The Last Book Of Earthsea (Puffin Books) by Ursula by Le Guin (1992-05-03)

I have read the Earthsea Cycle over and over, but I have worn out the pages of Tehanu. It is by far the most heartbreaking and redeeming of the series. Unlike most fantasies, human conflict is not caused by the BIG BAD EVIL; it is caused by ordinary humans mistreating other ordinary humans. Most human conflict is acutely personal.

Nowhere is that seen better than in the simple life that Tenar chooses for herself. She experiences love, loss, and disappointment as a widowed mother running her late husband's (and now son's) farm. Ged has lost the powers he has carefully honed for decades, and now experiences a crisis of identity. Both must undergo a rebirth as they raise an abused girl (the titular Tehanu).

Ursula K. LeGuin's mastery makes each decision Ged and Tenar make in "Tehanu" carry the same weight as their escape in the "Tombs of Atuan". Their journey is, of course, mostly internal. But isn't that the most important? Ged may have repaired a rift in the world, but what does that matter to a little girl who has only experienced the worst humanity has to offer? What does that matter to ordinary folk in Earthsea?

As many reviewers have pointed out, the scale of this book is smaller. But it is deeply personal, and therefore, it resonates much harder for me.

I'm something of a latecomer to the "Earthsea" series, having only read the first three novels this year. And I admit to mostly reading to see just how it compared to Christopher Paolini's "Inheritance Cycle," which counts "Earthsea" as one of the many things it's ripped off over four books. But the series ranks among my favorite books of all time -- the dreamy and mythical writing style, the fantasy world unique among fantasy worlds and groundbreaking for its time (even if it's been aped many times over the years, not just by Paolini), and the very human but still intriguing hero we got in the form of Sparrowhawk. I had been warned ahead of time, however, that "Tehanu" would be a major dip in quality, and so I went into this book warily, but willing to make my own judgment.

Sadly, I have to agree with those who warned me about "Tehanu" -- it's a decidedly darker book than the first three, and while that isn't necessarily a bad thing, it certainly feels like the author has sacrificed the magic and myth of her previous books in order to make a political statement.

"Tehanu" is an immediate sequel to "The Farthest Shore," the final book in the original trilogy, but it follows a character introduced to us in "The Tombs of Atuan" -- Tenar, the former priestess of the Labyrinth who now lives a simple life as a farmer's wife on the island of Gont. Widowed, her children grown, and taking in a little girl named Therru who was burned, beaten, and horrifically abused by her own family, she believes her adventures are behind her... until a dragon arrives with the wizard Ged, a.k.a. Sparrowhawk, astride its back, stripped of his magic and a shell of his former self. Tenar finds herself trying to heal the physical and psychological hurts of both Therru and Ged, as the former is still reeling from her abusive family and the latter is mourning the loss of his magical talents. But protecting her charges will not be easy... not when the King's men are searching for Ged, when Therru's abusers are still hunting for her, and a misogynistic wizard seems to have it in for Tenar...

I understand that nearly twenty years passed between "The Farthest Shore" and "Tehanu," and a writer's style can change drastically over the years. But "Tehanu" still feels like a markedly different work than the original trilogy, and it's not for the better. LeGuin has traded in her mythic tone for a more realistic one, eliminating much of what made Earthsea feel so timeless. "Tehanu" contains very little of the magic that made the series so special, and even the appearance of a dragon doesn't alleviate this any.

The characters don't help much in this regard. Both Ged and Tenar were powerful characters in the original trilogy -- not in the sense of magic or physical strength, but in that they were capable souls who were willing to do whatever it took to reach safety, defeat dark creatures, or even save the world. Here they feel neutered, for lack of a better word. I don't put down Tenar's choice to become a housewife at all, but it feels like the strong capable girl from "The Tombs of Atuan" has vanished, to be replaced by a woman who frets constantly and lets herself be pushed and bossed around by everyone else. Ged, too, is literally a husk of his former self. Yes, he's lost his magic, but his sacrifice seemed to be a willing one in "The Farthest Shore," and he even seemed happy to return to his home island. Here he's a whiny, moping sad-sack, a far cry from the Sparrowhawk we all know and love. The side characters aren't much better -- Therru is utterly flat, the witch Moss is disgusting and has dialogue that borders on incomprehensible, and the villains pretty much exist just to hate women. More on that later...

What "Tehanu" seems to be, rather than another adventure in Earthsea, is a huge apology letter by LeGuin. Apparently the fact that only men could become mages and women's magic was considered "weak" and "wicked" stuck in more than one readers' craw, and "Tehanu" was the start of her desperate attempts to go back and "fix" it. While a commendable effort, it feels like she's overcompensated -- instead of giving us female magic users or somehow justifying the differences between male and female magic, she's "solved" the problem simply by making wizards hate women. Apparently Earthsea is massively sexist, to the point where our EVIL wizard curses Tenar just for giggles and Therru's abuse is justified by the fact that she's a girl. This spoils much of the magic of Earthsea, and it feels like LeGuin is trying to make us, the readers, feel guilty for ever liking the first three novels.

Also, be warned -- this book contains references to child rape. It doesn't occur "onscreen" and isn't described in detail, but it's there all the same. I understand this is something that tragically happens in our world, but still, I feel it really didn't need to be included in this book just to make Therru's past all the more tragic. Wasn't being burned and scarred horrific enough?

I have beefs with the ending of this book as well -- while it didn't exactly come out of nowhere, it still makes little sense to me, and LeGuin's efforts to foreshadow it feel hamfisted. But that's just me.

I can't say this is the most terrible book I've ever read... but it's certainly the nadir of the Earthsea series, and it feels like LeGuin managed to strip away the magic and myth of her world just to whack the reader upside the head with a message. I'm not saying fiction should never carry a message, but when said message is delivered at the expense of a story -- and it spoils the world of said story -- then I have problems. I can only hope the other books in this series improve, and "Tehanu" is just a low point and not the start of a downward slide...

The largely disappointing end to the Earthsea tales...

The tales end with a rather tenuous state of affairs:
-Ged, the greatest wizard of his time, has sacrificed ALL his considerable powers in an effort to save his world from the disastrous meddling of an evil sorcerer. He went to the Land of the Dead, escaped alive, saved the world, ...only to be reduced to the level of a peasant sheep-herder!
-Tenar COULD have become one of the very few female wizards in Earthsea, ...but decided to be a housewife instead???
-So all of you who were hoping that Ged and Tenar would become a pair at the end of The Tombs of Atuan, ...it finally came to pass.

So many people are proclaiming this book to be a piece of "feminist propaganda". Quite frankly, I didn't see it.
Its largely written from the perspective of Tenar's unspectacular life, pondering all that could have been, had she chosen to continue her studies in the ways of magic. She naturally and predictably finds great annoyance at her perceived domestic "status", having once been a high priestess of an ancient cult in her homeland. Living on a backwater island in an overtly patriarchal, unsophisticated agrarian society is not exactly how she expected to spend her best years.

I'll bet you were expecting some monumental and profoundly epic conclusion to the adventures of Ged/Sparrowhawk, but this saga ends in about as pedestrian a manner as you can imagine. The one mystery factor is the young maimed orphan girl adopted by Tenar. Apparently she possesses magical potential that may surpass all previous wizards of Earthsea. We will never know. LeGuin has long since taken her place in the Writers' Valhalla...

I am specifically writing this review for those who, like me, have not read any of the other books in the Earthsea series, and were brought to Tehanu because it was an award winner (the 1991 Nebula, among others). Those readers will find references to earlier stories in the series, but because this story takes place 20 years later (and a lifetime's worth of experience by the characters), there is no difficulty in jumping right into this book. The world is so well envisioned, and the writing so crisp and clear, that it will simply feel like you are jumping into a fully-formed world with characters that have histories with each other.... but that is the same for any well-envisioned fantasy world, whether there have been actual published stories about those characters or not. I simply take the occasional jaunt down memory lane as "texture" and carry on, not needing any more information than what is supplied in this book.

The plot: an aging widow takes in and cares for a badly burned and disfigured child. That's really about it! Sure, there are several plot points (an old mentor who is dying requests her presence so she makes a trip to see him on his death bed; a local wizard puts a curse on her; the child's family, who inflicted the burns on her in the first place, come looking for her; etc.), but essentially this is a meditation on an old woman's place in the world, contrasting it to the potential lot of the disfigured girl - how will she be treated as she grows up? Does she have any hope of a "normal" life in a society that treats disfigurement as a punishment from the gods (and the disfigured person must therefore be evil)? There is not a lot of action in the book - the pinnacle is the creative use of a pitchfork - but I never grew restless or bored. The book moves at exactly the pace it needs to move to tell the story, and that makes it a good novel.

In an afterword, Le Guin writes about how this book was perceived as a "feminist" novel, and as a surprise to her fans (implying that it was an unpleasant surprise). I'm not sure what this means - perhaps it was more transgressive in 1991? But this is also coming from the author of "Left Hand of Darkness", which tackled gender identity in 1969! How can the trials and oppressions of an elderly widow become transgressive next to that pedigree? As a middle-aged man, I would never have thought to consider this as a "feminist" novel - rather, it is an interesting meditation on one woman's life and choices, set in a fully-formed fantasy world. As I said above, it is not fast-paced, but it shouldn't be, you'll be pulled into the narrative and wonder where the time went.

