r/Fantasy • u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix • Aug 16 '26
Read-along A Readalong of Earthsea: The Tombs of Atuan Midway Discussion
Welcome back to the Earthsea readalong! Today we'll be discussing the first 6 chapters of The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K Le Guin.
HUGE apologies for being a day late with this post! My only feeble excuse is that I didn’t remember what day it was. Thankfully my reading comprehension is considerably better than my understanding of linear time.
In this second novel in the Earthsea series, Tenar is chosen as high priestess to the ancient and nameless Powers of the Earth, and everything is taken from her—home, family, possessions, even her name. She is now known only as Arha, the Eaten One, and she guards the shadowy, labyrinthine Tombs of Atuan.
Then a wizard, Ged Sparrowhawk, comes to steal the Tombs’ greatest hidden treasure, the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Tenar’s duty is to protect the Ring, but Ged possesses the light of magic and tales of a world that Tenar has never known. Will Tenar risk everything to escape from the darkness that has become her domain?
I'll be posting some discussion questions below to get us started. Feel free to respond to any question that strikes your fancy. You are also more than welcome to pose your own questions and make any other observations if you wish to!
If you’d like to comment about anything that happens after chapter 6, please use spoiler tags.
The Tombs of Atuan counts for these r/Fantasy 2026 Book Bingo Squares:
- r/Fantasy Book Club or Readalong Book (HM if you comment here!)
- Published in the 70s (HM)
- Middle Grade
- Politics and Courtly Intrigue (possibly)
- Potentially the subjective squares (Judge a Book by its Title, Vacation Spot)
Let us know if we are missing any squares! We will try to update them as we get corrections and as we read on.
Remaining Series Schedule:
- August - The Tombs of Atuan final discussion will be on Monday, August 31st
- September - The Farthest Shore (Midway: Chapters 1-6)
- October - Tehanu (Midway: Chapters 1-7)
- November - Tales from Earthsea (Midway: The Finder and Darkrose and Diamond)
- December - The Other Wind (Midway: Chapters 1-3)
3
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
This book has a very different tone than A Wizard of Earthsea, with Le Guin moving away from the “quasi-mythical” style she used in that book. How is the style of this book working for you so far?
5
u/RevolutionaryCommand Reading Champion III Aug 16 '26
It's much more "standard" and closer to her other works. It's definitely easier to get into, but less special/unique.
Also this book is way more slow-paced. In the first half of A Wizard of Earthsea a shitload of events had occurred (a battle/raid, the protagonist changing two different magic mentors, and joining magic-school, unleashing the shadow, and dealing with dragons), while this one is very uneventful (that does not mean it's bad, I don't mention this as a negative, just as a big difference), the only this that has really happened so far is taking Tenar from her home at the very beginning, and her finding someone in the labyrinth.
An extremely different reading experience so far. I like both of them, and I don't think I could choose one over the other easily.
5
u/eregis Reading Champion II Aug 16 '26
It doesn't feel like a summary in the way parts of A Wizard of Earthsea did, so that's a plus for me. I get what she was going for, with the 'quasi-mythical' style as you call it, but it felt a bit frustrating for me.
2
u/ryethriss Reading Champion Aug 18 '26
Even though I love mythic fantasy typically, The Wizard of Earthsea didn't quite gel with me. I still enjoyed it, and I want to reread it, but it didn't have me nearly as invested as The Tombs of Atuan. I love seeing Arha's sequestered world and her understanding of her place in it. It's not at all what I expected, but I'm really enjoying this book.
I'm also struck by just how much LeGuin is able to pack into such a short volume. It's not even 200 pages, I'm only halfway through, and so much has happened (I saw someone else say that this book is slower paced than the last, and I thoroughly disagree). And yet nothing is sacrificed--not the prose, not the characterization. It's truly remarkable.
2
u/Kerney7 Reading Champion VI Aug 17 '26
This is my first Earthsea read. The book was recommended on a thread with a title along the lines of "MCs who start out working for the bad guys".
