Recommendations from our site
“Le Guin writes beautifully clear, well-defined prose. She is a brilliant ethical thinker. I could have chosen almost any of the Earthsea books here. I chose this one just because it’s my favourite…You are on an island on the edge of the world that you encountered in the first book, and you spend most of the time with a fairly young girl, Tenar, who has been made the high priestess of terrifying underground powers. It’s mainly about her very restricted life in this temple community. And it’s wonderful in a completely different way to the first book, really spooky and worrying. There are points where it verges into genuine horror. But in the end, it’s a hopeful book about the ways that, although our upbringings will never quite leave us, we can move beyond them.” Read more...
“This shows that epiphanies can be… I don’t quite want to say accidental, but they can be impersonal. If someone gives you an epiphany, it’s not a promise or a love bond. They do not necessarily become your master or your mentor, or guide you through this. It could be simply that they are bringing you a new perspective and understanding of the world. If that upends things for you, they may have compassion for you, but they won’t necessarily accept responsibility for it.” Read more...
The Best Speculative Fiction About Gods and Godlike Beings
Karen Lord, Novelist
