Yashima reviewed The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin (Earthsea Cycle, #3)
Review of 'The Farthest Shore' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
But it isn’t wrong to want to live?’
‘No. But when we crave power over life – endless wealth, unassailable safety, immortality – then desire becomes greed. And if knowledge allies itself to that greed, then comes evil. Then the balance of the world is swayed, and ruin weighs heavy in the scale.’
Ged and Arren/Lebannen go on a long quest to find out what is taking the magic out of Earthsea. One can read the story as a story which meanders in adventures between the isles of Earthsea until they reach the end of the world or the titular farthest shore to find the culprit.
‘And this is one man’s doing – the one the dragon spoke of? It seems not possible.’ ‘Why not? If there were a King of the Isles, he would be one man. And he would rule. One man may as easily destroy, as govern; …
But it isn’t wrong to want to live?’
‘No. But when we crave power over life – endless wealth, unassailable safety, immortality – then desire becomes greed. And if knowledge allies itself to that greed, then comes evil. Then the balance of the world is swayed, and ruin weighs heavy in the scale.’
Ged and Arren/Lebannen go on a long quest to find out what is taking the magic out of Earthsea. One can read the story as a story which meanders in adventures between the isles of Earthsea until they reach the end of the world or the titular farthest shore to find the culprit.
‘And this is one man’s doing – the one the dragon spoke of? It seems not possible.’ ‘Why not? If there were a King of the Isles, he would be one man. And he would rule. One man may as easily destroy, as govern; be King, or Anti-King.’
After reading Le Guin's essay on literature and genre (Genre: A Word Only a Frenchman Could Love) from book [b: Words are my matter|29363335|Words Are My Matter Writings About Life and Books, 2000–2016, with A Journal of a Writer's Week|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1470694965s/29363335.jpg|49608748] the story reads different fro me. Deeper and more like a parable. Though a parable of what I can't quite say or put into quite such eloquent words as Le Guin did.
This was first published in 1972. Neither the language nor the story has suffered from being 46 years old (at the time of writing this) and it is still highly relevant today.
I stand in daylight facing my own death . And I know that there is only one power worth having . And that is the power , not to take , but to accept . Not to have , but to give . ’
