Planet of Exile by Ursula K. Le Guin

Planet of Exile by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this one. It was short and focused on the dynamics between two groups of alien people at different places in their scientific development. It's interesting both as a thought experiment and also because of the personal relationships in the story.

The planet is Werel, and it takes 60 Earth-years to go around the sun, and it's about to have another really long (15-year?) winter. The main characters are Wold and his daughter Rolery who are members of the group of Tevarans. Might have been easier if they were called Werelians but actually, there's another group of invading Werelians called The Gaal. The other main character is Jakob Agat from a colony of Earthlings that got stuck and left behind on Werel. The two groups descended from the Hainish people originally, but they evolved separately for so long that they can't have children with each other.

Apparently, this planet is renamed from Werel to Alterra in Left Hand of Darkness?


View all my reviews

Rocannon's World by Ursula K. Le Guin

Rocannon's World by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Decent little sci-fi space opera/fantasy book. Ursula Le Guin invented the word ansible!

Starts with Semley who travels space to get back her family's necklace in a foreign museum. She doesn't realize that her short trip means missing many years on her technologically backward home planet. On her home planet, there are three races: elvish Fiia, the cavern-dwelling Gdemiar, and warrior clan, Liuar. Underground, the cavern-dwelling Gdemiar are technologically advanced -- though the spaceship Semley borrows from them was an alien gift. The rest of the story is pretty much the adventure of Gaverel Rocannon, an ethnologist who previously met Semley at the museum.

I think I might reread this one after I've read other ones in the series because I kept getting distracted while reading the end. The flying cats alone should make it worth another go, right?

View all my reviews

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't know. It's well-written. It's an eloquent and complete answer to Ayn Rand about the possibilities of cooperation- not perfect even if set-up perfectly, but better than greed and selfishness. At the same time, the characters are real and moving people. This isn't an empty allegory.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot I actually enjoyed in this book. I more or less just powered through it.

View all my reviews