|
| Powers (Annals of the Western Shore) | 
 enlarge | Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
Buy New: $6.97
You Save: $10.03 (59%)
New (4) Used (7) from $4.91
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 312088
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.5
ASIN: B00181SOU8
Publication Date: September 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Young Gav can remember the page of a book after seeing it once, and, inexplicably, he sometimes “remembers” things that are going to happen in the future. As a loyal slave, he must keep these powers secret, but when a terrible tragedy occurs, Gav, blinded by grief, flees the only world he has ever known. And in what becomes a treacherous journey for freedom, Gav’s greatest test of all is facing his powers so that he can come to understand himself and finally find a true home.
This third book in the Annals of the Western Shore series is an epic story of survival and self-discovery that speaks to the power of new beginnings, and most importantly, of hope.
Includes maps.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 A slave escapes ... February 22, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
(probably 4.5 stars)
Powers is the third book in Ursula K. Le Guin's ongoing series of YA books, Annals of the Western Shore. These are set in fairly standard fantasy world, at a tech level a couple of centuries in arrears to that of our world. The three books so far (the others being Gifts and Voices) are loosely linked by a couple of common characters, Orrec and Gry Caspro: we meet them as children in the first book, where they are the protagonists; and they have much smaller roles as adults in the later books. The three books are set in geographically separate areas of the "Western Shore," and they concern characters with differing magical abilities. But in the end the magical abilities are less important than the social milieus of the characters. Indeed, after three books I can detect a common theme. In each book, the characters are first displayed in a society based in one way or another on slavery. And in each book, the eventual key to escaping slavery is not violent resistance but rather learning.
Powers is probably my favorite so far in this series. Gavir is a boy who was kidnapped from his home in the Marshes as a tiny baby, and taken to the City State called Etra to be a slave in the House Arcamand. The Father of the House of Arca is a relatively benign slaveowner, and Gavir, along with his sister Sallo, grows up fairly comfortably. Gavir does have a magical talent, apparently unique to people of the Marshes -- he occasionally "remembers" future events. But his sister urges him to conceal these visions.
Slaves in this House are educated, and Gavir in particular is a promising scholar, and he is trained to become a teacher. But his abilities also earn him the resentment of the mentally ill younger son of the House, Torm, as well as Torm's toady, the slave Hoby. Meanwhile his beautiful sister Sallo is destined to be a gift-girl -- a slave whose only duty is to provide sex for the masters -- but happily for her she and the heir of the House, Yaven, fall in love, and she will be given to him as a mistress.
Things seem well enough -- Gavir tends to believe, with most of his fellow slaves, that such a social order is the natural way of things. Only slowly does he begin to perceive injustice -- in part because of Torm's unchecked violence, which extends eventually to murder (only lightly punished); and in part because he dimly realizes that in many ways women in this society -- even "free" women -- are enslaved in different ways than men. His life begins to change even more when Etra is besieged -- it seems that the various City States are constantly at war. Then a further tragedy strikes, and Gavir, almost by accident, escapes. From there his path takes him to a couple of colonies of escaped slaves -- who sadly replicate many of the ills of the societies they escaped -- and then eventually to his original home in the Marshes. He must try to understand the nature of his own talent -- but his past as a slave also continues to haunt him.
I loved this book throughout. Gavir is well-depicted and a good person. His life is plausibly portrayed, full of tragedy but also some contentment. Naturally his fascination with scholarship and reading endears him to typical readers. Le Guin nicely uses his visions as foreshadowings of future events in the book, without ever letting them take over the story. She portrays two (or three, if we count the escaped slaves) societies in interesting detail: this has always been a strength of hers (daughter, as she is, of a famous anthropologist). And the book avoids unrealistic cliches: for instance, even the "good" slaveowners are not shown (as we might naively hope) coming miraculously to their senses and renouncing their evil ways. There are no easy answers, but there is hope.
 As a stand-alone novel, Powers is weak... August 15, 2007
7 out of 12 found this review helpful
I like Ursula Le Guin as an author. This was the first book I read in the Annals of the Western Shore series. It read as a complete novel (I never felt like I had to have read the earlier books) but, as a novel, this one seemed weak. It may be that I really did need to read the earlier books. I'll leave that assessment to other reviewers.
