Just Finished Reading Ursula K. Le Guin's The Farthest Shore

Actually, I "just finished" reading The Farthest Shore, the third novel in Ursula K. Le Guin's young readers' fantasy series Earthsea, a few days ago but chose to first write about the other two books I had just read (Ruth Rendell's From Doon with Death and Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre).  With the first Earthsea book, titled A Wizard of Earthsea, the author had initially intended it to be a singular work, but later decided to expand it into a trilogy.  Now, with the addition of other books as well, I suppose the final book in the series will be the last one written before her death...hopefully not to come anytime soon.  The Farthest Shore jumps years ahead in time and focuses on the series' unifying protagonist, the wizard Ged, as he tries to discover the source of the ongoing drain of magic in the world.  To this end, Arren, a young prince in a northern island kingdom, arrives on Archmage Ged's island of Roke to give more disturbing news and offer his services in the quest to save the world.  The two set out in Ged's boat and travel the seas, going first south and then to the "farthest shore" in the west on the island of Selidor.  Along the way they encounter numerous adventures, strange cultures, dragons, and news, both derived from others' accounts and via their own dreams, of a sinister wizard in the west who has conquered death and offers immortality to those who join him...

The Farthest Shore reminded me a bit of C.S. Lewis in his Chronicles of Narnia book Voyage of the Dawn Treader...albeit with an more Eastern philosophical flavor instead of the overtly Christian allegories of Lewis.  The idea that death is necessary for life and that there needs to be a balance and separation between the two sounds Taoist or Zen to me, given my admittedly relative ignorance of these belief systems.  So yes, it is natural for one to want to avoid dying and to stay alive...but it is unnatural not to see death as inevitable.  The contrast between the idea of thriving in the present and pursuing a life of meaning and virtue while looking and acting outwardly from oneself, and that of striving to ensure one's own perpetual existence only for the sake of that existence, is rigorously examined, skillfully interwoven throughout this interesting story's narrative.  Ged has matured and understands things on a deep level, to the point where he can be a mentor to the young prince Arren.  This book was my favorite of the series so far, but I recommend you first read books one and two (A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan, respectively) before tackling it...