Earthsea
Cover of The Earthsea Trilogy, a boxed paperback set of the first three Earthsea novels (1975, artist Pauline Ellison)
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| Author | Ursula K. Le Guin |
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| Country | United States |
| Genre | Fantasy, young adult fiction |
| Publisher | Parnassus Press, Atheneum Books, Harcourt Brace & Company (US) |
| Published | 1964–2014 (novels, 1968–2001) |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback), audiobook |
Earthsea is a series of fantasy books by the American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, and the name of their setting, a world of islands surrounded by an uncharted ocean. Starting with a short story, "The Word of Unbinding" in 1964, there are six Earthsea books, beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea in 1968, and continuing with The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, and The Other Wind. There are eight short stories, all but "The Daughter of Odren" now collected in The Wind's Twelve Quarters and Tales from Earthsea.
The world of Earthsea is one of sea and islands: a vast archipelago of hundreds of islands surrounded by mostly uncharted ocean. Earthsea contains no large continents, with the archipelago resembling Indonesia or the Philippines. The largest island, Havnor, at approximately 380 miles across, is about the size of Great Britain. The cultures of Earthsea are not direct analogues of those of our world, but are literate non-industrial civilizations. Technologically, Earthsea is an early Iron Age society, with bronze used in places where iron is scarce. Ged's father is a bronze-smith. Weapons also include the use of wood and other hard but easily crafted metals. The overall climate of Earthsea is temperate, comparable to the mid-latitudes (over a distance of about 1800 miles) of the Northern hemisphere. There is a yearly transition from warm summers to cold and snowy winters, especially in northern islands like Gont and Osskil. In the southern regions of Earthsea it can be much warmer.
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