I have recently been devouring the Earthsea books and I have to say, it's hard to choose a favorite. Each one has its own strengths that make it shine amongst the others. Tehanu was no exception, though it took a distinctly non-magical turn compared to its predecessors, a twist that, oddly, made it even more heartfelt. I loved seeing what happened to Tenar after she was freed from Atuan - in The Farthest Shore, she is all but forgotten. I have to say that I love even more that she removed herself from her mystical potential and made a choice to become what we might consider an ordinary farm wife. It was interesting seeing the characters appreciate the very simple things: Ged finds some pride and peace in returning to his herding roots after the pain of losing his magic, Therru finds delight in peaches, and Tenar appreciates her history as a mother and wife, and her years as the Eaten One are barely even mentioned. This book also had some really fantastic soft scenes that literally made me sigh with pleasure as I envisioned them. I was sad to close this book when I finished it and certainly had it on my mind well after.

There are, however, some downsides, and my primary complaint is one that applies to most of the Earthsea books. There is so much that is hinted at, but goes unexplored and unexplained. I appreciate Le Guin's brevity, a rare trait in the fantasy world, but I would love to hear more about some of these matters that are dangled in front of us readers and then snatched away. There are also some matters that I felt could use more elaboration, like (trying to make this as spoiler-free as possible, but please skip the rest of this paragraph if you don't want to know!) why does Therru's family persist in chasing her down when she's hardly a threat to them? Why does Aspen hate Tenar and Therru so much? It's hinted at several times that some people sense that Therru isn't exactly human, and not just because people are superstitious - what exactly is she?

My second complaint is that the ending was horribly rushed. Again, it could have done with some clarity and elaboration.

Overall, though, of the four books in the series thus far, this is the one that I felt was most heartfelt. I loved the cameo appearance by Lebannen, especially Tenar's reaction to him. Some of the unanswered questions, like what will happen to Ogion's books, make me all the more excited for Tales from Earthsea and The Other Wind - I hope I get to leave those volumes with more answers than questions, but either way, I feel certain it will be a journey as delightful as one taken on Kalessin's back!

This tale was to 'complete' the Earthsea trilogy into a quartet, but there has since been another book, The Other Wind. Read the Earthsea earlier books first.
In this one Ged the wizard has lost his powers and retired. Tenar, the girl he rescued in the second book, is now a widowed woman and comes to visit him. She is told by a local witch that she cannot live with Ged as it would not be seemly, everyone knowing that wizards don't sleep with women but a retired wizard being able to do that as he has no powers left. I suspect that LeGuin and Terry Pratchett had a good old chat about such matters and this book is the outcome. Anyway a child has been dumped by a travelling band of tinkers, left half-burnt in a bonfire. Tenar adopts her and names her Therru. The three of them go off to see about a wizard alleged to be using his powers for evil. But Ged is older now and less capable, and he needs friends around him. For some reason never explained the girl turns into a dragon called Tehanu at the end. There is also a revisiting of the land of the dead from the first book, which was clearly the inspiration for Philp Pullman's land of the dead in the His Dark Materials trilogy.
This is worth a read for the sake of completion, and we'd all like to think Ged and Tenar met up again. It doesn't compare with the first three though, and because it is slower and dwells on adult or unpleasant matters may not be suitable for children.

Hmmm. Where to begin.

First, a confession: despite my high marks for this and other installments of the "Earthsea" series, I never really warmed up to le Guin's masterworks. It's like appreciating a painting by Picasso: I know that it's a magnificent piece of art, but that doesn't mean I'd want it hanging on my living room wall. Likewise, I can recognise the craftsmanship and skill that went into creating the "Earthsea" cycle; there's so much skill in the writing, in the detail, in the mythological resonances (everything from Carl Jung to Joseph Campbell). Le Guin also had a masterful grip on the nuances of her story, as in the subtle affinity Tenar shares with thistles. But something kept bothering me, and it wasn't until this forth novel "Tenahu" that I realised what it was.

Set in the days just before Ged and Arren complete their mission as told in "The Farthest Shore", a widow named Goha receives a summons to the wizard Ogion: he is dying, and he requests her presence. Along with her adopted child Therru, who was brutally beaten, raped and burnt by her family when very young, Goha makes the journey across the island of Gont. The woman is of course Tenar, now twenty-five years older than when we last saw her in "The Tombs of Atuan", and she arrives in time to hear Ogion's last words: to teach the child, and to wait.

What she is waiting for is soon made apparent: Ged's journey to the farthest shore is completed, and he is delivered in the talons of a dragon to his home-isle, a wasted and magic-less shell of the man he once was. Despairing and empty, Ged seeks a level of healing and solace that he doesn't believe can ever be found. But the question of Therru remains a mystery; avoided by most of the island's inhabitants, Therru is a quiet and elusive child that even Tenar cannot fully understand. Between Ged's misery and the reappearance of Therru's family, Tenar struggles to balance out her life and keep those she loves safe from threats that are mundane in comparison to former enemies, but just as life-destroying as dragons, shadows and evil wizards.

Some credit must be given to the originality of the book; here is a fantasy story that has very little to do with the typical fantasy elements one would find in other books of the genre. With the exception of the imaginary setting and a few brief appearances from a dragon, "Tenahu" is a story that could be told in any context. Change around a few periphery details and Tenar and Therru's story could take place in any setting or time period, even a contemporary one. Because it is primarily concerned with issues such as gender issues, cruelty toward children, misogyny and other social illnesses, there is not as much scope for imagination this time around. There is certainly no quest narrative: Ged attempts to find inner peace, whilst Tenar escapes the men that have utmost power over her adopted daughter.

Here is when I figured out what bothered me about this book (and to a lesser degree, the previous three in the series). Le Guin speaks a lot about the balance, or the equilibrium of the world: life and death, man and woman, order and chaos, and so on. Unfortunatly, le Guin tends to concentrate more on the darker side of life, human nature and the world, with very little uplifting, cheerful or even tranquil moments to balance out the pain and horror that she fills this particular story with. Although Ged's misery is eventually relieved through his late-blossoming relationship with Tenar, it is precious little light in a very dark novel.

Far more eloquent reviewers have already highlighted the mishandling of le Guin's feminist argument, whilst the majority of reviewers reveal the disappointment many felt in the lack of magical elements in what has been toted as a fantasy series from the very beginning. For what it's worth "Tenahu" is a remarkably original and painstakingly plotted novel - but the final chapters are filled with such sickening misogyny and sadism that it left a sour taste in my mouth. I have no desire to ever read this book again, and that's something I hoped I'd never say about a le Guin novel.

I dearly did love LeGuin's Earthsea books, and so was delighted to see a fourth added to the trilogy. Unfortunately, this book does not live up to its predecessors. The first three were written for young adults but reached out to a much wider audience. This one seems to be written for grownups but doesn't carry anything like the same charge. At age 15, 'A Wizard of Earthsea' gave me nightmares for weeks, and 'The Tombs of Atuan' almost broke my heart. This addition to the series just made me shrug. LeGuin's literary prose is as solid as ever, and the characters are sympathetic. But the book takes forever to go anywhere, and then wraps up abruptly with a deus ex machina that I had a lot of trouble accepting. If you've read the rest of the series, you might as well pick this up. If you haven't, I would recommend some other of LeGuin's books to start with -- 'Wizard of Earthsea', 'The Left Hand of Darkness', or perhaps 'Four Ways to Forgiveness'. LeGuin is an excellent but inconsistent author, and 'Tehanu' does not show her at her best

I absolutely loved the Earthsea trilogy. It was concise, well-written, and yet still managed to create a well-imagined world that intrigued even the most casual of science fiction readers. That said, I must agree with previous reviewers. This book is not cut from the same cloth. It muddles through the waters to an obvious and very annoying conclusion. A fan of happy endings, I failed to find this one satisfying even though it did it's best to conclude--the questions why and how are left unanswered in an attempt at subtlety. But it fails because major plot points are left hanging. In addition, as a fan of magic, I was expecting some in this volume as per the last three. Imagine my surprise that despite many possibilities, no magic was used. Indeed, my favorite characters were demeaned and dehumanized and for what reason? None that I can tell. I must say that I expected more from the author than to treat her women the way she did. But in any case, a most annoying novel and one that I highly recommend you DON'T read after the trilogy. Keep your illusions--they are much better than what Mrs. LeGuinn herself imagines.

The vehemence of some of the negative reviews of this book baffles me. It doesn't have to have a feminist agenda for a story to look at things from the point of view of a gifted, intelligent woman frustrated with the way her femaleness makes it more difficult for her to use her gifts. It also makes a lot of sense for the story to have a slower pace and to deal with the years of preparation, nurture, teaching and encouragement that prepare an individual for the bigger events in life--a reminder that greatness doesn't occur in a vacuum. It makes sense for this to happen in a book with a more feminine slant, because it's often women who do more of the behind-the-scenes nurturing. It's a nice reminder that the day-to-day tasks and events that seem so slow, mundane and thankless often have an impact that's not so obvious but is still essential for good to triumph over evil.
Ged's time of withdrawal and recovery is also a wonderful portrayal of what it's like for someone who spends all they have and are to fight an evil, and afterwards, at least for a time, is dramatically different than they were before. The issue of learning to respect oneself again after losing the power that was part of one's identity is a poignant and powerful one encountered by many in real life. And if fantasy doesn't seem real, it's not very good fantasy, is it?

