Vasishta

“But Arren saw the world now with his companion’s eyes and saw the living splendor that was revealed about them in the silent desolate land, as if by a power of enchantment surpassing any other, in every blade of the wind-bowed grass, every shadow, every stone, so when one stands in a cherished place for the last time before a voyage without return, he sees it all whole, and real and dear, as he has never seen it before and never will see it again.” -LeGuin
This may very well be the greatest Fantasy series of all time. I sit here thinking of the words to say and to reflect on my experience, but I cannot type. My eyes are full of tears. This book and the series at large have impacted me profoundly. The Farthest Shore has helped me compartmentalize and come to terms with my own death. I no longer feel fear. I am free to do what I must and see the splendor of life all around me because “to refuse death is to refuse life.” This story follows Arren and Ged as the stop the magic and life from leaving the world. The book has a very dark tone and centers around the central theme of death (and life). Death, in this books sense (as LeGuin puts it), is a metaphor for material greed and capitalism (of course). The greed to always accumulate capital is in a sense a way to endless life. Always increasing profits infinitely for no purpose other than to have more is the refusal of life. The rejection of death. Thus, this greed is no different than the evil necromancers of old sapping the world of life to reach a pointless, lifeless, immortality. I can relate to the wise Ged who lives in the moment and called to action only when he needs to. I can also relate to Arren who is confused by the incoherent babbling of wise sayings Ged tells him and wants action. Both represent my own feelings from time to time (and I like to think I, like Arren, have come to be more like Ged in recent years). This book hit my heart in just the right place as I have been in the transition between young impatient firebrand to old wizard (at the ripe old age of 27). I still struggle, after waffling for 400 words, to really put how I feel about this book. However, I know, it changed my life.