A Jungle of Tales

              My last two posts were about Ursula LeGuin's fantastic 'Earthsea' series. Books 1 and 2 introduce this rich world, the central characters of Ged and Tenar, and the recurring theme of identity; Books 3-5 ask and answer even more philosophical questions amid the adventures, and all our main characters get happy endings. Or, at least, they seem to. The possible exception is Prince Arren of Enlad/King Lebannen. To understand what I mean, it is important to remember what LeGuin establishes regarding wizards and romance in this series. First, because wizards believe their power to be enhanced by a singleminded focus, they cast a spell that basically makes a little asexual/aromantic bubble around themselves. However, that doesn't prevent strong bonds of admiration or friendship from forming that can be transformed into romantic feelings if the spell is ever removed - as happens for Ged and Tenar. So...let's talk about

              The first two books in the Earthsea saga were coming of age stories for the primary POV characters, Ged and Tenar. The final three books feature these characters as mature adults, and besides continuing the focus on identity also deal in themes of change, mortality, healing from trauma, and rethinking the world. Book 3: The Farthest Shore             While it is part of the original trilogy, this story takes place twenty-five years after 'The Tombs of Atuan'. Thematically, it bridges the two halves of the series, being a coming-of-age story for a new POV character, the prince Arren, and an exploration of change and death.               Arren comes to see Sparrowhawk/Ged, who is now Archmage on Roke, with a message from his father the prince of Enlad. Magic has been fading on some of the islands of the archipelago - spells no longer work, and the people seem apathetic and sickly. After consulting with the other master wizards, Ged decides t

              The Earthsea novels, which deserve to be regarded as classics on the level of 'Lord of the Rings', started out as a trilogy and later expanded to a pentalogy. While there are dragons and wizards in them, they diverge from most fantasy works in several respects. First, instead of being a continent (often a vaguely-Europe-shaped continent), "Earthsea" is an archipelago, containing many distinct cultures none of which are a direct analog of a particular country in our world. Most of the people living on these islands range from copper- to ebony-skinned, the pale Kargish being the ones framed as exotic outsiders 1 . Second, magic is used quite sparingly, and you see at least as much of how ordinary people such as goatherds and fishermen live their lives than you do either princes or wizards. Third, the perspective character changes between books, alternating between wizard Ged and former priestess Tenar, and the books span at least 40 yea