Most things grow old and perish, as the centuries go on and on. Very few are the precious things that remain precious, or the tales that are still told.

I'm continuing my slow and steady dive into the world of Earthsea after years of telling myself that I should. I was initially frustrated that I missed these novels as a kid, because I knew I would have loved them. But in some ways I'm glad to come to them freshly now. The edition I'm reading is from 2018 and includes afterwords written then-recently. So not only am I coming to Earthsea freshly as an adult, I've got Ursula Le Guin as a companion... looking back with 40 years of reflection.This book has a very different feel from the first one, but I love the change in characters and tone. There is always more to explore, and I look forward to what comes next.

The Earth is beautiful, and bright, and kindly, but that is not all. The Earth is also terrible, and dark, and cruel. The rabbit shrieks dying in the green meadows. The mountains clench their great hands full of hidden fire. There are sharks in the sea, and there is cruelty in men's eyes. And where men worship these things and abase themselves before them, there evil breeds.