The Farthest Shore (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 3)

Honestly one of my favorite books of all time. Oddly enough, the only book in the series that I actually enjoyed. The plot is strong in this one, and the characters are interesting and function together really well. I love the father/son theme going with Ged and Arren. There's still some good internal conflict in this, with characters growing and developing, but the external conflict is wonderful. This one's a keeper!

In a genre dominated by 800+ page tomes, this book was a refreshing and delightful read. Ursula Le Guin is a master of flowing, lyrical prose. The book is relatively brief, but chock full of all the elements that are required for a great fantasy story. She accomplishes this feat by keeping things simple and uncluttered. She doesn't need an appendix to list all the characters and their relation to one another. Her world is well-realized, her characters well-fleshed out, and the story captures you from the first pages. Take a break from the massive tales of Jordan and Martin et al. (not that there's anything wrong with them) and read an author whose writing is as magical as her story.

A lyrical book with with empathic characters and luscious language. There's pace, adventure, a magical universe where powers are part of the tapestry of a land of archipelagoes, varied peoples and their cultures, and a suspenseful plot. Sparrowhawk's engagement with dragons and their interlinked history with human heroes of the land is wonderful. Again youth and age, naivete and power, bewilderment and deep knowledges are spun side by side. But it's not Smurftown. We learn there's a price to pay whether things work out or don't. There's a Taoist dark and light equilibrium at stake the whole time. We follow a far-flung terrain as well as the heroes, from unknowing to knowing, from starting out to fulfilling their destinies, as time and experiences build them, or destroy them, we want them to survive. This time the young side-kick is a prince who's destiny isn't to be a mage, but a King. Touchingly he works this out for himself with Sparrowhawk the Archmage reinforcing the positives of his future, but first the Quest. The Archmage here hunts a nemesis that's sucking the life and light out of the world and its people in a bid to be immortal. Interestingly the book suggests a connection between the magical arts and artful production. Thinking about it gets you believing in your powers again. Ursula Le Guin started out in the 1960s (I think) and didn't stop. Just glad I found her in time to plunge my thirsty imagination into her sparkling pools. I'll follow her anywhere.

But I suppose Le Guin wrote this right when the world really needed it. The Farthest Shore brings us to our protagonist's most difficult, yet clairvoyant journey. The book is written from the perspective of Arren, a young and impatient prince who comes to Sparrowhawk with troubling news. The world is changing -- people are becoming petty and bitter. The dragons are beginning to die. The shadows are drawing in on Ea and no one seems to know or care why. This book is powerful because it was originally published as a young adult novel but it has very grown-up themes and concepts. As a younger reader it might be easier to relate to passionate Arren, but the wisdom represented by Ged (who is now in his middle ages), is not lost in Le Guin's writing. And, obviously, those readers who have followed Ged through The Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan have a deeper understanding of the decisions he makes in The Farthest Shore. In any case -- don't let "young adult" put you off from reading this book. If anything the short length makes this a wonderful weekend read, and really sparked that imagination in me that I thought was lost with maturity.

This is the last book in the series about the Wizard introduced to us in the 'a wizard of earthsea' about a teenaged boy who has magical capabilities far beyond his years. The last book connects some of the earlier events and is as exciting as the first adventure, though sadder, rougher. She takes us through a life that has seen the greatest adventures of his time, performed both heroic and shameful acts, and now will pay the price for what might have seemed like... a righteous payback for someones arrogance. I love her ability to take me into the tediom and majesty of the characters journey. I feel like I have been on the boat all week long... and when we sail to the edge of the known world, I am there. too. The dragon that calls for our help - the dragon! Strongest of all of us, asking us to help stop the human being.... the wizard whose fear is unmaking life itself. The sense that it is time at last to go home, and leave the doing of magic to... someone else. It was a good ending, a great adventure. I used to get very irritated about the harry potter books stealing every detail of these stories but I just dont care anymore. Rowlings may lack the original imagination but she can tell a story ok. This book is far simpler and far more philosophical, moral, ethical.

As usual,Ursula Le Guin wrote a great, fantastical story of wizards, dragons, the archipelago, and speech. There were times where the story dragged on a bit and it lacked suspense and climax, but her stories always seem to build and grow. The young Prince grew into a king, while Sparrowhawk became a man, not a mage. It focuses slightly more on character development than action-packed events. Wonderful ending! Great read.

Going beyond the fear of death to life, love and wisdom, Ursula ale Guin tells a tale to guide our culture out of the darkness of greed and fear.

