A world shared by three native humanoid races - the cavern-dwelling Gdemiar, elvish Fiia, and warrior clan, Liuar - is suddenly invaded and conquer...
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Jan 28, 2012
Ceridwen, I'm so sorry, but I did pretty much hate this. I didn't want to -- I've always heard great things and meant to read Ursula Le Guin (she went to my high school!), but what I'd forgotten to factor in was that I just don't "get" fantasy/sci fi... at all.
I mean, actually I don't understand why that is really. Perhaps there is something essential that is dead and withered inside me and that is why I can't read a word like "windsteed" without snorting and rollin More...
I mean, actually I don't understand why that is really. Perhaps there is something essential that is dead and withered inside me and that is why I can't read a word like "windsteed" without snorting and rollin More...
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Jul 30, 2011
Emily
rated it: 
An interesting mix of hard sf and fantasy, wherein a geological surveyor for the League of Worlds is stranded on a planet whose development is roughly Bronze Age. He must use primitive means to journey to the base of the enemies who are pretty much using this planet as a staging area to attack the league, with little care for the aborigines.
The blend of part mythical quest and part high-tech space opera, serves to elucidate the familiar theme of an archaeologist “going native” but not More...
The blend of part mythical quest and part high-tech space opera, serves to elucidate the familiar theme of an archaeologist “going native” but not More...
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Aug 28, 2011
Keely
rated it: 
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
-Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law of Scientific Prediction
Though it is easy to point to certain works and state 'this is sci fi' or 'this is fantasy', but this has more to do with traditions than with strict definitions. Fantastical works ostensibly look the the past, science fiction to the future, but both operate around grand myths, social meanings, and items of inexplicable power. Often, these More...
-Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law of Scientific Prediction
Though it is easy to point to certain works and state 'this is sci fi' or 'this is fantasy', but this has more to do with traditions than with strict definitions. Fantastical works ostensibly look the the past, science fiction to the future, but both operate around grand myths, social meanings, and items of inexplicable power. Often, these More...
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Aug 03, 2011
Steven
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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May 26, 2011
Endre
rated it: 
I listened to this one as an audiobook. The narrator did an excellent job (although the Fiia's voices were a bit over the top) so I do not think that affected my perception of it negatively. Even so, I did not find the book engaging. Allowing for its age, it still fails to deliver on many levels. The main plotline is not very interesting and is resolved very lazily, but since the main meat of the book consists of demonstrating the culture of the different species living on Fomalhaut II it could
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Jan 14, 2011
Megan
rated it: 
I really couldn't criticize this book any better than Le Guin did herself in the introduction (which wasn't in my copy, I read it in "The Language of the Night"). She says "But of course fantasy and science fiction are different, just as red and blue are different; they have different frequencies; if you mix them (on paper--I work on paper) you get purple, something else again. Rocannon's World is definitely purple."
I think if she had ended with the prologue, the More...
I think if she had ended with the prologue, the More...
Nov 29, 2010
Chris
rated it:
A very short, but entertaining, book. Le Guin manages to cram into 150 pages here a story that most authors would spend 500 pages telling. To accomplish this, the story is related as a tale of myth might be told: "five days later they reached the mountains" or whatever, without feeling the need to detail anything unnecessary to the main narrative. As such, the story has a vague, mythic, almost dreamlike quality that resonates in the subconscious longer than any details of the text will
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Jul 26, 2010
Danika
rated it:
Ursula Le Guin is one of the few writers who can write a 120 page novel and make it seem epic. Her work is wide and dense at the same time. I didn't realize this was her first novel when I picked it up, so I look forward to reading more from her.
She has a way of conveying information about worlds and cultures with a few masterful words. Never overwriting. One of my favourite descriptions was in the prologue when Semley, a beautiful yet primitive inhabitant from her planet, flies on a More...
She has a way of conveying information about worlds and cultures with a few masterful words. Never overwriting. One of my favourite descriptions was in the prologue when Semley, a beautiful yet primitive inhabitant from her planet, flies on a More...
Jan 24, 2010
Aerin
rated it:
This is an early novel (perhaps even the first?) in LeGuin's Hainish cycle (of which the most famous is The Left Hand of Darkness). Although I've never set out to read all the books in the series, every time I pick one up, I enjoy it. Each one is about a different planet, peopled with various life forms and social systems, and the anthropological explorers/ambassadors sent to study them. As you might imagine, this is an ideal premise for allegories about our own world, but whereas a lesser wr
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Oct 25, 2009
Nms
rated it: 
One of the first books LeGuin wrote. The daughter of a famous anthropologist, LeGuin put a different spin on her sci fi world buidling. She described worlds as if an anthropologist were visiting: how are gender roles determined, what are the valued personal characteristics, how does the society deal with the "other," with war, with dissidents....This very early novel takes an Norse myth and builds on it. The beautiful, young queen/damsel/girl/goddess takes a walk alone in the forest on
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May 26, 2009
Dev
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 17, 2011
Ionut
rated it:
Rocannon's World is Ursula K. Le Guin's first novel and the first of the 'Hainish' cycle.
