Other editions of book The Other Wind

This new, fifth, Earthsea novel pits Ged, Tenar, and Tehanu against the dead. A dragon shows the hard way to salvation. Le Guin shows us the politics of the Archipelago, the crisis caused by the dragons who have come in great flights setting fire to the forests and islands in the west, and the richness of the city: painted bridges, towers topped with sword blades, ships with sails like swan wings. The narrative style is poetic and possesses the simple dignity and compelling rhythm of both fairy tale and epic.

The sorcerer Alder fears sleep. He dreams of the land of death, of his wife who died young and longs to return to him so much that she kissed him across the low stone wall that separates our world from the Dry Land-where the grass is withered, the stars never move, and lovers pass without knowing each other. The dead are pulling Alder 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.Le Guin combines her magical fantasy with a profoundly human, earthly, humble touch.