#47 in Classics
The Tombs of Atuan
- 173
- Pages
- about 3 h
- Reading time
- Series 2004
- On screen
- Newbery Honor
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Our view
“The Tombs of Atuan” is a coming-of-age story with more shadow than most, set in a dark, enclosed place, and gathers real momentum in its second half. Some readers find the opening slow, but Le Guin’s descriptive prose, spare and beautiful, carries the early chapters. It is short, and as the second Earthsea book it reads best after “A Wizard of Earthsea”.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Tombs of Atuan is a fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in the Winter 1970 issue of Worlds of Fantasy magazine, and published as a book by Atheneum Books in 1971. It is the second book in the Earthsea series after A Wizard of Earthsea (1969). The Tombs of Atuan was a Newbery Honor Book in 1972.
Reading order · Earthsea series
Full order & progress →- A Wizard of EarthseaStart here
7.87.8 / 10 - The Tombs of AtuanThis book
8.18.1 / 10 - The Farthest Shore
8.18.1 / 10 - Tehanu
8.08.0 / 10 - Tales from Earthsea
8.08.0 / 10 - The Other Wind
8.18.1 / 10
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen once.
- SeriesEarthseaIMDb
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.1 across 753 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 84% of the weight and the score stays at 8.1 — the Classics average of 7.7 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.8 | 58 | 8% |
| Hardcover | 8.2 | 695 | 92% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Tombs of Atuan?
It has 173 pages — shorter than 98% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Classics — with scores between 7.9 and 8.1, closest to this book.
