As good as LeGuin's best | Voices (Annals of the Western Shore)

The power of words | Voices (Annals of the Western Shore) | Ursula K. Le Guin

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	• Voices (Annals of the Western Shore) Ursula K. Le Guin Harcourt Children's Books, 2006 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 11 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A thoughtful political fantasy

This is the second in Le Guin's Annals of the Western Shore series. You don't have to have read "Gifts" to like "Voices". One of the things I like about Le Guin's fantasies is that they feel so much more real than most fantasy I've read. The characters are both archetypes and fully fleshed out and real. They love and hate and hurt and get caught up in political problems that are forced on them. They are ordinary yet possess innate power to change the world for the worse or the better, and to find some way to take possession of their own lives. I also loved how Le Guin chooses to make her heroes and heroines thinkers, readers, musicians, and storytellers. Not at all what most people think of when they think of heroes. The swordsmen and war mongers in her books are rarely the people the reader roots for. Militarism is never an answer for peace in her world. I wish our world was more like hers. As I said, you don't have to have read "Gifts" to enjoy this, but if you have, you'll like the cameo appearances by two characters from the first book in this one. Looking forward to "Powers" now!

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As good as LeGuin's best

Voices is the second volume in a new LeGuin series and world, but you can enjoy it completely without reading the first book, Gifts. It is a wonderful book to read and reread - as good as any of LeGuin's earlier young adult novels, like the Earthsea books, and that is saying something. The young female protagonist is a gem, and so are the characters around her.

The power of words

This book is a return to the Western Shores, the setting of Gifts (Annals of the Western Shore). While the main characters from Gifts make an important appearance, this is an independent story. Starting with Gifts is a good introduction to the world, however.

Voices is the story of Ansul, a city under the rule of oppressive enemies and Memer, a halfblood child born under the enemy rule. The Alds are cruel masters, who despise reading and books - not a good thing for the people of Ansul, known for their wisdom and their books. Memer learns dangerous secrets, when the arrival of storyteller Orrec Caspro sets big wheels in motion.

Le Guin portrays both the people of Ansul and the Alds rather well. The Alds are more than illiterate idiots. It's a very beautiful and touching story and I enjoyed it a lot. Voices may be written for young adults, but it won't disappoint an older reader either. Le Guin is a master of her trade.

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Voices

I recently read Voices and Gifts. Both were easy to read books with interesting characters. I have been reading Le Guin books since high school in the early 80's. While these are good books and worth reading my favorites of her's are still Left Hand of Darkness and City of Illusions.

The ending in both books are ok but I was left wanting something sharper or earth shattering. Le Guin doesn't write that way in these books but I say it is worth the read.

Other books I have recently read that may interest people were
I'm a Legend, (Richard Matheson)
The Wardstone Chronicles (Joseph Delaney)
Chrysalids (John Wyndham)
Survivors (Terry Nation)

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Courtesy of Teens Read Too

A companion novel to Le Guin's Gifts (Annals of the Western Shore), VOICES looks in on the life of a teen growing up in a city controlled by an enemy people. Memer has never known a life when hostile soldiers didn't patrol the streets and the possession of a book was not a crime punishable by death. The invading army believes that written words are evil, and that the city of Ansul is full of demons. But Memer knows that the Waylord, the man who raised her after her mother's death, has a hidden library in his house. There, he teaches her to read, and then, to use her understanding to help the city face its greatest crisis.

For a novel that has a lot to do with story-telling and reading, VOICES has more action and excitement than readers might expect. The arrival of Orrec, a great storyteller (and the narrator of GIFTS), rekindles the courage of Ansul's people, and they attempt to rebel against their oppressors. Memer finds herself caught in the middle, torn between her loyalty to the Waylord, who wishes to find a peaceful solution, and her hatred for the soldiers who destroyed so many things that she treasured. With many twists and turns along the way, VOICES delivers a conclusion that is both satisfying and unpredictable.

Perhaps the strongest element of the novel, however, is the way it moves from black and white to shades of gray. Orrec believes that all people have some good in them, and as Memer is forced to get to know the invaders she despises, she realizes that they are not all terrible and cruel. Some of them are simply different, and unable to understand her way of life. The message seems to be that it is far better to reach an understanding with others, even if you dislike them, than to take revenge. In a time when cultural and religious clashes make news almost every day, this should hit home with many readers.

VOICES is not a perfect book. It slows down a little more than I'd have liked before reaching its conclusion, and Memer was not as active in those events as I expect from a main character. But those flaws are minor compared to everything else about the novel: the distinctive setting and culture, the vivid language and personalities, and a voice that suggests, softly, without preaching, that there is more than one way to win a war.

Reviewed by: Lynn Crow

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Ansul was once a peaceful town filled with libraries, schools, and temples. But that was long ago, and the conquerors of this coastal city consider reading and writing to be acts punishable by death. And they believe the Oracle House, where the last few undestroyed books are hidden, is seething with demons. But to seventeen-year-old Memer, the house is a refuge, a place of family and learning, ritual and memory--the only place where she feels truly safe. Then an Uplands poet named Orrec and his wife, Gry, arrive, and everything in Memer's life begins to change. Will she and the people of Ansul at last be brave enough to rebel against their oppressors? A haunting and gripping coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of violence, intolerance, and magic, Voices is a novel that readers will not soon forget.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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