\\n  “I cannot get this lute to play out of the minor … what would you hear?”\\n


THE FARTHEST SHORE is a captivating old school quest fantasy. Young Arren, the heir to the Principality of Morred, and Ged, the Archmage from Roke, the Isle of the Wise where magic is taught, embark on a journey to unknown places. Their mission is to uncover the reasons behind the disappearance of true magic in the lands of Earthsea. Why have the mages forgotten their spells? Why are the springs of wizardry running dry?


Ursula K LeGuin wrote THE FARTHEST SHORE during a time when political and economic conditions in the USA and the world were increasingly challenging. It's possible that her thoughts turned to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's inaugural address, where he spoke of the need to overcome fear and paralysis. In the story, perhaps LeGuin is also making a call to courage and collective resolution in the face of the unknown.


However, my assessment that THE FARTHEST SHORE is a simple call to courage may be wrong. The book's greatest weakness is its near impenetrable faux-mysticism and verbose literary pretentiousness. Despite being less than 200 pages long, it required all of my perseverance to finish. I only did so as a tribute to the first two books in the trilogy, A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA and THE TOMBS OF ATUAN. In truth, I'm not sure I fully understood it at all.


Paul Weiss

Have you ever had a feeling a while ago that you could go or return, and it seems that you have been feeling its slight signs for hours? Then you tell yourself that someone should relax, you can't do anything, let it come and go on its own. In my opinion, reading Islamabad is also like this. You already know in advance that you can't and don't want to read a book anymore, and it starts in such a way that you don't enjoy the books you are reading.

I think this cover of "From the Depths of the Earth" also received fewer stars from me because of this person, and from the middle onwards, I didn't care about it anymore.

However, you should read it.

**Original Article**: This place is really nice. The scenery is beautiful and the people are friendly.

**Expanded Article**:
This place is truly remarkable.

The scenery here is simply breathtaking. The lush greenery, the majestic mountains in the distance, and the clear blue sky all combine to create a postcard-perfect view.

Moreover, the people are extremely friendly. They welcome you with warm smiles and open hearts, making you feel right at home.

Whether you're taking a leisurely stroll through the town or engaging in local activities, you'll always be met with kindness and hospitality.

This place has a charm that is hard to resist, and it's no wonder that it has received a rating of 3.5⭐️.

Ursula K. Le Guin's works are truly captivating. In her first book, she delves into the growth of the main character.

In the second one, she explores the character's adulthood and a thrilling adventure that he undertakes.

And in the third book, the character has to face death. What is death? Well, what is life? The author is suggesting that both are two sides of the same coin.

Even though they are both something, they are never the same.

For a more in-depth review of this book, you can visit http://kitapokurum.blogspot.com/2018/....

Le Guin's exploration of these themes makes her books not only entertaining but also thought-provoking.

Readers are drawn into the character's journey and are left pondering the nature of life and death long after they have finished reading.

Her writing style is engaging and her characters are well-developed, making her books a must-read for any lover of literature.

Whether you are new to her work or a long-time fan, there is always something new to discover in her books.

So, pick up one of her books today and embark on a journey of self-discovery and exploration.

The Farthest Shore is a remarkable addition to the Earthsea Trilogy. It's the longest of the original three but still a concise work compared to today's hefty fantasy doorstops. Set seventeen years after The Tombs of Atuan, it follows the adventures of Ged, now an old and respected Archmage, and his young companion Arren. The story revolves around a mysterious "hole in the world" that threatens to suck out all life, love, magic, and names. Ged and Arren must embark on a perilous journey to save Earthsea from this global crisis.

This book is the most philosophical of the trilogy, exploring themes such as the balance between life and death and the sacrifices the old must make for the young. The character of Arren develops from a naive lad to a man of substance, similar to Tenar in The Tombs of Atuan and Ged in A Wizard of Earthsea. Dragons play a more significant role, and the world of Earthsea continues to expand and develop, with the raft-folks being a particularly notable addition.

