3.0
The Beginning Place
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Beginning Place Reviews
3.0
Michaela
Created about 1 month agoShare
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Inge
Created about 2 months agoShare
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“I just didn’t like it much. The idea of the door and time passing differently is compelling, and the main characters have potential. It’s just that their relationship goes from loathing to grudging allies to in love in what feels like seconds. The book is so short and takes a comparably long time to set up the story compared to the relationships.
The other throwaway love interests seem to have very little purpose, and… honestly I didn’t feel like spending much time on this book”
Book Domain Cleric
Created 3 months agoShare
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“This book was incredibly frustrating, as it started off with such promise. In the first half, the pacing is slow but made delightful to consume by Le Guin's stellar style and imagery. The Gate truly felt otherworldly, and the struggles of both Hugh and Irene were quite prevalent with plenty of time to recognize and resolve.
Once Hugh and Irene undergo the quest in the second half, the book falls to pieces. The imagery isn't nearly as rich, nor are our protagonists. Their voices bleed together, and dialogue and one-off flowery sentences become the crutch of a now vague narrative that is hard to visualize or comprehend.
The why of Hugh and Irene's journey is not entirely clear, and the villagers of Mountain Town provide little insight. Hugh even questions this a few times, but it is all chalked up to "I feel that we must go, so we'll do it." Mountain Town and the villagers to whom Hugh and Irene were so deeply attached are never seen again after they leave and mentioned only once (briefly), which begs the question, "What was the point?" Are the villagers truly free from their fear, now?
The romance was misplaced and awkward, especially when they both had affection for other people. Their love-making scene was even more misplaced. Quite literally a "skim and you miss it" scene.
Suddenly, these characters are out of the Gate and back in the real world and then it's over. It is in the final chapter that the pacing is significantly heightened for seemingly no other reason than to finish the book, which undermines all of what the first half set up.
Overall, The Beginning Place is a concept that opens strong, with mystery, beautiful language, and complicated and relatable characters but collapses when the realization emerges that that's all the book could be: a concept. Scenes in the latter half occur because they must get us to the end, and there is no true resolution or thought to consider.”Rae
Created 3 months agoShare
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Dash
Created 4 months agoShare
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“Meh. One of my favorite books is by LeGuin, but if this one hadn't been so short I would have DNF'd. The premise and the setting are great. *Some* of the writing is poetic. But nothing about this book is "uncommonly graceful" or in any way a romance--as described by TIME on the cover. The main characters are petulant and infantile. They're more annoying than anything else. The minor characters are either equally as annoying as the main characters, or entirely one dimensional. Everyone is almost unforgivably awkward, basically the entire time. The "romance" is shoehorned into the last 2-3 chapters (15%) of the book. Up until then-- both main characters (20 somethings) have irrational and adolescent crushes on other people they barely speak to. He doesn't even know her name until the last few chapters. Zero chemistry-- to the point where I thought I must have misunderstood the premise. It's a very clumsy and ineffective attempt at an enemies to lovers style romance. And quite possibly the most boring fantasy book I've ever read. There's no action at all until the last 15-20% of the book. It's a slog just getting to know these annoying characters 80% of the time.
They need therapy. I'd read an alternate version of this book in which they've had therapy and can focus on more interesting things in the plot. 🤷🏻♀️”
About Ursula K. Le Guin
(1929-2018) was the author of more than three dozen books for children and adults, including her groundbreaking novels
and
, both honored with Nebula and Hugo awards for best novel. She was also awarded a Newbury Honor for the second volume of the Earthsea Cycle,
, and among her many other distinctions are the Margaret A. Edwards Award, a National Book Award, and additional Nebula and Hugo awards. Her other books include
, and the Hainish series. In 2014, Le Guin was named the Medalist for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the National Book Foundation.
Other books by Ursula K. Le Guin
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