Tales from Earthsea

By: Ursula K. Le Guin

Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin

Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's Summary

The tales of this book explore and extend the world established by the Earthsea novels - yet each stands on its own. It contains the novella The Finder, and the short stories "The Bones of the Earth", "Darkrose and Diamond", "On the High Marsh", and "Dragonfly". Concluding with with an account of Earthsea's history, people, languages, literature, and magic.

©2001, 2012 Ursula K. Le Guin (P)2016 Recorded Books

Awesome

Loved hearing the history of Earthsea. The stories were easy to connect with and I was emotionally invested in the characters. Especially in The Finder and in The Bones of the Earth.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A bridge between books 4 and 6

I have not read the later books of Earthsea properly. The first three books I read as a teen multiple times. Then five years ago I picked up Wizard of Earthsea, the first in the series. Which lead me to read the sixth book (The Other Wind) of the series. I thought I had read the fourth book (Tehanu), but I have no record of reading it.

So I am all wrong about reading this series. I have picked up the threads of the story and I think I mostly know what is going on. But if I were recommending it, I would tell you to read the series in order and not spread out by 30 years. (Although it was over 30 year spread from the start to the completion of the series.)

There are six stories here and a description of Earthsea. The stories range from 130 to 25 pages. Not unusually, I liked the longer ones more than the shorter ones. The first two and last I think were the best. Throughout the book there was an exploration of why the wizards were only celibate men. A history that shows that the founding of the school at Roke was not by only celibate men. And the final story is about a woman that comes to the school to learn to be a wizard.

The other theme of the book is why and how power is used. All of the stories concern power of one sort or another. When the magic is present to only some. And that magic gives power, there has to be some sense of how and why it should be used. Magic in Earthsea is bound by a balance. Use of magic is limited by the balance of the world around you. The stronger the magic, the more impact it has. Roke is concerned with magic, but not always with the ethics around magic. There is not a religious system in Earthsea that teaches ethics. It is the magic itself that teaches. But like many teaching, experience is how many learn. And experience can be a hard teacher.

I need to go back and try to read book four and see if I have read it and forgotten or if I have not yet read it.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

The Rest is Silence

"That’s the art, eh? What to say, and when to say it. And the rest is silence.”
- Ursula K. Le Guin, Tales from Earthsea

Solid. A couple of the stories really resonated with me (The Finder, On the High Marsh, Dragonfly). I cried at the end of one, and one made me pause for half-a-day chewing on it. Overall, I prefer her novels (or novellas) and this showed in this series because I gravitated towards the longer stories. Like with Tehanu, Le Guin alters the form. She is focused as much on the community as on the mages, witches, and magicians. She is looking at community, power, gender, and areas where the page folds, bends, or rips. Her magic is found in the ghost notes of fantasy. She would rather wander in the woods than travel over the expected trails of fantasy. The genre isn't where she creates. She creates in people, in weakness, in the humanity of the oppressed AND the oppresser.

- Foreword - nonfiction introduction: ★★★☆☆
- "The Finder" - School of magic is established (largely by women; or the Women of the Hand) on Roke island: ★★★★★
- "Darkrose and Diamond" - Romance between the daughter of a witch and the son of a rich merchant: ★★★★☆
- "The Bones of the Earth" - Ogion the Silent deals with an earthquake: ★★★★☆
- "On the High Marsh" - Mysterious healer arrives in a remote village with a livestock epidemic: ★★★★★
- "Dragonfly" - Postscript to the novel Tehanu: ★★★★★
- "A Description of Earthsea" - Fictional reference material*: ★★★☆☆

* Most of the story descriptions were lifted/based on the Wikipedia page for Tales from Earthsea.

loved it

loved it I wish there was more... I really enjoyed it see I even dream to sometimes and Percy then listen to it before I fell asleep