Earthsea: Ursula K. Le Guin’s Fantasy Masterpiece
At the end of last week, we talked about Ursula K. Le Guin’s incredibly impressive body of SF work, through the prism of the titles in our SF Masterworks series. As promised, this week, we celebrate her Fantasy: specifically, the beloved Earthsea sequence.
Beginning with 1968’s A Wizard of Earthsea and continuing over another five books to conclude with The Other Wind in 2001, it is an uncontested Fantasy masterpiece and a wellspring of ideas for future writers that perhaps only the work of Tolkien can rival. Prosaicly, one can note that The Other Wind won the World Fantasy Award and was shortlisted for the Nebula, or that Tehanu won the Nebula Award, or that the readers of te influential Locus magazine voted Tales from Earthsea the Best Collection, Tehanu the Best Fantasy Novel and The Other Wind runner-up for Best Fantasy Novel. But the power and legacy of Le Guin’s archipelagic creation are better reflected in the influences they have had on the writers who came after her – does a school for wizards ring any bells?
We are delighted to publish the Earthsea sequence in eBook and recommend them unreservedly:
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| A Wizard of Earthsea | The Tombs of Atuan | The Farthest Shore |
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| Tehanu | Tales from Earthsea | The Other Wind |
As we’ve said many times before: we could go on at great length about Ursula K. Le Guin‘s wonderful books; about how she has mastered both science fiction and fantasy to a degree few – if any – writers can match; about how she ranks with the very best writers in and out of genre; about how many modern writers are influenced by her (whether they’re willing to admit it or not). But really . . . wouldn’t you rather be reading the six books of Earthsea than reading us talking about it?
Good choice.
