Tehanu

Being drawn into this fourth and final 'Earthsea' novel is both to remember the power and skill of Le Guin's writing and to discover with enormous pleasure a whole new level of engagement with the material. As the characters have matured, so has the writer, choosing to recast this final version of Earthsea from the perspective of age, women and the powerless. The story centres on Tenar, the princess from the second book. Having just buried her husband, she acts as mother to a young girl, horribly scarred, physically and mentally as the victim of abuse, attends Ogion's final days and then receives Ged as he returns from the battle seen in the third book, drained of his power and confidence. Death, weakness and fear mark the whole book, there is no longer the childish security of magic to ward off evil and at several points we seem very close to losing the security of any kind of 'happy' ending. In seeing Earthsea from the point of view of the powerless and exposing the blindness and partiality of the male-dominated world of power, we are given a new, rich creation which flames out of the embers of the earlier books. It's difficult to see it standing apart from the trilogy preceding it, but what a conclusion, what a joy to read.