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The Hainish Cycle
Vaster than Empires and More Slow
The recipient of numerous literary prizes, including the National Book Award, the Kafka Award, and the Pushcart Prize, Ursula K. Le Guin is renowned for her spare, elegant prose, rich characterization, and diverse worlds. "Vaster than Empires and more Slow" is a short story originally published in the collection The Wind's Twelve Quarters.
49 pages, ebook
First published February 14, 2017
33 people are currently reading
1656 people want to read
About the author
Ursula K. Le Guin
1,050 books31.1k followersUrsula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.
She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.
She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
January 7, 2018
One of my unofficial reading goals for this year is not to put off reading the things I say I want to read. I was so taken with this authors book of essays, No Time, to spare that even though science fiction is not my genre, I was determined to read something else she wrote. So, I bought a book of her novellas, yes, I actually bought a book.
The surprising things is this first story I read actually harkened back to one of her essays. The essay was about vegetarians and vegans, how they believe plant life cannot feel pain, have no emotional connections at all. In this story a varied crew, one an empath, who had been cured of autism, set off to investigate another planet. Strange things occur, even though there is no obvious source of life. There is something in dem dar woods!!
Anyway liked this more than I thought,especially since much of it was based on personalities and feelings.
The surprising things is this first story I read actually harkened back to one of her essays. The essay was about vegetarians and vegans, how they believe plant life cannot feel pain, have no emotional connections at all. In this story a varied crew, one an empath, who had been cured of autism, set off to investigate another planet. Strange things occur, even though there is no obvious source of life. There is something in dem dar woods!!
Anyway liked this more than I thought,especially since much of it was based on personalities and feelings.
August 23, 2021
“Why?” said Osden. “Its message is rejection. But my salvation is rejection. It’s not intelligent. But I am.”
“The scale is wrong. What can a single human brain achieve against something so vast?”
“A single human brain can perceive pattern on the scale of stars and galaxies,” Tomiko said, “and interpret it as Love.”
I’ve been meaning to read Ursula K. Le Guin for a really long time now, ever since I had finished Neil Gaiman’s MasterClass and heard him raving about her imaginative power innumerable times. And probably this one is the best place to start her, though the context is considerably denser than I presumed it would be for so short a tale. However, that in no way interferes with what the story wants to tell you, which, really, is too simple. I guess that’s why people may find it hard to appreciate it. Take, for instance, I knew nothing about the Hainish Cycle, and so the general outline went a bit tangentially over my head.
On the surface level, this may seem a hardcore science-fiction but actually, it is much, much deeper than that, with multiple questionings about the human-borne superiority complex, unnecessary hostile attitudes towards the unknown and similar other concepts. Also on some level, it mocks our hypocritical demeanour towards the psychologically different persons. It’s quite ridiculous yet true when you think of it: when a person has, say, stomach complications we feel more than obligated to adjust ourselves to their dietary necessities. But in the case of cerebral necessities, people tend to resort to mockery, or even rebelling. For relevance let’s take the plot itself: In this case, the story surrounds one individual, who as one of his co-passengers put it: ‘the first fully cured case of Render’s Syndrome- a variety of infantile autism which was thought to be incurable.’ And it was also disclosed soon that the cure had granted him a special capability of wide-range bioempathic receptivity. Now, the terms may seem non-sensical, so let’s get back to what I’m trying to say. The person spoken of could sense what other people were feeling towards him, and involuntarily reciprocated the emotions which obviously came out as rude, because nobody was treating him as a normal being but in the least with a mixture of curiosity and unexplainable fear for his supernormal ability. And also at the same time, they were blaming him for ‘incoherence’, calling him intolerable. (Did the ramblings make any sense? Forgive me if it doesn’t.)
“What is emotion, Osden?” Haito Tomiko asked... “What is it, exactly, that you pick up with your empathic sensitivity?”
“Muck,” the man answered in his high, exasperated voice. “The psychic excreta of the animal kingdom. I wade through your faeces.”
“I was trying,” she said, “to learn some facts.” She thought her tone was admirably calm.
“You weren’t after facts. You were trying to get at me. With some fear, some curiosity, and a great deal of distaste. The way you might poke a dead dog, to see the maggots crawl. Will you understand once and for all that I don’t want to be got at, that I want to be left alone?”
And this is just one of the many, and it is astounding how there’s so many congested within this short a story. The only thing that I wished was this being a full-length novel, for it gives the thrilling vibes from Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation, but is much more reader-friendly in terms of gory violence and all. Also considerably thoughtful, even without an Alex Garland adaptation. You can’t take a single line lightly as well, and that’s another positive side to the story.
I read it as a part of Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Found and The Lost, this story in particular being narrated by Jefferson Mays. What an excellent reader.
