Grade: A+
A perfect ending to a classic series. Let’s just hope it really is an ending.
Dear Ms. LeGuin,
Please stop writing Earthsea novels.
You are one of the great authors of our time, so this has nothing to do with your overall talent or abilities as a writer. This has everything to do with the fact that there is nothing more to do in Earthsea. When the original trilogy was completed, it was a masterpiece. But something inside you made you continue. True, there were some hooks in the third book that leant themselves nicely to continuing the story. But just because something can be done doesn’t mean it should be.
The trilogy became a quartet with Tehanu. Then you put out a collection of short stories, so the publishers all realized they didn’t know where this train was stopping and quickly renamed it The Earthsea Cycle. Please stop the cycle.
In your last book you tackled the biggest issue that was left hanging out there after The Farthest Shore. The Other Wind takes on death in Earthsea, and while there are certainly hooks for another book, please resist the temptation. Tehanu and Tales From Earthsea all got slightly off track and started dealing with gender in Earthsea. I’m sure the sociologist in you finds this fascinating, but you’ve done it better in The Left Hand of Darkness. Earthsea is about something more, and you’ve captured that in the first three and the last book.
At least, I hope it’s the last book.
Look at it this way, you have created a modern myth. And how do all classic myths end? With some flavor of “And they lived happily ever after.” It gave the reader a sense of finality without a sense of ending. The story continued, but we don’t need to hear more about it. This is how Earthsea should end. You have resolved death in Earthsea. You have resolved Ged’s and Lebannen’s story enough. Is there more? Certainly. But we don’t need it.
What we need is for you to end on a high note. And you have.
Thanks.
