The Other Wind (Earthsea Series #5) by Ursula K. Le Guin

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The Barnes & Noble Review
The Other Wind, Ursula K. Le Guin's first Earthsea novel in more than a decade, is so much more than the sum of its parts. Yes, it is the fifth novel (and sixth volume overall, including the short story collection Tales of Earthsea) in Le Guin's classic Earthsea cycle, arguably one of the greatest fantasy sagas of the last century. It was also the winner of the distinguished World Fantasy Award for Best Novel of 2001, beating out the likes of Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman, and Lois McMaster Bujold. But The Other Wind is so much more than an award-winning fantasy; it's a deep, theological novel about understanding who we really are and coming to terms with our own mortality.

When I first read the original three Earthsea novels as a teenager back in the early 1970s, one of the most memorable images was that of the dry lands, the gray afterworld in the far west where the dead went for all eternity. A simple stone wall stretches endlessly across a hillside of dead grass separating the living from the dead. The magical border, which no one can cross, can only be visited by the living in dreams.

It is at this border where The Other Wind begins. Alder is a humble sorcerer from the island of Ea whose gift is mending. Ever since his beloved wife, Lily, died, he has been troubled by nightmares of the dry lands. In his dreams, he stands on the hillside by the stone wall while the dead souls -- including his wife -- beg him to free them. He sees them trying desperately to dismantle the stones in the wall. If the wall is breached, will the dead souls invade Earthsea? Alder goes to the mages of Roke Island for answers, but they're mystified. He is eventually sent to Sparrowhawk (a.k.a. Ged), the ex-Archmage of Earthsea, who is now leading a simple agrarian life with his wife, Tenar, on the Island of Gont. After listening to Alder's plight, Ged quickly realizes that Alder's dreams of the dead are connected to other disturbing events in Earthsea, including the recurrence of dragon attacks in the western isles as well as a strange diplomatic gesture from the new warlord king of Karg.

Sensing that Alder's dreams portend some great imminent unbalancing in the world, Ged sends the troubled sorcerer to Havnor to meet with King Lebannen. Ged's wife and their daughter Tehanu are already in Havnor consulting with the king. Also present are Seserakh, a mysterious Kargish princess whose religious and cultural beliefs are much different than those of the Archipelago, and Orm Irian (a.k.a. Dragonfly), a representative from the dragons who has a much different perspective on the dry lands and human afterlife. It is decided that a small group should travel to the Immanent Grove on Roke Island, the center of Earth's powers, to try and rebalance the world.

Although The Other Wind can be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel, I think that readers would be doing themselves a great disservice by not reading the first four novels (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu) as well as the short story collection (specifically the novella "Dragonfly"). This adition to the saga not only expands and enriches the Earthsea mythos but also gracefully and poetically concludes the lives of Ged and Tenar, the two primary figures throughout much of the series. Paul Goat Allen

From the Publisher

The sorcerer Alder fears sleep. He dreams of the land of death, of his wife who died young and longs to return to him so much that she kissed him across the low stone wall that separates our world from the Dry Land-where the grass is withered, the stars never move, and lovers pass without knowing each other. The dead are pulling Alder to them at night. Through him they may free themselves and invade Earthsea.

Alder seeks advice from Ged, once Archmage. Ged tells him to go to Tenar, Tehanu, and the young king at Havnor. They are joined by amber-eyed Irian, a fierce dragon able to assume the shape of a woman.

The threat can be confronted only in the Immanent Grove on Roke, the holiest place in the world and there the king, hero, sage, wizard, and dragon make a last stand.

Le Guin combines her magical fantasy with a profoundly human, earthly, humble touch. 6 X 9.

Author Biography: Ursula K. Le Guin was born in Berkeley, California, in 1929. Among her honors are a National Book Award, five Hugo and five Nebula Awards, the Kafka Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is a feminist, conservationist, and Taoist, and lives in Portland, Oregon.

I adored The Other Wind. Real mythmaking, done by a master of the craft. . . . The magic of Earthsea is primal; the lessons of Earthsea remain as potent, as wise, and as necessary as anyone could dream.

author of Stations of the Tide - Michael Swanwick

Le Guin understands magic and dragons better than anyone, and her writing only gets better with each new book. THE OTHER WIND is a triumph.

Neil Gaiman

I adored The Other Wind. Real mythmaking, done by a master of the craft. . . . The magic of Earthsea is primal; the lessons of Earthsea remain as potent, as wise, and as necessary as anyone could dream."