“The scale is wrong. What can a single human brain achieve against something so vast?”
“A single human brain can perceive pattern on the scale of stars and galaxies,” Tomiko said, “and interpret it as Love.”
I’ve been meaning to read Ursula K. Le Guin for a really long time now, ever since I had finished Neil Gaiman’s MasterClass and heard him raving about her imaginative power innumerable times. And probably this one is the best place to start her, though the context is considerably denser than I presumed it would be for so short a tale. However, that in no way interferes with what the story wants to tell you, which, really, is too simple. I guess that’s why people may find it hard to appreciate it. Take, for instance, I knew nothing about the Hainish Cycle, and so the general outline went a bit tangentially over my head.
On the surface level, this may seem a hardcore science-fiction but actually, it is much, much deeper than that, with multiple questionings about the human-borne superiority complex, unnecessary hostile attitudes towards the unknown and similar other concepts. Also on some level, it mocks our hypocritical demeanour towards the psychologically different persons. It’s quite ridiculous yet true when you think of it: when a person has, say, stomach complications we feel more than obligated to adjust ourselves to their dietary necessities. But in the case of cerebral necessities, people tend to resort to mockery, or even rebelling. For relevance let’s take the plot itself: In this case, the story surrounds one individual, who as one of his co-passengers put it: ‘the first fully cured case of Render’s Syndrome- a variety of infantile autism which was thought to be incurable.’ And it was also disclosed soon that the cure had granted him a special capability of wide-range bioempathic receptivity. Now, the terms may seem non-sensical, so let’s get back to what I’m trying to say. The person spoken of could sense what other people were feeling towards him, and involuntarily reciprocated the emotions which obviously came out as rude, because nobody was treating him as a normal being but in the least with a mixture of curiosity and unexplainable fear for his supernormal ability. And also at the same time, they were blaming him for ‘incoherence’, calling him intolerable. (Did the ramblings make any sense? Forgive me if it doesn’t.)
“What is emotion, Osden?” Haito Tomiko asked... “What is it, exactly, that you pick up with your empathic sensitivity?”
“Muck,” the man answered in his high, exasperated voice. “The psychic excreta of the animal kingdom. I wade through your faeces.”
“I was trying,” she said, “to learn some facts.” She thought her tone was admirably calm.
“You weren’t after facts. You were trying to get at me. With some fear, some curiosity, and a great deal of distaste. The way you might poke a dead dog, to see the maggots crawl. Will you understand once and for all that I don’t want to be got at, that I want to be left alone?”
And this is just one of the many, and it is astounding how there’s so many congested within this short a story. The only thing that I wished was this being a full-length novel, for it gives the thrilling vibes from Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation, but is much more reader-friendly in terms of gory violence and all. Also considerably thoughtful, even without an Alex Garland adaptation. You can’t take a single line lightly as well, and that’s another positive side to the story.
I read it as a part of Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Found and The Lost, this story in particular being narrated by Jefferson Mays. What an excellent reader.
December 17, 2022
Like a green version of Solaris, mixed with the empathy from Parable of the Sower, but so richly told and thought provoking it stands on its own very successfully
And what they saw there was not desolation but peace
Fascinating story that manages to do a lot in a few pages.
Le Guin is a brilliant writer.
The surveyors were escapists, misfits. They were nuts.
This is one of the earlier sentences in this novella, and the people on the space ark are indeed far from heroic. Empathy (and intra-human cooperation) being a larger problem than moving towards extremely far planets, is an interesting angle.
Also that Le Guin is bold enough to incorporate new sexual relationships, making ship life harder, with people gilding their nipples, shows she doesn't go for a standard story.
A world full of plants, and nothing more is encountered, and here the travellers endure the enormous burden of empathy, quite similar to the concept Octavia Butler uses in Parable of the Sower.
The rootless would be alien, terrible feels like a commentary on migration in general, and the conclusion, featuring What’s sanity ever done for me? is sufficiently surprising.
Very well done; I'd definitely see this as a more suitable basis for an Apple TV mini-series than the Foundation books of Isaac Asimov.
And what they saw there was not desolation but peace
Fascinating story that manages to do a lot in a few pages.
Le Guin is a brilliant writer.
The surveyors were escapists, misfits. They were nuts.
This is one of the earlier sentences in this novella, and the people on the space ark are indeed far from heroic. Empathy (and intra-human cooperation) being a larger problem than moving towards extremely far planets, is an interesting angle.
Also that Le Guin is bold enough to incorporate new sexual relationships, making ship life harder, with people gilding their nipples, shows she doesn't go for a standard story.
A world full of plants, and nothing more is encountered, and here the travellers endure the enormous burden of empathy, quite similar to the concept Octavia Butler uses in Parable of the Sower.
