The Tombs of Atuan, Ursula K. Le Guin
The Tombs of Atuan, Ursula K. Le Guin
4 Rating(s)
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The Tombs of Atuan

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Narrator: Rob Inglis

Unabridged: 5 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 06/25/2010

Synopsis

One of the Time 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time

The Newbery Honor–winning second novel in the renowned Earthsea series from Ursula K. Le Guin

In this second novel in the Earthsea series, Tenar is chosen as high priestess to the ancient and nameless Powers of the Earth, and everything is taken from her—home, family, possessions, even her name. She is now known only as Arha, the Eaten One, and guards the shadowy, labyrinthine Tombs of Atuan.

Then a wizard, Ged Sparrowhawk, comes to steal the Tombs’ greatest hidden treasure, the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Tenar’s duty is to protect the Ring, but Ged possesses the light of magic and tales of a world that Tenar has never known. Will Tenar risk everything to escape from the darkness that has become her domain?

“Atuan, like Earthsea, is located in the mind of its maker, but was created out of the very stuff of mythology and reflects universal patterns that were once embodied in Stonehenge and in the Cretan labyrinth.”—The Horn Book

About Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) was an American author of novels, children's books, and short stories, mainly in the genres of fantasy and science fiction. She has also written poetry and essays. First published in the 1960s, her work has often depicted futuristic or imaginary alternative worlds in politics, the natural environment, gender, religion, sexuality, and ethnography.

Ursula has influenced such Booker Prize winners and other writers as Salman Rushdie and David Mitchell-and notable science fiction and fantasy writers including Neil Gaiman and Iain Banks. She has won the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award, and World Fantasy Award, each more than once. In 2014, she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. She has resided in Portland, Oregon since 1959.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Brad on March 09, 2012

Half way through reading The Tombs of Atuan, I was sitting downstairs playing my xBox late at night when I heard voices drifting down from upstairs. I sat and listened to the door muffled murmurs of Miloš & Brontë, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. Usually I'd just call up to them and t......more

Goodreads review by Sean Barrs on November 26, 2017

The first few chapters of this were a real chore. They were confusing and dull. However, out of the darkness of those chapters, and out of the depths of the labyrinth, came a story of redemption, human suffering and a will, a will to overcome great evil when succumbing to the darkness would have bee......more

Goodreads review by Bionic Jean on August 09, 2024

The Tombs of Atuan by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, was originally published in 1971. It is the second book in her “Earthsea” series of fantasy books, which began with “A Wizard of Earthsea” in 1969. Yet The Tombs of Atuan has never achieved the same popularity as its predecessor, and is of......more

Goodreads review by Tim on February 19, 2021

2/19/21 - I'm editing my review. It may seem odd to edit a review for a book I read over two years ago without a reread, but I've noticed whenever I talk fantasy with my friends, I use this book as an example of perfect world building. It's one of those rare novels that the more I think about it the......more

Goodreads review by Bradley on August 05, 2017

This is a very fine fantasy. I say fine because it evokes many great labyrinthian images, old, old traditions of sacrifice to the Dark Old Ones, and eventually, freedom from the same. There's a lot of beauty here, and while I didn't love it on quite the same scale as Ged's original journey in the fir......more

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