Publishers Weekly

What a year it's been for Le Guin. First, there was The Telling, the widely praised new novel in her Hainish sequence, followed by Tales from Earthsea, a collection of recent short fiction in her other major series. Now she returns with a superb novel-length addition to the Earthsea universe, one that, once again, turns that entire series on its head. Alder, the man who unwittingly initiates the transformation of Earthsea, is a humble sorcerer who specializes in fixing broken pots and repairing fence lines, but when his beloved wife, Lily, dies, he is inconsolable. He begins to dream of the land of the dead and sees both Lily and other shades reaching out to him across the low stone wall that separates them from the land of the living. Soon, more general signs and portents begin to disturb Earthsea. The dragons break their long-standing truce and begin to move east. The new ruler of the Kargad Lands sends his daughter west in an attempt to wed her to King Lebannen. Even Ged, the former archmage, now living in peaceful, self-imposed exile on Gont, starts to have disturbing dreams. In Tehanu (1990), the fourth book in the series, Le Guin rethought the traditional connection between gender and magic that she had assumed in the original Earthsea trilogy. In her new novel, however, she reconsiders the relationship between magic and something even more basic: life and death itself. This is not what 70-year-old writers of genre fantasy are supposed to do, but then, there aren't many writers around like Le Guin. (Oct. 1) FYI: In addition to five Hugo and five Nebula awards, Le Guin has won a National Book Award, the Kafka Award and a Pushcart Prize. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Janet Julian - KLIATT

Ursula LeGuin visits Earthsea again, after an absence of ten years, and finds familiar faces. Sparrowhawk, the retired Archmage, tends his goats on a hillside, his magic gone. His adopted daughter is confused about her role in life. Lebannen is king, troubled by attacking dragons and a fiancée he doesn't want: she is an alien princess whose father just wants to be rid of her. And then there are the dead, who refuse to stay put. Alder starts it all, searching for an escape from troublesome dreams about his beloved dead wife Lily. In the dreams she touches him, an impossibility. He is sent to Sparrowhawk, who cannot help him directly. Alder's quest for peace shakes the foundations of Earthsea. Fans of the series will find much to admire in this featured alternate of the Science Fiction Book Club. More attention could have been paid to the dragons, but the line between the dead and living is an interesting one to cross in the company of wizards. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2001, Berkley, Ace, 273p.,

Library Journal

A village mender's love for his dead wife leads him in his dreams to the dry lands of the dead where a kiss from his wife's spirit begins a chain of events that shakes the foundations of the realms of Earthsea. Le Guin's first Earthsea novel in ten years blends old themes and familiar people from previous series books with new characters and fresh stories, demonstrating once again the power of storytelling to transform the known into the unknown and the ordinary into the extraordinary. Le Guin remains a master of subtlety and grace as she finds new and surprising ways to express deep truths cloaked in the trappings of fantasy. A priority purchase for libraries of all sizes. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/00.] Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Back among the wizards and dragons of Earthsea (Tales from Earthsea; Tehanu, etc.). When humans die in Earthsea their spirits flee across the wall of stones to the Dry Land; in that dark, dead, dusty country beneath unchanging stars, they become shadows with no thought for their former selves or lives. Humble sorcerer Alder passionately loved his wife, the witch Lily. When she died tragically young, Alder somehow reached across the wall of stones to touch her, establishing a bond that transcended death. Now, the dead are using this bond to pull down the wall dividing life from death. What if they emerge into the living world? Too terrified to sleep, Alder brings his tale to Ged, the former archmage, thence to King Lebannen and his advisors, among them Ged's wife Tenar and their adoptive daughter Tehanu, a dragon in human form. Other problems beset Lebannen: dragons are attacking islands in the west, apparently intending to drive humans out of Earthsea; and the new king of the barbarian Kargad Lands sends his daughter Seserakh to be Lebannen's bride-a commitment the angry king is unwilling to make. Meanwhile, Earthsea's greatest wizards are divided among themselves over admitting women to the wizard's school, and the advisability of consulting dragons instead of fighting them. The key to the situation lies in the most ancient lore, forgotten by all but a few: that dragons and people once were one. Earthsea's once irresistible charms are fading, with no new vistas, little action, and only intermittent involvement with characters who simply talk their way to a resolution.

