Well, I was searching for something to fill the void after the heartbreak of -Lonesome Dove-, and I settled on an old standard, Ursula LeGuin. I got -The Telling-, her latest book, for Christmas and still had not read it, so now I'm about halfway through.
It's good. Like all of her books, it's extremely well-written, full of beautiful, clear, luminous prose. It's got an engaging story and a really fascinating setting. However, it's not great. It may be better than many other authors could do, but it just doesn't measure up to her masterpieces like -The Left Hand of Darkness-, the Earthsea books, -Searoad-, -Always Coming Home-, etc... Of course when a writer has that many books that count as masterpieces (and I could list more!), I suppose it's excusable to produce a book that's merely good.
It's good. Like all of her books, it's extremely well-written, full of beautiful, clear, luminous prose. It's got an engaging story and a really fascinating setting. However, it's not great. It may be better than many other authors could do, but it just doesn't measure up to her masterpieces like -The Left Hand of Darkness-, the Earthsea books, -Searoad-, -Always Coming Home-, etc... Of course when a writer has that many books that count as masterpieces (and I could list more!), I suppose it's excusable to produce a book that's merely good.