Book Review
Title: Tehanu (Earthsea #4)
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Genre: YA/Fantasy
Rating: DNF
Review: The Farthest Shore was the end of the original trilogy, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend more time with Ged after falling in love with him and re-joining Tenar after we left her at the Tombs of Atuan. Tehanu takes place during the same time period as The Farthest Shore but it is set on Gont following the widow Goha, who is Tenar and for the sake of ease I will be referring to her as Tenar as that is her true name. Tenar is summoned by another wife who needs help healing a child who has been severely burned but there is little that can be done for her; however, the child survives and Tenar takes her in calling her Therru. One day, she is summoned to Ogion who is ill and she makes all haste to the Falcon’s nest but we can see that the land of Gont is also being affected by the blight as it has become quite a dangerous place to live especially if you are a woman.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Tenar stays with Ogion even as he dies but in hi he seems to see something from far away and tells Tenar to wait there but he doesn’t get the chance to tell her what she is waiting for. So, for a while, Tenar and Therru both stay in the old mage’s home and wait until one day a dragon brings Ged back to Gont and tells Tenar its name Kalessin and she gives her name in response. Ged when we left him at the end of The Farthest Shore was in a bad way and he doesn’t seem much better here but Ogion’s words about people fearing Therru are playing on Tenar’s mind as they already fear her because of her scars. Along with a village witch, Moss and a young girl named Heather they tend to Ged, but he hasn’t awoken not even when Tenar hauled him down from the dragon’s back. We are nearly a ¼ of the way through the novel and nothing has happened at all, the pacing was slow in other books but at least we were getting to know characters but we aren’t even doing that here, I am reserving judgement on this book as I loved the original trilogy but I have a feeling that I might end up DNFing Tehanu or I might finish it but it isn’t going to be as good as the previous three books.
At 30% I DNF’d this book because absolutely nothing was happening by the time, I reached the same point in A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest Shore the action was already underway. The writing style is also slightly different between the original trilogy and Tehanu which put me off and the characters weren’t really acting the same as we had seen them. I know they have grown up and undergone trials, but their base personality shouldn’t change. Also, the extreme feminist message in Tehanu was off-putting as the other books never had this and in this one it feels like it is being rammed down your throat which I wasn’t there for. I’d highly recommend the original trilogy, but I’d stop after that.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.com
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