Gifts

by Ursula K. Le Guin

ONE-LINE SUMMARY: Gry and Orrec are Uplanders and must decide how to use the gifts of their lineage.

This is a terrific book, and I’m only sorry that it’s taken me so long to read it. I saw book three in this series on the New Young Adult Fiction shelf at the library, and it looked interesting. So being the type of person I am, I put the new book back on the shelf and went to look for the first book. Because reading books out of order will destroy the world as we know it.

Gry and Orrec in Gifts reminds me of the protagonists in Sharon Shinn’s Dream-Maker’s Magic. Gifts pass from mother to daughter and father to son, so Orrec is expected to continue in his father’s footsteps by wielding his gift of “unmaking” to secure their lands. Gry has inherited her mother’s gift of being able to call animals to her, and while she likes using her gift to train horses, she is not happy about being asked to call animals to hunters to be slain.

Terrific book — I finished it in one sitting and wish I’d taken out the other books in the series at the same time.

Posted by: ssjane | November 4, 2007 | 4:58 pm
Posted in: Books | Children/Young Adult | Fantasy | Recommended