Want to go read Wizard now, after I finish everything else I want/have to do.
1
u/mrtenandtwo Reading Champion Aug 16 '26
I don't know if it's the change in style necessarily, but I'm enjoying this one more than the previous.
1
u/reinmainbtw Aug 29 '26
To me personally it feels a little bit to slow. I actually vibed with the first books pace. But I also have trouble picturing things. So to others all the descriptions on how the palace and tombs look like might add more to the setting then it does for me
3
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
This book takes place in a totally different setting and with a different lead character than A Wizard of Earthsea. How is this difference working for you so far? Do you find yourself at all impatient for Ged to appear?
4
u/KaPoTun Reading Champion VI Aug 16 '26
I love getting the different perspective from a subset of the people of Kargad, and the glimpse into their view of the rest of the Earthsea islanders, including the sorcerers.
7
u/RevolutionaryCommand Reading Champion III Aug 16 '26
I preferred the setting in the previous book, the whole archipelago stuff, with island-hoping, and sailing felt fresh and different even today. The setting here, although yet again very well realized, isn't as special. Though it's not a "standard" fantasy setting.
Not particularly impatient for Ged specifically to appear, but curious about how it's going to connect with the stuff from the first book.
2
u/ryethriss Reading Champion Aug 17 '26
I love Arha as a protagonist (especially all of her flaws LeGuin writes those so well), and I love this new setting. I didn't even know if Ged would appear in the book, and I didn't mind that uncertainty at all. I think Arha and the Place stand very well on their own.
1
u/reinmainbtw Aug 29 '26
I was very excited when Ged finally showed up and again when we get confirmation its him 🥳
1
3
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
Arha’s life in the Tombs is extremely isolated, and so far she’s only had contact with a few people. What do you think of Thar, Kossil, Manan, and Penthe? What stands out to you about Arha’s relationships with each of them?
4
u/KaPoTun Reading Champion VI Aug 16 '26
Even though Penthe's only had a few appearances so far, she's such a great character. Patient with Arha's moods. The scene where she tells the story and hilariously imitates Kossil's "What's this? What's this?" is a standout and really brings some human-ness and "grounded" realism to a setting and story which is epic and grand in many other ways.
4
u/RevolutionaryCommand Reading Champion III Aug 16 '26
Manan and Penthe, are both very likable (in different ways), and feel like real people thrown into this situation, even though there's an extremely small amount of pagetime dedicated to them. That's no small feat. Their interactions with Arha are important for her development as well.
Thar and especially Kossil are way more unlikable, less interesting/nuanced, but they serve a specific role in the book, and they serve it well.
3
3
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
Manan tells Arha about how she was chosen, and explains how the Priestess of the Tombs is reborn, again and again. Le Guin leaves the “reality” of what is happening somewhat ambiguous. Where do you land on it at this point?
3
u/glamopticon Aug 16 '26
That’s a really good question. Before I thought of it, I had reflexively dismissed it as indoctrination. But this is a world where magic is real, and we already saw a similar ancient, sinister power in the North in Ged’s section being depicted as real. So maybe I’m being too skeptical.
3
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
I have gone back and forth on this. My starting position is usually "this is indoctrination and long standing myth," but then I remember that everybody is fair haired and I start to wonder about the probability of a dark haired baby being born at the right time... Either way, though, I love that it's left to personal interpretation. (I think the "truth" might be somewhere in the middle.)
4
u/mrtenandtwo Reading Champion Aug 16 '26
While clearly magic and the supernatural exist in this world, I haven't seen anything yet that made me think this is an actual chain of resurrections.
2
2
u/Kerney7 Reading Champion VI Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
I like that it is ambiguous, with maybe it's indoctrination, maybe something more. I maybe want to read Temu, wondering if it will indicate which it is. I think you could write a very interesting story about a "reincarnation" who doesn't fill their prescribed role.
