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    Tehanu
    Tehanu
    Tehanu
    Audiobook8 hours

    Tehanu

    Written by Ursula K. Le Guin

    Narrated by Jenny Sterlin

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The Nebula and Locus Award–winning fourth novel in the renowned Earthsea series from Ursula K. Le Guin.

    In this fourth novel in the Earthsea series, we rejoin the young priestess Tenar and powerful wizard Ged. Years before, they had helped each other at a time of darkness and danger. Together, they shared an adventure like no other. Tenar has since embraced the simple pleasures of an ordinary life, while Ged mourns the powers lost to him through no choice of his own.

    Now the two must join forces again and help another in need—the physically, emotionally scarred child whose own destiny has yet to be revealed. …

    "Le Guin's power is undiminished. She weaves contemporary concerns—the roles of men and women, the theft of resources from and the passage of power to the next generation—into a tale with the universality and dignity of legend."—Kirkus Reviews
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJun 17, 2016
    ISBN9781501923920
    Tehanu
    Author

    Ursula K. Le Guin

    Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (1929-2018) was a celebrated author whose body of work includes twenty-three novels, twelve volumes of short stories, eleven volumes of poetry, thirteen children’s books, five essay collections, and four works of translation. The breadth and imagination of her work earned her six Nebula Awards, seven Hugo Awards, and SFWA’s Grand Master, along with the PEN/Malamud and many other awards. In 2014 she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2016 she joined the short list of authors to be published in their lifetimes by the Library of America.

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    Reviews for Tehanu

    4/5

    1,423 ratings37 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Dragged a bit in the middle, nothing like the first three books, but excellent, more mature, more philosophical. Kind of a commentary on gender roles, the fantasy genre, modern society in general (early 90’s society in particular). The author’s note at the end was especially interesting because she shared the same details I was trying to puzzle out about the connection between her life and the story.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Moving to see the progress of the characters — and UKleG. Beautifully read and I enjoyed the afterword — added even more depth to the story
    • 5/5
      Truly beautiful and moving book. My favorite of the series.
    • 5/5
      It was fascinating to read about what happens to the hero once he's older and he's lost his powers. And an old woman who is suddenly powerful in her knowledge. Le Guin is indeed a master craftswoman!
    • 1/5
      This is a love story inserted into an adventure series. Disappointing.
    • 4/5
      yummy little tale
    • 4/5
      Made the farthest shore worth reading
    • 4/5
      Much darker then the earlier books in the series but also full of hope.

