Book Review
Title: The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea #2)
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Genre: YA/Fantasy
Rating: *****
Review: I read A Wizard of Earthsea quite a while ago and it was my first trip into so-called “classic” fantasy and while it did take me a while to get into the story and enjoy it, I found it to be a great read and decided since I have the quartet that I would read the remaining three books and maybe the other ones that were published later on. I wasn’t aware that The Tombs of Atuan would follow a different protagonist, Tenar, rather than Ged but I was excited to see what Ursula K. Le Guin had in store for me this time. Tenar is chosen as the Priestess at the Tombs of Atuan or rather they chose her. This is a ritual where upon the death of the previous Priestess, the lower Priestess’ go off in search of a girl child born on the same night as the previous Priestess’ death. If this child shows no sign of disease and illness in her first five year, then she is declared the reincarnation of the Priestess and taken to the Place to protect the tombs and Teran is this chosen child. By the time she is 12 she doesn’t remember the family she had before and doesn’t have many friends in this place, the person who comes closest is Manan, her guard but she always wondered about what she left behind but she also doesn’t see the sense in wondering as she has her own duty to fulfil and is seemingly content with that. During the ceremony to initiate her as the Priestess, Tenar’s name is taken from her and from then on, she is only known as Arha, the Eaten One.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we learn that Arha isn’t happy in her role despite how she claims otherwise and the only person she ever shows side to is Manan as he understands and has possibly guarded the previous incarnations of herself, but the fact remains that Arha is a prisoner in the Holy Land. We also learn that in the Holy Land, they have a severe dislike of sorcerers as they don’t conform to the religions Four Lands of the Kargish Empire and are therefore seen as ignorant of the ways of the Holy Land. By the time Arha is 15 she has crossed from childhood into womanhood and has now come into her full role as the One Priestess but her day to day routine hasn’t changed much. However, the time soon comes where she is called upon to perform one of her key duties, the sacrifice of the prisoners sent by the Godking to the Nameless Ones, the ones that Arha serves.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Kossil, the High Priestess of the Godking, takes Arha down into the lower maze where she is taken to the Room of Chains where the prisoners are kept and is told to decide their fate and while she does this duty, she isn’t happy about it. When Kossil shows her the way out of the maze, Arha faints as if the burden placed on her is too much, especially when she learns the next time she makes that journey she has to do it alone as it is the domain of the Nameless Ones and a place only the One Priestess is allowed to enter unharmed. For some time after this, Arha is plagued by dreams, doubt and fear but she quickly masters this, the more time she spends in the lesser maze and eventually she is told the route of the Labyrinth which are passed down by word of mouth from the One Priestess to lesser Priestess’ who tell her reincarnation. Arha learns the ways of the Labyrinth and also learns of the treasury that only she is permitted to enter, which contains treasures of old including the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Arha is told that Erreth-Akbe was a sorcerer who came to rob the Place but was defeated and his ring, the source of his power was cut in half. Half was kept in the treasury where no one can enter and leave intact and the other half has been lost to time, but Arha is curious about the ring and sorcerers and wants to know more about them but neither Kossil nor Thar knows much. However, it is interesting to see that Thar and Kossil have differing opinions on sorcerers, while they both agree that they are bad and evil people, Kossil thinks their power is just trickery but we know that to be false from the first book whereas Thar has a much more accurate view of what their magic is and how it works.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, we continue to follow Arha for a while as she discovers the hidden passageways in the dark, until one day she finds a man, a stranger in the Labyrinth and wonders why the Nameless Ones haven’t killed him yet. Arha follows him for a while before trapping him in the Labyrinth as the door only opens from the outside and she doesn’t tell anyone about it, choosing to watch him through one of the many spyholes. Here she realises that he is a sorcerer and I have a feeling she is going to interact with him more as he can’t open the door even with his magic. I instantly recognised this sorcerer as Ged and around his neck, he wears half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe and I know he has come to retrieve the second half but that is kept in the treasury that only the Priestess know the way too and only the One Priestess may enter. Arha gives Ged the directions he seeks but after being stuck in the Labyrinth for days he doesn’t make it far before collapsing from thirst. Arha and Manan retrieve but he is still alive, Arha doesn’t have him killed as I believe her own curiosity won’t let her so they leave him in the Painted Room but she does take the Ring from him although she doesn’t know what it is along with his staff. Ged is now a prisoner of Arha, and he is at her mercy, she could kill him easily enough if she gave the right command and I am eager to see how Ged gets out of this one.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Arha and Ged do have a conversation where he tells her that he has come face to face with the Nameless Ones and the scar he wears is proof of that although Arha doesn’t believe him when he says he learned the creature’s name in the end as that is not what she has been taught but Ged knows more than her despite how she refuses to believe it and I know that her curiosity to learn will lead her to help Ged in his quest or at least free him from the chains in which he is currently bound. Arha returns time and time again to Ged, learning of world outside of the Tombs although she doesn’t believe most of it even when he shows her what he can do with illusions. However, during this last meeting she learns that Kossil was listening to them and comes up with a plan to keep Ged alive. She takes him to the Treasury of the Tombs, the very place he was seeking but he can’t leave it until she is sure that Kossil believes he is dead and maybe not even after that and Ged agrees to stay there, I think this is because even if he finds the other half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, Arha still has the other half around her neck and he will need it back. However, when she leaves him there, he calls her by her true name, Tenar, which startles her.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Arha has brought the wrath of Kossil upon herself as Kossil doesn’t believe the sorcerer is dead and Manan even tells her that Kossil will kill her given the chance unless the sorcerer dies but Arha refuses. Kossil is working in killing her after she finds the empty grave in the Undertomb and Arha hides with Ged in the Treasury because she doesn’t know what to do. Ged in order to help her recounts his tale of how he came to be in possession of his half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe which Arha has and how he found the other half and what that means. He presents her with a choice, where she can either give him to Kossil to truly die and remains Arha or leave with him and cross the sea where Arha will die but Tenar will live. While she is scared, in that moment she makes the choice to go with Ged, as she now knows his true name, the ultimate sign of trust from him and be known as Tenar from now on. I liked that Ged let Tenar keep both halves of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe in her possession rather than taking them from her as soon as he gained her trust. Together Ged and Tenar escape from the Labyrinth and the Place but it isn’t easy as Ged has to hold back the darkness at every turn and it seems to try and affect Tenar more as she has spent most of her life in the dark. By the time they are free from the Place, the Temple of the Nameless Ones collapses on itself and the Stone that had been a constant in Tenar’s life are swallowed by the Earth and she knows that she can truly trust Ged as he held it back until they were free even though it drained most of his power to do it.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, Ged and Tenar travel towards the sea and Havnor, but Tenar is worried as all she knows is meaningless in these new lands but Ged reassures her that she will be find even if he can’t stay with her. I personally felt that Ged has some feelings for Tenar although I am not sure what kind as he says he would rise from his grave if she called him which really pulled at my heartstrings. As they return to Havnor, Tenar doesn’t want to stay there as she has no place among the people and Ged agrees to take her to his old master, Ogion where she will stay with him and Ged will visit when he can. As they pull into the port and Tenar shows the people the Ring, she has the feeling of coming home. Overall, I enjoyed The Tombs of Atuan a lot more than the first book and read it in less than a day which was amazing, and I can’t wait to see where Ged’s adventures take him next. I found listening to the audiobook much better than reading the book alone, when I was reading A Wizard of Earthsea it took me quite a while to gel with the writing style and language Le Guin uses but I found it much easier having already read the first book and the audiobook was an even greater help.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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