The Tombs of Atuan is a young-adult fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in the Winter 1970 issue of Worlds of Fantasy and published as a book by Atheneum in 1971. It is the second book in the series commonly called the Earthsea Cycle. The events of The Tombs of Atuan continue the story of Ged, a wizard introduced in the previous novel, A Wizard of Earthsea. The Tombs of Atuan has been called a "finely realized fantasy" and was a Newbery Honor Book in 1972.