      By darker I mean dark, a little girl is raped, beaten and thrown into a fire. Ged the powerful archmage is powerless and broken, Tenar is cursed can't speak nor even think. But some light shines through. The king comes seeking Ged and saves Tenar and Tehanu, Ged saves Tenar and Tehanu stabbing a robber with a pitch fork. Tehanu saves Ged and Tenar by calling her father the dragon Kalessin
    • 3/5
      This series took me forever to read but I loved the overarching themes and how the characters’ stories are woven together through the quartet. I can also see how it inspired so many other books that I love, like Harry Potter and The Name of the Wind. The final book was slow, but the study of women in the world of Earthsea was interesting. Ged’s tale is epic and I appreciate what it added to the world of fantasy literature. “Despair speaks evenly, in a quiet voice.”“She went on, pondering the indifference of a man towards the exigencies that ruled a woman: that someone must not be far from a sleeping child, that one’s freedom meant another’s unfreedom.”“Despair speaks evenly, in a quiet voice.”“‘Why are men afraid of women?’‘If your strength is only the other’s weakness, you live in fear,’ Ged said. ‘Yes; but women seem to fear their own strength, to be afraid of themselves.’’Are they ever taught to trust themselves?’”
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed the first three Earthsea books - fun adventure stories with thoughtful philosophical explorations woven through. But this book is something different. This is Le Guin at the height of her power, weaving together the mundane and the miraculous. This book is a revelation and a delight. I feel lucky that I saved it for so long, and got to read it for the first time now. I look forward to returning to it again and again, until it becomes a familiar friend.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed the The Tombs of Atuan, but had very little interest in the other two preceding books of the Earthsea series. I've read a few other books by Ursula K. Le Guin, outside the Earthsea series, and they're not among my favorites. So the depth and care of Tehanu, the exploration of perspectives not previously explored, the bringing of the real into the fantasy space, was a true surprise for me. I found this to be an intense, meaningful work.
    • 4/5
      I first read this years ago and didn’t appreciate it. Reading about the hero of three previous novels who has lost his power was, at the time, disappointing. And I probably resisted the overt feminist themes. Now I realize it is a great step forward in the Earthsea series, a bold undertaking by Le Guin, written in her spare and beautiful style. It is a wise and insightful book, and it was a delight to revisit Tenar from The Tombs of Atuan, the Earthsea book that perhaps had the greatest impact on me.
    • 5/5
      This is an excellent "see the world through someone else's eyes" book. There will be parts that might be distasteful but that's how parts of people's lives are. Another person's opinions might not be correct but they exist nevertheless. I found the afterward really interesting. The way the author talked about writing the book made it sound like a process of discovery instead of creation.
    • 4/5
      This is another fantasy book that’s about the characters and their personal journey. The magical elements don’t really come into play until the end of the book. I really enjoyed revisiting Tenar’s life as an adult, moreso even than Ged. Yes, Ged is the hero of the trilogy, but he kind of lost some charm in the last book.What I found interesting is that Ged began his journey as a student of magic and eventually became Archmage, but is now brought low, feeling helpless and useless after the events of the third book. Tenar began her journey as a nameless girl, The Eaten One, and then had a moment of fame after Ged brought her to Havnor. In this book we learned she married a farmer, settled down, and had a couple kids. Now we find she’s windowed, her kids are grown and gone and she’s caring for a young girl, Therru.I feel like there’s a lot happening in this book, but it’s sort of lowkey. Things heat up at the end though – so if you enjoyed the flow of the first book, I think you’ll enjoy this too. I really loved the relationship between Tenar and Therru and I’d read so many more books about those two. Especially after the ending! If, like me, you were a little bummed by the third book, I think Tehanu will bring you back into the magic of Earthsea.
    • 5/5
      Twenty-five years ago, Tenar was a young priestess serving in the quite sinister Tombs of Atuan, and Ged was a powerful wizard. They escaped from the Tombs together--and then they parted company. Tenar chose the unmagical life of a farmer's wife, and Ged went on to become Archmage of Roke.Now Tenar is a widow,who has taken in a child, Therru, badly maimed by fire. Ged is no longer a wizard at all; he poured out all his power in defeating a major threat to the world of Earthsea. Tenar takes Therru with her when the wizard of Gont, Ogion, who taught both Ged, and, for a time Tenar, sends word that he is dying, and asks her to come. This is the start of another great change in the direction of Tenar's life.Both Ged and Ogion had seen power in Tenar, wanted her trained. Tenar chose to live a normal, unmagical life as a farmer's wife. When Ogion meets Therru, he tells Tenar to teach her. "Teach her everything."When Ogion dies, Tenar is in no immediate hurry to return to the farm in her own village. Therru is starting to relax a bit, open up. The local village witch, Auntie Moss, is becoming a reliable if sometimes difficult friend. There was a brief confrontation with the local lord's wizard, Aspen, but that seems to pass quickly. Then the Archmage Sparrowhawk, true name Ged, arrives. He's no longer the Archmage; he's no longer a mage. And by "arrive," I mean, is delivered by a dragon--a dragon who speaks to Tenar and tells her his name.Ged wishes she would just let him die; she nurses him back to health. Because they stay on, in the village and in Ogion's cottage, there's time for one of the men who inflicted Therru's terrible injuries to arrive and see the girl. There's time for Aspen to decide he really resents Tenar's reputation as a woman with real power. There's time for royal messengers hoping to summon Ged back to the king's city for his coronation to arrive--but Tenar gets word just in time to let Ged get out of Ogion's village and off to Tenar's, where he will seek work at Tenar's farm.Yet the real meat of this story is a look at the underdogs of Earthsea society--the women who are not supposed to have any power more than that of a village witch, the ordinary working people, those who don't have the power of magic, or violence, or wealth. These are the people we didn't see much of in the earlier Earthsea books; they're at the center of the story here. And Ged, once so arrogant in his younger years, is now one of them. This is Le Guin doing what some writers never manage to do, looking at what she overlooked in an older, much-loved, but necessarily imperfect work.I loved the Earthsea trilogy; I love Tehanu.Recommended.I bought this audiobook.
