Annals of the Western Shore

I.

Annals of the Western Shore is a trilogy that takes place in the same world but separate places and periods of time. It took me a while to read, so the Western Shore has been woven in my mind for some time. Every time it felt like I was returning to something more vast and complex.

Each book has its central themes which are fleshed out further as the world begins to expand. You’re able to understand the intricacies of how people live based on their geography and ancestry. Ingrained social dynamics that span back to a forgotten time.

The books each have the protagonist coming of age. Led by their own experiences and the people around them. You can be enslaved not only by the world around you, but also by who you are as a person. Your talents, your ‘gifts’, can be equally tortuous.

We experience so much in our lives but it's always difficult to understand the impact for us personally. Le Guin is able to express this complexity through the characters in a meaningful way. The paths they follow, the circumstances they face. They are shaped by the world around them, both consciously and unconsciously. Although this may sound obvious, I think giving room for uncertainty is a difficult thing to do well.

II.

The first book, Gifts, follows a young boy called Orrec Caspro as he comes to terms with not having his family’s ‘gift’ of undoing, the ability to destroy anything on sight. He struggles with a lack of purpose because of this. Along the way however he discovers that his actual gift is one of storytelling and becomes a talented orator, travelling through the Western Shore to create meaning in his life.

Orrec grows up in the barren uplands of the Western Shore. Life is tough, the conditions are harsh and violence is rife. Nobody can read apart from his mother. There is no such thing as a book in these lands, merely something of a myth. But Orrec is made aware of this at an early age, fed by his mother’s stories of her homeland. Cities only exist within stories. To people in the cities, talk is an art and a pleasure, not a matter of mere use and need.

Stories are the backbone of our world, and to see that your life is a story whilst you’re in the middle of it may help in living it well. Other people’s stories may become part of your own, the foundation of it. Turning yourself into a witness is sometimes the only way you can act authentically.


After his mother passes away Orrec struggles to deal with his life in the north, and finds a way to use his gifts to navigate away from his harsh realities into something he could have never imagined.


The second book, Voices, delves into cultural and religious conflict. The city of Ansul is invaded by another population called the Alds. The conflict revolves around the monotheistic beliefs of the Alds and the polytheistic beliefs of the people of Ansul. Violence and slavery dominate the second and third book, opening up questions of how they can be easily normalised in a society.

Cultural superiority drives the Alds to invade the city of Ansul. A colonial philosophy chiselled deep into their society. This dogma can be devastating, though it has been and continues to be pervasive in our own world.


For the Alds there is nothing else to believe. Would everything crumble if you thought anything different? Could you exist if you had no meaning? How can you explore your own identity in such an oppressive regime?


The final book, Powers, brings everything together as the protagonist slave Gavir, goes on a long journey to find the hidden truths of his life. We all have hidden truths in our lives and it can be a difficult realisation once they all come to a head. As we grow older they become more obvious but even then we can stay in denial.

We all exist within our own world but shards can easily damage the soft shell of that reality. The values of the world around us shapes who we are and how we can exist. A lot of life is trying to break out of those moulds into something that feels right.


In times of distress we look for pockets of hope. We often find this in the people around us, some we look at in awe, others we love deeply. Gavir struggles with the idea of being a slave but also feeling like life is not so bad. However, he is inevitably faced with unfortunate truths that force him to leave.

Justice is a large conflict that many of the characters face, especially Gavir. Its intensity varies with distance. Your own reality shifts through your own experience. Gavir is forced to realise the flaws in his own beliefs. Belief in the lie is the life of the lie.


The final book ends as Gavir meets Orrec Caspro at his home in the city of Mesun, who is now a respected scholar and famous poet. Everyone you meet has a lot behind them, complex pasts and strange experiences. Reading stories like this can remind you that you never fully know a person. We are a product of our past, for better or for worse.

III.

I really love the way Le Guin writes and also her personal philosophy towards writing. The more you do something the more is revealed to you, no matter how small. I think we end up learning things about ourselves that we could have never thought about before. When we project ourselves onto other things it can transform our perception of what we believe to be right or wrong.

Context and circumstances are complex, it can be immature to crave and demand moral certainty. Though we can often feel like we now exist globally, we will always be localised. Localised by our own experiences.

Stories help to shape our being. The truth of a story is not fact. Neither is it wishful thinking. Story tells human truth, serving human community and spiritual longing. The symbolism feels very intentional and thoughtful. Using symbol as poetry does to express what can’t be said directly.


Imaginative literature offers the opportunity to test motive and behaviour, to see how the unconscious may control the seemingly rational. To understand how the bravest deed may leave a track of ruin, to ask what the road to Hell is paved with, and why.

Storytelling flows through each book, as a central part of what gives people meaning and guidance. The characters are led through stories, opening up the world for them, allowing them to shape their perspective and explore things differently. The power of poems and stories shape the way we dream.