Book Review: The Farthest Shore
The phenomenal third book of the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin.
I think The Farthest Shore is my favourite Earthsea book so far. It certainly secures Le Guin’s place in my heart as my favourite author of all time, and I am so glad that I discovered her writing, even if belatedly. The Farthest Shore rounds out the YA trilogy of Earthsea, bringing the story of Ged to a soft close. The subsequent three books (which I absolutely will be delving into), Tehanu, The Other Wind and Tales from Earthsea were written twenty years or more after The Farthest Shore. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Earthsea so far - so much so that I’ve gone and bought the nice hardback illustrated collection! It’s absolutely beautiful, and that’s the edition I will be using when I come to read the final three instalments in the Earthsea Cycle. But, for now, let’s get into talking about The Farthest Shore.
Blurb
Darkness threatens to overtake Earthsea: The world and its wizards are losing their magic. But Ged - Archmage, wizard, and dragonlord - is determined to discover the source of this devastating loss. Aided by Enlad’s young Prince Arren, Ged embarks on a treacherous journey that will test his strength and will. Because to restore magic, the two warriors must venture to the farthest reaches of their world - and even beyond the realm of death.
Review
Though written in the same narrative style as Wizard and Atuan, The Farthest Shore feels like a much bigger story right from the start. Perhaps that’s partly due to the weight pulled by the previous two, but I got a much grander sense of adventure and wonder from this book than either of the others. Atuan was very focused in its approach, but Wizard’s adventure was of a similar breadth to this third book (though in the latter, the stakes are much higher) and if I had to rate between the two, The Farthest Shore absolutely comes out on top.
This time, the story is written largely from the perspective of Prince Arren, the young lord from the northern kingdom of Enlad, as he brings an urgent message to the Masters at the magic school on Roke Island where Ged is now Archmage. Arren is a great character and we feel his almost blind trust and child-like sense of wonder at Ged as they set off on their adventure. At the same time we feel Ged’s yearning as an older man to be able to be like his old master Ogion and live a simple, quiet life.
The first place we visit on the journey - Hort Town - really threw my imagination for a loop and I think this is the danger inherent in watching someone’s interpretation of a literary work before reading it for yourself. In this case, I’m talking about the Studio Ghibli adaptation, which features Hort Town. I honestly couldn’t see anything in my mind’s eye except that distinctive visual interpretation. But thankfully it did line up very nicely with Le Guin’s vivid description of the place.
Throughout the book we get to see a lot more of Earthsea itself, and all places we hadn’t been to previously. All of the locales are wonderfully realised and varied, from the rafts of the Children of the Open Sea and the desolate shores of Selidor, to the oppressive stagnation of the Dry Land.
Absolutely nothing to do with the content of the book whatsoever, but I’m miffed that all my single Earthsea books are of different sizes, form factors and cover styles. In fact, my version of The Farthest Shore is supposed to be part of the same cover series as my version of Atuan, but one is tall and wide, and the other is short and narrow! This is part of the reason I bought the hardback collected edition - it’s much nicer to look at, takes up less room on the shelf and ends up a cheaper way to get all the books. I wish I’d done that from the start!
Back to the actual book: all in all, the characters, plot, prose, pacing and concepts are all top notch, as I have come to expect from Le Guin by this point. There’s precious little in the way of criticism I can level at the book. It just great fun and a thoroughly engrossing read. The Farthest Shore, and indeed the entire original trilogy, is going to stay with me for a very long time.
If you haven’t read anything by Le Guin at all, I highly recommend picking up Earthsea as your starting point, but realistically from what I’ve read so far, you could pick up literally anything by her and be sure of a great read.
