The Farthest Shore

The third Earthsea novel is the one where Le Guin asks the hardest question: what does it cost to face death honestly, and what happens to the world when someone refuses to? Ged and young Prince Arren's journey to find why magic is draining from the archipelago leads them to a sorcerer who opened a hole between the living and the dead out of terror of mortality — and the answer to that terror involves sacrifice at a scale the series hasn't attempted before. Winner of the 1973 National Book Award for Children's Books, and widely praised as one of fantasy's deepest meditations on death and meaning. Some reviewers wish it were longer to fully develop its ideas. The thematic density may exceed younger readers' readiness; it genuinely rewards adult readers as much as or more than children. Mature middle-grade and up.