When farmer Flint died, his widow lived on at the farm in solitude, only occasionally visited by her few friends who trusted her despite her foreign looks. Her children had long since left - her daughter Apple living with her husband downriver, her son Spark sailing the seas. The old woman's life didn't change much when she took in a vagrant's child, beaten, raped, burned with fire and left for dead. But then she recieved a message from a dying mage who bid her come... So begins the last tale of Earthsea, the tale of Tenar and her burnt foundling, Therru.
"Tehanu" is a painful book to read. It deals with death, powerlessness, depletion, misery, resentment, and jealousy, and it does so on a much more personal scale than the previous books in the series. Whereas Ged, being a powerful mage, was always an outsider, standing outside and looking in, Tenar (or Goha, as LeGuin renames her) commands no special favor or respect. And while Ged was somewhat cold and aloof, Goha is visibly cautious and valiant, vigilant and caring, womanly and motherly.
In "Tehanu" LeGuin seeks to establish the woman as naturally free and unbound, but she does so in a fashion that is sour and vengeful. There are very few likable male charactes in "Tehanu", the majority striving to harm and demean Goha for going beyond her customary place in life. Some shun her, others insult her. One even strikes her mute and parades her around on a leash, like a dog. Ged is a pathetic shade of his former self: without his power, he is despondent and irritable. In his case, LeGuin essentially states the exact antithesis of the philosophy she presented in the previous Earthsea books.
"Tehanu" takes a poststructuralist approach, skimping on definite plot and villains in favor of character development and occasional poetic episodes. To fill in the gaps, there is a lot of musing on the woman's role in life, but, again, that is done by demeaning and devaluating men. Whereas man "is full of his grand man-meat", but empty once his power is gone, the woman "goes back before the darkness", her roots sunk deep, impossible to eradicate. In another recurring metaphor, LeGuin portrays men as dragons, wild and greedy and predatory, with wings that they don't deserve, and women as humans, warm and studious, but without power. Apparently, LeGuin wants to establish the woman as a harridan as well man's equal.
Similarly, I had significant trouble accepting the short, confusing deus-ex-machina ending, which hardly pertains to the story, and generates more questions than answers. Definitely not what I wanted in the series' final ending.

This book fulfilled my main expectation very well - I wanted Ged and Tenar to meet up again, and see what their relationship was in later years. When I first read the Earthsea Trilogy, my only dissapointment had been that Tenar never came back into the story, even though she seemed like an important character.
It is entirely evident that the writer has changed in the decades in between the inital series and this conclusion; "Tehanu" is a vehicle for her new perspectives on Earthsea. The major themes, in my opinion, were:
#1 why don't women become wizards, and what is the nature of "woman's magic"?
#2 what was it like for Ged to lose his magic; how does one cope with the loss of their 'usefullness'?
#3 violence and human nature...why do we hurt each other?
#4 tying up some loose threads in the Earthsea mythos/continuity (though a beloved series can never end without bringing up more questions the fans want to hear about)
This book has an entirely different flavor than the original series, which followed the mythic adventure format more closely. In fact, the characters mostly stay put in their homes instead of sailing the world. The conflict is much more...mental i guess - having to do with mindsets. I think that this gives it a more mature tone, perhaps even a deliberately 'feminine' touch.
I'd say that these premises had a lot of juice in them, but they didn't 'come together' at the end satisfactorily. in fact, the end felt very rushed. Nevertheless, it is certainly a worthwhile read for any fan.

It is only today that I learnt, reading the other reviews, that the Earthsea trilogy is a book for kids. Up until now such a possibility had not even crossed my mind ! Of course I understand that the story of Ged makes a beautiful fairy tale, perfect for our children. However, the poetic language, the flowing prose, the allegories, the moral issues that make this trilogy such excellent reading, all need a more mature eye, an experienced reader to appreciate them... I think. I do hope that my daughter will prefer reading the Earthsea trilogy than playing NINTENDO, but somehow I doubt it. I think I will have to wait until she becomes at least a teenager, so that she can dive into this masterpiece and re-surface a changed person, just as it happened to me. For my part, I would like to thank Mrs LeGuin for writing so beautifully, so elegantly, so poetically that she really touched my heart.
Oh, and by the way ... You cannot compare these books with Tolkien. He may be the undisputable father of fantasy, and the Lord of the Rings a masterpiece beyond compare, but the Earthsea trilogy is something different, written with obvious care and tenderness, in a completely different style. Lord of the Rings is an epic, Earthsea is not. Would you compare Homer's Iliad with Sapfo's poems ?

Picking up right where The Farthest Shore left off, Tehanu shows us the life Tenar chose to lead after The Tombs of Atuan, and her encounter with Ged when he returns to Gont following The Farthest Shore. Unfortunately, the book doesn't really have a story to tell (though it's full of portents and stories of goings-on elsewhere in Earthsea). It is, effectively, the story of two souls on a remote island who are no longer part of the larger tapestry.
Which would be fine, except why bother writing a novel set in Earthsea about such people? The charm of the trilogy was that it was Ged's odyssey through a pivotal time in the history of a remarkable world and how he contributed to it. Tehanu shows us nothing new about Le Guin's magical world, and has little interesting to say. It's at its worst when the musings about "mens' work" vs. "womens' work" and "men's power" vs. "womens' power" comes out; Le Guin has nothing provocative or excitings to say here, and no conclusions - satisfying or otherwise - are reached. It's as if Le Guin felt self-conscious that the trilogy was so male-centric and wanted to rectify that. But it comes at the expense of the wonder that made the trilogy great fantasy. It's a small book about small people.
Worst of all, the book falls completely apart at its climax, as the narrative becomes muddy and rushed, with a finale which has little meaning in the context of the rest of the book.
Tehanu shows that you can't go home again; the trilogy was 20 years in her past when she wrote this, and Tehanu neither extends nor expands on it. If you loved the trilogy and want to read more like it, look elsewhere.

...by chopping down the male heroes, Ged in particular, rather than (as [another] reviewer ...said it so well) showing women as strong feminine presences standing shoulder to shoulder with strong male ones.
I originally wrote an even less favorable review for this book, but since then I've reread it and liked it a bit better. I still think the message gets in the way of the story. But how does an author go about reworking what for her was a classic hero-rescues-girl story, especially given what the feminists have shared with us about the patriarchal context, assumptions, and impact of such a tale?
LeGuin gave us a splendid original trilogy. If she wants a bit of vengeance (or whatever it is--one shouldn't psychoanalyze via fictional characters!) on old Ged, or at least to take him down a peg or two, that's certainly understandable. At the same time, there's a realization in this book that the hero needs to refashion himself once his younger heroic days are over. Ged accepted the risks of becoming normal and mortal, and now his dilemma is: how does an aging man, warts and all, find ways to live a meaningful life and find some kind of realistic intimacy with women?

All of the previous Earth-Sea books are very quiet and thoughtful, almost down to earth, compared to other fantasy books. Tolkien's majestic poetry and nostalgic beauty is missing; so is C.S. Lewis' charm and wit. But the books had an appeal of their own- thoughtful and earthy, they quietly grew upon the reader.
The Tombs of Atuan was my favorite. However, by the third book (the Farthest Shore) I was getting a little confused by the choppy narrative and the confusing way the book was put together with the constant character voicing. By the end the imagery had left me behind; also, i was a little fed up with Ged, who was growing more inscrutable than ever.
With Tehanu, LeGuin completely gets rid of Ged (for all practical purposes). This is much more similar to all her later short stories. Tehanu isn't really fantasy at all; it deals with human emotions almost ecxlusively. By the middle of the book I was getting fed up once again. Not only was there no plot to speak of(things just 'happened'), character development was more confusing than ever (I have always found this a problem with LeGuin, in that many of her later works are rather enigmatic. Just try reading some of her short stories.)
By the end, I didn't really care about the characters or what happened to them. I have to be disappointed with this book; the EarthSea books should probably have been left alone.

_Tehanu_ lets us know what happens after the closing events of _The Farthest Shore_, when Lebannen gains his kingship at the price of Ged losing his magical powers. Unable to adapt to the loss, Ged hides in the countryside. The chemistry we saw back in the _Tombs of Atuan_ between Ged and Tenar develops into full-fledged romance as these two heroes have their respective mid-life crises upon the death of their mentor. In addition, there is a suspenseful storyline about a mysterious scarred and abused child that Tenar takes in, and whose fate will affect all of Earthsea. The world creation, character development, suspense, etc. in this book are outstanding. I can't find a single thing to complain about...and I'm usually able to find SOMETHING to kvetch about, even in books I like by authors I like.

Here's the problem, and it has nothing to do with _Tehanu_ itself: I found this book on the shelf in the library's kids department. I know that the first three books of the series are kid/teen material. The review says this book is for kids 12 and up. BUT this book is NOT teen material and certainly not for tweens.

