The Tombs of Atuan

Another beautiful piece from Le Guin! This was an incredibly atmospheric story and such a breath of fresh air, as the Wizard of Earthsea had been. Short though this book was, I find it difficult to summarize the story, which was both simple and complex at the same time. Suffice it to say that I was thoroughly enthralled by the plot and the characters.

Tenar is the central protagonist of this book. She's flawed, she's striving to be better, she's confident, she doubts herself and her value systems. She's both relatable and yet a protagonist that we can root for and hope that she comes out the other end okay. I also particularly liked her personal assistant, Manan, cringingly subservient though he may be sometimes.

A large part of this story takes place in a maze of pitch-black underground tunnels, and it is testament to Le Guin's writing that I almost felt claustrophobic just reading about these. I couldn't imagine how any of these characters could be walking around in the complete darkness, in a labyrinth of tunnels, without going mad with fear. I really felt what it meant when it was said that the Nameless Ones have power in that domain there.

Thoughts about the ending: Did Ged really just promise Tenar all these things about leaving the Tombs and then left her there alone? That kinda feels like a shitty thing to do. I'm hoping that that's not really the end of her story because that would be really shitty, and that's the reason why this is a 4 star and not higher. While Tenar hadn't been in a very great place to begin with, at least she was mistress of her own domain to some extent. Ged basically told her to come out and be free, the byproduct of which was killing and destroying all the people she had ever known, including Manan (justice for Manan!), and then he abandons her in this wide wide world that she had never stepped into for most of her life? I'm not saying that they need to be together forever just because he brought her out of it but at least he shouldn't be immediately dropping her as soon as she brought him out of that place - it almost feels like he was using her, which would have been really shitty.

100% definitely going to continue on this series. More people need to read the Earthsea Cycle and this needs to be adapted.