| The great finale of the Earthsea trilogy is set in a Tolkien-time of wizards and dragons, and has a similar theme to Madeleine L'Engle's 'A Wrinkle in Time' series. Sparrowhawk, the goat-boy from the remote island of Gont, is now the Archmage of Roke Island, the heartland of the wizards. He has survived a lifetime of wild adventure.
Yet the greatest of his achievements, to find the amulet of Erreth-Akbe graved with the lost rune-symbol of unity, has only brought improvement and not oneness to his world. The missing key is that there is no king on the high throne of Earthsea, one to whom every tribe and nation would own allegiance. And now an old adversary, far from being defeated, has returned to wreak vengeance on them all. A magic that is unmagic, that spares no-one, that drains the will and meaning from thought and speech, that makes all plans--plans magical, plans ordinary--go astray, is seeping through the world. Magicians lose their spells, singers their songs, weavers and dyers of cloth their knowledge and skill. Even on Roke the more sensitive of the wizards feel a tremor in the force. And the oldest of all creatures the dragons, for whom magic is as breathing and being, are returning to a dumb and witless state: they are in terror. So it is to the archmage, last of the Dragonlords who alone speaks with them in the tongue of the ancients, that the dragons too turn for help. No one comprehends the attack as it is a not-attack; it is a draining of reality from reality, universal negation and emptying. Some retreat into a haze of drug dependence, some end their own lives, most stumble on like blind men. His will holds firm but Sparrowhawk must defeat the enemy before all is undone. So, true-hearted and deep in hard-won wisdom and skill he goes out to seek the enemy. His helper is a young prince who knows no magic or life outside the privilege of court, last of the line of the house of Morred. Not knowing their foe or their chance of success they sail into a great unknown. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear) FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy world/fantasy past Magical Beings/Mental/Magical/Powers Yes magical powers: Is this an adult or child's book? - Kid's book (ages 7-14) Descript. of chases or violence - 30 % planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20 % Main Character Identity: - Male Profession/status: Age: - 40's-50's If magical mental powers: - can change shapes - can talk to animals - fire/lightning/weather cntrl - mind reading - can fly - can cast many different spells - Invisibility - healing Main Adversary Identity: - magical being Age: - long-lived adults Profession/status: Has magical powers? Yes Magical/mental powers of main antagonist: - can change shapes - mind reading - mind control - can cast all sorts of spells - Invisibility Eccentric: Yes How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount How sensitive is this character? Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters Setting Terrain Earth setting: - during "Tolkien" (fairytime) times Takes place on Earth? Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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