It's an interesting blend of SF and classic fantasy: on one hand you have an advanced civilization, capable of travelling between worlds on NAFAL (Near As Fast As Light) ships and sending information faster than light (using the 'ansible' device) and on the other hand you have a world comprised of feudal societies, dwarves living underground, flying creatures used as transportation, etc.
The world i More...
It's an interesting blend of SF and classic fantasy: on one hand you have an advanced civilization, capable of travelling between worlds on NAFAL (Near As Fast As Light) ships and sending information faster than light (using the 'ansible' device) and on the other hand you have a world comprised of feudal societies, dwarves living underground, flying creatures used as transportation, etc.
The world i More...
May 25, 2011
Evan
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Aug 27, 2009
Kate
rated it:
Fantastically imagined there is a bronze age world with multiple intelligent species and flying cats -- big enough to carry men. A daring young woman goes one night to find a lost heirloom. Returning she find sixteen years have passed. On her journey a young scientist meets her and is so taken with her beauty that he follows her to this unknown world and this is his story. An intergalactic war has come and the enemy is building a secret outpost on this backwater planet. Thinking his crew ha
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Dec 30, 2010
abo
rated it:
Rocannon è un etnologo inviato dalla Lega dei Mondi su Fomalhaut II. La sua missione consiste nello studio della variegata popolazione del remoto pianeta, su cui convivono specie diverse. I rapporti tra gli elfici Fiaa, gli Gdemiar abitatori delle caverne e i guerrieri Liuar sono complessi, con ulteriori divisioni interne alle specie. Rocannon è affascinato, e pone il pianeta sotto la propria protezione. Un improvviso attacco da parte di nemici ignoti distrugge però l’astronave di Rocannon, ster
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Mar 01, 2010
Ali
rated it:
This is one of Ursula's earliest novels. Unlike a few other books I've read of her's this one seems to be action driven and less driven by conversations and internal dilemas for the most part. The book touches on a couple of key things such as colonialism, inteligence, language, caste systems and oral traditions. I gave it 5 stars because it's an Ursula Book and most folks who'll read this will be Ursula fans who'll recognize certain elements that Urusula uses in her later books such as the "
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Aug 23, 2009
Stephanie
rated it:
Why read other science fiction when you can read Le Guin? This first novel from the the Hainish cycle was first published in 1966, and Le Guin only recently released her latest book in this setting. Rocannon is an explorer and colonizer who is drawn to an alien planet by the extraordinary beauty of a woman. But after this opening, Le Guin begins to abandon the traditional narrative of the heroic colonizer expanding patriarchal influence. Rather, Rocannon seeks to destroy another group of invader
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Dec 29, 2009
Sequoia
rated it:
I ordered this book from another library because I really liked The Left Hand of Darkness, another book in this series. I can't say Rocannon's World was as mind-blowing, but it was still quite good. The concepts make for solid science fiction and the characters and themes provide an engaging story - and reflections on the human condition - that stand on their own, i.e. without any sci-fi stuff. SO, good book, not as great as TLHOD (but that's a high bar) and definitely worth reading when you'
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Feb 08, 2011
Matt
rated it:
(Cross-posted to my sci-fi blog, Android Dreamer)
Being that the first three novels I read by Ursula K. Le Guin have all entered my top ten favorite science fiction novels, I had myself convinced that she was absolutely infallible as a writer, and that everything I read of hers would astound me on an epic scale. Rocannon's World has brought me crashing down to earth, because it's actually pretty bad. As a matter of fact, if I didn't already know that Le Guin was capable of being entirel More...
Being that the first three novels I read by Ursula K. Le Guin have all entered my top ten favorite science fiction novels, I had myself convinced that she was absolutely infallible as a writer, and that everything I read of hers would astound me on an epic scale. Rocannon's World has brought me crashing down to earth, because it's actually pretty bad. As a matter of fact, if I didn't already know that Le Guin was capable of being entirel More...
Oct 16, 2009
Tonk82
rated it:
El primer libro que publicó Ursula K. Leguin (en el ya lejano 1966) es una lectura muy entretenida.
Con premisas de ciencia ficción, y desarrollo de historia fantástica de aventuras, la novela ya anticipa muchos de los temas que trataría en novelas posteriores. Hay castas, diversas razas, un enorme mundo con viejas leyendas del pasado... Con todo, es una novela en la que se ve que aun andaba algo verde, aunque iría avanzando a pasos agigantados con sus siguientes novelas.
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Con premisas de ciencia ficción, y desarrollo de historia fantástica de aventuras, la novela ya anticipa muchos de los temas que trataría en novelas posteriores. Hay castas, diversas razas, un enorme mundo con viejas leyendas del pasado... Con todo, es una novela en la que se ve que aun andaba algo verde, aunque iría avanzando a pasos agigantados con sus siguientes novelas.
