Customer Reviews

The Tombs of Atuan: The Earthsea Cycle

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Book one The Wizard of Earthsea was required reading for a children's literature course I did back in 1999. I enjoyed it so much I read all the books and collections of short stories set in that world. Yet even though this novel finishes by revolving again around Ged, it is really about Tenar/Arha, a young girl believed to be the reborn High Priest of the unnamed ones. (Nameless ones.) Her name is taken from her at 6 years of age, a year after she was taken from her family and home. She is given the name/title 'Arha' ' 'the one without a name.'

She grows, learns and becomes high priestess under the tutelage of Kossil, priestess to the God-Kings and Thar of the God Brothers.

Then one day she sees Ged in the under tomb, and he has magic light. She traps him in the labyrinth. She then chains him and visits with him. Kossil finds out about this and plans to kill them both. Tenar, fearing this, visits Ged in the treasury where she has hidden him.

He renames her Tenar and together they escape and return the Ring of Erreth-Akbe to the inner islands that they may have peace. For the 9th rune that had been lost when the ring was broken when the rune was cut in half. Now with both pieces Ged could recover the rune and restore peace.

The book ends with them in the city of Havnor.

Note: Pay close attention to the names of boats in the series. In this one Ged guides a boat called Lookfar.

The second book in the EarthSea trilogy, The Tombs of Atuan is a great book for all those who delve into the world of fantasy. The Author of this book is Ursula K. Le Guin. Le Guin wrote the Earthsea trilogy which became a well known series for all audiances.

Though it would be better understood and probably more forfilling if the first book was read of the series. I believe the theme to have been Man vs. Nature as Sparrowhawk the main character, a wizard from the island of Gount seeks out an ancient treasure in the Tombs of Atuan. He meets the high preistess of Atuan. They must battle against the spirits with the tomb.

In my opion it was a book that forced me to ponder about the morales in my life. It's rather a short book but it has a great ending despite that, that makes you search for the last book in the series. Some people may consider it slow in the beginning but I must say that it's building the plot thick and strong in the begining. Overall Le Guin is a great writer and that the second book is as good and brilliant as the first.

I had read the first book of this great series and I found myself not being able to put the book down. And when I started reading the second book I only thought there was no way this could be as good, however I had the same great time reading it as I did the first book. I believe that everyone should read this book even if you have not read any others from this series, because in essence this book is really based on people growing up, finding themselves and learning what they want to accomplish in life. This book also shows a great friendship between two people and overall it is just a wonderful book. I suggest everyone to read it.

The Tombs of Atuan was not as interesting as I expected it to be.I wanted a good, exciting, action-packed book, and the second book of the Earthsea Cycle trilogy didn't do that for me.it was exciting at places, such as in the labrynth maze. but all in all, i wasn't impressed.
the story line was great, fresh, and original, but Ms. Le Guin could've presented it in a better form. the order in which the events happened wasn't exciting. it wasnt like a book that i couldnt put down, such as the Pendragon series kind of realistic fantasy. i read the wrong book.

The second book of Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle, "Tombs of Atuan," is very different from the first book. It features a different coming-of-age tale from Ged Sparrowhawk's, this time of a spirited girl who has been given everything except freedom. More contemplative and disturbing, this is almost as good as "Wizard of Earthsea."

As a little child, Tenar was taken from her family by the priestesses, who said she was the reborn High Princess of the Nameless Ones, the dark, ruthless powers who are in the Tombs of Atuan. Her name is taken away and she was afterwards called Arha (which means that she was "eaten," spiritually), and she is raised in the cold, uninviting temple. When Arha is fifteen, she finds that a wizard has somehow gained entrance to the massive mazelike Labyrinth, committing sacrilege and polluting the "center of darkness" with his staff's light.

He's searching for half of a powerful ring; he has one half, she has the other. She takes the wizard Sparrowhawk prisoner, and for some reason doesn't want to kill him. Instead she listens to his stories about dragons, magic and his home -- until a vengeful priestess learns that Arha is keeping the wizard alive. To escape horrible deaths, they must escape together from the Nameless Ones, and Tenar will be set free in more ways than one.

Ursula Le Guin's worldbuilding was masterful in the first book, and it's no less so in "Tombs of Atuan." The decayed, corrupted, darkness-obsessed religion and culture that Tenar is raised in seems very real. The only spot of warmth and life is Penthe, a childhood pal of Tenar's, who longs to get away from the temple and go live a normal, happy life.

Le Guin's writing is both spare and descriptive; she makes you feel like you know the characters with only a few pages. Her elegantly understated descriptions bring the grey, cold temple and tombs to life. Themes like religion, disbelief, loyalty, redemption, freedom, and enslavement are woven in, but not preachily. The book suffers somewhat when Ged and Tenar are getting to know each other; even during a crisis, Ged spends a lot of time talking about his past and the Ring. It's less a conversation than an infodump.

