And so we continue on our wonderful journey through the islands of Earthsea.

I do not care what comes after; I have seen the dragons on the wind of morning.

Once again, we have a dramatic change of character/scope. This time at least, we do have Ged, now Archmage, but our main character is instead the young prince Arren. Why? No idea! Where did our Tenar go? Well, she’s referenced, but only barely.

Instead, we have darkness spreading and magic going … wrong. Who better to save the world than an Archmage and some random guy we just met! Even after reading it, I’m still not entirely sure what the point of Arren was, beyond providing us an audience insert now that Ged is so powerful. He worked well enough in the first book though. Overall, I miss Tenar. Looking ahead though, she’s apparently in the next book, so that’s something to look forward to.

All that being said, Earthsea remains a world literally full of wonder. Each new island has something different to it. There is magic. There are dragons. And there is darkness that someone has to stand by. The prose is magical and the book speeds along. Some of the scenes towards the end of the book gave exactly the feeling of dread that made A Wizard of Earthsea shine in parts.

Overall, I’m glad to have read it!

When I was young, I had to choose between the life of being and the life of doing. And I leapt at the latter like a trout to a fly. But each deed you do, each act, binds you to itself and to its consequences, and makes you act again and yet again. Then very seldom do you come upon a space, a time like this, between act and act, when you may stop and simply be. Or wonder who, after all, you are.