    • 4/5
      While I found the theme of women's power & role in life and the fear some men have of powerful women interesting and relevant, the writing in this 4th Earthsea book was not as skillful as in the earlier books. Many of Le Guin's ideas were put to the reader in a heavy handed manner with too much repetition. In general, I am a fan of her writing so that I felt let down in this one; readers who are unfamiliar with her work outside the Earthsea series might not feel the same.
    • 5/5
      As a fantasy novel Tehanu is a tough read: it touches on child abuse, rape, misogyny, prejudice, paranoia, xenophobia, torture and psychopathy. But against all these evils we also witness loyalty, support, care, consolation, compassion and love. Does magic come into it? Well, a bit. And let's not forget dragons, or at least one particular dragon.This instalment of the Earthsea series is set immediately after the events in The Farthest Shore. That ended with the promise of a crowning and Sparrowhawk's return to his place of birth, the island of Gont. Great events had shaken the archipelago, but one might have hoped that the overthrow of one evil would have returned Earthsea to some stability. Much has happened in the twenty years since Tenar was rescued from the Place of the Tombs on Atuan: the former child priestess has married a Gontish farmer, had children, and has lately been widowed. But things remain awry; indeed, they may be getting worse.There was always a hint of menace in the original Earthsea trilogy -- Sparrowhawk's shadow, a likely slow death in the confined spaces of Atuan's Labyrinth, the gradual leaking away of magic in the archipelago and its consequences for the inhabitants of that world -- but in Tehanu that menace is less a plot-driver than a reflection of the ill-will of human individuals, in particular certain men. Tenar is the main focus of Tehanu, as she was in The Tombs of Atuan, but here she lives the lowly life of a farmer's widow on Gont; and in fact, unlike two of the earlier books which ranged more widely, all the action is set in and around this island, including a short sea journey. Things start to change when she rescues a young girl who has been horrifically abused, leaving the right side of her face and hand and arm badly burnt.In this era of #MeToo, of gender imbalance and of misogyny both insidious and invidious we are only too aware of a gross societal injustice being met upon a good half of the global population by too many of the other half, an injustice that has gone on for far too long. How can things be different in an Earthsea which has so much in common with our own world? Up till now we have largely been aware of male wizards, male adversaries, male rulers, male movers and shakers. As witness to Earthsea being no idyllic example of an utopia, it's widely accepted that no witch can be a wizard. And what kind of men would leave a child to die in the remains of a camp fire? And then stalk the rescuer and the rescued?There is light, however, amidst the doom and gloom. Sparrowhawk, who has succumbed to that familiar male angst and shame when his ability to fill a role (for him, as Archmage) becomes redundant, slowly starts to lose his listlessness and self-pity when he finds there are compensations for relinquishing his power. Tenar, who has taken responsibility for the hurt child whom she calls Therru, finds an unexpected reward for that selflessness when she is at her lowest ebb. And Therru, scarred and damaged by fire, is able to call upon unforeseen resources when she and her adoptive parents are rescued by fire of a different kind.Without us needing to be told, there are clear signs here that in the years between the original trilogy and this book Le Guin had reconsidered the basis of the secondary world she had created and had found it wanting: we can see it in the discourse between characters, in the apparent mundanity of Tenar and Therru's lives for most of the narrative, in the almost peripheral appearance of magic in Earthsea.To readers wedded to sword-and-sorcery scenarios this may well have been a disappointment, even a betrayal; this is to assume that fantasy must stick to conventions, conform to expectations -- to me, that way lies moribundity. But, far from disappointing the perceptive reader, who might possibly have expected more of the same -- the basic premise of fantasy being that magic pervades everything -- I believe that Tehanu goes to the heart of what all true narrative is about: what it is to be human.And what about dragons? Why our fascination with them? Are they not an aspect of what we perceive to be latent within us? If in this novel dragons are associated more with the feminine principle, then that may only be right and apt: Le Guin is after all trying to redress the balance that has gone awry in her world and -- clearly -- remains to be righted in ours. It can't come soon enough.
    • 2/5
      I loved the first three Earthsea books, brilliantly conceived and executed. The third book ends so neatly I just assumed that the fourth would be about new characters, or a different perspective or something. Not this. While it's well written, and captures grief, loss and the broken nature of the Earthsea society well, it is just... boring. Nothing of note really happens, the main characters grapple with being normal people in a bad society. I suppose I can see why some people might enjoy this exposition and the critique on our own society, but I couldn't get into it.

