The Other Wind

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. But it was just a drag to read. It didn't help that its plot was very slow, nor did it help that the characters frequently did and said things for inexplicable reasons (inexplicable even to themselves, it seems). The real kicker was that it lacked (to me) the beautiful prose that I've typically loved so much in Le Guin's books.

“The Other Wind” est le sixième et dernier tome du cycle Earthsea d'Ursula K. Le Guin, également connu en français sous le nom de cycle de Terremer.

Après Tales from Earthsea qui était un recueil de nouvelles, ce dernier tome retrouve la forme romanesque des quatre premiers. Le récit prend la suite de celui du quatrième tome, Tehanu, complété par les informations disséminées dans les nouvelles du cinquième. On comprend d'ailleurs mieux en lisant ce dernier tome pourquoi ces nouvelles du précédent étaient essentielles pour boucler le récit et en comprendre tous les enjeux.

Globalement, l'intrigue tourne autour de la mort et des interactions entre les humains et les dragons, ces créatures fantastiques qui ont pris une importance grandissante tout au long du cycle. On retrouve avec plaisir les personnages des tomes précédents (Ged, Tenar, Tehanu, le roi Lebannen) ainsi que d'autres personnages que l'on apprend à aimer.

J'ai pris beaucoup de plaisir à lire ce roman, je l'ai d'ailleurs dévoré en moins de deux jours. Je ne sais pas si c'est parce qu'il s'agit de la conclusion du cycle et que les adieux sont souvent émouvants, mais j'ai trouvé ce tome encore plus fort que les précédents.

Ce cycle est un classique de la fantasy et je comprends désormais mieux pourquoi. Derrière des apparences qui peuvent sembler très simples se cache en réalité un texte riche et profond, qui touche profondément à la nature humaine, à nos craintes, à nos angoisses. Ursula K. Le Guin nous a ainsi proposé l'alliage parfait de la poésie, de l'imaginaire et de la psychologie humaine. Je suis ravi d'avoir fait ce voyage par sa plume et ses mots.

3.5 stars
i dont think it's a perfect book but i loved the ending, loved the new characters and loved the contemplativeness of the story. didnt love so much the age gap between seserakh and lebannen... it's the same issue i have with ged and tenar, but at least those two don't get together until they're middle aged after having been apart for a long time.

my criticisms with the book mostly lie in how meandering it feels at times, and also how dialogue-heavy it can be in comparison with the other books. it also felt a little exposition-y at times, which makes sense when you remember it was published a long time after ‘a wizard,' but as someone who's been devouring the entire series over a couple months, the exposition felt a little heavy-handed.
and, yes... the fact that there are only two major female characters who aren't secretly dragons and they're both white women is... now i love ursula but that is a very white woman thing to do.

but! that aside, the ending is really perfect to me. it ties everything up really nicely, and i'm glad ursula wrote more after tehanu was titled the ‘last' book of earthsea. in all i just adore this world and i'm glad i finally read these books

The final book of the 2nd Earthsea trilogy, and last book overall.

Unfortunately, it was by far the least favorite of the series. I still adore LeGuin's prose and her style of worldbuilding, but this book felt so incredibly unnecessary.

Its basic premise asks “have you ever considered that this evocative and mysterious part of the world is actually a problem that needs explaining and solving???”, and for me the answer was a clear “no.”

I did appreciate the way the conflict was unraveled, especially when the solution reveals itself by getting a bunch of important people in the same room to talk and compare notes. But the rest of the book did nothing for me.

Overall it reminded me far too much of a TV series that should have stopped seasons ago. Disappointing, and if I do reread the series I'll surely stop at Tehanu.

A beautiful ending to Earthsea. The series is a five-star experience overall, somehow more than the sum of its parts. Each book feels quite modest in scale, short and carefully slow-burning, but their cumulative effect is powerful and sort of inexpressible to me. Being able to observe the growth of the characters – and author – through decades of their lives has felt like such a privilege.

Short Review: a fitting conclusion to the series. I originally read the first three book as a teen. But the fourth book came out when I was a senior in high school and this last book didn't come out until 2 years after I was done with grad school (33 years between the first and last book of the series, so maybe I shouldn't complain as much about George RR Martin). Ged is in this book, but not the main character. This is more a group book with the king, Ged, his wife and adopted daughter and then a few new characters all sharing staring roles. This feels like a novel that is oriented more toward adults, but there is not a content warning on it, so it should be fine for those teens that started the series.

full review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/the-other-wind-by-ursula-le-guin-earthsea-cycle-6/