The Farthest Shore

The Farthest Shore was published by Atheneum in 1972, and it is the third of the Earthsea books, after A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan. Because the next one did not appear until 1990, it is sometimes called the last book of the Earthsea trilogy, and it won the National Book Award for children's books in 1973.

The trouble the book describes is a general failure of magic across Earthsea. Spells are losing their force, songs are being forgotten, and people and animals sicken or lose their minds. Ged, the Archmage, leaves Roke Island in his boat Lookfar with Arren, the young prince of Enlad, to find out what is behind it.

Sailing south, the two stop at a town where they meet a wizard who is drugged and helpless, and they begin to understand that many people have fallen under the spell of someone who promises life after death in exchange for their magic and their names. The book is a journey southwards and a study of what is lost when a world gives up the things that hold it together, and the Studio Ghibli film Tales from Earthsea takes most of its material from this novel.