The Farthest Shore is not as light-hearted as A Wizard of Earthsea or as dark as The Tombs of Atuan. Instead, it is more emotional and melancholic, beautifully wrapping up Ged's story. While I haven't read the fourth book, Tehanu, yet, I'm eager to see how Le Guin continues the Earthsea saga. In any case, the first three books are some of the best fantasy I've ever read.

The 2006 animated adaptation, Tales from Earthsea, has received mixed reviews. Le Guin herself was not happy with it, as it told a different story with the same character names. It may not be up to the standard of Studio Ghibli's other masterpieces like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro.

I'm somewhat conflicted by this book. It took me longer to read than expected. I really, really enjoyed The Tombs of Atuan. You can read my review here:- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I therefore had high hopes for 'The Farthest Shore'. However, it disappointed. In a nutshell, I didn't enjoy this book. Before I go into why I didn't, the obligatory free plug: My fantasy novels are available on Kindle Unlimited. If you like fantasy, here they are:-

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Right! Now that's out of the way - what was wrong with 'Farthest Shore'?

To be honest, I find it very hard to pin down EXACTLY what is wrong with it. Perhaps NOTHING and it's just me, I didn't enjoy it. What I cannot fault in this book is the writing. Le Guin uses poetic language and weaves some occasionally beautiful and often deep prose. She writes about wizards, while conducting her own wizardry on the page. This book is full of rich, vivid description, emotional and evocative dialogue, she's a master of the written word. Or is that mistress? No, you can't have a mistressy of the written word so she must be a master. Anyway, the writing is good. It's very good. It's perhaps at times TOO good, in that the striving for poetic, beautiful prose pays a price in clarity. At times I found myself glazing over and losing track of what was actually going on in the story.

When I review a book, I can't simply critique the writing. I have to rate it based on the story as a whole. The writing is an intrinsic part of that whole, but it isn't the be and end all. A display of skill doesn't always equal spectator enjoyment. It's a bit like when we watch the 8 year old Chinese pianist on 'Blue Peter' or a similar television program, showing off how they can play a grade 9 piano piece flawlessly, their fingers dancing over the keys faster than the eye can track. The notes being struck with such ferocity and speed they barely register in the mind, leaving us with a tune that is so complex it's impossible to hum or even recall. The display is impressive. We marvel at the skill, however do we actually enjoy the music? Personally, I don't tend to.

I feel like this book was the same. The writing was good, but the characters were flat. They lacked a key ingredient. Humanity. Humanity is critical to writing engaging characters. Even when they aren't human. I like the examples of Tenar from The Tombs of Atuan and Vexis Zaelwarsh from Rise of the Archmage. Tenar's early life as a priestess is bizarre. It's almost inhumanly unusual. During the course of the book she escapes a prison, not just a physical prison but a mental prison, where her way of thinking and acting has been controlled for a long time. The slow shift in her thoughts and attitude were portrayed exquisitely in Tombs of Atuan. She had a very human response to the events unfolding around her and at times you felt like you were actually in her head. You could empathize with her. I wrote Rise of the Archmage before I read Tombs of Atuan, but I see a lot of parallels between Vexis and Tenar. In Rise, Vexis is an ex-priestess, a dark elf, who has lost her faith and fled her community, having to learn how to fit into a very different society and not always getting it right. I liked her story, she wasn't human, but she had human flaws, she failed to understand people and was confused as to why events didn't unfold as she'd expected them to.

Back to Ged and Arren. What Tenar had and they don't have is humanity. They are hard to empathize with. Arren has this almost sycophantic hero worship of Ged. Yes, Ged is a legend in Le Guin's world, but the one-sided relationship makes them both seem like more two-dimensional characters. Arren is hard to empathize with for different reasons. With Ged, we followed him as a youngster when he unleashed the dark entity in book 1. We watched him grow and make mistakes and learn as he pursued it. With Tenar, we watched her emerge from a mental prison with the help of a still young and impetuous Ged, but a Ged who is sensitive and thoughtful and who manages to help Tenar as she helps him. Now Ged is older. He's made Archmage, he's settled into a job which means he's very revered, but he probably doesn't actually have to do much. Him setting out on a boat with this young prince because magic is dying seems odd. It doesn't sit right. Their conversations and actions are kind of flat? You don't actually feel like you're there, sharing the journey with them as you did Tenar in Tombs. There WAS a moment when I thought things might pick up. I won't go into how, but Arren became enslaved. For a moment was expecting to see a different, more human aspect of both his and Ged's character, but it didn't happen. Le Guin wrapped up the rescue in a couple of unremarkable paragraphs.

