Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jan 12, 2012

Shane rated it:

Let me preface this with my Earthsea background. I read the first 3 books when I was young and loved them. Then did them again on audio a couple years ago and enjoyed the 1st and 3rd books but thought the 2nd one was slow. Then I read -Techanu- and thought it was more like an interlude with a plot added in at the end for good measure. -Stories of Earthsea- was barely passable and now this -The Other Wind- left me with a final bad taste for a series I loved for a long time.

It was nice More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 01, 2008

Nick rated it:

This is the 5th Earthsea book which was written some 30 years after the original trilogy. While I love the first three books, these last two were not exactly... spellbinding. The author seems to be in this feminist-rant rut- "But, but, but girls can do things just as well as boys!" Besides the girl-power sermons, she is also stuck on the idea of humans and dragons once being the same race, a point she makes about 80 times in The Other Wind. The trilogy was fun to read, and was able to More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 04, 2011

Sara rated it:

Escrever sobre a vida e a morte na sua essência é uma das histórias mais difíceis de contar. Podemos contar a vida de alguém, relatar os actos que levaram alguém à morte, divagar sobre o seu significado metafísico, mas relacionar viver e morrer na sua plenitude é uma tarefa árdua.

E se compreendemos a dificuldade de contar uma história cuja temática é esta verdade universal em que ‘toda a vida tem uma morte’, então apreciar a obra “Num Vento Diferente” de Ursula K. Le Guin é fácil.
More...

0 comments like

Jul 07, 2011

Artnoose rated it:

Having blown through the previous five books, I admit I was already a little ready to be done with Earthsea. I also expect this to be the final Earthsea book. Perhaps I had expectations for things to tie up neatly.

I enjoyed many aspects of this book, especially the deep relationship between Ged and Tenar, in contrast to the growing relationship between the king and the princess, one that we can see coming from a mile off but apparently the king cannot.

I had more disappointmen More...

0 comments like

Jun 29, 2011

Brian rated it:

I almost immediately had misgivings about this book. The beginning of the book recovers a lot of old ground and the plot initially lacks any clear direction. Why did she write this book? The preceding book, Tales from Earthsea, has a little blurb on the cover or introduction where Le Guin says that her publisher suggests a new Earthsea book. That, and little else, seems to be the impetus for Earthsea books #5 and #6. She has no new stories to tell, just fleshing out some of the mythologies.
More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 20, 2011

Cyndy rated it:

After my [ex-]husband got me into the Earthsea Cycle novels by Ursula LeGuin, I was quick to order the three books added after he'd read the books. I delayed reading The Other Wind after I lost the fourth book in the series, Tehanu, but finally gave in to the lure of finding out what had happened to the characters I'd grown to enjoy, but it made no sense. Once I finally found Tehanu, I reread The Other Wind and everything suddenly made sense.

::: Dragon Time :::

When The Other More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 04, 2011

Benjamin added it

I may re-read this again in the future as I listened to it pretty quickly; and it's a pretty drastic re-imagining of the Earthsea world. And the Earthsea style: remember how I went on and on about the first book being written in a way that hearkened back to oral stories and folklore? It stuck to Ged and telescoped various time periods while paying attention to particular episodes. By contrast, this book takes a very written approach--it hops around from one character to another, it tells the sto More...

0 comments like

Nov 05, 2010

Sam Kabo rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Oct 25, 2010

Stephen rated it:

Alder, a humble sorcerer (as opposed to the archmages who do the heavy lifting in his magical realm), is tormented by recurring dreams in which he sees the spirits of the dead, including his lost wife. His specialty happens to be mending (e.g., fixing broken pots and fences), but the problem now facing him -- and the rest of the world -- is what to do about a stone wall that separates the living from the dead. Should it be reinforced, or dismantled?

The Other Wind is the last of a lon More...

0 comments like

Nov 03, 2011

Shep rated it:

Upon reading this sixth in the Earthsea cycle, I realized that I have committed a librophile's sin and gone out of order in a series I love. I will read the others though. In this story, the origins of the afterlife, and its seeming unhinging are investigated by a common wizard with dreams of the afterworld, who gets the help of the King, a hot Princess, and many Mages, not to mention a dragon or two, as he seeks interpretation. Ged, the old Archmage, makes an appearance as a simple old man.
More...

