July 11, 2007 at 7:40 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Children's Literature, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
64. The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin (Fantasy, Children’s Fiction) 163 p.
At the age of five, Tenar is taken from her home and family and becomes Arha, the Eaten One, whose job it is to spend her life in service to the Nameless Ones at the Place of the Tombs of Atuan. When a young wizard comes to rob the tombs, she is forced to choose between the darkness of the Nameless Ones and a life different from anything she has ever known.
I’m still of two minds about Ursula K. Le Guin. On one hand, she does some very interesting things in the fantasy genre, and on that level I enjoyed this book very much. On the other hand, I felt so distanced, so aloof from her characters that they never awoke any real affection in me, or sparked my imagination, which is especially unusual in a children’s book.
Books read: 64/100 (64%)
Pages read: 18,922/25,000 (76%)
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, Earthsea, Fantasy Classics Challenge, Ursula K. Le Guin
January 17, 2007 at 1:34 pm · Filed under Books Etc
When I posted my mini-review of A Wizard of Earthsea, I mentioned that:
I did enjoy that, for once, the brown-skinned people were the good guys, and the white-skinned ones were the vicious, warlike, evil sorcerers. Especially surprising in a book first published in 1968.
Somebody fabulous sent me a link to a list of articles on Ursula K. Le Guin’s website, about the apparent travesty that was the Earthsea miniseries, where almost all the characters of colour were played by white actors. Hollywood calls this “colour-blindness”.
The articles are great, and Ursula K. Le Guin is awesome.
And in one of the articles, she mentions the lack of gender equality in the original trilogy apologetically, which I’m so glad about, because it was one of the things that stood out rather glaringly, in comparison with her avant-garde treatment of race.
Tags: Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
January 17, 2007 at 12:33 am · Filed under Book Reviews, Children's Literature, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
13. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (Children’s Lit, Fantasy)
This is one of those kids’ books I heard so much about but never actually read when I was a child, like The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Narnia.
I had a bad headache tonight, so I thought this would be the perfect thing to take my mind off it: light, undemanding, entertaining. Not so; reading the first half was like slogging though a swimming pool full of margarine. So I put it down, and went for a walk. When I got back, my headache was gone, and lo and behold, when I picked up the book again, it was suddenly interesting.
[spoilers]
Very Tolkienesque prose, and a fairly typical high fantasy setting, although I thought the Archipelago landscape was a nice and fairly unusual setting. I did enjoy that, for once, the brown-skinned people were the good guys, and the white-skinned ones were the vicious, warlike, evil sorcerers. Especially surprising in a book first published in 1968.
[/spoilers]
Doesn’t talk down to its readers as so many children’s books do. Verdict: the next book in the series is already on hold for me at the library.
Books read: 13/50
Pages read: 3,293/15,000
Currently reading: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (about halfway through and loving it.)
X-posted to here.
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
