The Farthest Shore, Ursula K Le Guin

The Farthest Shore is the third book in the Earthsea series. It was first published by Atheneum in 1972. It is sometimes refered to as the final book as Earthsea remained a trilogy until 1990 when Le Guin wrote Tehanu. The events in the Farthest Shore takes place some time later than The previous book, The Tombs of Atuan.

It continues the story of Ged, the wizard from the previous books, joined this time by a young prince called Arren. Arren has come from Enland to consult with the wizards of Roke. Something is going very wrong with the world. The balance is changing and magic is losing its power and dragons are loosing their speech. Spells are being forgotten. Ged takes his boat Lookfar and goes with Arren on a quest find the cause of this shift in the balance of Earthsea.

They head south to the port of Hort on the island of Wathort. Here they find the drug addled wizard Hare. He tries to trick them into following him to the Dry Land, the other side of the wall, into death. After finding out that the wizard is under the influence of a dark and powerful wizard the story follows Arren and Ged on their search for the wizard. It brings back some of the dark themes that confronted get in the first book, A Wizard of Earthsea.

More than the first two novels this is about balance and consequences. One cannot use magic without there being consequences. Although there are similarities with the first book this book has its own feel and values. Well it wouldn’t be a Le Guin book if it didn’t make you think. Of course the story itself keeps the pages turning. Let yourself be swept along with sea voyages, dragons, wizards and a world to put right.