The Other Wind

The Earthsea Cycle, Book 6

By: Ursula K. Le Guin

Narrated by: Samuel Roukin

The sorcerer Alder fears sleep. The dead are pulling him to them at night. Through him they may free themselves and invade Earthsea.

Alder seeks advice from Ged, once Archmage. Ged tells him to go to Tenar, Tehanu, and the young king at Havnor. They are joined by amber-eyed Irian, a fierce dragon able to assume the shape of a woman.

The threat can be confronted only in the Immanent Grove on Roke, the holiest place in the world, and there the king, hero, sage, wizard, and dragon make a last stand.

In this final book of the Earthsea Cycle, Le Guin combines her magical fantasy with a profoundly human, earthly, humble touch.

©2001 Ursula K. Le Guin (P)2017 Recorded Books

I am a fan of le Guin

Narration was fine, but only small complaint would be too many characters with similar names. Keeping them straight could be challenging.

Just a few flaws

The minor issue other have mentioned regarding alternative pronunciation of some words is really jarring against the overall quality of the performance. Otherwise, my only complaint would be that whispers were often too quiet to hear without backing up and jacking up the volume, at least when listening while driving.

This was a satisfying conclusion to the series, and I'm nearly certain I wouldn't have appreciated the bittersweetness of it when I started the series as a teen, so just as well it took a bit.

a masterpiece

A poignant and profoundly moving close to this fantastic series, everything a reader could hope for in an ending.

Subtlely complex

a fitting and beautiful end to the journey, but I wouldn’t have minded more. Like 5 to 6 hours more. Or another whole book more haha but still. An awesome and different and strange fantasy

Small things cast a big shadow

This was amazing. This brought a return to the magnitude of the original Earthsea trilogy while combining it with the simplicity of the human experience that we found in Tehanu. Like small things that cast a big shadow, so does this book.

Roukin’s narrative performance was also very much of quality. All in all this book has become a favorite. I never felt I would say this, but Ged’s tale feels complete.

Narration excellent in spite of name mistakes

The obviously skilled and experienced narrator, Samuel Roukin, read this lovely story beautifully. However, he falters in the pronunciation of proper names. This is a problem common to English speakers. One hears this same problem with place names on broadcasts from England. When speaking the names that begin with the letter I of those two countries in the Middle East - Iran and Iraq - the English cannot decide between long vowels versus dipthongs with short vowels, between EEE-RAHQ and EYE-RACK. Same with Iran. (The American broadcasters mostly stay with the dipthongs and short vowels.) This narrator keeps switching on the dragon's name "Irian" between EEE-REE-AHN (which sounds more classically theatrical to me) and EYE-REE-ANN. Since Irian was a major character, this was distracting. The Director of this recording project should have coached the narrator in this before beginning.

beautiful story. pretty good performance.

incredible book by legend and visionary Urs K
performance does not do it justice but is good enough to make the magic happen

Le Guin tells stories that have the heft of myth to them.

This was a lovely continuation of the Earthsea series. Le Guin wrote believable characters in a magical world. These books are worth your time.

Somewhat predictable

Towards the end of the series and especially in the final book, I realized I could doze off and miss half a chapter but almost instantly fill in the plot. I was thrilled to see Tehanu realize her true self; reason enough to finish the series. Atuan remains my favorite of the series but that story was unfinished until now.

Setting aside that some of these events were predictable (or fated), the weaving of the characters" tales into a finally cohesive and satisfying conclusion was the art of a master author.

Everything said (at least for the first time), throughout the series, no matter how seemingly inconsequential, was ultimately a key to understanding and accepting the conclusion.

Great Story, but Uncaring Narrator

As the last book, The Other Wind brings a satisfying close to an amazing series. Le Guin masterfully ties up all loose ends to the wonderfully complex and in-depth universe she has created.

The narrator's performance was good in terms of tone, inflection, timing, and feeling. However, it didn't seem like he cared about the story or characters he was narrating. In addition to being inconsistent with the pronunciation of names (Irian and Thorion in particular), he did not do the research into previous books to voice his characters properly (like the soft, hoarse voice of Tehanu or the halting, harsh speech of Azver). This made the listening experience lose some of its magic.

Narrating flaws aside, the book is still worth listening to if you are a fan of Earthsea.