Recommendations
Books Like The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
For readers of the original Earthsea trilogy's conclusion
If you loved The Farthest Shore's philosophical argument about mortality, Ged and Arren's voyage to the world's edge, and Le Guin's refusal of a triumphant ending, these books continue the Earthsea Cycle or explore the philosophical SF tradition the novel belongs to.
- 1
Buy on AmazonA Wizard of Earthsea
by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Earthsea trilogy's first volume — the essential predecessor; Ged's formation and his confrontation with his shadow self at Roke, the beginning of the story that The Farthest Shore concludes.
- 2
Buy on AmazonThe Tombs of Atuan
by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Earthsea trilogy's second volume — Tenar's story and the recovery of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe; the events that led to Ged becoming Archmage, the role he holds at the beginning of The Farthest Shore.
- 3
Buy on AmazonTehanu
by Ursula K. Le Guin
The essential sequel to The Farthest Shore — Ged after his loss of power, at Tenar's farm; the only book that shows what happens to Ged after the sacrifice that ends The Farthest Shore.
- 4
Buy on AmazonThe Dispossessed
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Le Guin's Hugo-winning anarchist utopia — published two years after The Farthest Shore; Shevek's physics of time and his willingness to give his work away is the SF companion to Ged's willingness to sacrifice his power.
- 5
Buy on AmazonThe Return of the King
by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings conclusion — the most important predecessor in epic fantasy trilogy conclusions; comparing Tolkien's ending (the eucatastrophe, the departure to the West) with Le Guin's (Ged loses his power and walks home with a boy) reveals how differently each author understands what endings mean.
- 6
Buy on AmazonThe Book of the New Sun
by Gene Wolfe
Wolfe's dying sun SF/fantasy — the companion in speculative fiction that takes mortality, entropy, and the end of things as its central philosophical concern; Severian's world with a dying sun is the SF companion to Le Guin's Earthsea from which magic is draining.
- 7
Buy on AmazonThe Last Unicorn
by Peter S. Beagle
Beagle's lyrical fantasy — the companion in American literary fantasy of the same period that takes the question of ending and mortality seriously; the last unicorn's encounter with death and time is in the same philosophical register as The Farthest Shore.
- 8
Buy on AmazonPiranesi
by Susanna Clarke
Clarke's puzzle-novel about an infinite house — the contemporary companion in literary fantasy that takes seriously the philosophical stakes of an enclosed world being drained of something essential; the House's tides are the contemporary companion to Earthsea's leaking magic.
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