While the title character is a child, she is not the central character of the book. That would certainly be Tenar, who is by now a widow with grown children. Both Ged and Tenar are middle-aged! There is rape mentioned--including of children--and there is sex (although entirely tasteful sex between two adults about to marry). Moreover, there is a lot of mature psychological content involving marriage, parenthood, and what happens to adults forced to change their roles mid-life. The feminist agenda that pervades so much fantasy fiction is present, but it isn't the angry, women-should-act-as-tough-as-men variety usually seen. Instead, we learn to treasure what it is to be female as well as what it is to be male and how their complementary natures and mutual affection bring ultimate fulfillment.

I think you have to be at least 30 years old, married and a parent to get this book. I think that many of the negative reviews are because people mistakenly read this book without the necessary life experience.

I don't know whether Ursula LeGuin intended _Tehanu_ to be a children's book. I hope not, because it fails as that. However, this is a masterpiece of the fantasy genre. For fantasy fans, this is required reading...but only if they are an adult!

Written some twenty years after the original Earthsea trilogy, TEHANU picks up the story of Tenar's and Ged's self-imposed exile on Gont.

LeGuin's writing has matured far beyond the original three volumes. Stylistically, TEHANU is a much richer, complex, and substantive tale about abuse, men and women in age and youth, female empowerment, male disempowerment, and life's priorities. Where the earlier Earthsea novels always presented themselves on a grand and dramatic planetary scale with many pyrotechnics, TEHANU's action is limited to the island of Gont, just a few characters, and almost none of the showy magic that has always imbued Earthsea's adventures.

Unfortunately, by toning down her magical world, LeGuin also tones down the story. Hardly an Earthsea tale, TEHANU's only real connection with the Cycle is in its use of the same (far more developed) characters (although Tenar and Ged are so different that only their names remain unchanged). Very little really happens in TEHANU, and the story tends toward the lugubrious and the troubling. A heavy tale, far more interested in its own polemics than in providing entertainment, TEHANU is a book of high quality but low interest, essentially, and in its concern with denoument and death, an emotional dragline.

This book continues right from the end of The Furthest Shore. The story is slower then the other three, yet it is also much deeper. The primary themes again are being: who are we? Especially who are we after loss? For Tenar/Ghoa it is the loss of husband; for Ged the loss of power, ceasing to be a mage. Also it is man's struggle to conquer death.

We also learn in this book that in earthsea, man and dragons were once one race. Men are the children of dragons that horded and built fortresses and forgot how to fly. Therru is an adopted child of Tenar and we find out that she is really the daughter of Kalessin the oldest of dragons. Yet we also find out that Kalessin is really Segoy the creator of earthsea.

Segoy leaves his daughter with Ged and Tenar saying he will one day be given a child by them.

Key Notes on Names:
Tenar / Gohn - Arha
Ged / Sparrowhawk - Hawk - Duny
Therru / Tehanu
Kalessin / Segoy - Oldest
Origon / Aihak

After finishing The Farthest Shore and absolutely loving it, I was greatly excited to read Tehanu...and then disappointed. It is thoroughly disjointed from the overall "feel" of the first three books, no doubt due in part to the length of time between the years they were written.
I found the writing typical (and lacking the passion that I found in the first three novels), the plot tedious, and the underlying themes completely in-your-face obvious. I read entirely through to the end within a few hours, waiting for something to happen...and nothing did, until the end, when the plot diverged into two different ones, and then abruptly stopped. Honestly, there was a lot of unnecessary plot that could have been left out.
It is helpful, however, to remember that there was another sequel written taking place shortly after Tehanu, which ties up a lot of loose ends. But as much as I love the Earthsea books, this was almost a pain to read.

This book definitely is a departure from the trilogy but oddly enough I found many things to be endearing. While I also had trouble accepting certain things like Goha's happiness with a typical chavinistic farmer, I felt the book was more complex with more adult issues than the first 3. In many ways, the first 3 books dealt with simpler issues, that sometimes failed to interest me (but I did read the books for the first time as an adult). In Tehanu, it was interesting to see how Ged responded to the reality of life without the power he'd wielded his whole life, and to see Goha (I prefer to call her Tenar) musing on her life and questioning its tranquility. It always seemed to me that Ged and Tenar had feelings for each other that were more than platonic and this book bears that out. Additionally, I was happy to see her back in the Earthsea story. The connection between the dragon and the child, who for most of the book was an object of pity and horror, often even to the reader, and a victim besides, was to me a resounding affirmation of a hidden power in her that was greater than the crimes committed against her. Overall, this book IS different from the trilogy books but has its own worth and depth and points to make.

The first three books of the Earthsea trilogy we magnificent works of art. The were real fantasy with adventure and danger and a real foe to fight. Tehanau was nothing like them. The characters hardly travel. All the magic that capitivated readers seems to have faded. This seemed to deal more with a woman's place and where it should be. I think that what LeGuin is trying to say is true, woman should have equal rights. But when writing a series you have a duty to the readers to make the series flow, to give them what they want. Tehanu did not do that. Perhaps this series should have ended with The Farthest Shore. I wish LeGuin would write more stories of Earthsea in the flavor and style of the first three.

This is a novel that brings the series full circle. It is one that shows that there is life after death, and that what you may perceive as a handicap, may not be a handicap when veiwed by others. It also shows that life is only as full and wonderful as you make it.

Ms. LeGuin's writing style is unmistakable, and always wonderful. She has proved that she doesn't need to write about magic to make an enchanting tale. This novel is very different from it's predecessors, but still kept my attention and holds a place in my heart.

If you are looking for a novel exactally like those of the previous Earthsea books, and will not be able to go into this book with an open mind, than don't waste your time as you will be setting yourself up for dissapointment, and this isn't the book for you. If you don't have any trouble veiwing the whole picture, and seeing a "coming of age" or watching a re-birth of sorts than you will probably find many life lessons and an ending to an enjoyable saga between the two covers of this book.

Ursula Le Guin added this fourth book, "Tehanu," to the initial Earthsea Trilogy, almost twenty years after the publication of "The Farthest Shore." She returns to Earthsea, and to Gont, to chronicle Ged's life after he ceases to be Archmage, and to reunite him with Tenar. A new power and another champion of Balance, Tehanu/Therru, is also introduced here. Tenar's reflections on her life, the nature of a woman's power and her own place in the world are major themes in the novel. Although "Tehanu" stands on its own, as do the other books in the Earthsea series, the story will be more enjoyable if the previous books are read first.

Tehanu/Therru, a little girl who had been tortured, burned and left to die by her savage parents, is taken in and adopted by Tenar, now called Goha. She is a widowed mother of two, and a grandmother, living at Oak Farm on Gont, the home she shared with her deceased husband, Flint. The child is terribly disfigured, scarred both inside and out, and her new mother is doing all she can to earn her trust. Ogion, the mage of Re Albi, is dying and sends for Tenar, his beloved last pupil. He took her on as a student when Ged brought her to Gont many years before. The way of magic was not hers, however, and she left to become a wife and mother. Before Ogion dies, he sees an unusual strength, a special quality, in Therru and tells Tehanu to "Teach her all - not Roke." Shortly after the mage's death, Ged returns on the back of the dragon Kalessin. Unconscious, near death after his fateful voyage into the Dry Lands, Ged has lost his power. Tenar takes the crippled man, her former companion, under her wing to nurse back to health.

Ged's loss of magical power and his opportunity to explore new paths in life seem more of an advantage than not. "Tehanu" emphasizes Ged's rebirth, after his return from the dead, rather than his loss. As an Archmage, he sacrificed many of life's simpler, but rewarding, pleasures for power. At one point in a "A Wizard of Earthsea" he realizes he always wished to return to Gont - to forego "all wizardry and venture, forgetting all power and horror, to live in peace like any man on the known, dear ground of his home land."

However, just as all are healing, and as Arren is about to be crowned high king of Earthsea, danger stalks the former Archmage and his Priestess friend of old, along with the little girl they care for.

Obviously, in the 17 years between "The Farthest Shore" and "Tehanu" Ms Le Guin continued to grow and develop with the times. During this period the feminist movement, was reborn and had a tremendous impact on the author. I read the following comments by Ursula Le Guin in an interview, "One of the things I learned was how to write as a woman, not as an honorary or imitation man. From a woman's point of view, Earthsea looked quite different than it did from a man's point of view. All I had to do was describe it from the vantage point of the powerless - women, children, a wizard who has spent his gift..." "Some people hate the book for that. They scold me for punishing Ged. I think I was rewarding him."

Her prose, as always, is exquisite, as are this novel and the entire series. Bravo Ursula Le Guin!!

JANA

Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy was a classic of fantasy literature, until "Tehanu" was written (making it a quadrology). Now with the series rounded out to six books, "Tehanu" has proved itself to be the black sheep of the family -- it's well written, but preachy and lacking in Le Guin's magical touch.

Tenar was once a powerful priestess in a darkened kingdom, until the wizard Ged rescued her and brought her away with him. Now Tenar is a widow, after marrying into an ordinary village and living an ordinary life. She's lonely, but takes care of the burned Therru, a silent young girl who was abused by her parents. Suddenly a dragon arrives, with a wounded Ged on its back -- he's lost his powers in saving Earthsea.

Tenar helps nurse her old friend back to health, and Ged struggles to come to terms with the loss of his magic, which is something he's always had. Their relationship begins to grow deeper and tenderer. But a new threat rears its head, and it may not be Ged or Tenar -- but Therru -- who is called on to stop it.

