Ursula K. LeGuin
Completed 4/19/2018, reviewed 4/19/2018
3 stars
I was a little disappointed with Gifts. It’s a very simple story, told simply. It is considered YA, so I have to factor that
into it. Still, I think the story could
have been much more interesting. This
book is the first in a trilogy, the third having won the Nebula, so I’m hoping
the story gets more interesting as the series progresses.
In this world, among the clans of the Uplands, the people
possess gifts. Each family group possesses
one gift. Orrec’s family can unmake
things. Gry’s family can summon animals. Other clans can do things like cause a wasting
disease or twist your limbs like a corkscrew.
Orrec and Gry don’t like the uses of their gifts. Orrec doesn’t want to kill people. Gry doesn’t want to call animals to make them
easy prey for the hunters. Yet if they
don’t embrace their gifts, they might be overrun by the other clans.
The main character is Orrec.
His characterization is actually quite good. I really enjoyed the story of him growing up
and deciding to blindfold himself when he realizes his gift is out of control. You see, to execute this gift, you need the
will, the word, the hand, and the eye.
But when he unwittingly starts killing things without realizing it, he
figures the only way to control it is if he blinds himself, as did his ancestor
who also had the wild gift. It was an
interesting spin on the psychic abilities trope.
However, the story left me wanting more. It felt all too simple and straight
forward. Even the themes were simple: using talents for good rather than evil, teen
angst. But as one reviewer pointed out, after
reading quite a bit of LeGuin, you just feel like she can’t write a bad
sentence or a bad story. However, I felt
like she didn’t put a lot of energy into this book.
I give this book three stars out of five. I’m hoping the next books have a little more oomph
to them.
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