The rootless would be alien, terrible feels like a commentary on migration in general, and the conclusion, featuring What’s sanity ever done for me? is sufficiently surprising.
Very well done; I'd definitely see this as a more suitable basis for an Apple TV mini-series than the Foundation books of Isaac Asimov.
October 2, 2017
As I'm winding up Volume One of my Le Guin Hainish stories, I'm being gifted minor jewels like this story, a 1972 Hugo nominee. A group of ten intelligent but misfit scientists takes off on a spaceship trip beyond the edges of galactic civilization, looking for something new and truly alien. They find it.
The characterization is thin and occasionally given to stereotyping; Le Guin seems to be more interested in ideas here. And it is a good idea, especially for its time. She weaves an exploration of the nature of intelligence together with a study of fear and hatred, of each other and of the unknown.
Full review to come.
I received a free copy of this story as part of the Ursula K. Le Guin: The Hainish Novels and Stories collection from a publicist for review.
The characterization is thin and occasionally given to stereotyping; Le Guin seems to be more interested in ideas here. And it is a good idea, especially for its time. She weaves an exploration of the nature of intelligence together with a study of fear and hatred, of each other and of the unknown.
Full review to come.
I received a free copy of this story as part of the Ursula K. Le Guin: The Hainish Novels and Stories collection from a publicist for review.
March 14, 2023
Interesting first contact story between aliens. The first reaction is fear that reflects back as fear, creating the close circuit. Le Guin's solution is attempting to stabilize situation by one side (the explorers) making a sacrifice and defuse, however unjust it may seem to them. Because otherwise it's unsustainable and its death. I guess death will eventually achieve the same equilibrium, until the new aliens arrive and perhaps escalate. Her solution is empathy even in the face of something completely alien. Interesting philosophical story from the great writer.
July 18, 2022
3.5/5 stars
Set within Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish Cycle, the only other entry which I've head was The Left Hand of Darkness, "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" follows a ten person group of researches on a centuries-long (due to interstellar travel) journey and mission to a planet merely called World 4470. Headed by Tomiko Haito, the researchers all have various abilities and jobs and come from different parts of the universe. The most notably member is the sickly empath Osden, whose empathic abilities were engendered as a result of being cured from autism (more on that in a bit). Everyone is afraid of or hates Osden because of his "combative" behavior towards them. However, once they arrive on World 4470 they discover new problems. For one, the planet consists solely of flora, not fauna. And there's something within those plants and trees that seems to be after them, but Osden thinks there's something else going on.
Up front, I will say the "curing of autism" thing probably hasn't aged well today. Also, some of the descriptions of Tomiko's being Asian feel weird to me, especially from Le Guin of all people. Tomiko is said to be of East Asian descent within the text, but she's clearly Japanese specifically. I am not Japanese, but referring to her as "puritanical" seems to be a bit of a sweeping generalization to me. Also there's a part where Osden calls her "yellow face" and it's just brushed aside.
If not for those concerns, I would've considered "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" as one of Le Guin's strongest stories. The pacing here is much better than anything else I've read so far, fiction or non-fiction. And the concept and themes are genuinely interesting. The forest--no, the entire planet of World 4470 is sentient and can "see" and feel the entire crew and all of its vegetation are its receptors. It is never explained why the planet is like this, and it doesn't need to be explained because the sentience alone works for the story's themes. The relationship the researchers have with World 4470 is also parallel to Osden's relationship with the rest of the crew. It's soon revealed that the reason Osden is so "hostile" towards them is that's because his empathy powers pick up their emotions towards him and reciprocates in kind (doesn't excuse the yellow face comment though). He is only returning what they have thrown upon him. Likewise, World 4470 is afraid of the researchers because it can sense how they feel about them after Osden was maimed by Porlock, one of the other researchers, and how Osden's fear and hurt was sent out to the planet via his empathy.
It's a message that serves multiple themes. At the root of it is the relationship between Subject and Other, which Le Guin refers to at the story's end. This direct reference, in my opinion, is another weak, albeit briefer, part of the story. Le Guin told countless messages throughout her stories, but her ability to tell rather than show--especially when she already showing quite well to begin with in this story--hurts her delivery. Regardless, this Subject and fear of the Other relationship is transposed onto both humanity's relationship with nature and humanity's relationship with the outsiders within itself. Subjects often feel like the Other is being aggressive and hateful towards them, but that's only because they have enacted that aggression and hatred first, they have Othered the Other first, as we see with the crew and Osden. As humans, whether in our current technological state or even in our far future spacefaring one, we will continue to disregard nature despite that even the flora part of it is still living organisms. Even those who follow vegan and vegetarian lifestyles seem to do this, unaware of how their foods are currently cultivated and produces and shipped. Le Guin isn't telling us to avoid scientific and technological progress and go all hippie commune, rather she is saying to consider nature's place and existence in what we do, connect with it.
