The Farthest Shore

The Farthest Shore (1972) Ursula K. Le Guin

The final book in The Earthsea Trilogy, as A Wizard of Earthsea tells of the start of Ged’s life as a wizard, The Farthest Shore closes his adventures.

This time, Ged appears at the start of the book, as he receives Prince Arren, sent by his father to warn of magic disappearing from the world.

Like the previous two books, there is much to consider about the nature of evil.

“But you knew them to be evil men–“
“Was I to join them therefore? To let their acts rule my own? I will not make life choices for them, nor will I let them make mine for me!”

I very much like her take on “evil” and how it affects individuals and the world. If I understand her point, there is no such thing as an evil being, only men who take evil actions. And with this I agree. I think that anyone can be redeemed, no matter how much we may not want to see it or believe it. But redemption is not an easy thing, and not everyone can manage it.

As far as the book goes, I didn’t enjoy it as much as the previous two. Although like the previous two books, it was short (my copy is only 197 pages), for some reason parts seemed to drag on for me. Like, I kept wondering why she just couldn’t say, “Their journey was long, and difficult,” instead of pages and pages of describing their difficult journey.

Maybe I was just being particularly impatient, and reading this on another day I wouldn’t mind so much, but I just wanted them to get wherever they were going.

But other than the journey that seemed to last forever, the story was good. I particularly liked the way she wrote how the Arran felt and dealt with the influence of the miasma that was such a problem. Although my first thought was, “what on earth is WRONG with him?” she did a good job with the subtle changes in perspective and feeling that he was dealing with.

So, not my favorite book in the series, but a decent enough conclusion.
Rating: 6/10

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