The Farthest Shore is the final book of the Earthsea Trilogy, though thankfully not the final tale set in this wondrous realm. It’s plot can be summed up in five words - ‘Earthsea is losing it’s magic.’ Much like everything I’ve experienced here while sailing the foam-flecked seas, bargaining with gloriously fierce dragons, and stumbling through the darkened labyrinth of malevolent gods - it’s not as simple as it seems. We don’t have ‘magic’ magic in the real world, but we definitely have a type of magic. Language both written and spoken, art, craft, love, joy in soil and water and wind. All these things are true magic, all things are life, and it is these things that are being drained from Earthsea - and from us. The Farthest Shore was a bit of a slow burn book for me and was looking to be a four-star read until near the end. If the themes of the book were heat, I was the proverbial frog in a pot and almost didn’t realise just how hot it was. In previous reviews, I’m mentioned just how current Ursula K. Le Guin’s work is, and The Farthest Shore is no exception. Here we have people coveting immortality which ultimately requires the trading of vibrant life for soulless existence. For the first time, there is drug use, chemical-dependence to fill a self-created void. Add to this rampant materialism and greed - pretty current, no? While I don’t have any idea about the times that this book was written, it sounds like a warning cry to society, one that perhaps unheeded. - ‘What is evil?’ asked the younger man. The round web, with its black centre, seemed to watch them both. ‘A web we men weave,’ Ged answered. Despite the above, it’s not a bleak crushing story, as with the preceding two books it’s cathartic in a way and ultimately redemptive. Ursula K.Le Guin’s characters are some of the most beautifully realised in fantasy with wonderfully organic growth, perfectly natural arcs. Over just 478 pages, albeit comprising three books, we see Sparrowhawk grow from boy to adult, to man. To me now he feels like a real person, and as much as a fictional character can be, a friend. Arren, Sparrowhawk’s companion in this adventure is also a deep and intricate character. His development here is not unlike Sparrowhawk’s in a Wizard of Earthsea in that he discovers both himself and the wider concept of balance. - ‘Sparrowhawk said only ‘To see a candle’s light one must take it into a dark place’ With that Arren tried to comfort himself; but he did not find it very comforting.’ The writing as ever is lyrical and so exquisitely emotive that you can’t help but ravenously devour page after page, the narrative constantly bursting on the palette of your mind. - ‘The lightning would leap among the clouds, and the thunder would bellow, and still the mage stood with upraised hand, until the rain came pouring down on him, and on Arren, and into the vessels they had set out, and into the boat, and onto the sea, flattening the waves with its violence.’ There are also some of the most beautiful descriptions of dragons, which I wanted to quote but you really should experience them yourself out in the wild! More of the world is revealed to us and as ever it’s - chef’s kiss - from the dingy streets of Hort to the wooden timbers of raft-city. It’s such an amazingly diverse and represented world which has rightly earned Ursula K. Le Guin the label ‘colossus of literature, and of anthropological and feminist science fiction in particular’ So yeah, this book is just as good as the first two in the trilogy. But know it is slower, less the vigorous dash of youth and more the purposeful stride of hard-earned wisdom. It is also not the end. It is a beginning. The themes and unadulterated diversity are all things I see people crying out for in modern fantasy, and so it's likely I'm going to 'Malazan' Earthsea; Can anyone recommend a good romance novel? - Read Earthsea :) How about a modern dystopia? - Read Eathsea :) Reading these books you see so many roots of modern fantasy. The words are like the DNA of a great literary juggernaut and in them you can see the influences and the branching lines that evolved into handfuls of authors and novels.

Loved this book, as of all Ursula K. Le Guin books. Highly recommend it to all readers of fantasy genres

I am decades late getting to this series, but better late than never. In the past I tended to prefer a "ripping good yarn" (a la Michael Palin) but have now come to appreciate the "literate" in literature. Le Guin works magic with words. In what may seem a slow moving story, I came to learn so much more about what it is like to be a woman (I'm a male.). And the lesson was not didactic, but emerged naturally through the tale... entering through my heart rather than my head, through doors marked "compassion" and "empathy". Oh it is a story of unspeakable cruelty, superstition, malice, envy and actually all the seven deadly sins; but also it is full of love, compassion, acceptance, patience and eternal verities.

I paid for a new book but when I received it today it had some scratches in the cover and the front cover has a slight malformation. Other than that, it looks nice.

With a very neutral narrative a gripping story with very deep messages intertwined in the adventure, with fantastic atmospheric descriptions.