Earthsea?

[alorien]

Has anyone read these books?? I'm thinking about picking them up, but wanted a second opinion.

I'd heard of them before, but they really caught my eye because I heard that sci-fi's doing a miniseries (also called Earthsea) based on the book. From what I've heard, this could be very much like the Dune series they did a couple of years ago.

[Ithrynluin]

I read the first one in the series, A wizard of Earthsea, quite some time ago, and liked it. It is not quite up to the level of Tolkien (is anything?), but Mrs Le Guin is a skilled enough writer to conjure up a detailed and colourful world that will certainly grab your attention.

[33Peregrin]

I love Earthsea. If you can read it, then definitely read it. Of course, it isn't Tolkien, but nothing is. The reason I fist got it was because I had heard of it a lot when reading books that were like LOTR. I read A Wizard of Earthsea more than a year ago, and thought it mostly OK. Then earlier this year I bought the second and third book because they were really cheap. I read 'The Tombs of Atuan' in a day, and I thought that book was especially amazing. I loved it. I didn't get to read The Farthest Shore until this last summer, and I like that a lot. Then I read Tehanu in a day, and I really liked it. But I felt really lost after it ended, becaus it seemed a little incomplete. But still, I loved it, and all the books, and plan to read them again someday.

[Supernita]

Wow I'm surprised to hear about Earthsea here. I had never heard of it until a couple months ago, when a friend of mine mentioned it. His brother has one of the leading roles in the miniseries. I didn't really know if it would be any good, but because someone I knew was going to be in it, I was going to watch it anyways. I should go out and buy the books (how many are there?) before the miniseries comes out. And hey if any of you watch it, my friend's brother is Chris Gauthier. I've only met him briefly but he seems like a really cool guy. I can't wait to see him in a major role.

[33Peregrin]

There are four books.... I think. Well, Tehanu is supposedly 'The Last Book of Earthsea', but there are other books I have heard of too, like Tales of Earthsea or something. I've only read the four I mentioned.

[Starflower]

there are actually five books at the moment. the three that are the actual trilogy, then there is Tehanu which was published a while after the first three and the last one is called The Other Wind, which was published fairly recently. Then there is one that is Tales from the Earthsea which is a collection of miscellaneous stories.
Earthsea has been around for a very long time, the first book came out in 1968, when most people visiting TTF were not even born yet :)
I heartily recommend it to any who like fantasy books, Ms Le Guin is a great storyteller and paints very vivid images that linger in your imagination long after you have finished the books.

[alorien]

Wow I'm surprised to hear about Earthsea here. I had never heard of it until a couple months ago, when a friend of mine mentioned it. His brother has one of the leading roles in the miniseries. I didn't really know if it would be any good, but because someone I knew was going to be in it, I was going to watch it anyways. I should go out and buy the books (how many are there?) before the miniseries comes out. And hey if any of you watch it, my friend's brother is Chris Gauthier. I've only met him briefly but he seems like a really cool guy. I can't wait to see him in a major role.

No way!! Who's your friend's brother??

I just ordered the trilogy off amazon, as soon as I finish with that, i'll move on to the last parts of the series. Thanks for all the great info though.

Moving on, I think there's plenty of room for a good miniseries here -- I really liked Dune, and hope that this turns out at least half as well.

Is the miniseries based off the entire trilogy, or just one book?

[Beleg]

I have read all the five books and to my mind they are some of the best in the business. [Young-adult]

Even though I loved the fifth and fourth books, my favorite are those which focus on Ged more then Tehanu. Thus the Tombs of Atuan is my favorite of earthsea triology.

Another great LeGuin novel is 'The Left Hand of Darkness'.

[Starflower]

i agree with Beleg, the Tombs of Atuan is my favourite as well. (why is it that it is always the middle part of a series that's considered the greatest? look at Star Wars )

[33Peregrin]

So The Other Wind is the fifth book? Does it talk more about Tehanu by any chance? I only stopped after Tehanu because it was 'The Last book of Eartsea' and I couldn't see anything else in the library. Tehanu kind of felt incomplete to me.

[Supernita]

I think the miniseries is based on the original trilogy, although I don't know too much about it so I can't really say for sure. My friend's brother will be playing Vetch. I haven't read the books, so I have no idea who that is.. but that's the character name I got off www.imdb.com. I've heard the miniseries compared to Dune, but of course, it's not out yet so that's hard to say as well. I'm looking forward to it. I'm not sure when it's supposed to be released, but if anyone finds out, please let me know. I thought it was September.. but now I'm thinking I was probably wrong.