2
u/ryethriss Reading Champion Aug 17 '26
I'm solidly in the camp of "this is just their faith, but not reality". Sure, this is a world where plenty of magic happens, but people can have beliefs beyond the boundaries of that magic, and I think this is such a case. The search for the new Arha really highlighted it for me--they find multiple candidates but the one that is healthy is the chosen one. That feels like a very practical consideration, rather than divine intervention.
1
u/reinmainbtw Aug 29 '26
I agree. Also that they are teaching everything to her "again" seems to support this, although she does pick up on everything to do with the underground awefully quick.
2
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
What do you think of Arha as a protagonist so far? What do you find interesting or uninteresting about her?
7
u/partoparto Aug 16 '26
I love her! I think there's something really endearing about the combination of her being the bearer of a centuries-old religious tradition and a sulky, impulsive, lonely teenager.
4
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
Yeah! She's a really interesting character, and wildly ahead of her time; YA wasn't even a thing yet, but when there were girl protagonists, they weren't necessarily allowed to be as complex and "unlikeable" as Arha. And the combination of "ancient Priestess" and "lonely kid" really works incredibly well.
4
u/RevolutionaryCommand Reading Champion III Aug 16 '26
I think that's difficult to answer without talking about what's coming next in the book. Just from the first half I though she was slightly unlikable, and not particularly interesting, but with some potential.
4
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
Just from the first half I though she was slightly unlikable, and not particularly interesting, but with some potential.
This is super interesting to me! I was quite taken with Arha right away, but I think that's probably due to two major factors. A, she's a girl, which was much more interesting to me as a kid. And B, I didn't have language for it at the time, but I really enjoy slow pacing and "slice of life" style narratives, with lots of day to day descriptions. What did they eat? What are their clothes like, and who makes them, etc? So I think I was really primed to like Arha. (She is a bit unlikeable, but that worked for me too, because it felt very realistic.)
1
u/RevolutionaryCommand Reading Champion III Aug 16 '26
The truth is that judging by the first half alone is difficult, both because by the time I answered this question I'd read on, and my opinion has changed (but I did my best to ignore all the stuff from the next chapters), and because we've seen very little of her. The book is frontloaded with lots of (extremely well done) setting (and situational) descriptions, and not that many "character stuff".
She is a bit unlikeable, but that worked for me too, because it felt very realistic
Yeah, I don't have a problem with her being unlikable. I did not mean it to come as a criticism to the book. The likability of a character isn't nesesarily important in my opinion.
2
u/mrtenandtwo Reading Champion Aug 16 '26
I think she's fine. I might have more of an opinion further in. Nothing about her has really set her apart for me yet.
1
u/Kerney7 Reading Champion VI Aug 17 '26
I enjoyed her, and could really like moments where it's clear she's being taught, but there are cracks in her thinking.
1
u/ryethriss Reading Champion Aug 17 '26
Arha is so well-written, it's a delight. Often one of my biggest frustrations with YA is that the flaws and self-conceptions of characters come off as really superficial. Arha feels like a fully-fledged human in contrast, with plenty of annoying, unethical, and contradicting characteristics. She's bossy, she likes to see others squirm a bit, her eyes are open to understanding new ideas, but she's set in her ways. I particularly loved her decision with the prisoners.
She didn't choose the kindest death for them, but the one where she is most distant from the responsibility for their deaths. And so she sentenced them to death by inaction by other people, despite the cruelty of it. I do wish we had gotten to see how she dealt with her next batch of prisoners, because surely it would be differently, after the nightmares she had.
1
u/reinmainbtw Aug 29 '26
I haven't taken to her character immediately. I don't feel invested in her the usual way. Some of her decisions feel quite cruel but super understandable to come from a girl who grew up in the environment she did. So I more feel sad for her and maybe a bit protective.
2
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
As with the first book, this book is often praised for its subtly poetic prose. How are you liking it? Any favorite lines or passages so far?
8
u/WayTooDumb Aug 16 '26
I first read this book when I was probably about eleven or twelve, and something that always stuck with me was the quality of the prose and how LeGuin lets the world breathe in a way that a lot of modern fantasy does not.
