Annals of the Western Shore (2004, 2006, 2007) By Ursula Le Guin

Ursula (Kroeber) Le Guin (1929 – 2018) was a prolific American writer with a large body of work in what most people would categorize in the science fiction genre. [The Wikipedia post on her is the longest I’ve ever read] She is known for creating fantasy settings for her works, including the Hainish Universe, Earthsea and the Western Shore and many others. They are fantasy series in the manner of say Narnia, or King Arthur.

The Annals of the Western Shore is a trilogy written late in her career. The novels are from ancient times and contain stories with related characters and topics scanning multiple generations. Unique to each of the main characters is an individualized inherited supernatural trait. The novels tell the story of how they deal with this mysticism, is it an honor, or a curse?

Book One is titled Gifts. It is set in the uplands of the ancient Western Shore where each village is said to have a resident who is “gifted” with a special trait. It is a coming-of-age tale of two individuals from neighboring villages. One is Orrec, a young man who has the power of “the undoing,” the ability to destroy anything with a stare, a useful trait in warfare. But Orrec was terrified of his gift, believing that he could not control it. He feared he would accidentally destroy that which he loved, as well as that which he might purposely target. He would spend much of his adolescence blindfolded to prevent such accidents. When not blindfolded, he reads in secrecy and becomes an excellent storyteller.

The other individual was a young woman named Gry. She had the power to communicate with animals, from ants to cattle. When she came into her power her village always took her on hunts with them expecting her to call the deer to come to slaughter, a chore that spiritually distressed her.

Orrec and Gry eventually marry and leave the uplands, traveling to where no one would know of or expect them to use their powers.

Book Two is Voices. After Orrec and Gry leave their home in the uplands, they wander throughout the Western Shore earning their keep, he by storytelling, she as a horse trainer. They eventually came into the subjugated town of Ansul in the lowlands with the intention of telling stories in the market place. Storytelling had become popular in town when it was conquered by the warrior Alds who were illiterate and banned and destroyed all books in an effort to wipe out the prior culture.

Orrec’s first public storytelling drew a large crowd which the Alds moved to disperse. When Orrec moved on with Gry and her pet lion, they needed a place to stay and a young orphan girl named Memer led them to where she lived, at the Oracle House, which the soldiers stayed away from because of the fear it was populated with demons. The head of the Oracle House was a secretly gifted man known as the Waylord. He had hidden books in the caverns in the back of the House, only he knew the ancient password to get into the caverns, though he had found out Memer too was gifted and discovered on her own how to get in. To keep the secret, the Waylord was teaching her to read.

To greatly condense what’s next, a revolt broke out, which the multi-lingual Orrec was able to mediate. As a thank you for his role, the Waylord presented Orrec an ancient lost history from the hidden library that he had been seeking throughout the Western Shore.

 When Orrec, Gry and the lion move on, they will take Memer with them to see and travel throughout the Western Shore, with the understanding that she return to Ansul in a year.

Book Three is Powers. It shifts gears significantly. While a mystical trait aspect of the trilogy is still in play, the storyline becomes much darker. The lead character is a boy named Gavir, a slave owned by a wealthy family in the town of Etra. His worldview is entirely shaped by his enslaved condition, which as a child occurs to him to be “normal.”  But he’s also educated, which makes him realize his life is not normal. He will escape, during a war, to a world unknown to him. His mystical trait is the ability to see bits of the future, though without any power to change it. (This is the same “gift” outlined in the current movie: The Life of Chuck).

I think I could easily make this minireview several pages longer, but I won’t. Just keep in mind that while the above is a structural review of Annals of the Western Shore, there are many excellent substories and discussions in this trilogy that should be given equal justice.

Recommendation: A good, leisurely read. The books can be read independently. My favorite would definitely be Voices.