# Earthsea?



## alorien

Has anyone read these books?? I'm thinking about picking them up, but wanted a second opinion.

I'd heard of them before, but they really caught my eye because I heard that sci-fi's doing a miniseries (also called Earthsea) based on the book. From what I've heard, this could be very much like the Dune series they did a couple of years ago.


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## Ithrynluin

I read the first one in the series, _A wizard of Earthsea_, quite some time ago, and liked it. It is not quite up to the level of Tolkien (is _anything_?), but Mrs Le Guin is a skilled enough writer to conjure up a detailed and colourful world that will certainly grab your attention.


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## 33Peregrin

I love Earthsea. If you can read it, then definitely read it. Of course, it isn't Tolkien, but nothing is. The reason I fist got it was because I had heard of it a lot when reading books that were like LOTR. I read A Wizard of Earthsea more than a year ago, and thought it mostly OK. Then earlier this year I bought the second and third book because they were really cheap. I read 'The Tombs of Atuan' in a day, and I thought that book was especially amazing. I loved it. I didn't get to read The Farthest Shore until this last summer, and I like that a lot. Then I read Tehanu in a day, and I really liked it. But I felt really lost after it ended, becaus it seemed a little incomplete. But still, I loved it, and all the books, and plan to read them again someday.


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## Supernita

Wow I'm surprised to hear about Earthsea here. I had never heard of it until a couple months ago, when a friend of mine mentioned it. His brother has one of the leading roles in the miniseries. I didn't really know if it would be any good, but because someone I knew was going to be in it, I was going to watch it anyways. I should go out and buy the books (how many are there?) before the miniseries comes out. And hey if any of you watch it, my friend's brother is Chris Gauthier. I've only met him briefly but he seems like a really cool guy. I can't wait to see him in a major role.


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## 33Peregrin

There are four books.... I think. Well, Tehanu is supposedly 'The Last Book of Earthsea', but there are other books I have heard of too, like Tales of Earthsea or something. I've only read the four I mentioned.


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## Starflower

there are actually five books at the moment. the three that are the actual trilogy, then there is Tehanu which was published a while after the first three and the last one is called The Other Wind, which was published fairly recently. Then there is one that is Tales from the Earthsea which is a collection of miscellaneous stories. 
Earthsea has been around for a very long time, the first book came out in 1968, when most people visiting TTF were not even born yet 
I heartily recommend it to any who like fantasy books, Ms Le Guin is a great storyteller and paints very vivid images that linger in your imagination long after you have finished the books.


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## alorien

Supernita said:


> Wow I'm surprised to hear about Earthsea here. I had never heard of it until a couple months ago, when a friend of mine mentioned it. His brother has one of the leading roles in the miniseries. I didn't really know if it would be any good, but because someone I knew was going to be in it, I was going to watch it anyways. I should go out and buy the books (how many are there?) before the miniseries comes out. And hey if any of you watch it, my friend's brother is Chris Gauthier. I've only met him briefly but he seems like a really cool guy. I can't wait to see him in a major role.



No way!! Who's your friend's brother??

I just ordered the trilogy off amazon, as soon as I finish with that, i'll move on to the last parts of the series. Thanks for all the great info though. 

Moving on, I think there's plenty of room for a good miniseries here -- I really liked Dune, and hope that this turns out at least half as well. 

Is the miniseries based off the entire trilogy, or just one book?


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## Beleg

I have read all the five books and to my mind they are some of the best in the business. [Young-adult] 

Even though I loved the fifth and fourth books, my favorite are those which focus on Ged more then Tehanu. Thus the Tombs of Atuan is my favorite of earthsea triology. 

Another great LeGuin novel is 'The Left Hand of Darkness'.


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## Starflower

i agree with Beleg, the Tombs of Atuan is my favourite as well. (why is it that it is always the middle part of a series that's considered the greatest? look at Star Wars )


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## 33Peregrin

So The Other Wind is the fifth book? Does it talk more about Tehanu by any chance? I only stopped after Tehanu because it was 'The Last book of Eartsea' and I couldn't see anything else in the library. Tehanu kind of felt incomplete to me.