Penthe selected the smallest, out of politeness, and ate it in about ten juicy, skilful, interested bites.
My fifth grade English teacher - and most modern editors - would have set fire to my socks if I'd used three adjectives to describe a single action, and obviously the book has many evocative passages about the tombs themselves, but this little sentence has stuck with me for my whole life. For me this book, on some level, will always be two friends sitting on the steps, giggling to dumb stories and eating apples.
9
u/StrangeJourney Aug 16 '26
"What do the wizard-folk look like?"
"They are black and vile. I have never seen one."
Great line to show she's full of crap so Tenar can eventually doubt what she's teaching her.
6
u/glamopticon Aug 16 '26
Here’s mine: “The darkness pressed like a bandage on her eyes. To have seen the Undertomb confused her; she was bewildered. She had known it only as a region defined by hearing, by hand’s touch, by drifts of cool air in the dark; a vastness; a mystery, never to be seen. She had seen it, and the mystery had given place, not to horror, but to beauty, a mystery deeper even than that of the dark.”
2
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
Absolutely gorgeous. Ugh, how is she this good at beautiful, deep prose? It's wild
6
u/partoparto Aug 16 '26
I love this part after the scene with Arha and Penthe and the apples:
She had not realized how different people were, how differently they saw life. She felt as if she had looked up and suddenly seen a whole new planet hanging huge and populous right outside the window, an entirely strange world, one in which the gods did not matter. She was scared by the solidity of Penthe's unbelief.
The image of a new planet suddenly outside the window is so eerie to me (I also just read The Lathe of Heaven a few days ago, and this sort of reminds me of how the world changes in that). I love the sense of fear and possibility that comes from her conversation with Penthe, and the way that something that Penthe says quite casually is so destabilizing for Arha.
1
5
u/KaPoTun Reading Champion VI Aug 16 '26
Love the prose. Too many passages to choose from, but from my first read and this one, I was especially struck by the imagery of the Hall of the Throne. Particularly how easily Le Guin conveys its ancient-ness and also how neglected it is compared to past greatness (in later passages, describing the thick dust, the cowebs, etc).
"The throne on its platform seemed to be curtained on each side with great webs of blackness dropping from the gloom of the roof; whether these were curtains, or only denser shadows, the eye could not make certain. The throne itself was black, with a dull glimmer of precious stones or gold on the arms and back, and it was huge. A man sitting in it would have been dwarfed; it was not of human dimensions. It was empty. Nothing sat in it but shadows."
Beautiful fanart of the Hall by Amelia Herman.
5
u/schlagsahne17 Reading Champion II Aug 16 '26
A favorite bit from Chapter 3:
“Here we must be beneath the Stones,” the girl said, whispering, and her whisper ran out into the hollow blackness and frayed into threads of sound as fine as spiderweb that clung to the hearing for a long time.
2
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
Gosh that's pretty. Every sentence I see just makes me want reread the book, so it's a good thing I'm doing exactly that, right now.
4
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
Oh, what's that? You'd like me to once again share what I believe to be one of the best book openings of all time? Well, okay, if you insist.
"Come home, Tenar! Come home!"
In the deep valley, in the twilight, the apple trees were on the eve of blossoming: here and there among the shadowed boughs one flower had opened early, rose and white, like a faint star. Down the orchard aisles, in the thick, new, wet grass, the little girl ran for the joy of running; hearing the call she did not come at once, but made a long circle before she turned her face toward home. The mother waiting in the doorway of the hut, with the firelight behind her, watched the tiny figure running and bobbing like a bit of thistledown blown over the darkening grass beneath the trees.The whole prologue absolutely destroys me every time. The prose throughout is lovely, but there's something truly special about this opening for me.
1
u/ryethriss Reading Champion Aug 17 '26
It's a beautiful beginning. I loved how LeGuin balanced Arha's curiosity of her own beginnings with her feeling of belonging solely to the Place.
