Gifts Audiobook

" 2005 PEN Center USA Award Winner for Children's Lit "

" Dark in the way that real YA fiction should be. The various brantors and -mants are a bit difficult to parse at the beginning, but if you just read, the field resolves itself by about forty pages in. "

" Understated, stark, coming-of-age story. Everything seems magnified in the story - the sorrows more sorrowful, the joys more joyful. "

" Annals of the Western Shore #1 of 3 "

" "With eye and hand and breath and will" is not just the way of the gift of unmaking but also the gift of making, as in storytelling. I am amazed by Ursula Le Guin's gifts. Many authors come up with one really great concept for a fictional world, and a few do it more than once, but Le Guin keeps doing it again and again. "

" Enjoyable high fantasy that lends itself to discussion of how we use the gifts we are given, but I just never found Orrec to be a very sympathetic character, and Le Guin's writing style kept me at arm's length. "

" Thanks Lucy for sending me this one. I loved it. "

" I liked it. She has a way with story telling. Can't wait to get the second book. "

" meh. and one of those partial books, so it's just background for whatever's next, really. and to be honest, i don't care a ton what's coming next. "

" An audio book. So far a little lame. "

" I could have given this 4 stars, but that would be partly in comparison to other books by Ursula K LeGuin which I liked even more. I recently read all three volumes of this trilogy and I'm going to give them 5 stars as a unit. Continued in next review. "

" Bleak. Hard to endure. But so lovely. "

" Interesting book. I liked the Earthsea series by the same author, and saw this on the shelf at the library. I had to give it a try. "

" 3.5 stars, rounded down for not quite getting to the plot soon enough. I will be interested to see how the three stories in this series fit together. "

" Fairly typical young adult book. Well written and enjoyable. "

" I found this style of story telling to be kinda boring. It was then main guy Orrec, just retelling his story of his gifts as well as his families. I think it would have been more interested if it was written like a story instead of the main guy telling the story. "

" Le Guin continues her quiet fantasy writing style with Gifts. Gifts introduces us to Orrec and Gry and follows Orrec as he comes to grips with his family inheritance. "

" This book started slow, but it is well written with a beautiful story. "

" Started a little slow, but I got hooked into this world and characters. Really liked the next book in the series. What intrigued me about this book was the main character's need to shut out a part of himself that he deemed "bad." Don't we all do that with parts of ourselves we think are bad? "

" it was good but it lacked action during parts "

" A beautiful story that reminded me somewhat of Orson Scott Card's "Alvin" series. Most of the LeGuin that I've read and loved has been geared towards adults so it was interesting reading some of her YA work. "

" Dark in the way that real YA fiction should be. The various brantors and -mants are a bit difficult to parse at the beginning, but if you just read, the field resolves itself by about forty pages in. "

" This book was recommended by a friend. It was an average read. It is part of a series but this is likely where I step out of the series. "

" This book just didn't work for me it was... too young I hate to say. The author I felt just dumbed it down too much. They need to add more detail and get me more attached to characters. "

" A beautiful story that reminded me somewhat of Orson Scott Card's "Alvin" series. Most of the LeGuin that I've read and loved has been geared towards adults so it was interesting reading some of her YA work. "

" Part one of a triology. Well read and engaging. "

" I have a particular gift, but it has faded over the years. Actually, it's a freckle. "

" This book is beautiful and painful to read. I see why certain of my friends like it, but I'm just not sure if it's to my taste. Too much grief and anticipation of grief. "

" Her works are always stunning. The way she tells her drama and the world she makes for the story belongs to the realms of the god. I want her to live as writer for 30 years more and I WILL be faithful fan! "

" Orrec and his friend Gry were born into families with Gifts, powerful abilities they use to protect those who live under their care. I love the premise, but this book felt more like a preface to something else than its own story. So I'm not surprised to see that it's the first in a series. "

" I could have given this 4 stars, but that would be partly in comparison to other books by Ursula K LeGuin which I liked even more. I recently read all three volumes of this trilogy and I'm going to give them 5 stars as a unit. Continued in next review. "