Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Tehanu (and end of The Earthsea Quartet)







Tehanu is the last book of the Earthsea Quartet and I love it. Actually so much so that instead of continuing on the viewing project, I actually sat down and finished it last night. (The Project tends to stall when I watch a film I don't like that much).

SPOILERS GALORE!

In Tehanu our heroine is once again Tenar (from the Tombs of Atuan). I love this character with her flaws, insecurities and the way she faces the facts of life head on. In this one she has to deal with the death of a dear friend and teacher, evil done to innocents, curses and spells and Ged who has completely lost his magical powers. Not to mention a son who is not like her at all!!! At least she has a daughter who is intelligent and sensitive. And there is Ged who is still the love of her life even without magic (actually it works to her advantage). And her neighbour and close friend who is generous and helpful.

Tehanu is the name of the girl she has saved from a sadistic family who actually tried to burn her. She has lost one eye, one hand (which only about 10% of it works) and has scary scars on her face. But of course Tehanu is more than she seems and it is no surprise that in the end she is a child of the dragons with powerful magic who calls her mate to destroy the villains (the mate burns them all right there and then)


The Earthsea Quartet is a keeper not only because I love the prose (which is of the tidy type that appeals to me) but because of the world building done with as little detail as possible, great characters one involuntarily invests in and being a book that made me choose to read rather than do anything else.  

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