Earthsea

Six volumes across fifty years, and the fourth one argues with the first three.

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Where to start with Earthsea

Publication order, all of it. The trap here is not the order, it is the stopping point: the first three were sold as a trilogy, won trilogy-shaped awards, and end on what looks like a complete arc, so an enormous number of readers stop at three and never reach the books that make Earthsea matter.

  1. 1
    A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore A Wizard of Earthsea

    Eighteen pages of school, a shadow, a labyrinth and a voyage. Short books. The second is Tenar's rather than Ged's and is the one people skip wrongly.

  2. 2
    Tehanu Tehanu

    Written eighteen years later and deliberately dismantling the heroic wizard frame of the first three. Slow, domestic and mostly about an ageing woman on a farm. Expect that rather than another sea voyage.

  3. 3
    Tales from Earthsea, before The Other Wind Tales from Earthsea

    It is a collection and it looks optional. Dragonfly inside it is a direct bridge, and The Other Wind picks its people up without introducing them.

  4. 4
    The Other Wind The Other Wind

    The last novel, and the one that resolves what Tehanu started arguing about.

Then what? The two 1964 stories, The Daughter of Odren and Firelight are all genuinely optional. The Complete Illustrated Edition from 2018 collects the lot, including Firelight.

A suggested way in, not an official one. The full list is below: tick anything off in either place.

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The Original Trilogy

  • A Wizard of Earthsea 1968
  • The Tombs of Atuan 1971
  • The Farthest Shore 1972

The Later Earthsea

  • Tehanu 1990
  • Tales from Earthsea 2001
  • The Other Wind 2001

The Short Work

  • The Word of Unbinding 1964
  • The Rule of Names 1964
  • The Daughter of Odren 2014
  • Firelight 2018

The One Volume Answer

  • The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition 2018

On Screen

  • Legend of Earthsea 2004, 1 season, 2 episodes
  • Tales from Earthsea 2006

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