The biggest problem with "Tehanu" is that it really has no story. Each of the previous books had a clearly defined storyline, but in this book, it's basically just Tenar pottering around, Ged moping, and Therru not doing much at all. At the end, the narrative develops some vitality and mystery. Up until then, there is no epic power, no awe-inspiring quality.

Certainly there's nothing wrong with a smaller, more intimate story. Nor is there a problem with the feministic slant of the book. However, without the spellbinding quality of the first three books, there really isn't much to hold your attention. Le Guin's writing is still beautiful and poetic, yet it somehow feels empty -- she let the message about women take over the narrative, rather than weaving it in.

While it's somehow disappointing to find that Tenar simply became a housewife, it's interesting to see her internal conflicts, her regrets, and her growing love for Ged. Ged is less engaging, since he has lost his powers and mainly thinks about that. And most of the supporting characters -- except the dragon -- are dull and two-dimensional. Please, enough with the 2-D misogynists. We get the point.

"Tehanu" is a necessary link between the two halves of the Earthsea series, but Le Guin's lack of story and soapbox mentality make it more a penance than a pleasure.

With 'Tehanu,' Ursula Le Guin makes the puzzling decision to extend the classic Earthsea trilogy into a quadrology (now since extended even further), crafting a book that is quite enjoyable, but wholly apart from the careful fabric of the original stories.
'Tehanu' is not a bad book - not by any means - but when placed alongside the originals, it simply does not feel right. Whereas the original novels were built upon layers of magic and wonder and a vast, epic feel, this novel is smaller, more human, telling a more internal story. It is the story of our beloved Tenar, from 'Tombs,' and of her struggles with motherhood, age, and with being a woman.
As always, the prose is outstanding, flowing like poetry throughout. Tenar herself is far more flesh and blood than she was in her first appearance, and Ged (who plays a support role only) is altogether another person, torn by his battles in the realm of the dead. Still, the magic is missing, the sweep and scope is missing, ultimately sapping the life from what could have been an extraordinary book.
Had this not been Earthsea part 4, I would have rated it higher. Being among such lofty companions, however, expectations are high. It simply ends up being a very good book, and little more.

I have always been amazed by the depth and substance of the original Earthsea series. The 3 books that looked at 3 pivotal points in the life of Sparrowhawk remind me of the riddle of the Sphinx. The last scene of Ged on the back of the Dragon brought to an end a trilogy that was the equal of "Lord of the Ring". Tehanu ruins it almost completely, we find out that the Maker is Kasselin the dragon which destroys entire mythic quality of the series. By talking to the creator directly somehow removes any real questions about existence and reality. The magic of the original series always lay in the portrayal that balance was the key phsyically and mystically, That Segoy was some remote enity that created the Earthsea. Where was this being when Ged fought Hob in the Farthest shore? Its amazing by giving us more insight into Ged as a man the Authour has actually reduced him as a character. I also find it hard to believe that this was written Ursula le Guin the writting is so different from the original series. To say I found this book a disappointment is an understatement.

SPOILERS

From all I had heard about this book before reading it, I expected a much slower and less action-packed tale than the previous Earthsea novels presented. This expectation made it much easier to accept the novel as it was than it would have been if I had come in expecting another epic journey as presented in A Wizard of Earthsea or The Farthest Shore.

By keeping the story within a smaller scope, LeGuin actually makes her milieu seem more authentic than it ever has been: she demonstrates that there is more to life in Earthsea than the travails of wizards, and that her fantasy world is not free of sweat, grime, and monotonous daily routines. Because the setting is less extravagant, the novel, more than any of the previous installments, succeeds on the depth of its characters and the strength of the philosophical questions it proposes.

By making Tenar the primary viewpoint character, LeGuin allows the reader is able to empathize with Tenar's struggle to understand and help both Therru and Ged. Tenar, like the reader, doesn't understand all the rules of magical world she lives in, and yet is desperately trying to be a compassionate person within that world. Another part of her appeal is that she is clever enough to question the foundations of magic that Ged, and the reader, have taken for granted -- to consider the order Ged represents, and wonder whether that order is unchangeable or malleable. What does it mean for a woman to have magical power in a world where mages have historically been men? More importantly, why have mages historically been men?

It is this exploration of gender roles which makes Tehanu a fascinating read. LeGuin only raises these questions, allowing the reader to ponder them for him or herself. My hope is that she revisits these issues in The Other Wind, as I think they deserve deeper examination. As it stands, I give her credit for examining the parameters of her milieu in a way I haven't seen any other fantasy author do. However, it is ultimately Tenar's attempts to guide Therru and Ged through their trauma, and the joy she finds with both of them, which makes the novel an emotionally fulfilling read.

Tehanu was an unexpectedly feeble offering by LeGuin. I found it to be a long, boring, rambling, uneventful, dreary, downbeat, anti climactic, and even a tad (if you can believe it) misanthropic and stereotypical waste of time. The 20+ year gap since the authoress's last involvement with this series is very apparent - to the point where she seems out of touch with the flavor and ambience of her own works.

For me, the only enjoyable part in the entire book (Tehanu) were the all-too-brief re-appearance(s) of an ancient dragon.

My rankings for the books in this series now stand as follows:

1-Wizard of Earthsea (9 of 10)
2-Tombs of Ataun (7 of 10)
3-Farthest Shore (8 of 10)
4-Tehanu (5 of 10)

My advice is to stop reading this series at book 3, because those books are the meat & potatoes of this series, and the rest is just unsatisfying filler and add-on.

For two decades, Ursula Le Guin's landmark EARTHSEA cycle was considered a trilogy. The surprise publication of a fourth novel in 1990, TEHANU, generated expansive critical acclaim and represents Le Guin's courageous and brilliant feminist deconstruction of her own fantasy masterwork.
Tenar of the Ring, priestess-heroine of THE TOMBS OF ATUAN, has become a middle-aged farmer's widow, who abandoned both wordly fame and the promise of esoteric power for 'a man, children, life'. Those children grown, she adopts an abused girl, Therru, and later the responsibility of caring for the archmage Ged. Ged, having defeated a great evil which threatened all Earthsea, has returned from the lands of death, as related in THE FARTHEST SHORE, but has lost his magecraft and potentially his will to live. The course of the story reveals a shining destiny for burned Therru and the tender budding of a relationship between Tenar and Ged.
While direct statements in TEHANU of the feminist agenda are a little heavyhanded, the gentle unfolding of the world of feminine experience through Tenar's activities is moving and perceptive: the ceaseless 'women's work', the harmony of feminine companionship, the joys and fears of motherhood and the bitter acknowledgement that women must always be conscious of 'doors locked' against the violence of men.
The consummation of Tenar and Ged's relationship was for me the climax of the novel, and as powerful a landmark in Ged's journey towards self-knowledge as naming his own shadow in THE WIZARD OF EARTHSEA. The wizardly denial of sexuality, and of the worth of women, must end for Ged with the loss of his power, and he makes a halting progress to Tenar's side and to reclaiming the selfhood and masculine identity he believed poured away with his power. The 'Song of Ea' proclaims: 'In silence, the word...in death, life'. Le Guin adds now that only through acceptance of woman can man be found - and vice versa.
Le Guin has always been a writer who challenges, who believes implicitly that one of fantasy's most vital functions is precisely that - to challenge. 'Tehanu' is the name of a star which Tenar, claiming the power of Naming hoarded by men throughout the earlier Earthsea novels, discovers to be also Therru's True Name. TEHANU is a bright beacon for modern fantastists prompting them to re-examine their motives for reading and writing fantasy - do we search out fantasy to liberate ourselves, to reveal truths about our real world, or is it a reactive, conservative, destructive urge all too often valorising patriarchal ethics system which exclude women and women's magic?
TEHANU's conclusion is a little abrupt and unsatisfying, raising more questions than it answers: why do men fear women, why must power for one must be gained through disempowering others, would breaking the hegemony of mages be good for Earthsea, can two natures can exist in one body? Thankfully, THE OTHER WIND, the latest Earthsea novel, continues the mighty task Le Guin has set herself and begins answering some of those questions.

