Gifts - Ursula Le Guin

Slow but rich book of fantasy, feuds for tweens.

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Common Sense rates it
4
Read the book?
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Book details
  • Author:Ursula Le Guin
  • # of pages: 274
  • Publisher:Harcourt
  • Original Publication Date: 04/12/2006
  • Genre: Fiction - Fantasy
  • Hardcover: $17
  • Paperback: $7.95
  • Publisher's Recommended Reading Level: 12-up
  • Read Aloud: 10
  • Read Alone: 11

Parents need to know

Parents need to know that, as fantasies go, this one doesn't have much violence, though an aura of dread hangs over it, and there's a small battle near the end.

Families can talk about the relationship between gifts and interests. What obligation do we have to our gifts? What responsibilities do they impose on us? More discussion questions are listed at the back of the book.

Message

Social Behavior:

Consumerism:

Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:

Adults drink and get drunk.

Violence

A minor battle, a major character is killed with bow and arrow, animals and people are "unmade."

Sex

Language

Common Sense says

What's the story?

Reviewed by Kate Pavao

In the harsh and barren Uplands, isolated clans possess a variety of magic powers to protect themselves from other clans in their constant feuding that goes back for centuries. Orrec's father, the Brantor, or leader, of his clan, has the talent for "unmaking," a deadly gift he expects his son to inherit.

But Orrec's gift seems to be wild and uncontrollable, and so he is forced to be permanently blindfolded lest he accidentally hurt those around him. Meanwhile Ogge, the bullying leader of a neighboring clan, is threatening theft, destruction, and conquest.

Is it any good?

4

Ursula K. Le Guin, the author of the beloved and now-classic Earthsea Cycle, took a hiatus of 14 years before beginning this new series. As in her earlier work, she creates a strange and somewhat mystical world, without the epic sweep and bombast of high fantasy, and without the breakneck pacing of much of the genre since Harry Potter.

Instead, Le Guin takes the time to lay the groundwork for this story about feuding magic clans. She sets up a framing story: A visitor from the Lowlands must be told the history of the clans, their feuds, and their powers. Orrec explains in first-person, telling a story of a bleak, melancholy existence. Readers may at times be confused by the profusion of names and relationships, but they will be fascinated by the well-drawn world, and find meaning and resonance in Orrec's own story of shame and fear and self-imposed blindness.

This is clearly the work of a master, though it may not be to the taste of many of the fantasy fans weaned on more plot-driven, action-oriented fantasy. For those for whom "quiet" and "slow" are not terms of criticism, though, it's a rich and meaty tale.

Other choices

Other Books by Ursula K. Le Guin
A Wizard of Earthsea
The Tombs of Atuan
The Farthest Shore
Tehanu
The Lathe of Heaven

Books with Similar Themes
Midget by Tim Bowler
Wringer by Jerry Spinelli
The Other Ones by Jean Thesman
The Silver Child (The Silver Sequence, Book 1) by Cliff McNish
Scorpion Shards by Neal Shusterman

Related Web Site
Author's site

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45 votes