Le Guin is certainly okay with whisking away a happy ending. I've been impressed before at how death has been used in this series as a sort of grounding device: these are powerful people, but they are not invincible and there are repercussions for their actions. And yet, both of the previous books have ended on firm high notes; not so much here! The Farthest Shore is an even darker story than the previous two – all happiness, joy, and entertainment is being literally sucked out of the entire world – but even the silver lining is muted. Sure, the King has returned (🎺🎺), but Ged is destroyed in the effort. I guess time will tell if this is a "Magneto at the end of X-Men" level of powerless (i.e. just needs some recharge time) or something more concrete, but either way it really dulls the victory.

Though, on the other hand, it also creates a book of two halves. We open with Ged more powerful than ever before, journeying out with a Prince on a mission where the stakes couldn't be any higher. Their hopes dwindle rapidly until a cataclysmic showdown that results in the death of one of the most powerful beings in the world and only a partial victory against the necromancer, Cob. Their second, final victory, is then also muted by Ged's complete loss of power, and the gruelling ordeal they go through to escape the Dry Land. So we start with god-tier Ged, get the battle of the most powerful beings, and finish with a Ged little more than a man. It's certainly not your average hero's tale, and the book is the better for that.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book does feel a little too "high fantasy" for me, and it rushes through, intent on getting to that showdown. Don't get me wrong, the exposition and slow-build revelations around the creeping dread covering their world are well done, building tension nicely. But there's something about the overarching plot – prophesied kings; deus ex dragon; great magical battles; a literal journey to and from the afterlife – that lacks something which the previous two books had in spades. It's hard to put my finger on what, exactly, but I think it has something to do with the smaller side of world building. The human side; the cultural aspects. The previous two stories had this in spades, but here it's largely lost. Perhaps that was a narrative choice; a mirror of the dark magical impacts on the world itself. But it does lose some of the soul of the story, as a result.

Of course, there are still moments that this shines through. Most of all are the Raft People, who I absolutely adore. I think they're a brilliant addition to this watery world and a welcome respite from the slow, trudging gloom of the novel. I still thoroughly enjoyed it, but it does feel like the weakest in the series.