So I was very pleasantly surprised when I read "book 6 of the Earthsea Cycle", "The Other Wind", 2001, 260 pages, 70k words. This book won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 2002. All the characters from the original Earthsea books, including the oldest dragon. It was an excellent read.
Le Guin so often includes dreams in her work. I liked this passage:
The last night of the sea voyage was calm, warm, starless. Dolphin moved with a long, easy rocking over the smooth swells southward. It was easy to sleep, and the people slept, and sleeping dreamed.It was followed by the dreams of all the major characters, including some we hadn't heard from in a while.
I enjoyed that book so much that I decided on a Le Guin binge.
Next up, "Changing Planes", 2002, 238 pages, 64k words. A short story collection based on a bad pun. Someone discovers that when you are in an airport and are between planes or changing planes, you can change planes of reality! The stories are set in various alternate planes of reality, with varied, odd cultures. Fun, quick reads, nice!
That left me with a series of 3 YA novels, "Annals of the Western Shore", which I expected to be, mmm, Hunger Games maybe. Nope. The stories are set on a new and different world, and are dark and adult in tone.
The 1st was "Gifts", 2004, 214 pages, 58k words. Marginally existing upland clans all have a different superpower, which they obsess over keeping via careful breeding. Feudal with a vengeance - this clearly seems like a bad bargain to me. How will our young heir handle his power, which is to undo things - i.e., to turn a person into a bag of bones, among other things?
The 2nd book is "Voices", 2006, 267 pages, 72k words. The action occurs 10-15 years later and moves south to an enlightened city known for its libraries, which is overrun by a desert people who believe the written word is sacrilegious - oops. The major characters from the 1st book show up 1/2-way through as supporting characters, nice.
The 3rd book is "Powers", 2007, 412 pages, 112k words. It says this won the Nebula Award for Best Novel; I'm surprised it took me this long to find it. More time passes, and now we move south to constantly warring city states. The main characters are mostly slaves. Writing about slavery seems fraught with peril to me. We have another new young protagonist, and our major characters from the 1st 2 books show up.
I enjoyed all 3 of these. The only thing I will say is that when the main story arc ends, that's it. You turn a page and its "About the Author". I like it more like "The Return of the King", where after Sauron is defeated you have the wedding, the Cleansing of the Shire, the voyage to the western lands. After all the suspense and tension of a good novel, I like to bask in the afterglow of a successful conclusion a little. UKL seems to be more, "OK, we're done, we're outta here!" ;->
Well I just got another Le Guin short story collection: "The Unreal and the Real", 2012, 873 pages, 237k words! This one I will leave for later.