In Powers, a young slave and his sister are mistreated, brutalized, and ... treated like slaves. Through death or wiles, escape is possible. Outside this community, slaves find that there is another life. The slave becomes the non-slave, but there are those who remember that past life, and they carry the sword. That collision seems ready for the next book. Thus, this one feels like only a portion of the story.
The detail in the book, of the lives of slaves, and the misogynistic society that is portrayed, reminded me of author Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. The book is written from the perspective of a slave who has memories only of a slave's life. The world seems fair because that is all he knows.
I'm not sure I'll track down the other books in this series ("So many books, so little time..."). I will pay attention to the views of my fellow reviewers. Let me know whether I should read the books before, or the (predicted) book after.
And if you liked this book, consider picking up The Handmaid's Tale, or Oryx and Crake, also by Atwood.
 Le Guin has kept her golden touch August 11, 2007
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I read Le Guin's young adult classic, "The Wizard of Earthsea" long ago as a teen. A generation later, she is still writing young adult fiction that refuses to condescend. Like Tolkien, she is able to create a world that is unique, yet mirrors our own. I hope that a new generation will discover her ability to take them on a journey of self discovery and growth. At age 51, I had to keep reading this book until I finished at 1:00 a.m. The slavery/freedom theme of this third book is timeless and compelling. Best to read the entire trilogy in order: "Annals of the Western Shore". Start with "Gifts". This is demanding stuff- not for 10 year olds, and not for lazy readers.
Courtesy of Teens Read Too September 3, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I kept glancing back at the cover when I started reading Ursula K. Le Guin's POWERS. It sounded so different from the EARTHSEA series that it didn't even seem like the same author. It was much longer and more personal than anything I had ever read from her before. But, as I read on, a lot of what I loved from older books, like the descriptions and the colorful characters, gradually surfaced here.
Set in a world much like Ancient Rome or Greece, this five-hundred page epic follows Gavir, a bright young boy who was stolen as a baby and sold into slavery. Unlike most slaves, Gav is comfortable and happy. He lives with a wealthy family along with his older sister, Sallo. Despite hearing rebellious talk from other slaves and seeing hints of cruelty from freemen, Gav is fiercely loyal to his house and city. His impeccable memory makes him the perfect candidate to be a future teacher for his house. He also has another remarkable ability, the power to see snippets of the future and the past. Unfortunately, his gift does not warn him of the tragedy that is to come. His trust in his masters is betrayed and, mad with grief, he flees home. As always, Ursula K. Le Guin tackles hard subjects such as slavery, culture clashes, and the definition of freedom in this coming-of-age novel.
Though it starts slowly initially, once it picks up POWERS will have readers engrossed. Magic takes a backseat in this fantasy. Here the adversaries are not magical, rarely evil, and purely human. One of the strongest points in this novel is that all characters big and small are well thought through and carefully drawn. The kind and brave aristocratic son Yaven, the hermit Cuga, and the charismatic rebel slave Barna are just a few.
Ursula K. Le Guin has delivered yet another thought-provoking and engaging novel. While not packed with duels and dragons, the latest edition to the ANNALS OF THE WESTERN SHORE series (following Gifts (Annals of the Western Shore) and Voices (Annals of the Western Shore)) has its own share of adventure and heartache.
Reviewed by: Natalie Tsang
Delving into the depths of the Western Shore September 12, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Powers is the third book in the recent young-adult fantasy series by Ursula K. Le Guin. Like its predecessors (Gifts (Annals of the Western Shore) and Voices (Annals of the Western Shore)) it features the story of a young person coming to discover that they have a magical talent and the way that discovery changes them and the world around them.
What I loved about this book was that it showed Le Guin's mastery of her craft. As a "young adult" novel, its surface story is a quick read and is composed with a spareness that makes it seem simple. Nothing could be further from the truth. Each sentence is constructed for purpose and reading this novel is like eating a gourmet meal. The portions are not huge, but each element is in perfect balance and selected to complement the others.
The result is a book with intricate layers of meaning and theme. She touches on, as you might imagine, power but also explores themes of loyalty, slavery, education, politics and more. Each time I go back to a Le Guin novel, I find something new and this book will be no different. This book entertains you but also gives you something to think about and discuss with friends.
With the third book in this series, it seems that the setting is beginning to speak to Le Guin more. This book is longer than the others and also covers more ground, both thematically and geographically. More of the Western Shore setting is being revealed to us and becoming an interesting character in the series as well.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