0 comments like

Mar 07, 2010

Carrie rated it:

I love the world of Earthsea and fully appreciate the imagination behind its creation. This installment introduces some of the mythology of this world and expands on the various belief systems of the peoples of Earthsea (Archipelagans, Kargs, dragons...). It also explains how the various cultures feel about each other and why. This book (and Tehanu before it) read almost like mystery novels, and part of me wishes Le Guin could have developed her plot more along those lines. As it stands, this no More...

0 comments like

Sep 07, 2009

Michael rated it:

Le Guin's love of hierarchies, both spiritual and social, and her adulation of favorite characters become tiresome. I would say she is self-indulgent but then if one has created, all on her own, this beloved fantasy world I suppose she feels she has the right to boss around events and characters to her satisfaction. But I wearied of most of the female characters being grey/amber-eyed, wise, tactful, low-voiced, women of power and the men always being the ones who didn't understand the issues a More...

0 comments like

Feb 26, 2011

Ben rated it:

While not quite as good as Tehanu or The Farthest Shore, I found The Other Wind to be quite appealing. It drew elements from every novel, as the final work (I think it is probably, truly, the final work of Earthsea) should. For example, aside from the obvious connections to The Farthest Shore (which are constant), the bit with Alder and Ged feels much like bits from the first novel, between Ged and Ogion. I also think The Other Wind feels complete, which Tehanu and The Farthest Shore did not, More...

0 comments like

Aug 24, 2011

Maikeru rated it:

I read this book without having read any other book of the series and probably that's what made me have some difficulty in keeping up with the story.
But about the book itself: It's an entertaining reading, although sometimes there are some facts and aspects of the story that are not, at all, explained, which leaves us with a kind of sense of emptiness.
Also there are some things that have no importance to the story and are referred too many times. For example the fixer magician 'Amiei More...

0 comments like

Apr 23, 2011

Aaron rated it:

I liked this book, but it feels like it was missing something (probably not enough Ged). It's a necessary book; it really does feel like it wraps up the central arc of the other four books. I always felt that there was something wrong in Earthsea, and this addresses it.

I feel like the new characters in the story are not nearly as developed as in previous tales. In fact, I read this a little out of order; the Tales of Earthsea technically comes before this book. In that book's pro More...

0 comments like

Jul 11, 2011

Hilary rated it:

As a teen, I read (devoured!) the Earthsea trilogy. I read them over summer, all at once, one-after-the-other, unable to come up for air or to turn the pages quickly enough.

As an adult, I disliked Tehanu and the Tales.

But this story, I liked. Even though my favorite characters have aged, are old, and are contemplating death, and what that may entail.

"I think," Tehanu said in her soft strange voice, "That when I die, I breathe back the breath More...

0 comments like

Jun 28, 2011

Lisabet rated it:

I hadn't read anything by Ursula Le Guin in a very long time. It was a treat to renew my acquaintance. This book is part of the fantasy Earthsea series that began with A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA. Unfortunately, I read that book so many decades ago that I don't recall it at all - and my experience reading this book suffered from that. To really appreciate the book, I think you need to be familiar with the previous events in the saga. This is a weakness; I personally feel series books need to be able to More...

0 comments like

Nov 01, 2011

Sarah Bringhurst rated it:

I read the first several books in this series (LeGuin's Earthsea books) quite a while ago. They're among the better fantasy that is available for young readers. The Other Wind is a lovely journey back to the world of the wizard Ged, the wise Tenar, and their daughter Tehanu (who is also a dragon). This is a mature LeGuin at her very best. I love how her characters have aged along with her. Their enriched wisdom and perspective are completely believable, and add a beautiful dimension to an alread More...

0 comments like

Jan 27, 2011

Reynard rated it:

Although the vivid description, storytelling is still there in the book, as impressive as ever, I found a little bit disappointed with this book, in comparison with the earlier part of the Earthsea stories. In trying to produce a main point which is larger than life, an ending larger than the summation of the disperse pieces of the tales, the author left the story line somewhat incoherent and incomprehensible. Perhaps the plot was simply not elaborate enough to substantiate its "larger than More...

0 comments like

Feb 08, 2012

Kate rated it:

The last Earthsea book which moves out from the isolated sphere of the island of Gont that was the scene for Tehanu into the wider world. Unfortunately Ged the ex-archmage has only a small part to play in the book and Tenar, Tehanu and King Lebannen are the main characters.

This book finally challenges the status quo of the wizards of Roke, over women, dragons and the dead. The book ties up a number of loose ends that you may not have realised were flapping in the previous Earthsea More...