For two decades, Ursula Le Guin's landmark EARTHSEA cycle was considered a trilogy. The surprise publication of a fourth novel in 1990, TEHANU, generated expansive critical acclaim and represents Le Guin's courageous and brilliant feminist deconstruction of her own fantasy masterwork.
Tenar of the Ring, priestess-heroine of THE TOMBS OF ATUAN, has become a middle-aged farmer's widow, who abandoned both wordly fame and the promise of esoteric power for 'a man, children, life'. Those children grown, she adopts an abused girl, Therru, and later the responsibility of caring for the archmage Ged. Ged, having defeated a great evil which threatened all Earthsea, has returned from the lands of death, as related in THE FARTHEST SHORE, but has lost his magecraft and potentially his will to live. The course of the story reveals a shining destiny for burned Therru and the tender budding of a relationship between Tenar and Ged.
While direct statements in TEHANU of the feminist agenda are a little heavyhanded, the gentle unfolding of the world of feminine experience through Tenar's activities is moving and perceptive: the ceaseless 'women's work', the harmony of feminine companionship, the joys and fears of motherhood and the bitter acknowledgement that women must always be conscious of 'doors locked' against the violence of men.
The consummation of Tenar and Ged's relationship was for me the climax of the novel, and as powerful a landmark in Ged's journey towards self-knowledge as naming his own shadow in THE WIZARD OF EARTHSEA. The wizardly denial of sexuality, and of the worth of women, must end for Ged with the loss of his power, and he makes a halting progress to Tenar's side and to reclaiming the selfhood and masculine identity he believed poured away with his power. The 'Song of Ea' proclaims: 'In silence, the word...in death, life'. Le Guin adds now that only through acceptance of woman can man be found - and vice versa.
Le Guin has always been a writer who challenges, who believes implicitly that one of fantasy's most vital functions is precisely that - to challenge. 'Tehanu' is the name of a star which Tenar, claiming the power of Naming hoarded by men throughout the earlier Earthsea novels, discovers to be also Therru's True Name. TEHANU is a bright beacon for modern fantastists prompting them to re-examine their motives for reading and writing fantasy - do we search out fantasy to liberate ourselves, to reveal truths about our real world, or is it a reactive, conservative, destructive urge all too often valorising patriarchal ethics system which exclude women and women's magic?
TEHANU's conclusion is a little abrupt and unsatisfying, raising more questions than it answers: why do men fear women, why must power for one must be gained through disempowering others, would breaking the hegemony of mages be good for Earthsea, can two natures can exist in one body? Thankfully, THE OTHER WIND, the latest Earthsea novel, continues the mighty task Le Guin has set herself and begins answering some of those questions.

Tehanu can only be described in one simple word: boring. It takes a very long time for the plot to thicken in this book; the characters are so deeply developed that the author leaves little room for an actual plot. The ending of the book is very unsatisfying, it left me asking "Now what?" I also found the dialog of the characters choppy, and difficult to comprehend. However, I do like how deeply the characters WERE developed, despite the terrible plot. I also really enjoyed the concept of there being a central character that is actually female. (Rarely does a science fiction book dare do this.) Tehanu is a book not about setting and external circumstances (like most sf) but of the deep, emotional conflicts of human nature. It's really too bad that this awesome concept was presented in such a boring, pointless way.

To be honest, Tehanu does not really do justice to the rest of the Earthsea books. Theres a skeleton of a plot, and most of the book is concerned with long and pondering conversations by the fireplace (sigh) and of course Tenar's & Geds sex life, along with pages and pages about the farm. Still, for those who have already read The Tombs of Atuan it is good to meet Tenar once more, and find out what has happened to her over the years, which, admittably, isn't much. Tehanu does not really end in a sense, several major issues are left hanging, which leaves the reader with more questions than they began with. But if you've read the other 3 books in the series, you won't be able to leave Earthsea without reading Tehanu, and savouring Le Guin's magical literary style once more, don't expect anything spectacular, however, although there is a certain quiet wizardry going on behind the scenes throughout the duration of the book...

Tehanu takes a different tack from the other books of Earthsea but not as radically as other reviewers propose. It is true that this book is extremely somber-but the emotion that is carried in LeGuin's minimalist prose is nothing short of outstanding. I think the idea that the book is "bad" because it deals with serious issues and does not have the "adventurous" tone of the first three books is petty.

One point I would make is that all three of the first books do deal with the reality of loss and sacrifice that human being's must sometime face. The first three books do not stress the issue of sacrifice and change as much as Tehanu but they still deal with them-for example:

1) In the first book the Archmage of Roke sacrifices his own life to save Sparrowhawk-this leads Sparrowhawk/Ged to seriously doubt his own worth while he is the mage of a small group of Islands

2) In the second book Tenar gives up her faux divine status and leaves the Kargish lands. She even is forced to murder her one protector in order to make this break with her previous life.

3) In the third book Ged willingly pours out his power in order to save other humans.

So while perhaps some criticism is warranted because of the melancholy prose and the not so subtle feminism-it is ridiculous that people would be giving this book a one star rating as it is in my opinion a masterpiece of literature. LeGuin in a fantasy novel manages to accurately portray the natural fears of loss and change that humans face in their lives. While many readers hate to see the hero of the story so weakened-it is not fair to denounce the book because of that.

i read the Earthsea cycle from the first ; i loved eaxh book so it was with great happiness I found the last 3. it is a perfect conclusion with all the human characters finding a real way and the dragons finding theirs......life goes on.....but the magic of fantasy is thatit can encompass and create change. Read them all..... you will be glad you did.

The latest novel of Earthsea is probably the best work of fantasy of this decade. It should not be placed in the same row with the three other books of earthsea, and if you buy it in the hope of returning to the world of earthsea you will probably be disappointed. It seems to me that whole of the trilogy is simply a background necessary to understand Tehanu. Tehanu is a daring fantasy novel, the book asks and answers a simple quesion - What makes a hero? The book explores four heros in a corrupted world. Goha - Flint's widow who was once tenar the priestess of the tombs of Atuan Ogion - An aging wizard who was once Ged's master and powerfull enough to stop earthquakes Ged (sparrowhawk) - Once the most powerfull mage in Earthsea. Tehanu - A little girl that was abused and half burnt by ruffians. The book explores these four heros, each of them had had power once, but is now powerless. In a captivating way it shows that they are heros still. This book is a must for someoe who enjoyed Earthsea as a teenager and now wants to read a more sophisticated literature with a philosophical message.

I loved the Earthsea trilogy (it will always be a trilogy to me) from the first time I read it, in high school. Years later, they are even better. Tehanu is not cut from the same cloth. I was sorely disappointed with the plot line, character development, general tone and themes of the book. While the first three books contained wonderful, compelling and unforgettable tales, this one seemed like a cross between a romance novel and some sort of psycho-mystery. It gave me the same feeling in the pit of my stomach as watching The Phantom Menace and listening to them explain the Force in terms of science. I can only hope that Ursula LeGuin herself actually writes any future books, because I can't believe the same author wrote this as the first three.

Many people are giving this book bad reviews. I prefer to give a 3 for mediocre, as most of Le Guin's books are mediocre, but certainly not bad.

Tehanu is alot different from the previous 3 books. The story is about Tenar, or Goha as she is called in Middle Valley of Gont. After going their(that is, Ged and Tenar) seperate ways in "The Tombs of Atuan," Tenar goes to Gont and marries a farmer named Flint. She has two children, Apple and Spark. Spark goes to sea and isn't seen for many years.

Tenar takes care of a young child named Therru who is abused by a "gang", a group of men that includes a man named Handy. She was thrown into a fire I think, although it certainly had to do something with burning. Therru is blind in one eye, and she often tries to hide herself due to the scars that can't be healed even by magery.

Later, there is news that Ogion is going to die. And indeed he does, and he gives Tenar his true name, Aihal. Whenever Tenar speaks of Ogion, she often calls him by his true name of Aihal. But there is something very important that Ogion tells Tenar. "Teach her Tenar. Teach her all!"

After making that statement, Ogion dies. For a long time, Tenar is left to ponder. Does it mean teach Therru the art of magery? To teach her the Language of the Making? Is Therru the next archmage? King Lebannen(Arren, now a King, though I don't know if he is the king of earthsea yet) comes to Gont in search of Ged. Ged has abandoned his role as archmage, and as a mage entirely. Ged returns to Gont on Kalessin, who brought Ged from Selidor I think. Ged is in a bad state, and Tenar takes care of him.

Instead of leaving Gont, Ged goes farther up into the mountain for a while. Tenar and Therru have an encounter with a man named Handy, who was one of the members of the gang who abused Therru. Later, Tenar makes a brutal encounter with a wizard named Aspen, who puts a spell on her. Aspen is a cruel and arrogant wizard, and treats Tenar with the least respect.

Many surprises at the end of the novel, as I don't want to spoil the end for those who haven't read it. I must say though, Therru doesn't turn out who she is to be. She is named Tehanu, after the name of a star. And Kalessin becomes very important to the relationship with Therru.

The things that are bad about this book is essentially no real plot. And as the past stories may have been about Ged, it was probably Tenar who was the protagonist of this story. There is no magery or tales of spells in this book. What makes it good is the emotion, and how we shouldn't treat others just because of their gender. This book has some very feministic moments, as Le Guin herself seems to be a feminist herself. Lots of lessons and morals in this book. It wasn't too bad and was well rounded out.

Tehanu is slower-paced and has less action than the first three Earthsea books, but I found it to be deeper than the preceding novels in terms of the strength of its themes and character development. It is a shift of focus, asking what truly constitutes a fulfilling life in this fantasy world replete with action and mighty deeds. The descriptions of the simple lives of ordinary folk lived amidst farmland and the natural world are beautiful and enchanting. The overtly feminist ideas do not distract or overwhelm the story. Tehanu is also for adults. That is not to say that children should not read it, as there is nothing prohibitively dark in the book (although a few scenes come close), but adults will gain a great deal more from the story.

a great series, i really loved the farthest shore, and really wanted to read the fourth book, as soon as i started, i was really dissapointed, i had wanted an explosive ending, one with Ged being the main character, with Tenar and Arren being there traveling with him, but in this book, there is hardly any travel, barely as much action, not as much magic, it was more of a life story, about Tenar's life and stuggles, which is why there is 3 stars, it was just so different compared to the other books

All right, here is the real deal about this book. This is not an Earthsea novel but a Tenar novel. Le Guin owed Tenar of the Tombs a life; one after her life of darkness ended and she was left with nothing but her re-claimed name. Tehanu represents the twenty years of Tenar's life that the reader of Earthsea has missed. Does she leave Earthsea behind while doing it? Yes, to a very great degree she does. Except for two fascinating 'cameos' of the 'Eldest', Kalessin, the dragon, life outside Gont island is pretty much dormant. I can sympathize with Earthsea purists feeling cheated about that. As a 'human' story about one woman's life, however, this book is vivid and meticulous. It paints a picture of said life.

