The Books Of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition

By Ursula K. Le Guin, illustrated by Charles Vess
Fantasy/Saga Press/2018/Hardcover box set/992 pages/$105.27/Available here

Ursula K. Le Guin writes with such beguiling lucidity that her fantasy worlds feel fully formed, weathered and whole the second a reader consumes a word, a line, a page.

The opening of her novel A Wizard Of Earthsea (1968) immediately paints a landscape and a social hierarchy in two sentences: "The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-racked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for wizards. From the towns in its high valleys and the ports on its dark narrow bays many a Gontishman has gone forth to serve the Lords of the Archipelago in their cities as wizard or mage, or, looking for adventure, to wander working magic from isle to isle of all Earthsea."

The idea of an illustrated edition of the beloved Earthsea stories thus holds perils for both fans with high expectations and the artist who has to meet these demands. Charles Vess' dreamy smudged charcoal sketches and lovingly detailed colour illustrations are, thankfully, sweetly imagined complements to Le Guin's elegant prose.

Unlike other more commercial fantasy fiction franchises, the Earthsea stories have not been churned out like clockwork. They were written over a span of 50 years and include novels and short stories.

Ostensibly written for a young adult audience, the first trilogy offers a coming-of-age tale, an adventure story and a last hurrah, all centring on the life of the wizard Ged.

The later novels, Tehanu (1990) and The Other Wind (2001), written more than 15 years after the first trio, are intriguing addenda which deepen the gender and social subtexts of the earlier books.

The early Earthsea stories are comforting in the way they follow the traditional narrative arc of a hero's tale, a classic bildungsroman in which Ged learns about his powers, makes mistakes and learns from them.

But it is also satisfying to see how Le Guin subverts traditional fantasy tropes: The good guys are dark-complexioned, while the villains are white; the sequel takes on a female point of view instead of following Ged's story; and in the third book, Ged plays a supporting, if critical, role in the story of young prince Arren.

Le Guin's idea that fantasy reports facts is demonstrated in the later books, which delve more deeply into women's roles and stories. She tackles the complexities of gendered storytelling and female narratives with nuance and a lightness of touch.

One can read for the pleasure of the world of Earthsea, but there are much richer rewards to be mined from paying attention to the subterranean themes that give this world depth and texture.

• Shelf Care is a twice-weekly column that recommends uplifting, comforting or escapist books to read while staying home during the Covid-19 pandemic.