Earth, Sea and the Winds

So yeah.

Once in a while, comes a story that just blows your mind into tiny bits. Where you turn the final page and just sit, blankly staring into the void. Where the conclusion of the plot you've been following for the past few days or weeks just crashes onto you and makes it hard to gather your thoughts properly. Where you both feel content with how the story ended and at the same time suffer from a case of that subtle, nagging sadness of realization that you just had a one-in-a-lifetime experience. Which has just ended.

That's how I feel after turning the last page of The Other Wind. I still have the Earthsea short stories collection to go through, but I feel like I can try to sum up and share my thoughts on the journey across the islands of... well, the Earthsea itself.

To start from the beginning - Earthsea is a series of novels (and short stories) by a late American author Ursula le Guin. Taking place on a vast archipelago permeated with magic and mystery, the story begins with a young boy - Ged - discovering his magical talent and embarking on a journey of to become a wizard - first as an apprentice of the venerable wizard Ogion, and then as a student of the ancient school of Roke. During his journeys, Ged travels the Earthsea far and wide, discovering its secrets and facing deepest of mysteries.

OK, that sounded cheesy, but I guess some general introduction was due. Now to more personal impressions.

First of all - the setting. Oh God. The idea of a world composed of liteally hundreds of separate islands was always compelling to me. And le Guin managed to not only create such a world, but she also made each and every part of it distinctive and fascinating to discover. From the mundane, backwater island of Gont, through dry and deserted Atuan and enchanted Roke, all the way to far reaches of Selidor - you feel like the world around the heroes lives and evolves. Even when revisiting places, you get to see how that particular city or island changed over the years that had passed since the last time you saw it - and that only adds to the already captivating narrative that follows Ged and his adventures.

The worldbuilding is rich and vivid. Le Guin doesn't go into lenghty descriptions like Tolkien*; instead, she jewels the story with small details, one that often seem to add little to the actual plot, such as the Long Dance - a celebration that marks the begining of each year - which gets described several times throughout the books. Through this festival, the reader can see how the people of the archipelago share the same roots, but at the same time differ from island to island. Passing mentions of how each and every nation has its own quirks and curiosities adds details to the rich tapestry le Guin weaves, allowing you to dive into the story as it steadily flows forward.

This is definitely not an action story. Yes, there are chases, magic duels, perils and obstacles for the heroes to overcome - but there are few antagonists to defeat. The actual conflict (if it can be called such) lies elsewhere - and I don't think it can be easily summed up or described without spoiling huge chunks of the story. Suffice to say, it takes you far. Farther than Selidor, where the other winds blow.

And the third element that grabbed my heart when reading the story - the characters. As I mentioned before, the story spans many years (or decades, to be more precise) - and those years take their toll on the characters. Even though Ged is the protagonist, significant sections of the series are written from other characters' perspectives - and le Guin does a great job to show how their point of view is influenced by their origins, upbringing, or past experiences. The world as seen by the young head priestess in Tombs of Atuan differs vastly from the way Ged perceives it - or from the one seen by young prince Arren in The Farthest Shore. And let's not even get into how explaining here the dragons think and act.

Actually, this book finally made me realize what my wife loves about those creatures.

To sum up - I loved every single page. I don't really rate books, so I can't say if this is the best read of my life, or even a part of top 5 or 10 - but I definitely want to get my own copy (the one I am reading is a library one) and return sooner than later.