The Other Wind read like a perfect final season to a long-running TV show. The stakes were high, but the focus was on the final characterization of the people we've come to love. We were able to see all the spots that Ursula K. Le Guin had shown us over the years, starting and ending at Re Albi (which, at it's core, is the center of the Earthsea Cycle, even if the Grove is the center of Earthsea itself).

I probably had the best reading experience with this sixth and final Earthsea book, though it felt quite different from the previous novels. In my respective reviews for those stories, I often brought up the topic of light and dark and how Le Guin took a different form of darkness to examine with each adventure - I started comparing this to Hermann Hesse, who is one of my very favorite authors, but soon realized that it's actually the Jungian shadow that can be found in both authors' works - and The Other Wind combines most, if not all, of those previous darknesses. It latches on directly to the themes of The Farthest Shore, while also building on the events of Tehanu and Dragonfly, and having watched the characters grow up over the course of these stories, the events, revalations and scenes have a lot of heart to them.

To me, The Farthest Shore was the book I had the most trouble with - I felt no emotional connection, I was annoyed at the lack of female characters after having read The Tombs of Atuan and found the discussion of mortality to be almost too blunt. King Lebannen showed up briefly in Tehanu, but played a central role in The Other Wind, and managed to win me over in the end. I loved the short story Dragonfly and seeing more and more men be completely baffled by Irian was a great scene, though she was most definitely not the only strong female character in the story, with Tenar and Tehanu enriching the cast once more, and the Kargish princess proving that appearances (and duties) do not always line up with a character.

I think The Other Wind, just as A Wizard of Earthsea, hold a lot of universality in the stories they tell - Ged's shadow is something many of us can relate to, as is Alder's world- (and equilibrium-) shattering grief. I think it's the combination of all of these factors - loveable and realistic characters, familiar locations, high stakes, and enough room to project your own emotions onto the events described - that make this book so great, but perhaps also devicive. Not a lot happens and it does not feel like an adventure of epic proportions.

I think that anyone who has read Earthsea should read this book at least once - plotthreads are wrapped up, characters are given closure and it feels like a worthy send-off. Having read these books over the course of almost half a year, I cannot begin to describe what they mean to me - and how lucky those who grew up alongside these characters must be.