The Tombs of Atuan

Ursula K. Le Guin

Sep 2012 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

From a National Book Award winner, a “finely realized” fantasy about a young woman chosen as high priestess of a “firmly structured underground world” (Kirkus Reviews, starred reviews).

One of the Time 100 Best Fantasy Books of All 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 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?

With millions of copies sold worldwide, Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle has earned a treasured place on the shelves of fantasy lovers everywhere.

“The Tombs of Atuan is concerned with magic and myth, yes, but also with loneliness and the dreadful consequences of self-isolating behaviour—and the way kindness can act to dissolve it.” —Publishers Weekly

“Atuan, like Earthsea, is located in the mind of its maker, but it was created out of the very stuff of mythology and reflects universal patterns that were once embodied in Stonehenge and in the Cretan labyrinth.” —The Horn Book

Ratings and reviews

I really liked this book it isn't fluff like a lot of other books I've read lately. This book has a interesting point of view not at all what I thought it would be but a pleasant surprise none the less

A reluctant high priestess born into an unforgiving role as protector meets Ged the wizard turned thief. This book will take you to a dark world of secrets and hidden treasures. I read it as a boy and have re-read this whole EarthSea series many time since. LeGuinn was a master story teller.

I think I've read the Earthsea series at least 3 times, and I still can't decide which one is my favourite but most certainly The Tombs of Atuan have this peculiar nostalgia that makes me being absent from a real life for a while. I just love this book...

About the author

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) was the celebrated author of twenty-three novels, twelve volumes of short stories, eleven volumes of poetry, thirteen children’s books, five essay collections, and four works of translation. Her acclaimed books received the Hugo, Nebula, Endeavor, Locus, Otherwise, Theodore Sturgeon, PEN/Malamud, and National Book Awards; a Newbery Honor; and the Pushcart and Janet Heidinger Kafka Prizes, among others. In 2014, she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2016 joined the short list of authors to be published in their lifetimes by the Library of America. Le Guin was also the recipient of the Association for Library Service to Children’s May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award and the Margaret A. Edwards Award. She received lifetime achievement awards from the World Fantasy Convention, Los Angeles Times, Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, and Willamette Writers, as well as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master Award and the Library of Congress Living Legend Award. Her website is UrsulaKLeGuin.com.