From a National Book Award winner, a “finely realized” fantasy about a young woman chosen as high priestess of a “firmly structured underground world” (Kirkus Reviews, starred reviews).
One of the Time 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time
In this second novel in the Earthsea series, Tenar is chosen as high priestess to the ancient and nameless Powers of the Earth, and everything is taken from her—home, family, possessions, even her name. She is now known only as Arha, the Eaten One, and guards the shadowy, labyrinthine Tombs of Atuan.
Then a wizard, Ged Sparrowhawk, comes to steal the Tombs’ greatest hidden treasure, the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Tenar’s duty is to protect the Ring, but Ged possesses the light of magic and tales of a world that Tenar has never known. Will Tenar risk everything to escape from the darkness that has become her domain?
With millions of copies sold worldwide, Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle has earned a treasured place on the shelves of fantasy lovers everywhere.
“The Tombs of Atuan is concerned with magic and myth, yes, but also with loneliness and the dreadful consequences of self-isolating behaviour—and the way kindness can act to dissolve it.” —Publishers Weekly
“Atuan, like Earthsea, is located in the mind of its maker, but it was created out of the very stuff of mythology and reflects universal patterns that were once embodied in Stonehenge and in the Cretan labyrinth.” —The Horn Book