Now....the title character needs a mention. Le Guin deliberately keeps you guessing about the true nature of this intriguing marred little girl. The fact that she has hidden within her some very great, mysterious power makes you impatient as this story unfolds. I WILL grant that about this book. The fact that Tehanu plays a pivotal role in the climax is much-anticipated and long-awaited by the reader, yes.

The antagonist, Aspen, does seem to dislike Tenar simply because she is a woman and this type of shallow misogyny leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This was another negative aspect of the book I might mention. However, there is some imagery that I found absolutely spectacular as well. Near the end when Aspen lays a curse upon Tenar, you as the reader, experience what is happening to her through HER utterly dumbfounded and helpless eyes. You do not know what is happening to her!! It is truly scary and left me with goose-bumps.

Altogether worth a read. Only for the 'still, deep' Earthsea fans, however.

The original Earthsea trilogy was probably a reach for most children. I would guess it appeals more to teens than younger people. Of the three, I liked the Tombs of Atuan best. It was a pleasure to meet Tehanu again, and see how her life turned out. This novel was darker and more realistic than the first three. Reviewers who say that it doesn't really 'belong' with the trilogy are probably right, just as The Hobbit doesn't really belong with The Lord of the Rings. In each case, the earlier work or set of works was written well, but on a more accessible level. The later works reflect the authors' more mature effort. I tend to like LeGuin's darker work. My other favorite of her novels is The Disposessed.

Perhaps the reason why so many fans were disappointed by this book is that it addresses the struggles of middle age, while the three previous books are coming-of-age stories. As a fan who loved the first three Earthsea books as a teenager, I was overjoyed to find, in middle age, that LeGuin had produced another in the series. And for my money this is the best of the lot. Much of the drama here lies in subtle, nuanced interpersonal relationships and insights into the nature of magic itself; there is little of the sword and sorcery that characterized the eariler novels. Yet this also makes it less formulaic, more insightful and deeper than the books LeGuin wrote in her youth, about the struggles of the young. This book is about the tasks of middle age: coming to terms with one's life choices, missed oportunities, and the fact that the world is a dark place and magic seems a thing of the past. The message here is that we must make our own magic, and that is often in life's most ordinary things: planting a seed, healing a hurt child, doing what must be done. In the end that's allany of us can do.

Some who read the trilogy might be dissappointed to find that this book is not the same as the first three. As is so often the case, people become disappointed when they are given something new, instead of the same tried-and-true old thing. This book goes to places that the other books did not, and explores the final place that we all must eventually travel... mid life. The book explores the trials and rewards of being middle aged, which some may find more frightening than facing any fire-breathing dragon. Indeed, when Ged realizes that he has lost his powers as a mage, the prospect of living a "powerless" existence causes him to declare that he wished he had died with the completion of his last spell that did this to him, instead of live as an "ordinary" man. Tenar, having settled down to explore herself after her husband dies, finds him, and starts to see Ged's moping and whining as tiresome, having forsaken her magical realm long ago. Together, the two find that their previous existences, Tenar as a mother and wife, and Ged as a powerful archmage, while satisfying in their own way, do not compare to the wonders of a quiet life, growing old together. This is not your typical fantasy novel, because few authors choose to explore the adventures of mid life. Perhaps if more authors did as LeGuin, not as many people would have the manic fear of aging that they do. This book offers closure and explains quite a few things that I had wondered about after reading the first three books, and is exciting and satisfying fantasy, despite the subject matter.

I enjoyed the first three Earthsea stories a good deal. They all have a rather dark tone that tend in some ways to be anti-heroic and anti-dramatic. The climaxes tend to be muted. Nevertheless, they are very richly drawn with substantive characters and beautiful writing. I've enjoyed them and will continue to read them.

The 4th book in the series, Tehanu, is exceedingly short and really incomplete. The basics of any story are the establishment of tension through the development of a coherent plot around a principal character, the escalation of tension as the protagonist reaches his or her goal followed by a dramatic climax. This book really fails to deliver in a way that is comparable to the previous works.

I found myself frustrated by how the author failed to keep developing the burned child character, Tehanu, in the plot and instead kept wandering around with the most inane and boring dialog of Tenar. She introduced a lot of material about the inequality of men and women in Earthsea, which was fine. But the way this was done and the fact that there was no resolution to the inequality and injustices was completely unsatisfying. The book was supposed to be about Tehanu. Unfortunately, Ursula kept forgetting that and instead spent huge amounts of text on the broken character of Ged and Tenar, who is no longer an exotic Priestess but a mostly domesticated widow. A real let down really.

Because of the recurring failure to properly get the plot behind Tehanu and her ascent as some new powerful mage woman and the incessant circling around Tenar as this weak and confused widow, I found myself thinking that Ursula rushed this out the door without giving it the effort it deserved.

I hope she is able to correct this error with Book six, which revisits the Tehanu character.

I prefer fantasy novels grounded in reality, which is why Tehanu appeals to me more than the previous Earthsea books. While the trilogy excelled as an epic adventure, this book shows the less glamorous side of life in Earthsea, through a different viewpoint. Wizards and heroes might have taken all the limelight in the previous books, but they are not the only inhabitants of Earthsea. In Tehanu, we get to experience the world Le Guin had imagined through the lives of its more ordinary residents. And it is precisely this experience that brings the world to life.

People expecting more fantastic world-building will probably be disappointed, as this story is more character driven. To me, however, the mundane elements are also a necessary part of world-building, as they reveal problems that may have been hidden by all the glamor. The author explores gender issues, questioning why women cannot become mages. The political angle fits into the narration gracefully.

In summary, this is not an escapist novel, but one that makes you feel and think. The author depicts a realistic world, with problems that resonate with our own.

I had the pleasure of reading the entire cycle from A Wizard of Earthsea through to The Other Wind in a two month period. Apparently for some people, having to wait several years between the end of The Farthest Shore and Tehanu gave them time to build up rather unrealistic expectations of what Ursula K Le Guin should have written. The first three books were not exclusively about Ged. Indeed, he was the central character but the books were really about Earthsea itself, and why not continue the cycle with someone else as the main focus?

For some, I believe Ged is seen to be the Archmage and nothing else, he can't be free to change and evolve. And the same holds true for Earthsea-Earthsea cannot evolve and grow in a different direction for a good many people. But that is what happens in life. Change is inevitable, change is good. Change is what keeps life from being one-sided and boring. Earthsea and her characters change and develope and keep one guessing what is going to happen. Ged is not just a wizard, he is also a man, a man with feelings like other men, with problems like other men. Tenar is not just a vessel for an unseen power, she is a woman with power of her own; and Tehanu is a survivor and possesses a magic all her own.

Change is magic. Change is hard for some to accept, harder than it can be to accept the concept of magic. I am for an Earthsea that explores different levels of being in the world. This book, and the subsequent books, forge ahead instead of looking behind.

After reading Tehanu I can't help but feel somewhat exploited. I read the Earthsea books as a child and was excited to hear that more books had been added. However, Tehanu seems to be a weak platform for the random and bitter musings of the author. I expected an Earthsea book and found something totally different.

The potential of Tenar in "Tombs of Atuan" was never realized. Rather than creating a strong female character, Le Guin resorted to weakening and emasculating the men around Tenar. As my mother used to say, "Anyone is smart when compared to an earthworm."

In many ways this is almost an Anti-feminist book. Not only is Tenar rescued by men several times, but Auntie Moss, one of the few characters with "women's magic," is incredibly unhygienic with a bad reputation. Am I, as a female, supposed to find this desirable?

This book also contains some very vague and inconclusive references to sex and the acquisition of power. As a warning to parents who would like to share this book with their children, this book does contain the complementary sex-scene that most recently written novels deem necessary to have.

Had this book taken place anywhere else and with any other characters I would have enjoyed it far more. As it is, it seems to be a book written with less confidence of it's own worth and therefore floated on the reputation of Earthsea.