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## Supernita

I think the miniseries is based on the original trilogy, although I don't know too much about it so I can't really say for sure. My friend's brother will be playing Vetch. I haven't read the books, so I have no idea who that is.. but that's the character name I got off www.imdb.com. I've heard the miniseries compared to Dune, but of course, it's not out yet so that's hard to say as well. I'm looking forward to it. I'm not sure when it's supposed to be released, but if anyone finds out, please let me know. I thought it was September.. but now I'm thinking I was probably wrong. 

Also, I tried to buy the books the other day, and I can't find them anywhere. I asked the people at Chapters and Coles, and they can't even get Wizard of Earthsea (I think that's the first one...) in anymore. It says it's temporarily unavailable, which usually means it's permanently unavailable. I'm going to try ebay tonight, because I really want to read these books I've been hearing so much about.


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## Starflower

Nita,

try Amazon.com, they still stock the Earthsea trilogy


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## Supernita

Yea I'll try that, thanx. I found some on ebay last night but they still have a lot of days left, so who knows. 

Is "Tales from Earthsea" worth getting? Like does it really tie into the original story? Everywhere has that in, so I might pick that up if it's worth reading.


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## Starflower

well try and get your hands on the original trilogy first, Tales from Earthsea is pretty useless unless you haev read the original one... they are more like essays that clarify some bits in the orginal

:0


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## alorien

For anyone that's interested, there's a NEW trailer for Earthsea available on the sci-fi website:

http://www.scifi.com/earthsea/downloads/trailers/


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## Supernita

Nice, it looks like it's going to be really good. I can't wait until it comes out. I'm still having a tough time finding the books though. There was one auction on ebay but it had 12 books altogether and it got too expensive. I didn't need the other books anyways, they were just random stuff by the same author. But there's another one coming up so I'll try to get that one. I really want to read them before the miniseries comes out. I'll try amazon and chapters again tonight too.


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## Starflower

you can buy the whole set from Amazon.co.uk, the UK site. the American one only sells individual books. I would recommend you have a look here


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## alorien

Looks like sci-fi's confirmed the release date:

EARTHSEA (Sci Fi) - Sci Fi has slated its much-hyped four-hour mini-series for Monday, December 13 and Tuesday, December 14, both at 9:00/8:00c. Here's how the cable channel's press materials describe the project: "Based on the classic literary series by acclaimed author Ursula K. LeGuin, the SCI FI Original miniseries Earthsea follows the tale of a reckless youth destined to become the greatest sorcerer that the mystical land of Earthsea has ever known. When the young wizard Ged discovers that he possesses infinite magical powers, he seeks to master the ancient arts. As he journeys to manhood, he will combat dragons, fall in love, cross death's threshold, and ultimately wield the power to reunite a kingdom." Shawn Ashmore, Kristin Kreuk, Isabella Rossellini and Danny Glover star 

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/gofuton.cgi?action=newswire&id=6744


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## 33Peregrin

I am so mad. I HATE my family. Or not...... but WE DON'T HVAE THE SCI-FI CHANNEL. I can't watch it.... and I love Earthsea, and Kristin Kreuk is in it.... she's a great actress! What am I going to do now?


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## alorien

Well, you still have a little bit of time. Maybe convince them to get cable  

If not, maybe get someone to tape it for you. That is sad, I'm sorry. 

The third teaser trailer is up and its pretty awesome. 

Some great footage. 

What do you guys think?


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## Supernita

Wow that was awesome.. I can't wait to see it. Unfortunately I don't have that channel either, I don't even think I can get it here. But I'll get it somehow. Yay, it'll be so good.


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## windchimes

the books are significantly different than the miniseries. i enjoyed reading the books to try to understand how the mind of a wizard would think from the inside instead of just observing one from another-not wizard-point of view.


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## Prince of Cats

Hi windchimes,

Thanks for the bump on this topic and thus the heads-up on Earthsea!


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## Mike

Well, after reading the initial hopefulness from 2004, I felt I have to say something:

If you have any love for the books whatsoever, you will most likely not enjoy the television series. Even the author herself denounced it as twisting the themes and structure of her original work into something nearly unrecognizable. And, I may add, they chose Caucasian actors for most of the roles when Earthsea was celebrated as one of the first fantasy series featuring non-Caucasian main characters. Ugh.


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## HLGStrider

I never saw the mini-series and I doubt I'll ever look it up (It must've made it to DVD so I suppose Netflix would have it, but I'd much rather just keep ordering Star Trek Voyager and Psych as my time wasting shows). I have read some of the books, two, "Wizard of Earthsea" and "Tales of Earthsea." I liked Wizard, though it seemed a little predictable and the ending was a tiny bit anti-climactic, but I didn't really get into Tales.


