• Tehanu

  • The Earthsea Cycle, Book Four
  • By: Ursula K. Le Guin
  • Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
  • Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,207 ratings)

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Tehanu  By  cover art

Tehanu

By: Ursula K. Le Guin
Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
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Publisher's summary

Years before, they had escaped together from the sinister Tombs of Atuan - she an isolated young priestess, he a powerful wizard. Now she is a farmer's widow, having chosen for herself the simple pleasures of an ordinary life. And he is a broken old man, mourning the powers lost to him not by choice.

A lifetime ago they helped each other at a time of darkness and danger. Now they must join forces again to help another - the physically and emotionally scarred child whose own destiny remains to be revealed.

©1990 Ursula K. Le Guin (P)2016 Recorded Books

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What listeners say about Tehanu

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  • JA
  • 08-30-17

Delivers on Promise of Tenar and the Tombs

Only a misogynist or someone who heard excerpts could misread this book as feminist preaching. Round characters, beautiful sentences, and a fantastic reader, to boot!

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15 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An excellent story and a brilliant telling.

Tehanu is a critical and introspective look at female intuition and the expectations society can so often impose, knowingly or unknowingly, upon the wife, mother, sister, and daughter.

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12 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

SJW

Loved the first three books in this series, but this book written 18 years later is a reflection of the social justice warrior/feminism that Ursula K. Leguin picked up in that time frame. She completely ruins the story and destroys the best character for politics. I do not recommend it at all. Read the first three, and forget that this one exists.

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11 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Rare and gifted narrator

I do not wish to write a review of this book, because it is a favorite of mine, told in Ursula Le Guin’s spare beautiful way. The characters are more precious to me now that I, like them, are also older. What I most want to comment on is how amazing narrator, Jenny Sterlin is as she gives voice to each character and how easy her voice tells this story. It is rare for me to love a narrator from the start, in fact if the material of a book isn’t interested a poorly chosen narrator can ruin the experience. High marks for Ms Sterlin. I hope she continues to narrate many other audio books.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Beautiful but Mundane

Very well-written, and Le Guin (as always) has a knack for making rounded and believable characters. However, unlike the previous books, Tehanu is light on plot. As the author admits in the postscript, Tehanu’s focus is on the ordinary lives of ordinary people, on finding grace in the mundane.

Unfortunately, experiencing the mundane lives of ordinary people is not why most people (myself included) read fantasy novels. The stakes weren’t high enough, the fantasy element wasn’t strong enough, and the plot plodded. I gave 3/5 stars out of respect for Le Guin’s writing, but (compared to its predecessors) Tehanu was a bit of a disappointment.

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6 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Very Disappointed

Just a bunch of feminist preaching. Stick with the first 3 books and don't bother with this one.

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Le Guin is incredible

really interesting change in perspective after the last three. this book challenges each character fundamentally, as well as the world and culture of earthsea, as well as our own world in what it shares with earthsea. it took a more difficult but ultimately rewarding path, and i have nothing but respect and awe for the author.

some developments do seem convenient or heavy-handed, but they are still effective and don't get in the way of the engaging emotional journeys of the characters - which i see as the main exploration of the book.

the performance was also fantastic.

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5 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Least favorite book of the series

This book has to be my least favorite of the series. A little too much feminism for me. Why didn't she make her female characters stronger in the previous books, instead of making the men all weak and insecure. I don't even know if I want to read the last book if it's going to be the same.. There are strong female characters in many great book series without displacing the men. (Mistborn, The wheel of time, Stormlight Archives, Outlander, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, Hunger Games, Harry Potter...)

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Different, in a good way.

I really enjoyed this one. A far different type of tale, but just as grand in its own way. Recommend.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not like the last 3 books in the series

Unlike the last 3 books, this one doesn't have an exciting story to tell. It starts with a graphic description of a child being burned nearly to death and then focuses on the thoughts, feelings and experiences of a normal (non magical) woman in earthsea. At the end of the book, my first reaction was, "that was it?"

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4 people found this helpful