Audiobook
English language
Published June 1, 2014 by Recorded Books, Inc..
The sorcerer Alder fears sleep. The dead are pulling him to them at night. Through him they may free themselves and invade Earthsea. Alder seeks advice from Ged, once Archmage. Ged tells him to go to Tenar, Tehanu, and the young king at Havnor. They are joined by amber-eyed Irian, a fierce dragon able to assume the shape of a woman. The threat can be confronted only in the Immanent Grove on Roke, the holiest place in the world and there the king, hero, sage, wizard, and dragon make a last stand. In this final book of the Earthsea Cycle, Le Guin combines her magical fantasy with a profoundly human, earthly, humble touch.
Not only in the story itself, but also the pacing and atmosphere make this a perfect resolution to a series I've been slowly reading for something like 10 years. The circle feels satisfyingly complete, and I probably will start again with A Wizard Of Earthsea sooner or later.
a wonderful ending to a series that (to me) has its ups and downs - the perfect culmination of what the series becomes in the later books. I feel like the themes in this book settled in where previously I had bounced off from them; like all the best capstones of a series, it paints the rest of the two trilogies in a new light, especially in tandem with Tales from Earthsea.
I didn't like this as much as the previous books in the series. Too much recapping, but it did solve the mystery of the land of the dead, so definitely worth the effort.