0 comments like

Sep 20, 2009

Brynna rated it:

Having not read any of the other Earthsea books, perhaps it was stupid of me to start with number 6, but it was the only one immediately available in the library. Now that I know vaguely how all the previous ones end, I probably will not enjoy them as much as I would have, but I'm not sure that I regret it.
This is a beautifully written book. In many ways it reads like some of the best nonfiction I have read, probably because the author felt little need for explanation of the world. Even More...

0 comments like

Jul 21, 2011

Ed rated it:

The Earthsea stories represent one of Le Guin's two major book series, the other being the popular Hainish Cycle. I recently finished the Hainish books and have become acquainted with their disjointed mosaic of the universe, each book only loosely connected with the others. So imagine my surprise to find that The Other Wind, a finale to the Earthsea books, is so remarkably intertwined with the previous tales and concepts that it's arguably essential to understanding the series as a whole.
More...

0 comments like

Dec 11, 2011

Dave rated it:

i can always tell how long it will take when i read a book that is 3 stars. a long time. here's the thing about 3 star books: they're good enough to keep you from quitting the book, but bad enough to where it's torture or boredom to read.

i'm a huge Earthsea fan. after reading the entire series, i can tell you that it's one of the finest fantasy series out there. my biggest problems with the books, though, is that they lack a certain depth and modernism that books like these should hav More...

0 comments like

Feb 11, 2009

Tamora rated it:

Is it me, or is the only way someone can be a good guy in this book (maybe in all of her work--I'm not a fan) by giving up something that's vital to themselves and the people around them? Not just a few, but everyone has to do this? That in the end she'd strip all her mages on their power if she could find a way to do it, or leave them nasty, mingey, sour people tightly clutching their skills to their chests and only reluctantly doling out bits of their knowledge to others because it's expecte More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 14, 2011

Robert rated it:

How many months overdue is this review? Since sometime late last year, anyway...I was still in Belgium...that was two countries ago!

This will almost certainly be the last novel about Earthsea that we shall see from Ursula LeGuin and it is a much more fitting end than Tehanu because it feels triumphant rather than negative. In similar vein to the Tales from Earthsea, ancient crimes and cover-ups that have had profound effects on the Archipelago's peoples are revealed. Matters are also More...

2 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jul 17, 2009

Nikki rated it:

The Other Wind is a beautiful book. I don't think I liked it all that much the first time I read it, but now I see exactly how it fits. It's less incongruous than Tehanu, for me, but follows on neatly enough -- and it does use all the ideas and feelings that are brought up in Tehanu. Set a long time after it, it makes most sense if you've read Dragonfly, from Tales from Earthsea, before you read it. The first time I tried to read it, I don't think I had, and I had no idea who Orm Irian was or wh More...

6 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 10, 2009

Anne rated it:

The short version:
Plot schmot, do you really think it’s accidental that The Other Wind is more contemplative than adventuresome? Ursula Le Guin is a very deliberate writer.

The long version:
Reading the Earthsea cycle in order will do more for you than simply get you up to speed on who’s who and what went before: so don’t start with this, the final book to date, if you want to really appreciate what Le Guin is doing. She created Earthsea in 1964, introduced Ged in 1968, a More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

May 07, 2008

Ellee rated it:

I began another classic children's fantasy series and again was not disappointed! The Earthsea series by Ursula LeGuin begins with A Wizard of Earthsea and continues with The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, The Other Wind, and Tales of Earthsea. I've now finished the entire series.

LeGuin's writing style is very different from Lloyd Alexander's. I'd say his tone is almost like that of an oral storyteller while LeGuin's is a little more literary. The main character for much More...

0 comments like

Jul 27, 2007

Dr M rated it:

This is sometimes called the sixth book of the Earthsea Cycle, though in my opinion it might equally well be called the fifth. To be sure, "Tales from Earthsea" was published as the fifth book in the Earthsea universe, but it is not an integral part of the series, the way I see it (the ultimate authority on the matter, Ursula K. Le Guin herself, holds the opposite opinion, but I am still going to stick with my impression from reading the books). "The Other Wind", on the other More...

1 comment like

Nov 21, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

Ursula K. LeGuin's continuation of the Earthsea story returns to the question of the afterlife. Many "truths" about the land of dust and the wall between the living and the dead that you may have thought you learned in the early volumes are turned upside down in this one. By the end of the book an unlikely alliance of Kargish women, Hardic wizards, a Pelnish wizard, the Kargish Patterner, a simple mender, and a couple of dragons in human form remake the realm of the dead. More...

0 comments like

reviews