Critique

As always, Le Guin delivers what you’d expect, a fantasy book of true literary quality. Unlike many of the emerging fantasy texts throughout the past 20 years or so, especially since the Harry Potter craze, The Earthsea books force the reader to wrestle with many of the same issues that we have to face as real people. Her first book in the series, A Wizard of Earthsea shows the inherent evil within us all, and the ability we have to overcome it only by facing it. The second book, The Tombs of Atuan, delineates the struggles surrounding pride and power. This book delves into the desire to pursue eternal life, thus interrupting the balance between life and nature, humans and the natural laws we’re subject to just as much as anything else. The most interesting element that Le Guin unearths in her take on the concept of eternal life is that her characters, in their pursuit, lose their true identity, their name, and wash into oblivion and nothingness. 

I was talking with a new co-worker about the kinds of books and movies that we’re into, and she actually laughed at the fact that I love fantasy, saying that she isn’t interested in anything in that genre because it’s unrealistic and could never happen. She does, however, love romantic comedies, which in my opinion are easily as unrealistic if not more so because of their lighthearted and sometimes shallow treatment of relationships between men and women. Sure, I’m never going to ride a dragon or walk through a wardrobe (at least as far as I’ve experienced so far), but the universal truths exhumed in books like Ender’s Game, The Lord of the Rings, or this series are much more accurate to our own human experiences. Long live good literature!

The other books in this series are A Wizard of Earthsea (book 1), The Tombs of Atuan (book 2), Tehanu (book 4), Tales from Earthsea (book 5), and The Other Wind (book 6)

Critique

Unlike the previous addition to this series, this is less a chronicle about the great wizard Sparrowhawk/Ged in his younger and foolish years, and more about one story that builds to a final climax. It’s not surprising that this was awarded a Newbery honor, since it gives insight into the struggle a young priestess faces as she starts to see the world get broader. This expansion of her worldview calls into question the nature of religion and the worship of beings that seem not to hear her or have any power in the world any longer.

As always with LeGuin’s works, it’s a merger of real life story-telling elements with a fantasy world, unlike many of the fantasy works today, which rely far too heavily on the fantasy tropes and battles with very little story element to fall back on. I recommend this book to all readers 12+.

The other books in this series are A Wizard of Earthsea (book 1), The Farthest Shore (book 3), Tehanu (book 4), Tales from Earthsea (book 5), and The Other Wind (book 6).

Critique

As a Sci-Fi mini-series, this film isn’t as bad as it could be. However, the film strays pretty far away from the content of the original two books that it combines in order to make up much of the story. At some level, the two are so different that one could almost consider them separate entities entirely. 

Which brings me to the real critique. The writing quality of the film isn’t really that great. There are a lot of elements added in order to make the television appeal higher, like sex, conspiracy, murder, etc. that aren’t in the original story, and mostly make the film seem cheesy rather than creating a dramatic appeal. The lines that the characters deliver are predictable and often don’t add much to the story as a whole. It’s almost as if the script is based off of a formula or checklist for the elements that need to be in a fantasy film in order to make it successful. However, rather than adding to the story, they make it seem forced and fake.

The Earthsea stories aren’t compelling in the same kind of way that other epic fantasy tales are, and so they don’t really translate well to film. Unlike the Narnia stories or Lord of The Rings, the tales of Ged are more of an account of the various things he did as a wizard, and don’t have the same kind of major build to the ultimate climax. 

If you do want to watch it, be prepared for a very, very long (3 hours) movie that moves at a slow pace and will often make you cringe at the bad CG or cheesy dramatic sequences.

Critique

At first the story is a little hard to get into since it reads much more like a mythological tale told from a bird’s-eye view rather than a cohesive story that moves toward a climax and resolution. Soon, though, this becomes an endearing quality to the writing, as if you’re reading the history of this powerful wizard that many of Earthsea would know in lore. It’s much like reading The Silmarillion by Tolkein, which is the history of Middle Earth, or historical myth lore from various world cultures. In that way, you feel like you’re part of Earthsea, reading about your own history and heroes of legend.

On a more micro level, the text has more depth than a typical fantasy novel. Ged’s journey to adulthood is both dark and complicated, and in the end, he must embrace the evil in himself in order to overcome it, which is an interesting philosophical commentary. I find myself waxing with LeGuin about whether or not recognizing and embracing the evils within ourselves enables us to overcome them rather than being consumed by them. Our own journeys may not be as tangible as Ged’s, but who knows?

At this point this main quartet involving Ged has become somewhat of a classic set within the fantasy fiction genre, and it’s a nice fireside read. I recommend it to all readers, but the main audience will be fantasy buffs 12+.

The other books in this series are The Tombs of Atuan (book 2), The Farthest Shore (book 3), Tehanu (book 4), Tales from Earthsea (book 5), and The Other Wind (book 6).