I finally gave away my four* "Earthsea Trilogy" books, having read them so many times that I don't need to read them, and wanting someone else to enjoy them. Her writing is, as you say, great- and that must in part come from her depth of understanding of people and the world and how they interact to create many kinds of societies (whatever Samuel R. Delaney, whom I do respect deeply, says).
Door of horn *and* ivory! It both fulfills and deceives; but all dreams, true or false, may pass.
I finally gave away my four* "Earthsea Trilogy" books, having read them so many times that I don't need to read them, and wanting someone else to enjoy them. Her writing is, as you say, great- and that must in part come from her depth of understanding of people and the world and how they interact to create many kinds of societies (whatever Samuel R. Delaney, whom I do respect deeply, says).
Also, notably, Le Guin did that on purpose, as an explicable exercise of craft, which they taught widely.
That's much harder to do than it sounds.
I was expecting him to ask what his favorite color was, or the ground speed of an unladed swallow.