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The following excerpt from The Other Wind is copyright © 2001 by Ursula K. Le Guin, published by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved. For permission to reproduce this information, go to the Permissions and Copyright Requests page at http://www.harcourtbooks.com/pol-copyright.html. The chapter excerpt is taken from …

Mending the Green Pitcher

Sails long and white as swan's wings carried the ship Farflyer through summer air down the bay from the Armed Cliffs toward Gont Port. She glided into the still water landward of the jetty, so sure and graceful a creature of the wind that a couple of townsmen fishing off the old quay cheered her in, waving to the crewmen and the one passenger standing in the prow.

He was a thin man with a thin pack and an old black cloak, probably a sorcerer or small tradesman, nobody important. The two fishermen watched the bustle on the dock and the ship's deck as she made ready to unload her cargo, and only glanced at the passenger with a bit of curiosity when as he left the ship one of the sailors made a gesture behind his back, thumb and first and last finger of the left hand all pointed at him: May you never come back!

He hesitated on the pier, shouldered his pack, and set off into the streets of Gont Port. They were busy streets, and he got at once into the Fish Market, abrawl with hawkers and hagglers, paving stones glittering with fish scales and brine. If he had a way, he soon lost it among the carts and stalls and crowds and the cold stares of dead fish.

A tall old woman turned from the stall where she had been insulting the freshness of the herring and the veracity of the fishwife. Seeing her glaring at him, the stranger said unwisely, "Would you have the kindness to tell me the way I should go for Re Albi?"

"Why, go drown yourself in pig slop for a start," said the tall woman and strode off, leaving the stranger wilted and dismayed. But the fishwife, seeing a chance to seize the high moral ground, blared out, "Re Albi is it? Re Albi you want, man? Speak up then! The Old Mage's house, that would be what you'd want at Re Albi. Yes it would. So you go out by the corner there, and up Elvers Lane there, see, till you reach the tower..."

Once he was out of the market, broad streets led him uphill and past the massive watchtower to a town gate. Two stone dragons large as life guarded it, teeth the length of his forearm, stone eyes glaring blindly out over the town and the bay. A lounging guard told him just turn left at the top of the road and he'd be in Re Albi. "And keep on through the village for the Old Mage's house," the guard said.

So he went trudging up the road, which was pretty steep, looking up as he went to the steeper slopes and far peak of Gont Mountain that overhung its island like a cloud.

It was a long road and a hot day. He soon had his black cloak off and went on bareheaded in his shirtsleeves, but he had not thought to find water or buy food in the town, or had been too shy to, maybe, for he was not a man familiar with cities or at ease with strangers.

After several long miles he caught up to a cart which he had seen far up the dusty way for a long time as a dark blot in a white blot of dust. It creaked and screaked along at the pace of a pair of small oxen that looked as old, wrinkled, and unhopeful as tortoises. He greeted the carter, who resembled the oxen. The carter said nothing, but blinked.

"Might there be a spring of water up the road?" the stranger asked.

The carter slowly shook his head. After a long time he said, "No." A while later he said, "There ain't."

They all plodded along. Discouraged, the stranger found it hard to go any faster than the oxen, about a mile an hour, maybe.

He became aware that the carter was wordlessly reaching something out to him: a big clay jug wrapped round with wicker. He took it, and finding it very heavy, drank his fill of the water, leaving it scarcely lighter when he passed it back with his thanks.

"Climb on," said the carter after a while.

"Thanks. I'll walk. How far might it be to Re Albi?"

The wheels creaked. The oxen heaved deep sighs, first one, then the other. Their dusty hides smelled sweet in the hot sunlight.

"Ten mile," the carter said. He thought, and said, "Or twelve." After a while he said, "No less."

"I'd better walk on, then," said the stranger.

Refreshed by the water, he was able to get ahead of the oxen, and they and the cart and the carter were a good way behind him when he heard the carter speak again. "Going to the Old Mage's house," he said. If it was a question, it seemed to need no answer. The traveler walked on.

When he started up the road it had still lain in the vast shadow of the mountain, but when he turned left to the little village he took to be Re Albi, the sun was blazing in the western sky and under it the sea lay white as steel.

There were scattered small houses, a small dusty square, a fountain with one thin stream of water falling. He made for that, drank from his hands again and again, put his head under the stream, rubbed cool water through his hair and let it run down his arms, and sat for a while on the stone rim of the fountain, observed in attentive silence by two dirty little boys and a dirty little girl.

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