Also, I tried to buy the books the other day, and I can't find them anywhere. I asked the people at Chapters and Coles, and they can't even get Wizard of Earthsea (I think that's the first one...) in anymore. It says it's temporarily unavailable, which usually means it's permanently unavailable. I'm going to try ebay tonight, because I really want to read these books I've been hearing so much about.

[Starflower]

Nita,

try Amazon.com, they still stock the Earthsea trilogy

[Supernita]

Yea I'll try that, thanx. I found some on ebay last night but they still have a lot of days left, so who knows.

Is "Tales from Earthsea" worth getting? Like does it really tie into the original story? Everywhere has that in, so I might pick that up if it's worth reading.

[Starflower]

well try and get your hands on the original trilogy first, Tales from Earthsea is pretty useless unless you haev read the original one... they are more like essays that clarify some bits in the orginal

:0

[alorien]

For anyone that's interested, there's a NEW trailer for Earthsea available on the sci-fi website:

http://www.scifi.com/earthsea/downloads/trailers/

[Supernita]

Nice, it looks like it's going to be really good. I can't wait until it comes out. I'm still having a tough time finding the books though. There was one auction on ebay but it had 12 books altogether and it got too expensive. I didn't need the other books anyways, they were just random stuff by the same author. But there's another one coming up so I'll try to get that one. I really want to read them before the miniseries comes out. I'll try amazon and chapters again tonight too.

[Starflower]

you can buy the whole set from Amazon.co.uk, the UK site. the American one only sells individual books. I would recommend you have a look here (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140348034/pd_ka_0/202-5020171-8435029#product-details)

[alorien]

Looks like sci-fi's confirmed the release date:

EARTHSEA (Sci Fi) - Sci Fi has slated its much-hyped four-hour mini-series for Monday, December 13 and Tuesday, December 14, both at 9:00/8:00c. Here's how the cable channel's press materials describe the project: "Based on the classic literary series by acclaimed author Ursula K. LeGuin, the SCI FI Original miniseries Earthsea follows the tale of a reckless youth destined to become the greatest sorcerer that the mystical land of Earthsea has ever known. When the young wizard Ged discovers that he possesses infinite magical powers, he seeks to master the ancient arts. As he journeys to manhood, he will combat dragons, fall in love, cross death's threshold, and ultimately wield the power to reunite a kingdom." Shawn Ashmore, Kristin Kreuk, Isabella Rossellini and Danny Glover star

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/gofuton.cgi?action=newswire&id=6744

[33Peregrin]

I am so mad. I HATE my family. Or not...... but WE DON'T HVAE THE SCI-FI CHANNEL. I can't watch it.... and I love Earthsea, and Kristin Kreuk is in it.... she's a great actress! What am I going to do now? :(

[alorien]

Well, you still have a little bit of time. Maybe convince them to get cable ;)

If not, maybe get someone to tape it for you. That is sad, I'm sorry.

The third teaser trailer is up (http://www.gedswizardry.com/) and its pretty awesome.

Some great footage.

What do you guys think?

[Supernita]

Wow that was awesome.. I can't wait to see it. Unfortunately I don't have that channel either, I don't even think I can get it here. But I'll get it somehow. Yay, it'll be so good.

[windchimes]

the books are significantly different than the miniseries. i enjoyed reading the books to try to understand how the mind of a wizard would think from the inside instead of just observing one from another-not wizard-point of view.

[Prince of Cats]

Hi windchimes,

Thanks for the bump on this topic and thus the heads-up on Earthsea!

[Mike]

Well, after reading the initial hopefulness from 2004, I felt I have to say something:

If you have any love for the books whatsoever, you will most likely not enjoy the television series. Even the author herself denounced it as twisting the themes and structure of her original work into something nearly unrecognizable. And, I may add, they chose Caucasian actors for most of the roles when Earthsea was celebrated as one of the first fantasy series featuring non-Caucasian main characters. Ugh.

[HLGStrider]

I never saw the mini-series and I doubt I'll ever look it up (It must've made it to DVD so I suppose Netflix would have it, but I'd much rather just keep ordering Star Trek Voyager and Psych as my time wasting shows). I have read some of the books, two, "Wizard of Earthsea" and "Tales of Earthsea." I liked Wizard, though it seemed a little predictable and the ending was a tiny bit anti-climactic, but I didn't really get into Tales.

[Mike]

Read Tombs of Atuan. By far the best, I believe.

[windchimes]

i have read all six of the books of earthsea. i liked them all for different reasons. i believe that that magic exists in real life. does anyone else?