Paperback, 1800 pages
French language
Published Oct. 2, 2018 by Le Livre de poche.
Terremer est un lieu magique et ensorcelé. Une mer immense recouverte d’un chapelet d’îles où les sorciers pratiquent la magie selon des règles très strictes. On y suit les aventures de Ged, un éleveur de chèvres qui, au terme d’une longue initiation, deviendra l’Archimage le plus puissant de Terremer, mais aussi celles de Tenar, haute prêtresse du temple des Innommables de l’île d'Atuan, de Tehanu, la fille-dragon, et de Aulne le sorcier qui refait chaque nuit le même rêve terrifiant. Autour de la grande histoire gravitent des contes qui enrichissent et explorent ce monde où enchanteurs et dragons se côtoient.
Cette édition intégrale et illustrée de Terremer réunit les romans qui ont fait le succès de ce cycle mythique et emblématique de l’œuvre d’Ursula K. Le Guin, ainsi que deux nouvelles inédites en France et une introduction de l’auteur écrite spécialement pour cette édition.
Gainontzekoak irakurri ostean iruzkinduko dut istorio osoa, baina labur esanda: itzela izan daiteke!
I first read these books when I was actually in the target age group, but I have re-read them countless times since then, they are timeless and ageless. "A Wizard of Earthsea", with its superb world-building and archetypal story of shadow and light. "The Tombs of Atuan", with its marvelous sexual imagery and tentative exploration of female themes. And "The Farthest Shore", where Ged takes on life and the afterlife.
Ursula le Guin was like the leader of my tribe. I regret not seeing her in person, she was a regular a SF conventions, but she left behind a superb body of work which I am still discovering.
A must-read in the collection of fantasy classics
Prose is slim and considered, the imagery vivid without being exhausting, but I did not feel engaged with Ged, personally, philosophically, etc.
I appreciate how concise and capable a novel this is; that it is in its way rubbing against the grain of what, in 1969 especially, are the expectations of a fantasy novel and setting.
But I read it today, in a different cultural milieu. While Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed still felt compelling and relevant, Wizard of Earthsea is something I can only imagine once having a greater potency.
