Earthsea (book Series)

''The Earthsea Cycle'', also known as ''Earthsea'', is a series of high fantasy books written by the American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Beginning with ''A Wizard of Earthsea'' (1968), ''The Tombs of Atuan'', (1970) and ''The Farthest Shore'' (1972), the series was continued in ''Tehanu'' (1990), and ''Tales from Earthsea'' and ''The Other Wind'' (both 2001). In 2018, all the novels and short stories were published in a single volume, ''The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition'', with artwork by Charles Vess.

Setting

The world of Earthsea is one of sea and islands: a vast archipelago of hundreds of islands surrounded by mostly uncharted ocean. Earthsea contains no large continents, with the archipelago resembling Indonesia or the Philippines. The largest island, Havnor, at approximately across, is about the size of Great Britain. The cultures of Earthsea are literate non-industrial civilizations and not direct analogues of the real world. Technologically, Earthsea is an early Iron Age society, with bronze used in places where iron is scarce. Weapons also include the use of wood and other hard, easily crafted metals. The overall climate of Earthsea is temperate, comparable to the mid-latitudes (over a distance of about ) of the northern hemisphere of the Earth. There is a yearly transition from warm summers to cold and snowy winters, especially on northern islands like Gont and Osskil. In the southern regions of Earthsea, it can be much warmer.

Most of the people of Earthsea are described as having brown skin. In the Archipelago "red-brown" skin is typical, while the people of the East Reach have darker "black-brown" complexions. The people of Osskil in the north are described as having lighter, sallow complexions, while the Kargs of the Kargad Lands are "white-skinned" and often "yellow-haired". Le Guin has criticized what she described as the general assumption in fantasy that characters should be white and the society should resemble the Middle Ages.

Magic is a central part of life in most of Earthsea, with the exception of the Kargish lands, where it is banned. There are weather workers on ships, fixers who repair boats and buildings, entertainers, and court sorcerers. Magic is an inborn talent which can be developed with training. The most gifted are sent to the school on Roke, where, if their skill and their discipline prove sufficient, they can become staff-carrying wizards.

The Dry Land is where most people go after they die, with the exception of the Kargs. It is a realm of shadow and dust, of eternal night where the stars are fixed in the sky, and nothing changes. The souls who reside there have an empty, dreary existence, and even "lovers pass each other in silence". Le Guin has stated that the idea of the Dry Land came from the "Greco-Roman idea of Hades' realm, from certain images in Dante Alighieri's work, and from one of Rainer Maria Rilke's Elegies." In the fifth and last novel of the series, ''The Other Wind'', it is revealed that the Dry Land is a part of the dragons' domain that was stolen from them by the earliest mages in an attempt gone awry to obtain immortality. The Dry Land is restored to the dragons at the end of ''The Other Wind''.

Series

Books

Le Guin originally intended for ''A Wizard of Earthsea'' to be a standalone novel, but she wrote ''The Tombs of Atuan'' as a sequel after considering the loose ends in the first book; ''The Farthest Shore'' followed after further consideration. These three books were written in quick succession, from 1968 to 1972, and are sometimes seen as the "original trilogy". Nearly twenty years later, Le Guin wrote a fourth book, ''Tehanu'' (1990), and followed it with ''Tales from Earthsea'' and ''The Other Wind'' in 2001. The latter three books are sometimes referred to as the "second trilogy". The series as a whole is known as the ''Earthsea Cycle'', and was published in a single volume in 2018 as ''The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition'', with art by Charles Vess.

Short stories

Le Guin published nine short stories of Earthsea.
Seven appear in two collections of her work (and some have been reissued elsewhere). Two early stories were originally published in 1964, and were collected in ''The Wind's Twelve Quarters'' (Harper & Row, 1975). These helped to define the setting of Earthsea. Five much later stories were collected in ''Tales from Earthsea'' (Harcourt, 2001), where three were original. In October 2014 a new novella set in Earthsea was published as a stand-alone, "The Daughter of Odren". A final 12-page short story, "Firelight", was published in June 2018, covering the last days of Ged.

Tales from Earthsea also includes about 30 pages of fictional reference material titled "A Description of Earthsea" (2001).

* "The Word of Unbinding", ''Fantastic Stories of Imagination'', January 1964 ^+Q
* "The Rule of Names", ''Fantastic Stories of Imagination'', April 1964 ^+Q
* "Dragonfly", '' Legends: Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy'', Tor Books, 1998 ^+T
* "Darkrose and Diamond", ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'', Oct-Nov 1999 ^+T
* "The Bones of the Earth" (2001) ^T
* "The Finder" (2001) ^T
* "On The High Marsh" (2001) ^T
* "The Daughter of Odren" (2014)
* "Firelight", ''Paris Review'', Summer 2018, issue 225
:Notes:
:^+Q Collected in ''The Wind's Twelve Quarters''
:^+T Collected in ''Tales from Earthsea''
:^T   Original to ''Tales from Earthsea''
:All of the stories are included in ''The Books of Earthsea''.

Unsubmitted story

After "The Rule of Names" and before "A Wizard of Earthsea", Le Guin wrote a longish story about a prince in search of the Ultimate. He travels southwest from Havnor through the archipelago into the open sea. He finds a raft-colony and sea-people. The prince joins them in the sea. He wears out, sinks and finds the Ultimate. This story was never submitted for publication for "it never worked out itself well". However, the theme of a raft-colony and sea-people was later taken up as an important ingredient in the plot of ''The Farthest Shore''.

Awards

Each book in the series has received a literary award:

On November 5, 2019, the ''BBC News'' listed ''The Earthsea Trilogy'' on its list of the 100 most influential novels.

Adaptations

Audiobooks

There have been a number of audiobook readings by different narrators and publishers. "(Major works only, principal U.S. editions only)". In the early 1990s, Robert Inglis narrated the first three books of the series for Recorded Books.

Radio

A BBC
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