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The Earthsea Quartet (Puffin Books) by Le Guin Ursula K. (2010-05-01) Paperback
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About the author
Ursula K. Le Guin
1,046 books30.3k followersUrsula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.
She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.
She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.
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November 2, 2025
Read this and you'll probably wonder why anyone else bothers to write any fantasy.
So what else is there to say? Well I thought the first book had a bit of the Frankenstein story about it. You know, he creates a monster that in the end he must destroy. But so what? She makes the story her own. And the ending to the final book is wonderful. She gets you to feel for the characters. She dumps you right down before lifting you up again. A super read.
Thank you Ursula le guin.
So what else is there to say? Well I thought the first book had a bit of the Frankenstein story about it. You know, he creates a monster that in the end he must destroy. But so what? She makes the story her own. And the ending to the final book is wonderful. She gets you to feel for the characters. She dumps you right down before lifting you up again. A super read.
Thank you Ursula le guin.
Displaying 1 of 1 review