      I once read a Harry Potter fanfiction set post-Deathly Hallows. The set up was basically Harry, Ron and Hermione struggle with middle age - marriage breakups, parents aging, dementia... Obviously the writing style was not in the same class as Le Guin, but Tehanu gave me the same feeling. Why would I want to read about these fantastic heroes struggling with the minutiae of daily life? I read other books for that. Ones set in a more realistic world in which real world problems actually resonate. When you have dragons flying round and evil wizards, normal problems just seem dull.
    • 2/5
      This book didn't really get me - which may have been because I never read the first three books of the series. (I think it nowhere said that this was not a standalone.) I actually only finished it because I started using 'Kalessin' as a nickname. It wasn't a bad book, just one that did not touch me.
    • 5/5
      What an amazing book that tracks characters we've all come to know and to love through the next phase of their lives: middle age. So often the hero goes off and meets dragons, the young maiden is rescued from her prison, and never do we know what happens to them later. In this case, Tenar, rescued from the Tombs of Atuan, learns from the Wizard Ogion and becomes a farm wife. But that's not how we see her - we see her as the widow, coming to the rescue of an abused young girl, and being summoned to the bedside of the dying Ogion.

      Then Ged returns as an old man, no longer the Archmage, and Tenar finds herself living with a new family. How many older women get to choose their family, or even their destiny? LeGuin paints a superb picture of the characters later in life, making their destinies and choices even more authentic than if they were seen by a young writer wondering what happens when you get old. Because really, none of us know the answer to that question until we're there.
    • 4/5
      The fourth book of the Earthsea series. This book brings the first three stories together nicely as we again meet Tenar from The Tombs of Atuan and Arren (now Lebannen) from The Farthest Shore. The story overlaps with The Farthest Shore and then they coalesce when Ged arrives back in Gont and we discover what happens to him after his return from his greatest battle where he lost his powers.The book successfully wraps up the three stories as well as telling the compelling new story of Therru, a small child who has been the subject of the cruellest of abuse and been left scarred, both physically and mentally.I loved the ending!
    • 3/5
      Le Guin's books are a little more difficult to read despite the thinness of the novel. It is a little more difficult because her characters do not follow traditional paths where characters succeed triumphantly or the plot that good wins so clearly. But it is a thinking book. One that makes you pause and question the issues the characters are wrestling with.

      I have to admit, I cannot help but always want Ged to succeed because he's the protagonist and I love him. It was difficult seeing him struggle with losing his powers. It was difficult reading about Tenar ragin at his supposed selfishness and shame. But no matter how difficult it is to read, I liked it. It's not like a typical scifi action fantasy book where characters can power up and always be strong. Rather, this book shows strength in the absence of power.

      This is a book written beyond its time for women. The way Tenar struggles with a woman's freedom and the reasoning behind a woman's fear is just heart wrenching. The musings of ethics and of philosophy are refreshing. So often in more modern books, the ethics or philosophical ideas in a book have a distinctly religious spin - and depending on the authors tone and stance, can sometimes be a severe detriment to my enjoyment of the book. But hers are about strength and fear and character behind one's appearance. About reputation Nd the difference between a man and a woman. It is refreshing.

