Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin (The Annals of the Western Shore Trilogy, Book 1)

Books Completed: 32
Completion Date: February, 2009
Pages: 300
Publication Date: March 4, 2006

Scattered among poor, desolate farms, the clans of the Uplands possess gifts. Wondrous gifts: the ability--with a glance, a gesture, a word--to summon animals, bring forth fire, move the land. Fearsome gifts: They can twist a limb, chain a mind, inflict a wasting illness. The Uplanders live in constant fear that one family might unleash its gift against another. Two young people, friends since childhood, decide not to use their gifts. One, a girl, refuses to bring animals to their death in the hunt. The other, a boy, wears a blindfold lest his eyes and his anger kill. In this beautifully crafted story, Ursula K. Le Guin writes of the proud cruelty of power, of how hard it is to grow up, and of how much harder still it is to find, in the world's darkness, gifts of light. Includes a reader's guide and a sample chapter from the companion title Voices.

I started this book with some worries. I read a couple standalone books by Le Guin many years ago. I couldn't even begin to tell you when anymore! I loved them. One of them was Left Hand of Darkness. I do remember that. Anyway, a few years went by and I had to read Le Guin again in one of my university classes. The book was Tales from Earthsea. I was excited to read it because I had been meaning to get back to Le Guin and it just hadn't happened. I hated the book. I just could not get interested in anything that it said, and I remember leading some very entertaining discussions in university because of my extreme dislike of the novel. That being said, I still bought a copy of A Wizard of Earthsea. I don't like to be close-minded, so I figured I should give the series another chance. I read it last year and, well, I just don't think that Earthsea is for me. When I first joined the library I was going through my wish list and came across Gifts. I decided to give Le Guin one more chance.

That's a long backstory, but I finished Gifts the other day and I actually liked it! I went into it expecting that this was probably going to be my last try at liking Le Guin, so I didn't have super high expectations. Thankfully, this trilogy seems to work for me, so I have already requested the next book from the library. The novel is narrated by Orrec, a young boy living in the Uplands. The people are poor, but they have extraordinary Gifts. It is just accepted that you learn your gifts, and marriages are planned to have the best chance of success with them. As a result of the gifts, there is a lot of warfare amongst the scattered groups. If you don't have a power or don't use your power, you are often considered a waste. Orrec's power is too powerful, though, and he is worried that he will hurt the ones that he loves. In desperation he puts on a blindfold and lives in a dark world. His friend Gry helps him navigate for the next couple years of his life.

Orrec and Gry are not like the other people of the community, though. They are not accepting of all that their gift does for them, which will lead to some big decisions at the end of the book. Orrec may not be able to see, but he tells the story with a clarity that is captivating. Gry is a wonderful secondary character, as well. It is fun to watch these two grow up together. I look forward to seeing what Le Guin has planned for the next book in the trilogy.