I picked up "A Wizard of Earthsea" in the library last week and before I knew it, I was sitting down to read "Tehanu." I wasn't quite sure what to expect -- I knew that Ged was gradually getting older, and that there was a new king in Havnor, and I was hoping to see some old familiar faces like Ogion and Tenar reappear. And so I did find them -- but not in the way I expected. Based on my reading of the other three books, I was expecting a high fantasy, magic-filled adventure. Instead I was treated to a boldly feminist, sometimes confusing story about a middle-aged widow, a broken man, and an abused child.
At first I thought that Le Guin had made a mistake somehow, had gone off track with the story. Certainly there were weak moments in the novel -- confusing passages, tricky and long-winded dialogue, deeply philosophical and even political opinions embedded in the story. At times the tale was almost too painful to read. And yet, in the end, I realized that I reacted to "Tehanu" just like I did to all of the other Earthsea books: I loved it.
I realize that opinions are divided on this book, and honestly, when I sat down to write this review I was prepared to say that it was terrible -- in comparison to the rest of the Cycle. But on its own, it is a beautifully written book, powerful and moving. It tells the story from an older, more adult perspective -- perhaps the result of a decades-older Le Guin? -- and raises important and thought-provoking questions, a feature about the Earthsea books that makes me like them immensely. My only issue with the novel was that I felt it ended much too abruptly. Just as I began to discover who Therru/Tehanu really was, and just as I began to realize the implications of Kalessin's presence in the story, the novel ended. I wanted to know more!
So what is my conclusion? This is a very strong book, on its own. I do feel that it is the weakest of the Earthsea books, but then again, it is hardly in the same genre as the other three. It is powerfully and beautifully written, and raises some excellent points about relationships and power. It made me want to read more, which is a good thing. I'm giving it three stars for several reasons -- although I enjoyed reading it, I found it difficult to read because of its rather confusing complexity, and I was slightly disappointed that it was not like its predecessors.

The Earthsea Trilogy was and is one of the greatest works in genre. Nothing I have to say should be thought to dispute that. But having said that, if Tehanu had been the first book in the series, I would never have finished it, let alone gone on to read the other three books. Others have praised LeGuin on Tehanu, saying how it was so much different than the previous trilogy (which is to be expected since it was written some 20 years later). And that is the rub: it was very different in all the ways a book can be different while retaining the same characters.

To guys out there, let me warn you now: DO NOT read this book. Save yourself the pain, the disgruntlement, the disappointment, and the barbed harshness of this book. It is a blatantly feminist manifesto written in the ill-fitting clothing of a fantasy. Take a great hero, strip him of his power, then rub his face in the dirt and you will get a *glimpse* of what LeGuin has done... and in a prolonged, wearying fashion, too.

The first three books were about humility, character, responsibility, and sacrifice. This book seemed only concerned with oppression and dull, dreary, and decidedly mundane activities of a woman and a little girl. This is not to say that women's issues are not important, but that this was not the place to air them in the fashion Le Guin chose to do it.

High Fantasy involves, among other things, such aspects as 'recovery', 'escape', and 'consolation'. It leaves you feeling refreshed and inspired. It takes you into a wonderful place. It helps you feel a sort of hope and joy. I found NONE of these elements in Tehanu -- just the opposite, in fact.

For feminists (overt or covert), this book is maybe not so bad. But for those of us who read the first three books and were expecting something in a similar vein: we feel betrayed.

Award-winning writer Ursula K. Le Guin finished the Earthsea 'trilogy' in 1972 with the tremendous novel "The Farthest Shore," simply one of the best fantasies ever penned. (The other two books are "A Wizard of Earthsea" and "The Tombs of Atuan.") Eighteen years later, in 1990, Le Guin decided to extend the trilogy to another book, "Tehanu," and has since written two additional books, "Tales from Earthsea" and "The Other Wind." In "Tehanu," she sought to balance out the story of Earthsea by re-visiting Tenar, the girl from "The Tombs of Atuan" and viewing the world through her eyes as an adult coming to terms with the way her life has gone and her relationship to Ged, the hero of the previous three books.
Sadly, "Tehanu" is a major disappointment and the poorest of the Earthsea books. The idea sounds interesting: exploring Earthsea from the point of view of a non-sorcerer woman. But Le Guin fails to create an even remotely interesting story around Tenar -- actually, there is hardly any story at all. Tenar stays on the farm, makes a few trips, and takes care of herself and Therru, the strange girl she adopted after Therru was abused and badly burnt. Ged returns abruptly, his magic gone, and the king's men are searching for him. It appears possible that a narrative line will develop from this, but none does. The book plods through unconnected scenes and talky dialogue until it abruptly ends.
I'm at a loss to explain Le Guin's narrative failure here. Perhaps, in feeling that she was achieving a great character study, she felt the book would carry itself without a spine of a story, but it doesn't. The problem doesn't lay in what the author says or how she says it -- I'm fine with the female slant to the book -- but how she chooses to frame it. The reader must have a reason to continually turn the page, must want to know how the characters will struggle to overcome their problems and why they must be overcome. Without such a structure, the reader will have a difficult time investing him or herself in what happens, and that is exactly the case here. For an example of Le Guin doing this correctly, read her brilliant novel "The Left Hand of Darkness." She set out to explore an issue of sexuality, and achieved it through the device of adventure and political turmoil. "Tehanu" lacks any cohesive device like that; the book merely 'continues' until it is done.
Le Guin's writing style and sense of her characters do keep "Tehanu" from being completely unreadable, but it is slow going. People who have read the first three books should definitely read this because of what it reveals about Tenar and Ged, but they shouldn't go into it expecting the epic grandeur and sweeping power of the first three novels. "Tehanu" remains frustratingly earthbound and static.

The first three books in the Earthsea series are surface reads, which is, after all, not surprising considering they were written for children. Tehanu, however, is written at a slightly higher level and, consequently, contains deeper levels of development. For Tehanu - the main thread discussed is not, as so many reviewers hone in on, women's rights per se, but the aspect of gender roles in society. One must remember, Le Guin is the daughter of a rather famous and ground breaking anthropologist - she would have been exposed to the anthropologist's language of social structure, gender roles, kinship ties, mores, etcetera at a very early age - during a time when these ideas were becoming mainstream. This book does point a finger at equality of the sexes: a woman's mind as well as her day-to-day tasks are just as important as those of her male counterpart. It wasn't the oppression of women, Le Guin points out, but the lack of respect for them as thinking, valuable contributing members of society. A sub-theme also expressed in this novel is brought forth by the child character - (unlike many reviewers I refuse to ruin the book for those who haven't read it)- that is, she is stereotyped and judged based upon her appearance - a very human thing we all do. Only a couple people take the time to know this child - to want to know her for who she is, not what she looks like. Hence, Tehanu's story revolves around two themes - still, unfortunately, seen in our society today - gender bias and stereotyping - which leads to fear and hate.

I read the original three Earthsea books in college, and enjoyed them greatly (particularly the second book -- Tombs of Atuan -- whose main character returns here.) That was fifteen years ago, so my memory was spotty on the details.
As it turned out, that was just the right place to be for Tehanu. Le Guin picks up the story years later, so the interval between my reading put me in the perfect frame of mind. Le Guin paints wonderfully detailed characters, and this book is no exception. I VERY highly recommend Tehanu for anyone who read the previous three earlier in their life. It's a beautiful revival, and a wonderful story in its own right. Not to be missed if you read the first three.

Billing this book as the fourth of the Earthsea books was not fair. The tone, the style, and the subject matter were immensely different. That said, it is a wonderful and concise commentary on heroism, fantasy, and the winding down of a long life. It was fascinating to watch LeGuin taking a new look at the characters of the Earthsea books while remaining true to their original incarnations. However, the book is not without flaws. The plot relied too much on otherwise clever characters ignoring obvious indications of wrongdoing, and the end relied on a deus ex machina. It was still completely enjoyable.

I hoped that this book, which won the nebula, would be a great wrap-up to the series. There is definitely a sense of closure at the end of the book, and loose ends are tied up... but the book was flat out too boring for me. As another reviewer said, don't look for a plot. Don't look for any major developments either, until the last, what, 10 pages?? I was dissapointed as well.

In this last book of Earthsea, Le Guin answers many of her critics who found the first three books entirely chauvinistic, which they are, though delightful all the same. She has revsioned her world of Earthsea and the archetypes that support it. If you are into heros that dominate then you will find this tale strained and unheroic. Le Guin does more than answer critics, however, she attempts to project a future for our world in which women aren't just equal with strong heroic masculine types, the heroism itself is redefined and the strength is spread out evenly between the genders. Symbolically the child Therru has been maimed by the "evil" aspects of patriarchy as represented by her father and his friends--even her mother is complicit showing how far the sway of the patriarchy reaches, so far that even women are part of their own maiming. The child is blinded, her one hand is burned into a useless ball and her voice is taken from her. Symbolically the blindness represents the dominant discourse's way of making people, in this case women, blind to its ruling power (think of John Carpenter's "They Live"; bad movie, but similar symbolism). The voice is taken so that they cannot speak out against this and the hand mutilated so that they may not manipulate their environs and free themselves. By the end of the book we see that the child can actually see with the blind eye, and in a way that reveals the true nature of people, a way that sees through the patriarchy to the root of her bondage. This parallels feminist and racial fights for equality here in the US where those most abused over time become the most aware of that abuse. The book shows three generations of women, the eldest, Aunty Moss, supports status quo, Tenar, the middle-aged protagonist questions it, and the youngest, Therru, changes it. Unfortunately her method of change, a dragon flying in and burning the evil aspects of the patriarchy to cinders, is still another form of violent domination. Moreover, the dragon, a worm, is just another phallic symbol, much the same as Arren's sword or Ged's staff. It's a difficult book to read, particularly if you are fully indoctrinated in the hero-tale, the central archetype of our culture, as most of us are. Where the earlier books had wings afforded by this archetype, Tehanu plods along searching for wings all its own. Matt Clara [email protected] Feel free to write me on the subject!