The final scenes, from the deranged dragons, unable to speak, to the villages of the dead were better. But it was the scenery and the intrigue that carried the story - NOT the characters. I think the ambiguity and vagueness of the villain throughout the book made it hard to engage. When they did meet Cob and engage in conflict with him it was better, it interesting, but not interesting enough to make up for the broadly speaking rather boring journey.

There are some deep themes in this book. It might be a book which takes several reads to fully appreciate, but for me that's a flaw with a book. The tone and the premise about accepting the inevitability of death doesn't sit well with me either. I don't like the message.

I will read on. I admire the prose in this book, it's very well written, but the story is lacking something. I've already started Tehanu as I bought the Earthsea Quartet as one book, and I'm already enjoying Tehanu FAR more. Tenar and Ogion are much more likable characters for some reason. Will I buy the fifth book? I don't know. It depends how Tehanu goes. I want to read Tenar's story and I also want to learn more about the children abandoned on the reef who are visited in book 1 and mentioned in book 2. They were absent in this volume, but I never really got closure over their tragic, almost heart-breaking lives. I think that's the key the a good fantasy novel. Characters YOU CARE ABOUT!

Despite the harrowing journey, the interesting scenes and the deep, philosophical theme of this book I never actually cared about the characters. If Ged and Arren had ended up drowning in the sea or being defeated by Cob, I'm not sure I'd have actually been bothered. I'd probably have been pleased that the next book would have to follow more interesting and engaging characters.

So to sum up, great writing, impressive book. However simply not that enjoyable to read. I could take or leave it at any time and had to force myself to finish it. The reason? The characters, Ged and Arren though portrayed in detail were just not characters I could bring myself to care about and that killed the book for me.

Paperback:- http://amzn.to/2xS0qSc
Kindle Edition:- http://amzn.to/2fO6GmQ

Martyn Stanley
Author of:-
The Last Dragon Slayer (Free to download)

The scenery described in the story is truly nice, and the writing is of a certain standard. However, the characters failed to persuade me.

Particularly, Arren does not emerge as an interesting character. He blindly follows Ged on an ambiguous mission to discover the reason why magic is disappearing from the world.

Although the theme of accepting mortality, which is central to the book, is captivating, it also results in the antagonist being rather abstract.

In the end, I have no idea why Arren should possess the qualities to be a king. Moreover, I feel that Ged was never really in danger throughout this story.

Perhaps more development of the characters and a clearer motivation for Arren's actions could have made the story more engaging and believable.

As it stands, while the book has its merits in terms of scenery and theme, the characterizations fall short, leaving me with a sense of dissatisfaction.

The book had a very good beginning and ending, but the middle part was a bit dull, and I felt that it should be reduced by about thirty to forty percent. The old leather cover of the book was more important. It seemed that the main entanglement and the battle that was going towards it were less important than the journey on the sea. This, in my opinion, made the story different. The furthest edge, in my opinion, regarding accepting life and changes, especially death, was that although it might not give a clear and definite answer to the question, but the concept could be easily understood.

It is possible that the author intended to create a sense of mystery and ambiguity in the middle part to keep the readers engaged and thinking. However, for some readers, it might have been a bit too much.

Overall, despite the flaws in the middle, the book still had its strengths, such as the well-developed characters and the interesting plot. It made me think about life and death in a different way and appreciate the beauty and complexity of these concepts.

Earthsea is losing its magic.

This sentence can serve as both a depiction of the book's storyline and my assessment of it. Indeed, while Le Guin's writing remains as flawless as ever, this installment was not on par with the initial two parts of the series, and certainly, it falls far short of the intellectual and literary caliber of her science fiction works.

