In the Uplands, warring clans of witchfolk rule, each clan possessing specific, often deadly powers through which they both protect themselves and enforce their wills. It’s a region of distrust, of insular and secretive people, of long-held grudges and blood feuds, of treachery and manipulation. Resources are relatively scarce, and blood is valued above all else. Those with the strongest powers dominate the others. And yet there are those few who refuse to buy into the cycle of hate and distrust. Orrec of Caspromant possesses one of the most feared gifts of all: the ability to kill with a look. To protect those he cares about, he’s voluntarily blinded himself, his eyes shielded from the world with cloth and padding. His best friend and constant companion, Gry, can call animals with a thought, yet refuses to betray them to the hunt. Together, they struggle to remain true to their principles while tested by the world around them. But one of Caspromant’s neighbors, an evil and greedy chieftain named Ogge Drum, could destroy everything with his dark ambition. In the end, Orrec and Gry will learn the price of power, and the cost of their principles. The truth will surprise them all.

Le Guin’s first YA work in years, Gifts is a wonderfully told, beautifully crafted story that really brings home the hard choices we all have to make while growing up. It’s about the responsibility we have to use the gifts we’re born with, and the even harder responsibility to use them properly. Orrec’s relationship with his father will resonate with anyone who’s ever been reluctant to follow in the family tradition, as it were. Gifts may be one of the best things Le Guin has written in quite some time.