The fifth book of Earthsea in a beautiful hardback edition. Complete the collection with A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Furthest Shore and Tehanu. With illustrations from Charles Vess '[This series] made me look at the world in a new way, imbued everything with a magic that was so much deeper than the magic I'd encountered before then. This was a magic of words, a magic of true speaking' Neil Gaiman 'Drink this magic up. Drown in it. Dream it' David Mitchell These five superlative, evocative and enchanting stories range from a few hundred years before A Wizard of Earthsea to just before The Other Wind, and feature some of Le Guin's most popular characters, including the Wizard Ged himself. The stories are rounded off with an essay about Earthsea's history and people. No Earthsea fan will want to be without this magical collection. '[Earthsea is] a memorable exploration of the relationship between life and death. . . Ged, its hero, must face his shadow self before it devours him. Only then will he become whole. In the process, he must contend with the wisdom of dragons: ambiguous and not our wisdom, but wisdom nonetheless' Magaret Atwood