This book felt like the crown jewel of the Earthsea collection. Everything that has gone before feeds into this remarkable story. We get to see characters we’ve grown to love as grown-ups. In parts it angered me and parts brought tears of joy to my eyes.

In reading it, I realized something about LeGuin’s writing. While she writes tales of adventure, they are different from the tales of adventure told by others. There are few contrived actions scenes. Instead, LeGuin’s tales have long journeys, long nights spent alone in though, long conversations with companions and relationships that deepen over time. In short, her stories probably resemble an actual adventure.

I’ve realized that I read and adore LeGuin for her brand of slow adventure: for the gradual discovery of a world, for characters that come to better understand that world—and themselves—over time.