Special Circumstances

The Other Wind by Ursula K. Le Guin

Between 1968 and 1972, Le Guin published the Earthsea trilogy: "A Wizard of Earthsea", "The Tombs of Atuan" and "The Farthest Shore". The Earthsea trilogy is a widely read and well received fantasy series. In 1990 Le Guin added a fourth book to this trilogy: a novel named "Tehanu".

Now Le Guin has added a fifth full-length novel to the Earthsea setting (there have also been several short stories, also published in books). Ged and Tenar, protagonists from the earlier four novels, both appear and play key roles. In addition, Tehanu and her relationship with the dragon Kalessin forms a crucial part of this novel (which means you should probably read "Tehanu" before you read this novel).

A new character is introduced, Alder, a man who has unwittingly initiated a dangerous transformation that threatens all of Earthsea. Alder is a small-time sorceror, fixing broken pots with his magical skills. As the novel opens, he has lost his wife, Lily, and his grief seems to retain a link between them that should have been broken at death. He begins to dream of a field with a low stone wall that seems to separate the living from the dead. These dreams seem to be undoing not just his sanity but also seem to herald a transformation in the real world, in Earthsea. As the novel begins, he travels to meet the man who had been Archmage of Earthsea, Ged, to decode what is happening and why.

Rather than tell a story, this novel aims to introduce a new myth, with its own philosophy on the relationship between life and death. With each book in the Earthsea saga, Le Guin has managed to expand, almost casually it seems, the boundaries of what a work of fantasy can address, without corrupting the genre (that is, without any contemptible attempts at fusion of genres).

It is a pity that this novel has been saddled with a title that will inevitably provoke a few jokes about flatulence (perhaps an unlikely comparison with the movie "A Mighty Wind"). On the other hand, it is perhaps better not to take anything too seriously.

%T The Other Wind
%A Ursula K. Le Guin
%I Ace Books
%P 273
%D 2001
%G ISBN: 044100993X (pb)
%K science-fiction