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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A New Power Arises In Earthsea & A New Life Begins For Ged, 27 Feb 2005
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
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by Ursula Le Guin
by Ursula Le Guin
by Ursula K. Le Guin
by Ursula K. Le Guin
by Ursula Le Guin