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## Mike

Read Tombs of Atuan. By far the best, I believe.


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## windchimes

i have read all six of the books of earthsea. i liked them all for different reasons. i believe that that magic exists in real life. does anyone else?


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## Starflower

Ah - the horrible Sci-Fi channel mini-series, it was simply awful! I have read the books many times in the last 20 years, and they are simply magical. 
I especially like the concept of knowing the true name of something gives you power over it - a very old myth found in almost every civilization, though rarely circulated in sci-fi/fantasy.


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## windchimes

the hebrew people of the old testament believed that knowing the true name of god would give one power. given the number of bibles in circulation, you would think the concept of the true name giving power would be more common. but then who reads the bible anymore, certainly not hollywood.


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## barclay

I've read and or audioed the Earthsea books (all of them), many of the Hainish Cycle as well as all of the Tolkien books- at least save some of his post-mortem stuff like Children of Hurin. And I disagree completely that LeGuin's Earthsea is 'not quite up to Tolkien level' as far as literature. They're just a completely different animal.
Less details of course than Tolkien as far as the creation of a fantasy world...what is. Though Earthsea and the Hainish planets themselves are pretty decently constructed. But Leguin's entire goal in writing is different.
Whereas Tolkien's main objective appears to be chronicler of another place and time... Leguin is musing about life in general itself through many of the stories and their characters, and presenting ideas and maybe even new ways of looking at your world you may not have considered. There's a message, sometimes many at the same time as the tale. Its a wonderful way of writing science fiction that is rarely copied.
I liked some of her books better than others, and now I'm getting purely op-ed. Tombs of Atuan was a masterpiece standalone short story imo. The mini-series, although good, was wrong in many of the details and completely missed the mark insofar as why she wrote it I think.
Its too late of course. But Tolkien and LeGuin were incredibly both in one room at a book signing at two tables at a city somewhere, I would tell anyone who didn't know: "Here's your chance to meet TWO of the great science fiction writers of our time." without any hesitation whatsoever. "great...er", is going to come down to personal choice.


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## Alcuin

I’ve read Earthsea. I’ve not seen the miniseries and did not know it existed. 

My wife gave me a copy of Earthsea many years ago because I love Tolkien’s work and thought I would enjoy Earthsea. It was ok: it lacks the depth, intricacy, and “believability” of Tolkien. (And I should add that I read only the first three books, the only ones then published: I see she has since added considerably more material.) 

All fiction requires a “suspension of belief.” For something realistic, something placed in the real world but with the characters and circumstances merely altered, suspension of belief is not difficult: in fact, I suspect a lot of the “news” proffered up is of precisely this nature: not quite accurate (or even accurate at all), but rather intended to elicit a certain response from the public. The more different from our everyday world the setting of the fiction, the greater the suspension of belief. 

Tolkien’s world and LeGuin’s both require an initial suspension of belief. But once the leap has been made, the worlds are, as the saying goes, “worlds apart.” 

Tolkien spent his entire adult life building his world: a single, cohesive world that not only looks much like our but is feigned to be our own in the depths of time, a world only vaguely remembered as myth and legend: Tolkien feigns to tell that myth and those legends. LeGuin built a world that is mostly cohesive for one project among others. Tolkien tells the story of “the long defeat,” yet one full of hope; LeGuin’s story is believable, but (to me) without hope: The Dry Land is a place without hope, a place unavoidable no matter how one leads one’s life. Tolkien’s world is one in which, even if you lose and die horrifically, even so your soul can live on in blessedness; LeGuin’s is a world in which, even if you live as a saint, your soul goes to a place of dread and, at best, sadness and loneliness. 

Earthsea is interesting, well-written, and “believable” in the sense of fiction; but it is not akin to Tolkien’s world. It is to me a sad, melancholy place that left me with a heavy feeling.


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## Starbrow

LeGuin is my second favorite author, after Tolkien of course. 
I enjoy her writing for different reasons than I do Tolkien. I agree with Barclay on the different purposes of the authors.

Alcuin, I think your observations are true and reflect the hope of Tolkien's Christianity and the emptiness of LeGuin's atheist view point.