The relationship between Tenar and Ged is the centerpiece of the book. At first they are enemies, then gradually grow to trust one another even though rationally neither one should. Tenar is a strong, brave, slightly immature girl whose spirit has been kept enslaved to the Nameless Ones, and Ged is the brave, gentle, strong wizard we got to know in "Wizard."

The second book of the Earthsea cycle, while not as strong as the first, is still a compelling book. The dark, tense "Tombs of Atuan" remains a modern fantasy classic. And does it ever deserve it.

Return to Ursula LeGuin's world of Earthsea, a world of wizards, mystic god-like dragons, and strange religions.
The plot follows Tenar, priestess slave of the nameless gods, who has been stripped of her name, which is restored by the wizard Ged in his quest for the other half of a mythical ring.
Good.Not as much eastern philosophical prattling as in TFS, hardly as confusing as WoE.
Overall, four and a half stars would do this book justice.

After encountering the broadly expansive world detailed so lovingly in "A Wizard of Earthsea," younger readers may be puzzled at first by the extremely different scope of the second book in the "Earthsea" tetralogy, "The Tombs of Atuan," which restricts almost all of its narrative to the title site. (The map in some editions of the labyrinth under the tombs seems almost to parody the indispenable maps of Earthsea in the first book in the series.) The hero of the first book, Ged, doesn't even appear until well into the narrative: while Ged was a wanderer, this book is about a young woman, originally named Tenar, who has been since infancy marked out as the most important religious figure in the largest political power in earthsea at the time of the book's events, but who is nonetheless restricted to a dreary life of ritual serving the Nameless Ones in a desolate shrine. You'd think Le Guin couldn't pull off such a purposeful reversal of scale and tone after the stunning achievement of the first book, but she does, and the respectful (and non-romantic) relationship between Tenar and Ged is deftly limned, as are Tenar's revelations about the nature of the gods she serves. It's not a book for everyone, given its decidely dismal atmosphere, but it is nonetheless accomplished with brilliant skill.

In the second volume of LeGuin's "Earthsea Trilogy", the wizard Sparrowhawk (Ged) returns, but only in the latter half of the book. The story first centers around Tenar, who at the tender age of five is taken from her parents to the Place of the Tombs in the deserts of Atuan and renamed Arha, "the Eaten One". Born on the same day that the head priestess of the cult worshipping the Nameless Ones died, she is designated to be the cult's new leader. Much of the first part of the novel is introspective, revolving around Arha's loneliness and her days in the darkness of the tombs. Imprisoned by the cult, as she matures she struggles with the legitimacy of the cult which revolves around her, and her own identity. It's a journey from the darkness of her oppressive religion to the light of freedom and truth.

At this point Ged arrives, but only as a supporting character. Ged is on a quest to obtain the other half of a magic amulet. Together, he and Arha complete the quest and make the journey to a new beginning. But the novel's real focus is Arha, and her journey from bondage to freedom, from childhood to adulthood. Unlike much other fantasy, LeGuin's books don't revolve around cheap and flashy displays of trivial magic. In "The Tombs of Atuan" at least, the magic falls to the background, for the telling of a serious tale about a girl's journey to womanhood. Even though it's part of a series, this is a story that functions independently in its own right. Those looking for Harry Potter type fantasy adventure and fun will be disappointed, but for fans of serious fantasy and characterization this is not to be missed. It's no wonder that this title won the Newberry Award. -GODLY GADFLY

Of all the books in the Earthsea series, 'The Tombs Of Atuan' is my favourite. The setting of the book is dark and mysterious, it's unusually well thought out and described. As you read about the Eaten One (Tenar) you feel as if reading about ancient, mythical rituals that can't NOT have been true. Le Guin is amazing at describing them and making one feel absolutely taken with the moment she's writing about.

The utterly surprising thing about the book is that it is unmistakably sexual, somehow. There's is nothing that could even be open to such interpretation, but the feeling is definitely there; the revealing of Ged's name seems to be an undescribably intimate moment.

In my opinion, 'The Tombs Of Atuan' seems to be the greatest out of the Earthsea books, if you're not looking THAT much for open symbolism, but rather for that searching and mystical feeling...

So often a followup to a great book just can't live up to its predecessor. The Tombs of Atuan does not suffer from this all to common ailment of sequels. As in the first book, storytelling is front and center in this second book of the Earthsea Trilogy. Ms. Le Guin follows up on themes of the first book and expands upon them through the story of Tenar, a young priestess imprisoned by an ancient religion and the customs and responsibilities surrounding it and Ged, the Arch-Mage, who must help her even as she helps him.
Please read this series. You will not be disappointed.