Review: Tales from Earthsea

Tales from Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I still have to read the last book in the series, but I just wanted to say that between this and Tehanu, it's quite eye-opening to see a series change so much from it's original foundations, and not in a bad way. The original Earthsea trilogy were great children's fantasy books on their own merits, but the way the second half of the series changes gears (both in tone and its sudden thematic focus on women) is quite something else.

I imagine not all fans of the earlier books would appreciate these changes (given the way typically male-dominated fantasy fandoms are), but if you sit down and try to grasp at what Le Guin is trying to get at... even though she was effectively trying to play catch-up with second/third wave feminism, in some ways I feel like she was still ahead of her time in trying to grapple with these themes in her own work, like she was starting to foresee the kinds of challenges our society would face in light of gender norms that are still changing to this day. To be honest, the result can still feel a bit messy/awkward at times, but imo it's not really different from how it is in real life.

As far as the stories in this book go, the first and last (covering the founding of Roke and a side-story bridging Tehanu with the last book in the series) respectively are the best here, but overall it was nice to go back and revisit this setting even in a different light. Some parts are familiar, and some parts feel almost like revisionist history-- although more revisionist in the way that traditional history-telling can sometimes be biased towards male-dominated stories, ignoring or downplaying contributions from women and the roles that they played.

To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure how I felt after reading Tehanu even though I liked it overall; the the more introspective change in tone and pacing from the previous books was to the point where it almost felt jarring. But this book reaffirmed a lot of the qualities that I forgot I liked about the original trilogy to begin with, while at the same, it made me appreciate what Le Guin started in Tehanu a lot more. And now I'm more excited to finally get around to reading The Other Wind. Till next time.

Review: Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories

Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories by Flannery O'Connor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Flannery O'Connor has an obsession with Christian-themed violence (and okay that sounds terrible out of context lol). Technically speaking, it's weird, unless you buy into the messages she's going for and then it kinda works?

That aside, I think I actually wound up liking this collection overall more than A Good Man is Hard to Find, even though her last three stories in this one veer towards more conspicuously religious, introspective territory even by her own standards. Maybe it doesn't affect me as much cause I'm used to reading Christian themed works from my upbringing, but in any case, the uniquely Southern flavor of the themes explored here are as good as ever. My thoughts otherwise are more or less consistent with my previous review (see link above).

personal highlights: The title story, "The Lame Shall Enter First", "Revelation"