The Farthest Shore
Darkness threatens to overtake Earthsea: the world and its wizards are losing their magic. Despite being wearied with age, Ged Sparrowhawk – Archmage, wizard, and dragonlord – embarks on a daring, treacherous journey, accompanied by Enlad's young Prince Arren, to discover the reasons behind this devastating pattern of loss.
Together they will sail to the farthest reaches of their world—even beyond the realm of death—as they seek to restore magic to a land desperately thirsty for it.
National Book Award for Children's Books (1973); Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Nominee (1973)
About the Earthsea Series
Books in series order
- 1.A Wizard of Earthsea(1968)
- 2.The Tombs of Atuan(1970)
- 3.The Farthest Shore(1972)
- 4.Tehanu(1990)
- 5.The Other Wind(2001)
- 6.Tales from Earthsea(2001)
Reading age: 10+ years
This series should be read in order.
A mystical fantasy saga in the tradition of JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis, the Earthsea novels follow the fortunes of the wizard Ged from his childhood to an age where magic is giving way to evil.
As a child, Ged is but a goatherd on the island of Gont when he comes by his strange powers over nature. Sent to the School of Wizards on Roke, he learns the true way of magic and proves himself a powerful magician. And it is as the Archmage Sparrowhawk that he helps the High Priestess Tenar escape the labyrinth of darkness. But over the years, Ged witnesses true magic and the ancient ways submit to the forces of evil and death. Will he too succumb, or can he hold them back?
Fans of JK Rowling's Harry Potter series will find much to admire in this complex and captivating predecessor.