Gifts - The First Novel in The Annals of the Western Shore Trilogy

It was in August last year that I read this book for the first time. Ursula K Le Guin is an author I had wanted to read ever since I did a course in Science Fiction and Fantasy in my Post Grad class more than a year ago. Books by not so popular authors are hard to find in India. (Not so popular in India I mean!) The book that was mentioned in class was The Left Hand of Darkness (chiefly for the gender issues that it deals with) and of course her Earthsea Trilogy which later became 5 books.

Browsing in Landmark , one of the only two bookstores in Pune where I have found Le Guin books, I happened to find Gifts in the Children’s books section. I hadn’t really looked up Le Guin earlier, so I didn’t know anything about her books except a couple of titles by her. But then I have always believed that when you are meant to read a book ,you will find it when the time is right. Plus I avoid looking up about authors and their works before reading the book itself to avoid any prejudice that I might develop. So I picked up Gifts and began reading it immediately. Fantasy was a genre I hadn’t delved into deeply for some reason. Harry Potter was the farthest I had got in school and now when I look back at those days I wonder why it took me so long to plunge in to the world of fantasy. Now, after six months of living in that world, it seems like I always belonged there.

Gifts was my first book when I got back to fantasy and since then I haven’t stopped. Introducing the readers to the Western Shore, we are told the story of the people of the Uplands who inherit gifts in their lineage. The gifts vary in different domains and are passed on from father-son and mother-daughter. Through, Orrec Caspro, the young narrator, son of the brantor of Caspromant, Le Guin weaves a story that draws you into the lives of the people of the Uplands and their gifts. The domains are mostly in conflict and the gifts are used to protect one’s domain. Set in a natural landscape ravaged by poverty, the domains struggle to survive through stealing livestock, farming, etc. Orrec, the main character, surfaces in the next two parts of the trilogy in smaller roles.

The subtlety of her writing is what I enjoy the most. If you don’t pay close attention you often tend to miss things. After having read her Earthsea series (later on), I would say I like the change in the framework. With Earthsea, I often felt the action was lacking. It was more her way of writing that I liked in Earthsea but here it’s not just the writing, there’s much more.

With this review, I hope to begin blogging regularly on the books I read…