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Feb 20, 2010
Ben
rated it:
Wow. That is an awful, awful cover. It just screams, "I'm a pulp fantasy cover from the '60s! Ignore me if you want people to think you're normal!" If ever there was a time not to judge a book by its cover, now is that time. Rocannon's World is Ursula K. Le Guin's first novel, and it shows. Nonetheless, it's not as cringe-worthy as this paperback reprint's cover makes it seem.
Anyone familiar with Le Guin's work will end up being disappointed, I suspect, not because Ro More...
Anyone familiar with Le Guin's work will end up being disappointed, I suspect, not because Ro More...
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Nov 05, 2010
Oscar
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Rocannon es un etnólogo destinado en una planeta del sistema Fomalhaut II por la Liga de Todos los Mundos. Su trabajo consiste en estudiar las diferentes formas de vida del planeta, destacando sobre todo cuatro de ellas: los Gdemiar, homínidos trogloditas nocturnos, de baja estatura; los Fiia, homínidos diurnos, también de baja estatura; los Angyar, homínidos diurnos, de gran estatura; y los Olgyor, sirvientes de los Angyar. Estos dos últimos viven en una especie de estado feudal, utilizando com
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Mar 16, 2009
Dr M
rated it:
Is mankind's encounter with an extraterrestrial culture necessarily going to be mutually high-technological? How will people who are culturally and technologically somewhere between late bronze age and early middle ages be affected by an encounter with explorers from a space-faring civilisation? And how are the explorers themselves affected by the culture they visit -- in a situation where transports take place over distances of light years, at the price of lost years and decades due to relativi
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Jun 18, 2008
Harry
rated it:
As it would seem the Bulgarian reprint of Ursula Le Guin’s “Left Hand of Darkness” is a collection of most of the novels from the Hainish cycle. I came across this, while researching the matter, while I was still reading the book and since I finished two of the novels compressed in the first volume I felt like reviewing them separately.
“Rocannon’s World” is not only the opening of the first volume, but is Ursula’s debut as well back in 1966, which for me is the time, when sci-fi as a More...
“Rocannon’s World” is not only the opening of the first volume, but is Ursula’s debut as well back in 1966, which for me is the time, when sci-fi as a More...
Jul 17, 2007
Sujit
rated it:
An Ursula K. LeGuin Sci-fi novel which, like a large majority of non-hardcore Sci-Fi Books focuses more on the societal, and individual interplay in fictional lands. There are some nice moments that lend an "Ah-ha" quality due the interspersing of classic Sci-Fi phenomena (Faster Than Light travel, Lightspeed Travel & relativistic effects on individuals).
Unfortunately, like most products of the Sci-Fi genre of the 60's / 70's the book plods along for a bit before it gather More...
Unfortunately, like most products of the Sci-Fi genre of the 60's / 70's the book plods along for a bit before it gather More...
Aug 01, 2011
Heidi
rated it:
Rocannonin maailma on Le Guinin vihdoin suomeksi käännetty esikoisteos, ja se kiilasi ehdottomasti yhdeksi parhaista Le Guineista, jonka olen lukenut. Yksinkertainen, jännittävä, koskettava, uskottava (vai silkkaa satua onkin). Ei turhaa kikkailua, vaan hyvin perinteistä tarinankerrontaa. Ei maailmoja syleilevää moralismia, vaan pieni suuri tarina, kuin satu.
Hain-romaanien sarja alkaa tästä kirjasta, ja tämän jälkeen tekisikin mieleni tarttua sarjan myöhempiin osiin uudelleen. Koskahan sitä ehti More...
Hain-romaanien sarja alkaa tästä kirjasta, ja tämän jälkeen tekisikin mieleni tarttua sarjan myöhempiin osiin uudelleen. Koskahan sitä ehti More...
Jul 23, 2011
David
rated it:
This is the first book of sci-fi/fantasy writer Ursula K. Le Guin, and first of the Hanish cycle. This, being an early work, is not generally considered to be among her best. Since it's the first book I've read by her, this is encouraging, because the book is not bad at all, it just isn't very good. It's a mixture of hard sci-fi and space opera fantasy that isn't my favorite coupling, but has some thrilling moments. It's also novella length and a very quick read.
Apr 18, 2010
JA
rated it:
I picked this off the bookcase to re-read because I was looking for something both metaphorically and literally light -- easy to carry with me to a doctor's appointment -- while waiting for my book club book to arrive. It's a tiny volume, a novella of 130-odd pages, and may even be considered one of Le Guin's young adult works, although without the requisite youthful protagonist.
It's a fun read, and a quick one.
I am sure there are those out there interested in critiquin More...
It's a fun read, and a quick one.
I am sure there are those out there interested in critiquin More...
Jul 03, 2010
Becca
rated it:
Rocannon's World is interesting. LeGuin maintains a fairy tale quality of sorts while setting the story in a high science-fiction world, complete with FTL ships and ansibles. The combination is almost dream-like and provocative, but unfortunately falls into LeGuin's most common flaw -- a slowness that makes the book hard to want to pick up and difficult to concentrate once you have.
May 20, 2009
Datsun
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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