Tales from earthsea

Tales from earthsea - Ursula Le Guin

Earthsea, for those who are unaware of the mythology, history, and geography of Le Guin's world (as can be gleaned from the first three Earthsea books - the Earthsea Trilogy - : A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, and The Farthest Shore, and from the fourth: Tehanu - The Last Book of Earthsea), is an archipelago dotted with numerous big and small islands all suffused with a particular kind of magic. It is not "magical" in the way the Harry Potter books are. Magic here is hmm. . . more serious. Its power puts an emphasis on language and the knowledge of the "true name" of everything. Magic is never used casually by the mages for true names and the use of magic can disturb the balance of the world. Everything in this world has a true name in the ancient language and to know the true name of anything is to wield power over it. True names are hence concealed and rarely revealed to others and humans make do with "use names." Earthsea, like the best of fantastic stories, creates a convincing alternate world. Le Guin is as good as Tolkien in this aspect.