Book Review – The Other Wind

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Publisher: ACE
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: 2001

Reading Ursula Le Guin is an exercise of incredible humility — you’re reminded that domestic details are important: what you eat, your daily chores, your pets, the dreams you have at night, and so on. All the while the ancient forces of good and evil blur together into the simple humanity of a story well-told. Le Guin, more than any writer I’ve read, has a knack for merging ordinary into the extra-ordinary.

Le Guin’s Eathesea series continues in this sixth installment. Many years have passed since my college fantasy literature class where classmates wearing Anime t-shirts and boasting Lord of the Rings trivia vehemently opposed the domesticity and “low-magic” of Tehanu, the fourth Earthsea novel. For me, I adored it. I remember adoring it so much that I defended it against the critics of my classroom, liking this selection more than any other. This was a diamond amongst the rough of other glitzy, commercial fantasy triumphs — and turned the genre on its end. This was not a story about epic struggles, “the one,” or the search for some magical artifact; this was an exploration of what happens to a hero after-the-fact, after his magic has gone and he’s left to find his way as a normal human being — a journey that leads him to goat-herding on Gont. I love the idea of a destined man saving the world and then wanting to live in anonymity. What an incredible act of bravery and wisdom! And in this installment (In the Other Wind), you’ll be sorely disappointed if you still believe Ged/Sparrowhawk will rise up from his goat-herding to rescue Earthsea once more. As the Patterner says of him, “He’s done with doing.”

In The Other Wind, the humble wizard Alder with a talent for mending comes to seek Sparrowhawk’s advice after dreaming of his dead wife in the dry land — a place where the dead go. This eventually leads him to Havnor, where the King Lebannen is currently annoyed with his new guest: the Kargish High Princess, whose very presence (through her father’s political maneuvering) pressures him to marry. Tenar, the ex-priestess and wife of Sparrowhawk, is there to advise the King along with her scarred daughter, Tehanu: a creature of dragon-mystery. Alder comes to this court and brings his dreams with him. Soon everyone is dreaming things, and soon, an attack upon a village by dragons reveals an ancient division between men and dragons and the change beginning to unfold on Earthsea.

On of my favorite excerpts includes a section about the debate about animals, which is a big theme in this book. What makes them different from humans? Their inability to speak? “All animals have a way of speaking, saying come and beware and much else; but they can’t tell stories, and they can’t tell lies,” Sparrowhawk tells Alder. “… So maybe the difference isn’t language. Maybe it’s this: animals do neither good nor evil. They do as they must do.” How incredibly poignant that passage was to me, in light of current events. My mind couldn’t help but wander in that direction of Humane Society rescues of animals in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Other favorite moments include the romance budding between the King and the High-Princess, which involves only momentary instances — never any physical contact. The High-Princess can barely even speak his language! How novel to have a romance where the man is generally aggravated with the woman for half the span of the story. But then again, maybe this is an old storytelling trick.

You’ll also find vivid passages describing the world of Earthsea, from the grand palaces to the Grove. Le Guin’s interest in anthropology makes her one of the greatest world-builders of all time, Tolkien included. This is a society that works and is distinct from all others. Each island has its only personality, landscape, belief system, and language. Revered wizards on one island are called “accursed” by those of another.

Finally, dreams are prevalent in this story. At one point, Le Guin artfully lists off each character’s simultaneous dreams in the night. You wonder at their hidden meanings, but you can’t help but marvel at the technique. How interesting to glimpse a character through his or her own subconscious. And while you may find yourself lost in the overriding message of this story, you always have a sense that this is something age-old and ready to stand the test of time.

I highly recommend this novel to anyone wanting to experience the efforts of a true fantasy writing master. You’ll easily be lost in these concise, wise pages and find your own dreams holding more significance. Change is to be expected, to be embraced. Without death, we cannot have rebirth — which is a hugely comforting idea during the current world situation. And yet, we should not overlook or underestimate the doings of daily life. At the close of the novel, Tenar asks Sparrowhawk, once the Archmage of Roke and most legendary figure of all Earthsea, what he’s being doing during the span of the story — to which he replies, “Kept the house.” Although without the dangers and peril of Tenar’s dragon adventures, simple housekeeping may have an equally important weight.

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