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## Ithilethiel

I also love Le Guin's, _Earthsea_ series. I've never seen the mini-series nor do I wish to. For me the magic of the written word will always be superior to visual entertainment. There is always something lost in the translation of book to screen. I believe my imagination superior and when I have watched a movie of a well loved work of fiction I always come away disappointed.

The only comparison between JRRT and Le Guin to me is that they both write superior fantasy. Other than that there is little comparison. Yes, there is no denying that Tolkien's writings are inspired by his Catholic faith and Le Guin's have no such underpinning but I do not necessarily see that as a disadvantage.

I am not left feeling sad or empty with Le Guin nor do I feel hopeful reading Tolkien. When I read either of them I enter an entirely different realm where mostly anything is possible. Where there is hope there is hope, sadness then sadness but my emotions are equal to the writing not the author.

Tolkien's writings though fantastical are more reality centered to me. Fantasy exists but it is a grounded form of fantasy that finds its solution in ways more humanistic. There is no true magic more often actions common to the ideals of friendship, loyalty, courage, valor, bravery and oath.

Le Guin's _Earthsea _realm shows us a glimpse of the magical at every turn. True, there is courage and bravery but these ideals are overshadowed by the mystical, the unknowable, the wonderful.

Both authors write masterfully easily pulling readers inside their versions of their fantastical worlds. Tolkien's writing benefits from his extensive and complex background work, his philology and his mastery of lore and legend in the British tradition.

Le Guin's writings are more influenced by the psychological, sociological and even anthropological influences upon her characters. JRRT was a great influence upon her in that she recognized in his writings the latitude open to her as a writer in the fantasy genre. She is considered by many to be an early feminist writer in the way she wrote of the fluidity of gender and gender roles. She too was influenced by lore and legend but of the Norse and Native American kind.

So I admire and enjoy them both but for differing reasons. If I crave structure in my fantasy reading I will always choose Tolkien. If I crave magic and high fantasy then I choose Le Guin. How wonderful to have two such wonderful choices.


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## barclay

I'm interested in that some people feel Leguin's 'atheist' viewpoint makes her stories empty and without hope, as opposed to Tolkien's with his Christian background.
I didn't get that feeling myself at all. She does spend a lot of time exploring human beings through her otherworldly characters. Things like power, sexism, nationalism... civilization and what that means..... loneliness, sacrifice, leadership....greed and destruction, war, etc. She poses a lot of questions asking you to rethink about what we've generally accepted in society and sometimes gives answers.

Tolkien rarely does this imo, although he does stray into the area of teacher/commentator a few times. Most of these lessons seem to come from Gandalf. For example when he says to Frodo: "So do all who live to see such times; but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.", and "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement." He also clearly has one background message- a disdain for the "progress" of industrialism and its pollution, and a plea to rethink that wisdom. His good guys live in trees or in earthen holes at one with nature; his evil legions live in smog and soot, in fortifications loaded with dirty and grimy machinery. Even the Shire and Isengard at the end of his books are 'scoured' and 'cleaned' by water and made fresh and natural again. Literally in once case, defeated by trees. Respect the earth and what is there, don't destroy out of greed. Leguin definitely looks at this also in "The Word for World is Forest", among other things.

I'll agree that their religious backgrounds, or lack thereof may have influenced their writing.
Its true there are no real gods in LeGuin's books, or at least the one's I've read. There is Segoy, who raised Earthsea from the waters and first named everything.... but he seems to have been a one hit wonder, and either disappeared after that or has gone completely idle and/or left the scene. The closest to godly beings she has are dragons, which are in ways god-like, but seem largely disinterested in human affairs and can even be dangerous if approached. They rarely come to the rescue, as it were and at best give helpful information. 
In contrast Tolkien's stories, especially the Simarillion is god-heavy. In LOTR, they may not be active but characters seem to call on the Vala quite a lot in times of need, even invoking their names alone to give assistance in dark hours. The suggestion is even made that they may be there actively as guardian angels, using their powers to guide fate in dark times for the good. And of course there are actual places mirroring Christianity..... Valinor, a kind of heaven and Mordor, a sort of fiery hell (although one of many hells over MiddleEarth's history).
Does this make Leguin's stories empty and hopeless, as opposed to Tolkien's? Maybe it depends on what you're looking for.
A bit of a ramble I know, but comparing the two authors is a topic you could say a lot on.


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