Reading about the adventures of Sparrowhawk and his comrades is never a dull experience. However, to me, Earthsea appeared more like an enjoyable little detour for the author, a respite during which she could recharge her creative batteries before embarking on a new literary masterpiece. This aspect became quite evident in this particular book.

It seems that the once vibrant and enchanting world of Earthsea is gradually losing its luster, and this change is palpable throughout the narrative. While the characters and their quests are still engaging, there is a certain something missing that made the earlier books in the series so captivating.

Perhaps this is a natural evolution in the author's writing, or maybe it's a sign that she is ready to explore new literary territories. Either way, Earthsea, in this third installment, leaves a bit to be desired compared to its predecessors.

Nevertheless, it's important to note that even a less-than-perfect work by Ursula K. Le Guin is still a worthy read, and there are many elements in this book that will appeal to fans of the series and lovers of fantasy literature in general.

Original Article: The importance of exercise cannot be overemphasized. It helps keep our bodies healthy and strong. Regular exercise can improve our cardiovascular system, increase our muscle strength, and enhance our flexibility. It also has a positive impact on our mental health, reducing stress and anxiety.

Expanded Article:

The significance of exercise simply cannot be exaggerated. It plays a crucial role in maintaining the health and strength of our bodies.

Regular physical activity has the ability to improve our cardiovascular system, making our hearts and blood vessels function more efficiently. It can also increase our muscle strength, allowing us to perform daily activities with greater ease and reducing the risk of injury.

Moreover, exercise is essential for enhancing our flexibility. This helps us maintain a good range of motion in our joints, which is important for overall physical well-being.

In addition to its physical benefits, exercise also has a profound impact on our mental health. It can reduce stress and anxiety, improve our mood, and boost our self-confidence. By engaging in regular exercise, we can improve our quality of life both physically and mentally.

Oh, this took an incredibly long time to finish!

It wasn't because the content wasn't interesting at all. On the contrary, it was quite engaging. However, I was suffering from laryngitis, which made it difficult for me to read aloud. Additionally, I had a lot of travel commitments during this period, which further disrupted my reading schedule.

That being said, I must admit that this installment in the series is a lot slower-paced and (seemingly) more aimless than the previous two. Nevertheless, I still love the relationship between Arren and Sparrowhawk. It is truly captivating to see how their bond evolves and experiences both ups and downs. What's more, their connection is ultimately based on mutual admiration and love, which is truly heartwarming.

I'm not entirely sure what my son's final thoughts are on this book.

Edit: My son just informed me that he really enjoyed it and gave it a 4-star rating!

This is my third reading of this wonderful book.

The third book of Earthsea, and actually the last book of the series as planned, The Farthest Shore, now focuses on the long journey that Ged and Arren undertake. Earthsea is in danger of losing its balance. The power of magic is waning, the ancient names that gave meaning to everything are being forgotten one by one, and the "balance" is being disrupted. People's search for immortality is leading them astray from the path of life, consuming everything beautiful about life. In order to understand the reason for this and restore the balance, they embark on a long journey. Ged and Arren, along with the Finder, set off towards the Western Isles, where they will encounter new adventures, new experiences, and completely different people.

This book by Le Guin, planned as the final point of the series, has less action compared to the other books. Here, more emphasis is placed on the journey and the experiences gained along the way rather than the destination. The book progresses based on the bond that Ged and Arren form, the lessons the young prince learns from the wizard, and their friendship. My biggest complaint about this book is that Ged has been stripped of too many of his wizardly qualities. Throughout the story, he seems like an ordinary person, refraining from using his powers as if he has no special ability, and is portrayed as a weaker character. Perhaps the passage of time and the maturity that comes with the years have made him this way. In the first book, he paid a very heavy price for his pride and arrogance.

Overall, I was glad that The Farthest Shore, which progresses more slowly compared to the first books of the series, did not have a final blow. I was also glad that Le Guin decided to continue the series after more than ten years had passed. This book deserves a better ending. But after this book, I felt that I needed to take a break before continuing. I think I will take a break for a while before continuing.