      I was a little disappointed in the plot. This book was more of an extended aftermath or epilogue to the trilogy, showing us what happened to the remaining characters and how they dealt with all of the events. But throw in a new, mysterious girl ward and twenty pages of a villain and you kinda get a plot. I don't hate it, but it don't think this book is worth more than three stars because of it.

      Three stars. Lackluster plot with beautiful character writing and lovely thought provoking dialogue.
      Recommended for those who already know this author's style.
    • 5/5
      Well, I forgot to take notes on this one. I guess I got drawn in to its spell. I remember LeGuin’s feminist voice showed through strongly in places, but it seemed to quickly dissolve into the voice of the heroine, Tenar. There is a sense of great power and great deeds hiding in the shadows, but the story is told from the perspective of the powerless, the old, the plain folk, the abused, and the middle-aged farmer’s widow. But the magic is still there, as is of course, a dragon.
    • 5/5
      4th book in the Earthsea trilogy. A masterpiece, of course. What Le Guin isn't? This one gives us a clearer picture of Ged as an old man, and so much more besides.
    • 4/5
      Le Guin's political and philosophical messages are a bit too obvious here and not quite as well intergrated into the story as they are in the others in the cycle.
    • 5/5
      Brilliant concept, brilliant writing, brilliant characters. Le Guin writes a fantasy novel about the everyday, domestic female world that the first three Earthsea books have overlooked, essentially providing a feminist critique of her own world. And she does this without being preachy or boring. More fantasy novels like this need to be written.
    • 3/5
      Tehanu is the 4th in the Earthsea books. Of the four original novels, it is my least favorite. It shouldn't be but certain elements made it so. As a story it fits in extremely well with the other books in the series, but I felt it suffered more than a bit from a preachiness to it. I enjoyed the novel a lot but felt it would have been a better book if we weren't constantly told how bad women had it in the world of Earthsea. Near the end when a bad wizard forces Tenar to crawl and delights in kicking her breasts I said "enough!". Although Earthsea has certainly been seen as a world with troubles, we had no reason to be "treated" to this display of abuse, nor much of the screed and abuse that preceeded it. There was simply no good reason for Le Guin to incorporate this stuff in her story. It also was rather unsettling how damaged Ged was throughout almost the entire book.
    • 4/5
      Tehanu returns us to the world of Earthsea, to the time after the The Farthest Shore and The Tombs of Atuan. Tenar has grown older, had a family, and is now a widower when she received an urgentl from Sparrowhawk's former mentor Ogion, the mage that took her in when she first came to the area. As she journeys to her cottage we are introduced to the little girl Therru, marked by horrible tragedy and evil.While at Ogion's cottage, Sparrowhawk returns to Tenar, but he returns scarred and damaged, missing part of himself. Tenar, Sparrowhawk, and little Therru make a life journey together to put the pieces of themselves back together and bring the work back to a better place.This book was a fantastic read. it gave me what I've always wanted at the end of a series....just one more book. A book to show me how they ended up, what their family was like, and who would continue on after them. Tenar and Ged (also called Sparrowhawk), reunited after many years, are still the same characters I had grown to love in the earlier books. Only this time they are wiser, and will need to use all of their wisdom to help little Therru. Therru drew my sympathy from the start, and I admired her spirit and her tenacity to overcome her difficulties. This was a great addition to the Earthsea Cycle.4/5
    • 4/5
      Even while reading the book and now while thinking back, I'm almost surprised that I liked it so much. Of the first three Earthsea books, I did not much like Ged and Tenar's first meeting - it seemed so slow and mental - not enough action for me. Yet this revisiting of the pair later in life held my interest though it again did not have much action. It is more a romance and a bit of feminist romp as Tenar thinks back on her life and how different Ged is from her deceased husband.So maybe it isn't all about the action...I thoroughly enjoyed this look at the pair as they have aged and hearing the story from Tenar's point of view and through her thoughts. And, with a bit of a cliffhanger, I'm looking forward to finishing out the cycle soon.
    • 4/5
      Tehanu was one of the first book (with EarthSea) that my father gave me to read as a child. I loved the story, the magic in the lives of them and the strange child named Tehanu. It's a tale of hardships and love.