City of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin

City of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a thousands-of-years-later sequel to Planet of Exile, so I recommend reading that one first, though it's not strictly necessary, as all the Hainish Cycle books stand alone pretty well. The beginning is a pretty straightforward adventure fantasy book with a hero on a quest, but soon becomes more of a puzzle that the reader has to engage with, while simultaneously pondering what constitutes a person's identity.

Le Guin wrote books 3-5 of the Hainish Cycle first: Rocannon's World (1966), Planet of Exile (1966), and City of Illusions (1967). I've read those and the prequel (book 1) The Dispossessed. So far this is my favorite in the Hainish Cycle. I'm going to read The Left Hand of Darkness (book 6) next.

RIP Ursula K. Le Guin. Thank you for all the books.

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