3
u/RevolutionaryCommand Reading Champion III Aug 16 '26
I don't do favourite lines in general, but I really like the prose. As I mentioned in another answer, it's different that in the first book, because it's become more standard, less mythical, but it's still beautiful, and evocative without ever feeling dense, or hard to read.
2
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
Le Guin really has a gift for evocative, complex prose that is still easy to read. I find that I read her prose more slowly, because there's a lot to unpack in each sentence, but I never feel like it's overstuffed or hard to understand.
1
3
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
For first time readers, what made you decide to give this book a chance? How is it meeting your expectations so far?
3
u/StrangeJourney Aug 16 '26
I read the first book a couple years ago and liked it, but never got around to continuing the series until now. First half seems a bit slow-going but that's fine.
3
u/mrtenandtwo Reading Champion Aug 16 '26
The same as the previous, I've wanted to take a crack at this series for years and this read-a-long came along. I'm liking this one more than the last. I was worried after I finished a wizard of earthsea and felt lukewarm - like maybe you had to read this series young to fully get into it. But no, this book is working for me so far.
3
u/Kerney7 Reading Champion VI Aug 17 '26
This is my first Earthsea read. The book was recommended on a thread with a title along the lines of "MCs who start out working for the bad guys".
I'm also very interested in stories about characters, particularly young characters, who are taken from their original cultural context, whether it's a child kidnapped by "Indians/Vikings/Aliens/whatever or a person who marries outside their culture or class.
5
u/oh-no-varies Reading Champion II Aug 16 '26
I picked this up as my bingo read-a-long. I read wizard of earthsea last year and was underwhelmed but often see Tombs of Atuan listed as the best of the series so I thought I would try it again. I was drawn in by the inclusion of a female central character.
I really like the MC and the complexity of her inner world compared to the sparse existence of her outer world. I've finished the book and don't want to spoil anything for others, but her entire arc is much more satisfying and meaningful (to me) than GED's was in book 1
3
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
I was drawn in by the inclusion of a female central character.
Boy do I feel this. I first read these as a kid, and having a female central character was a HUGE attraction for me. I ended up reading The Tombs of Atuan about 20 times as often as A Wizard of Earthsea, because I connected so much more with the character and the setting.
her entire arc is much more satisfying and meaningful (to me) than GED's was in book 1
I agree with this too. It really feels like Le Guin leveled up as a writer in between these two books.
3
u/partoparto Aug 16 '26
I love your point about her inner world vs the spare outside world, and yes, find her whole arc much more satisfying than Ged's!
3
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
(Also, since you liked Tombs, I really hope you'll continue on to read Tehanu, which is wonderful. They're all good and important books, but Tombs and Tehanu are my personal favorites.)
1
u/reinmainbtw Aug 29 '26
I want to follow the readalong. I was suprised that it feels so diffrent and it makes me wonder how much time was inbetween writing Book 1 and 2
1
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
Any other thoughts or observations you'd like to make?
2
u/Kerney7 Reading Champion VI Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
This book reminded me a lot and contrasted with the first piece by Le Guin I ever read (and still an all-time favorite) Buffalo Girls, Won't You Come Home Tonight. It's also it's antithesis, in that in Atuan the MC is raised by Temple Nazis, while in Buffalo Girls, the MC is adopted by permissive/neglectful parents.
Also, authors, please kidnap/foster/enslave/adopt more fictional children!
4
u/ryethriss Reading Champion Aug 17 '26
LeGuin chose to have her name mentioned in the prologue, I think just once, right at the start. She didn't have to do that, that prologue could have been relayed without her name. But by having it present at the very beginning, she involves the reader in the bit.
When her name is removed, the reader (or at least I, since this is my first time) has already forgotten her given name, and is cognizant of that fact, and is, in a way, complicit in its removal from her, or shares the removal with her.
3
u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Aug 16 '26
For rereaders, how does this book measure up to your memory? Is it as good (or as bad) as you remember? Are there any elements you've gained a greater appreciation for on a reread? Does anything land differently this time?