Voices by Ursula K. Le Guin (The Annals of the Western Shore Trilogy, Book 2)

*This was supposed to be posted on Wednesday. I got my days of the week mixed up! Sorry I am late!*

Books Completed: 47
Completion Date: February, 2009
Pages: 360
Publication Date: March 4, 2008

Reason for Reading: Next in the Series. Buddy review with Chris, head on over to his blog to read his answers to my questions!

Ansul was once a peaceful town filled with libraries, schools, and temples. But that was long ago, and the conquerors of this coastal city consider reading and writing to be acts punishable by death. And they believe the Oracle House, where the last few undestroyed books are hidden, is seething with demons. But to seventeen-year-old Memer, the house is the only place where she feels truly safe. Then an Uplands poet named Orrec and his wife, Gry, arrive, and everything in Memer's life begins to change. Will she and the people of Ansul at last be brave enough to rebel against their oppressors? Includes an interview with the author and a teaser to the third book in the series,Powers.

1. How do you think Voices compared to Gifts?
I really liked Gifts, so it was hard to beat it, but Voices succeeded! I actually really liked Voices and thought it was better than Gifts. They are both good reads, though. Voices just spoke to me more than Gifts did. It is unusual for the second book in a trilogy to be the better book, but I think it is a mark of how good an author Le Guin is that she managed to accomplish that.

2. Do you think it's necessary to read Gifts before reading Voices?

Nope. Voices has some of the characters from Gifts, but it is an entirely different story set in an entirely different town. Even if you hadn't read Gifts you would still be able to figure out what was going on in Voices.

3. What did you think of the library?

I thought the library was one of the best aspects of the book. Reading about Memer exploring the library and visiting with the books that were banned from society in their entirety was really well written. I also enjoyed the description of the books and the shelves. I see libraries all the time and pretty much have my own at my house, but Memer was seeing something that not very many people in her society had seen before. It was nice to see through the eyes of someone who doesn't take a library for granted.

4. How about Memer? Did you like her? Did you picture her as looking like she does on the cover?

Memer was a really good character. She wasn't overly immature, so I didn't find her annoying as she told the story. I enjoyed reading about her world and her adventures. She was a very likable character. As to how she looked, I probably could see most of the cover picture in my head, but the hairdo was a bit surprising.

5. What did you think of Orrec and Gry in this book? And how about Shetar?
I really liked all the secondary characters. Orrec and Gry were the main characters from the first book, so I enjoyed how Le Guin worked them into the story, but still managed to make Memer the central character and the story fresh and original. In many ways you also go to know the characters better by seeing them through someone elses' eyes.

6. What did you love about the book?
One of the things that I have always loved about Le Guin's books is her diversity of characters. Even in fantasy novels of the make-believe, the characters are often white men or women. Le Guin has always been revolutionary in the fact that she doesn't do what everyone else does. She also doesn't specify skin colour in many cases. It is common for people to read and just assume that the characters are white because that is what is seen normally, but that is not something you can assume about Le Guin.

7. Anything you dislike about the book?
Nothing that jumps right out at me. Unfortunately, it is has been a couple weeks since I finished this book, so it is not as fresh in my memory as it once was!

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.