The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition

"The first thing to say is that this really is complete: six novels and four short stories. A lot of collected editions fall short of the complete set. This is everything from Earthsea, the archipelago world where Le Guin sets her fantasies (her other most famous world is the universe overseen by Hain, for her sci fi works.) First, if anyone hasn’t read Earthsea yet, you must. My personal favourite is Tombs of Atuan. All of them are beautifully written, lyrical and assured, but Tombs inhabits a strange, dark, unforgettable corner of the world. Overall, this world is for fans of very pure, classic fantasy, where magic is bound up in the Names of things and characters go on self-improving quests. Le Guin addresses that in her introduction to this edition. She was very anti, because even with cover art she was so often lumbered with wizards shooting stars out of their fingers or dinosaur-like dragons. So essentially she resisted until she had enough status and heft to choose the illustrations herself – as she did here. In fact, it sounds like she more than chose them – she worked very closely with illustrator Charles Vess, as he described to Tor magazine . There are fifty-six illustrations, seven colour plates, and maps. Vess worked on the project for four years, and received both the Locus and the Hugo in 2019 for Best Art Book."