The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition (Earthsea Cycle)

I'm a bibliophile. I love books, actual books, hardback books, the look of them, the feel of them in the hand, the solidity and weight of them, even their smell, of ink and paper, cloth, thread and glue. I recently purchased Ursula K. Le Guin's The Books of Earthsea, Complete Illustrated Edition, an omnibus that contains all the novels of Earthsea (six in all), all the short stories, including one never before published, her Oxford Lecture on Earthsea from 1992, a new foreword and afterwords in her own voice, all beautifully illustrated by Charles Vess. My heart is happy. It's a big, thick, heavy book, beautifully bound in red cloth with gold lettering, encased in a dust jacket showing dragons of several colors circling a little boat navigating a rough, rock-strewn sea. People used to handling paperbacks and Kindles and similar devices will no doubt find it unwieldy, heavy and cumbersome. For fellow bibliophiles, however, these are all plusses. The story is one that has captivated me since I was a small child, and it has held up well over the years. I find it just as enchanting now as I did way back then, when I first read A Wizard of Earthsea in the first grade. For Ms. Le Guin, who died in 2018, this edition, collected, annotated and illustrated to her specifications, was her swan song, a worthy product of a worthy Maker whom the world will not see the likes of again. Thank you, Ms. Le Guin, for this and all the stories you've told to a lonely, peculiar child for all these years.

I only bought this book because it was on sale and was cheaper than getting the first three books in the series by themselves, but I'm glad I did. It is a beautiful book. The illustrations are worth it. However, it is very, very, very heavy. It's not a book that I would (or could) take anywhere. It does make me feel very important though, owning such a large book. I'm excited to take it to a coffee shop one day and make everyone else jealous. As far as the stories themselves, I'm only halfway through the first book, so I can't tell you much. I like her writing style though. The narrative has a historical bent to it (the narrator is outside the story, looking back long after the events have happened - as far as I can tell now) that I'm not used to, coming from listening to Brandon Sanderson, but I'm enjoying it. The magic system is also really interesting and I'm looking forward to getting more and more immersed in it.

First on the content: Earthsea is a splendid series, on par with Tolkien or perhaps better. Le Guin is a story teller like few others. She looks deep into the human psyche, exploring the good, the bad, and everything between with a delicacy that leaves hope that light is greater than darkness, and perhaps there's good in darkness too. The books of the Earthsea series focus mainly on the inner struggles of the protagonists. Similar to Tolkien, there are individuals who fall to the influence of evil, but still evil is less personified. There are not ecosystems of monsters as there are in Tolkien, and even the worst villain is within reach of redemption. While these tales are heavy, they are appropriate for any age group, from five years to 95. Le Guin's language is plain and easy to read. The writing is accessible to beginner readers and has a depth that is also satisfying to adults. About this particular addition: It is a high quality printing but some aspects could be better. 1. The entirety of Le Guin's Earthsea writings is in this single volume, including her short stories. 2. The paper has good quality and weight. 3. The text size is smaller than I would like, but not exceedingly small. The page margins are larger than necessary. Narrowing the margins would have allowed for larger text. 4. The illustrations are well done. Some in color and some in black and white. But there are too few. In the entire first book, A Wizard of Earthsea, there are 5 illustrations. 5. The book is too thick for its length and heigh. It's unwieldy to hold in your hand. Perhaps it was overly ambitious to fit all of Earthsea into one volume. Or perhaps it should have been done on a larger footprint in order to accommodate larger font size, more illustrations, and better ergonomics. I love this series too much to give it anything other than 5 stars to it. But this edition does have limitations due to being cramped into too small a footprint with wide margins wasting precious space. I don't regret having purchased it, and there is no good alternative for those wanting the comprehensive set of Earthsea, but I hope that a future edition will be sized better.

This is an absolutely fabulous book. The collection of Ursula Le Guin’s is beautifully illustrated and well-crafted. It was a pleasure to hold and read a book of this quality. One really great feature is Le Guin’s commentary between each of the novels. They were written over a fairly long period of time and through life changes, and her explanations of what she was trying to accomplish, what she experienced in life at the time, and how she translated all of that background into her novels helped me appreciate her brilliance as a writer even more. They may have been marketed as books for young adults, but her writing is quite profound and even seasoned adults will appreciate the wisdom in her writing. It’s nice to have a book crafted with the quality to match her excellent writing.

Books from back before the publishing industry forced authors to fill pages with drivel to meet a 400-500 page requirement. Ursula K. LeGuin blows all modern fantasy writers away with her brevity, her imagination, her direct line into the brains of her readers, painting vividly the stark, simple, complex minds of her characters and the worlds they inhabit. No one does it better, no writer is a better teacher. The editorial content surrounding the stories gives insight into the mind of the 20th century's greatest fantasy author. Lovers of linguistics professors can fight me. This woman invented the ansible and onomancy. If you liked Name of the Wind you owe this lady your gratitude. "I, who am old, who have done what I must do, who stand in the daylight facing my own death, the end of all possibility, I know that there is only one power that is real and worth the having. And that is the power, not to take, but to accept." - The Farthest Shore

I just received the book. It is beautifully illustrated, and looks like an amazing present! and was delivered quickly.

I ordered this book a few weeks ago and when it arrived I was pretty surprised by it. Maybe I should have read the description a bit more closely. From the images, I expected a book similar to the illustrated Harry Potter editions. I thought it would be oversized, and probably contain the original trilogy. Instead, what I found is that this book is closer to the size of a normal hardcover book. It contains ALL the Earthsea books and is about 1000 pages long. Illustrations are sparse and spread throughout the book. None of this is necessarily a bad thing, it's just not what I was expecting. On the positive side, it's a good collected edition with a gorgeous dust jacket. The illustrations inside are very nice. You're definitely getting good value for the price Amazon charges for this book. Ultimately, it's a classic series by one of the legendary writers of the genre. It's hard to go wrong.

Yeah, it's pretty big. This is not really a book you hold up to your face in bed or whatever. It's a book you put down and read in your bed in a comfortable way. People should have logically expected this. Beyond that it's beautiful and definitive. If you ever wanted to read anything about Earthsea, this is all you will ever need. Arrived in great condition. Pages are nice and large, and the text isn't too small, though, it is not exactly a big font either. About right for me anyway. I would say if you just want to read one book in the series in a variety of places, look elsewhere. It's about the size of a large bible. But I have no issues reading it in bed or at a desk. Nothing bad to say here really other than its size. It's an amazing book for under 30 bucks these days. No better intro to Le Guin than this.