A collection of short stories and novellas set in the Earthsea setting that Ursula wrote to help her find out how to continue the story when prompted to do so by her publisher.

There’s some great stories here but I prefer the Earthsea novels to this generally (don’t get me started on The Farthest Shore).

I’ve read through the two first stories so far and I’m beginning to wonder why Ursula is so fascinated by mages retaining their semen. It’s a little wacky.

Notes after reading the whole book:

• Not necessary reading if you’re pressed for time.

• It’s a collection of short stories set within the world of Earthsea, some are fun, others are interesting but none are essential to appreciating the series as a whole.

• Tales From Earthsea is clearly Le Guin being told to write another novel in the Earthsea series but not knowing what to do exactly and so she writes some short stories instead until she figures out where the story is going.

So far, I think my recommendation for maximizing your enjoyment of the Earthsea series for people who haven’t read it before would involve completely skipping the 3rd and 5th books in the series.

I’m hoping that the 6th and final book in the series provides a compelling ending to the series.