The Earthsea quartet.

I was not much familiar with Le Guin nor the Earthsea-series before diving into this book. And it wasn't before the latter half of the fourth book in it, that I realized that I really liked both the setting, the characters and the stories. Individually, I would probably not rate them all this high. But reading them together did really improve the experience.

The first book, "A wizard of Earthsea", is almost like an origin-story that you'd expect seeing late in a series. The next three books all has the wizard Ged in them, but always as an older, mysterious figure. It's seldom his viewpoint you follow, but someone that meets him om their way, or that is taken away on an adventure by him. Almost like Gandalf or Dumbledore. But the first book explains his backstory, and you see him go from a young boy to a wizard. So reading the other stories, you know all about the old wizards mysteries. Which is a bit unusual.

But it's the fourth book, "Tehanu", that is going to stay with you. Le Guin has through the first 3 series explored different themes through the fantasy setting she has created. All of them are in some ways about a society in change, most likely mirroring her own view on how society ought to move forward. This was in her original trilogy of books. Many years later, 1990, she revisits the world, and now her rage over injustice on society has taken a new form, and she forces us to understand both Earthsea and our own world in a new way. While I'm sure some would rather have her be more subtle, I really enjoyed how she made me reinterpret the world she had created.

I would not reccomend getting this specific edition of the work though. Not only is it only four books of what eventually became a six book(?) series, but it's also a poorly printed, obviously done in a cheap way. I have not read the last novel or any of the short stories, but the edition that includes all of it is surely the one to get.

I've read the first three books of the quartet three times, and the last one, [b:Tehanu|13661|Tehanu (The Earthsea Cycle, #4)|Ursula K. Le Guin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166571534s/13661.jpg|2902890] once. I liked [b:A wizard of Earthsea|13642|A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)|Ursula K. Le Guin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1303134026s/13642.jpg|113603] best on first reading. I was slightly disappointed by the second reading. By the third reading none of the first three books was as good as I remembered them, and the fourth, [b:Tehanu|13661|Tehanu (The Earthsea Cycle, #4)|Ursula K. Le Guin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166571534s/13661.jpg|2902890], was positively boring.

So I would have given the first book four stars on first reading, three on the second and two on the third. [b:The tombs of Atuan|13662|The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle, #2)|Ursula K. Le Guin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166571534s/13662.jpg|1322146] three on the first reading, two on subsequent readings. [b:The farthest shore|13667|The Farthest Shore (Earthsea Cycle #3)|Ursula K. Le Guin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1308953634s/13667.jpg|1322014] gets two stars for the first reading, and probably the second and third as well. [b:Tehanu|13661|Tehanu (The Earthsea Cycle, #4)|Ursula K. Le Guin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166571534s/13661.jpg|2902890] gets one for the only reading.

Some books seem just as enjoyable on subsequent re-reading as the first time, but this one does not, and [b:tehanu|13661|Tehanu (The Earthsea Cycle, #4)|Ursula K. Le Guin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166571534s/13661.jpg|2902890] should never have been written. It's almost as bad as [b:Wild Horse Woman|258936|Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman|Walter M. Miller Jr.|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173214246s/258936.jpg|250974], another fantasy novel sequel that really should have been strangled at birth.