Rating:  -
All right, here is the real deal about this book. This is not an Earthsea novel but a Tenar novel. Le Guin owed Tenar of the Tombs a life; one after her life of darkness ended and she was left with nothing but her re-claimed name. Tehanu represents the twenty years of Tenar's life that the reader of Earthsea has missed. Does she leave Earthsea behind while doing it? Yes, to a very great degree she does. Except for two fascinating 'cameos' of the 'Eldest', Kalessin, the dragon, life outside Gont island is pretty much dormant. I can sympathize with Earthsea purists feeling cheated about that. As a 'human' story about one woman's life, however, this book is vivid and meticulous. It paints a picture of said life.
Now....the title character needs a mention. Le Guin deliberately keeps you guessing about the true nature of this intriguing marred little girl. The fact that she has hidden within her some very great, mysterious power makes you impatient as this story unfolds. I WILL grant that about this book. The fact that Tehanu plays a pivotal role in the climax is much-anticipated and long-awaited by the reader, yes.
The antagonist, Aspen, does seem to dislike Tenar simply because she is a woman and this type of shallow misogyny leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This was another negative aspect of the book I might mention. However, there is some imagery that I found absolutely spectacular as well. Near the end when Aspen lays a curse upon Tenar, you as the reader, experience what is happening to her through HER utterly dumbfounded and helpless eyes. You do not know what is happening to her!! It is truly scary and left me with goose-bumps.
Altogether worth a read. Only for the 'still, deep' Earthsea fans, however.
Rating:  -
If Oprah Winfrey wrote an Earthsea book to be televised on the Lifetime channel, this would be the product. If that's what you like, this will please you. If you enjoyed Earthsea before Hillary Clinton was Archmage, stay away.
Rating: -
This is the worst sci-fi/fantasy novel I've ever read. On a scale from 1 to 10 I would give it a zero if I could. First off, don't let the title of the book belonging to the Earthseas series fool you. This novel was written many years afterwards and is in no sense at all in spirit similar to the rest of the Earthseas series. The fact that it is attached to it is a shameless method to sell more books. If you have enjoyed the three Earthseas series books, leave it at that. I had not read the series before this book came out, but had always wanted to and since I had seen that Tehanu had won a Nebula award, I rushed out and read the 3 Earthseas books in a row right before reading Tehanu. So it wasn't that I had forgotten anything over time. The main character in this book is by name only, the same as the places used. To say this book is disappointing is an understatement. You get the idea quickly that LeGuin is trying to convey, but it's just pounded into you page after page. I actually regret having read this book and I cannot think of anything else I have read or viewed that I feel that way about. I've seen some goodness awful B movies and can say they were a waste of time, but this I actually regret having read. How this novel won a Nebula Award is just astounding. Is the SFWA guild all personal friends of Ursula K. LeGuin so it's a inside job, and the award was a form of nepotism. Actually to bestow what used to be a great award to Tehanu really brings into question the present worth of the award. I have read some of the sub-par quality works the Nebula has been bestowed to since then as verification of that. It is as if the Nebulas had become an instrument of political commentary rather than an award given to the best science fiction/fantasy of the year. I greatly enjoyed Ursula K. LeGuin's other novels, her Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed are in my top 10 favorite science fiction novels, and I have enjoyed the other novels and stories written by her so I'm somewhat familiar with her works. Which is why this book is even more shocking. I can only surmise some negative personal event occurred in her life and instead of talking about it with friends, she decided to take it out on you, the reader. What is this concept LeGuin pounds down your throat? Basically, this book is about the horrors of what life is like for a middle aged to elderly woman. And I have to say it was written so depressingly that I actually felt physically sick while reading it. Now, one could say that's great writing, and I suppose it would be great if we were all haughty rich aristocratic immortals just lying around, numb to life, needing some sort of stimulus in our lives. But most of us are hard working people with limited time and our own personal issues in life and really turn to books as a brief reprieve from them, or to open up to new ideas, multiple ideas and concepts, not just the same one written over and over. Oh no! only a middle aged woman has any hardship whatsoever in life. Older men, just go to work if and whenever they want, with their feet up on the desk, no responsibilities whatsoever and pneumatic secretaries walking around in skimpy outfits with trays of cocktails and get paid by the truckloads, and younger men have absolutely no worries or concerns with the vagaries of women, any girl/woman they want just falls in their arms and younger women always have their princes take them into their arms and never get used by them and not fail to see the considerate guys they spurn in their midsts until it too late. It's just jack slap dandy for the rest of us. If you're a person who is upbeat or just not a masochist, there are so, so many good books to read out there. In fact pick up almost any other Ursula K. LeGuin book written by this accomplished author. Or if you're in any way interested in the potential issues of elderly women, rent and watch the movie A Trip To Bountiful which really covers the basic issue of what Tehanu tries to convey, but does it far more productively. If you want to know what Tehanu is like, watch A Trip to Bountiful 100 times. Then take out all the scenes where there's smiling, where it's light hearted and splice all these negative scenes together and then watch that 300 more times. That's what reading Tehanu is like, no joke! You got the idea, but there it is over and over and over and over. If you're an open-minded, sensitive person, watch the movie, watch it even a few times if so desired, to appreciate, empathize with the quest the elderly female main character is on, and her trials and tribulations along the way. And if you have limited precious free time and are still open-minded take up one of the many, many fine books out there.
Rating:  -
I started reading this book with some reluctance and dread, as I'd read the reviews previously here on the site. I'm glad I read the book though (in spite of the negativity). It's a continuation of the Earthsea cycle; Tenar and Ged are older, and Tenar has taken in a little girl, badly burned in a fire. The story centers on the life of this little girl, how she was abused by her parents and their friends, and ultimately left to die in the coals of the fire they'd set to kill her in.
She learns to overcome; and although you could say that Earthsea loses its magic, there's an inner magic that transends it all. This damaged, abused, hated and despised little girl so hideous to look at that people won't look at her turns out to be our story's heroine, saving the lives of those around her.
The magic of Earthsea isn't in the spells or the 'magic tricks' we read about in the other books by Le Guin, it turns out to be a child returning love for hatred. Personally, I think that is the best magic I've read so far, outside Scriptures.
Rating: -
As a previous reviewer said, this "work" is a betrayal of all the Earthsea novels which came before. LeGuin murders her wonderful, lyrical world and characters of the first three Earthsea novels -- I guess for the money, and for the dubious "right" to be called a "feminist." But to this reader, it sounds as if LeGuin hates men and decided to make that Tenar's raison d'etre.
There is no point in parsing out her treason. If you've already read it, you know how gawdawful this book is; if you haven't, you don't want -- I repeat, YOU DON'T WANT -- to know what she's written in it.
I have never seen an author hate his own art so, that he would write such a revolting parody of his best work. But this LeGuin has done. As a woman, as a reader, as an admirer of the first three works, as a person who values the grace and lyricism of well wrought language, I reject this novel. In fact, after I had read it (back at its first publication), I immediately burned it, then buried its ashes deep in the mire.
Don't pollute your imagination. Pass this one by.
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