Rinaldo’s Reviews > Tales from Earthsea > Status Update

So Dragonfly is easily the strongest story in this collection. It ties up the threads from other stories in this book, even from The Farthest Shore and Tehanu. Unfortunately, it ends in some sort of cliffhanger.

I dunno, the first two stories have been frankly subpar for Le Guin's standard. Low-key if not downright milquetoast stories and uninspired worldbuilding which read like what could have been of Ged's life. By comparison, the opening essay/foreword was brilliant.

So far, I think Earthsea's worldbuilding is still significantly weaker compared to Hainish Cycle. The former is mostly grounded and read like generic European-inspired world, despite Le Guin's efforts in subverting the tropes. I kinda wish Le Guin had experimented a bit more with inventive ideas and speculative anthropology she employed in Hainish books.