guin https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1244291425p2/874602.jpg] knows how to keep the pace, style and the raise an amazing climax such as seen in the previous books, [b:A Wizard of Earthsea 13642 A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1) Ursula K. Le Guin https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1353424536s/13642.jpg 113603] and [b:The Tombs of Atuan 13662 The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle, #2) Ursula K. Le Guin https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1166571534s/13662.jpg 1322146]. A classic, and a must read for all fantasy fans.

This series has been on my list for years. I'm glad to have it under my belt, but I definitely enjoyed the second book more than the other 2 I've read so far. LeGuinn's writing doesn't really flow for me, it more goes from one event to another. This style does cut out a lot of minutiae, but I guess I like some minutiae. Overall, I am inversted enough to see what happens in this world, but it's not urgent.

This book makes me want to drop my readthrough of Earthsea. I'm yet to decide. If I ever read Tehanu it seems like it's gonna be more of a hate read than anything else since reviews say it's as bad as this one only with 1000% more of “THE MESSAGE” and it completely ruins Ged's character.

This one is pretentious. There is nothing happening for 98% of the time and when there finally is something it's so extremely vague that even the metaphors she tried to put in there sound dumb. No tension. No sense of awe even though they are traveling through half of the world. It's all dull and vague. And I HATE her style of writing where she spoils the ending at the beginning. I know this is a children's book but god damn it why?!

I really liked first book and second one was passable, admittedly better as it went, but this book is jaw-droppingly poor compared to it. I cannot even fathom how this book can have average rating above four stars.

Originally I didn't know whether to first read Le Guin's sci-fi or fantasy novels so I created a poll and Earthsea completely obliterated Hainish Cycle. Can someone for the love of all good books explain to me how that's possible?