Meh. A heavy-handed, often simplistic novel, perhaps because it's written for children or teens. The conflict is very neatly divided into black and white. The polytheistic city of Ansul was famed for its literary and scholarly culture, until the Alds of Asudar invaded, raping, murdering, and wrecking. The Alds are religious extremists who believe that the written world is evil. They destroy every book they can find, kill anyone in possession of written material, and make reading a crime. Seventeen years later, their priests and soldiers occupy the city.Memer was conceived during the invasion, when her mother was raped by soldiers. She hates the Alds for all they have done - raping her mother, torturing the beloved Waylord of her home Galvamand, wrecking the estate, denying the gods she worships, etc. Galvamand was once a university, and now people bring any books they find to the house for safekeeping. They are kept in a secret room that only Memer and the Waylord can access with magic words. When a famous storyteller and his wife are invited to the city, it signals an opportunity for change.In this context, all books take on a grand, magical quality, and Memer and the Waylord become grand, liberating figures simply because they love to read and do so in secret. How many times have we seen the glorified reader rebelling against the book-burners (or in this case, book-drowners)? Obviously I'm on the readers' side, but it's an old, boring conflict. It doesn't make sense either. How is anyone supposed to run a business without writing things down? The Waylord actually suggests that business will suffer or collapse in future, but it's amazing that it hasn't already, or that the Alds have managed to thrive without writing of any kind. This is a quasi-medieval society, so there are no machines to do their record-keeping for them. Le Guin is taking things a bit too far with the Alds, as well as taking a cheap shot at Islam, on which their religion is based - it's strictly monotheistic although there is a devil, and the Alds touch their heads to the ground four times when they pray. It resembles the more fanatical versions of Islam in its gross intolerance, violence, and the oppressive treatment of women (in Asudar they're not allowed out of the house). Of course Islam is quite different in that it has a holy book, and the first word of the Quran is "Read", but on the other hand the Prophet Muhammad was supposedly illiterate, as all the Alds obviously are. In terms of narrative, it seemed a decent if bland coming-of-age story for a while. Memer's a strong character, and I still like the idea of a secret library, but as the conflict intensified it got thoroughly boring - too predictable, with too many easy, convenient resolutions. After being just as disappointed with A Wizard of Earthsea, I think I'll steer clear of Le Guin's YA and children's fiction from now on.
When Ansul was first sacked by the Alds, the soldiers pillaged, raped and destroyed all the books they could find. 9 months later, Memer is born to the house Galva, the once glorious Oracle House, which is home to a secret library, where the people of Ansul hide the few books they could safe.The lord of the house, The Waylord, was held captive and tortured by the Alds for years, and when he is finally released both his body and spirit are broken. Memer and the Waylord bond over the books that were saved and only they - as the only members of the Galva family left- have access too.Even though Memer looks like one of the Alds, she grows up with a passionate hate for the people that are occupying her city and land, that broke her Waylord and killed her mother. The people of Ansul are a peaceful and forgiving people, and I thought it was striking that the passion of her hate shows that she's got more of the Alds in her than she'd care to acknowledge.Things change for Memer when she meets Orrec and Gry (the now grown up main characters from Gifts) and he involuntary inspires the city to revolt against the Alds. As a traveling story-teller, Orrec tries to stay neutral and see both sides of the conflict, but the power of his tales is out of his control.Le Guin blends the tale of an occupied people, a cultural conflict, clashing religions and the power and beauty of tales into a powerful story of freedom. Memer is a great main character, flawed but passionate, and her coming of age story in hard circumstances is marvelous.I loved how little lines of dialogue shone a new lights on Gifts, the first book in this series, and how subtle she interweaves the overarching theme of freedom and the power of stories with the main conflict of the story.This series is truly great, and I really recommend it to everyone in need of some intelligent fantasy. If all youth literature was as powerful, mesmerizing and intelligent as this series by Le Guin, nobody would ever want to grow up.
What do You think about Voices (2006)?
This book was excellent, even better than the first book of this series, Gifts. The two main characters from the first book are seen again here playing important parts in the story, but the viewpoint character is someone new. Again, UKL's deft storytelling catches you up right away and pulls you into the action, thoughts, and feelings. In no way does this feel like Young Adult literature. Both of these books are awesome stories. There's nothing that's simplified here, or minor in any way.The story is set in a city which has been overrun and enslaved by foreign invaders for seventeen years past. The viewpoint character is a half-breed, born of the rape of a local woman by a foreign soldier. Her heart is not divided, though. She's a girl of her people, the beaten enslaved people of the city.The action starts when she meets Gry and Orrec from the first book. They're 20 years older now than when we met them. They travel around from town to village on the Western Shore. Orrec is a storyteller. He tells history and myth, fiction and nonfiction. Most of these are poetry, one imagines they're like Homer or Virgil, which he recites powerfully. They have a pet lion which Gry has trained. Their coming to the city sets in motion many things that result in great changes.The action is captivating, but as in all UKL tales, the action is less important than the people, the characters and what they feel and think, what they do and who they become. I highly recommend these books to anyone. I'm going to read the third one, Powers, next.
—Tatiana
Voices is perhaps a more outwardly compelling book than the first, Gifts, partly because it features some of the same characters, and partly because it has more action. Memer is still pretty introspective, but the scale has changed: from a small mountain community, we’re now in a big city, and a city which is under the control of an occupying force.Obviously the issues here are ones pretty close to my heart: reading and literacy, but also the way imperialism tries to break down local culture, failing to understand it or branding it primitive, even heretical, or just ignorant. With less heresy and supernatural stuff, and more “you stupid ignorant people”, that’s the relationship between Wales and England. (No, don’t chime in to tell me it’s not. I refer you to the Treachery of the Blue Books and the Welsh Not for just two examples.) Obviously the situations aren’t directly analogous, but it still resonated — particularly Memer’s initial inability to read, considering I still can’t read Welsh. I’m not sure if a single non-border English school offers Welsh classes on the curriculum, but mine definitely did not.Since this is Ursula Le Guin we’re talking about, it’s beautifully and meditatively written. If you’re looking for big epic battles in which two armies clash, you’re in entirely the wrong place, but if you want a blueprint for how people can interact, even when their cultures clash, then Le Guin’s got your back.Originally posted here.
—Nikki
This book is very different from the first in the series. Where the first was a bit slow and plodding, the story in this one moved right along. It has a different main character than Gifts. Orrec and Gry do take part in this story, but it takes place a good 18 years or so after the first book. You could very easily read this book without ever having read the first, and I'm guessing there are quite a few people who read the first and never moved onto this one, which is a shame. The writing in this book is beautiful, as is the norm for Le Guin. She could probably write the instruction manual for a blender and it would be a best seller. She just has a way with words that makes her writing so visual and deep. I find it soothing to my soul.The story itself was good, though I kept feeling like it was an analogy to something in real life and I was just not getting it. I find it hard to believe these books make much headway in the young adult audience since they definitely are not your light fluffy Twilight-type books. Excellent reading and I will probably move right on to the third one.
—travelgirlut
