Tehanu (book review)

Ursula K. Le Guin ★★★★★ There’s a sharp break between the first three Earthsea books and the later ones. The original trilogy had been a classic of young-adult high fantasy for almost 20 years before Le Guin returned to the world with a more grown-up perspective. The first three books can be read as heroic adventures. This one’s about the ordinary people, the ones caught underfoot when wizards and heroes and villains fight against each other. And while there are still big fantastic questions like the connection between humans and dragons, it delves into weightier but more personal issues like child abuse, disability, misogyny and cruelty. A Life More Ordinary Tehanu picks up Tenar’s story 25 years after she left Atuan with Ged. She’s since walked away from the life of priestesses, mages and kings, and lived an ordinary woman’s life as a farmer on Gont, marrying, raising children, widowed, and as the story begins, adopting an abused, scarred child. And it picks up Ged’s story a few…