Kelson Reads reviewed The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin (Earthsea Cycle, #2)
Labyrinth of Darkness
5.0 stars
The Tombs of Atuan is still my favorite of the Earthsea books. There's something fascinating about a labyrinth that you must traverse in total darkness, keeping a map and counting turns in your head. It's actually what got me curious about what was then still a trilogy in the first place.
Ged is still involved, but he's not the main character this time through. He's older and wiser, and the viewpoint shifts to Arha, another teenager with a different kind of power. A priestess in a society that abhors magic and writing, whose name has been erased, who instead of sailing the ocean stays in one place, on land, in the middle of a desert, whose domain is the darkness within the earth.
(All three of the original trilogy focus on teenage protagonists even as Ged ages out of that role, and are sometimes marketed as young adult …
The Tombs of Atuan is still my favorite of the Earthsea books. There's something fascinating about a labyrinth that you must traverse in total darkness, keeping a map and counting turns in your head. It's actually what got me curious about what was then still a trilogy in the first place.
Ged is still involved, but he's not the main character this time through. He's older and wiser, and the viewpoint shifts to Arha, another teenager with a different kind of power. A priestess in a society that abhors magic and writing, whose name has been erased, who instead of sailing the ocean stays in one place, on land, in the middle of a desert, whose domain is the darkness within the earth.
(All three of the original trilogy focus on teenage protagonists even as Ged ages out of that role, and are sometimes marketed as young adult fiction.)
The first half of the book focuses on Arha growing up at the temple complex, dealing with her changing relationship with the other priestesses to other gods as she grows into her role as the sole priestess to the Nameless Ones, and as she discovers (or rediscovers?) their realm in the dark. Petty rivalries, politics between priestesses of different faiths (only some of whom actually believe), friendships that can never truly be equal.
I've seen reader reviews complain that "the main character" (meaning Ged) doesn't show up until halfway through the book, and let me tell you, they really missed the point. The story isn't about Ged finding the lost half of the Ring of Erreth-Abke. It's about Arha and what she does when he literally casts a harsh light on her world. It's about her figuring out what to do about him, and what his presence reveals about the life she's lived and the powers she's served up until now.
And it's about her figuring out who she really is. Is she merely The Eaten One? Is she Tenar? Is she both? If she's Tenar, who is that, when she hasn't been Tenar since childhood? It's a recurring theme in Earthsea: True names matter, but who you are is a deeper question: Ged and his shadow, Arha/Tenar, Arren and his destiny, Tehanu, Dragonfly and so on.