In the end of the story Osden symbolically and literally abandons humanity to unite with World 4470 which he does so with his empathy. He abandons the other Subjects and embraces the Other becoming connected to all things. World 4470 is written off as un-colonizable and I cannot help but think of two things. First, It is un-colonizable, because they cannot colonize it in their own way. They cannot unite with the sentience of nature. Second, in abandoning the planet they are not righting their wrongs (except for Osden, obviously) and are also losing their chance to embrace the Other.
There is a tinge of sadness to this story, but there's also a sense of "What else would I expect from such people?"
Set within Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish Cycle, the only other entry which I've head was The Left Hand of Darkness, "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" follows a ten person group of researches on a centuries-long (due to interstellar travel) journey and mission to a planet merely called World 4470. Headed by Tomiko Haito, the researchers all have various abilities and jobs and come from different parts of the universe. The most notably member is the sickly empath Osden, whose empathic abilities were engendered as a result of being cured from autism (more on that in a bit). Everyone is afraid of or hates Osden because of his "combative" behavior towards them. However, once they arrive on World 4470 they discover new problems. For one, the planet consists solely of flora, not fauna. And there's something within those plants and trees that seems to be after them, but Osden thinks there's something else going on.
Up front, I will say the "curing of autism" thing probably hasn't aged well today. Also, some of the descriptions of Tomiko's being Asian feel weird to me, especially from Le Guin of all people. Tomiko is said to be of East Asian descent within the text, but she's clearly Japanese specifically. I am not Japanese, but referring to her as "puritanical" seems to be a bit of a sweeping generalization to me. Also there's a part where Osden calls her "yellow face" and it's just brushed aside.
If not for those concerns, I would've considered "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" as one of Le Guin's strongest stories. The pacing here is much better than anything else I've read so far, fiction or non-fiction. And the concept and themes are genuinely interesting. The forest--no, the entire planet of World 4470 is sentient and can "see" and feel the entire crew and all of its vegetation are its receptors. It is never explained why the planet is like this, and it doesn't need to be explained because the sentience alone works for the story's themes. The relationship the researchers have with World 4470 is also parallel to Osden's relationship with the rest of the crew. It's soon revealed that the reason Osden is so "hostile" towards them is that's because his empathy powers pick up their emotions towards him and reciprocates in kind (doesn't excuse the yellow face comment though). He is only returning what they have thrown upon him. Likewise, World 4470 is afraid of the researchers because it can sense how they feel about them after Osden was maimed by Porlock, one of the other researchers, and how Osden's fear and hurt was sent out to the planet via his empathy.
It's a message that serves multiple themes. At the root of it is the relationship between Subject and Other, which Le Guin refers to at the story's end. This direct reference, in my opinion, is another weak, albeit briefer, part of the story. Le Guin told countless messages throughout her stories, but her ability to tell rather than show--especially when she already showing quite well to begin with in this story--hurts her delivery. Regardless, this Subject and fear of the Other relationship is transposed onto both humanity's relationship with nature and humanity's relationship with the outsiders within itself. Subjects often feel like the Other is being aggressive and hateful towards them, but that's only because they have enacted that aggression and hatred first, they have Othered the Other first, as we see with the crew and Osden. As humans, whether in our current technological state or even in our far future spacefaring one, we will continue to disregard nature despite that even the flora part of it is still living organisms. Even those who follow vegan and vegetarian lifestyles seem to do this, unaware of how their foods are currently cultivated and produces and shipped. Le Guin isn't telling us to avoid scientific and technological progress and go all hippie commune, rather she is saying to consider nature's place and existence in what we do, connect with it.
In the end of the story Osden symbolically and literally abandons humanity to unite with World 4470 which he does so with his empathy. He abandons the other Subjects and embraces the Other becoming connected to all things. World 4470 is written off as un-colonizable and I cannot help but think of two things. First, It is un-colonizable, because they cannot colonize it in their own way. They cannot unite with the sentience of nature. Second, in abandoning the planet they are not righting their wrongs (except for Osden, obviously) and are also losing their chance to embrace the Other.
There is a tinge of sadness to this story, but there's also a sense of "What else would I expect from such people?"
June 21, 2018
Other than a book of nonfiction essays on life that I read, this is my first Le Guin book .*hangs head in shame* Clearly, I was just depriving myself of some beautiful prose and thought-provoking work that I will be delving into for years to come. I also feel like Le Guin is one of those writers that makes you a better person, not sure I want to be better, but if it's the price to pay--so be it.
I could make analogies and really nail down the concepts of the story, but I think that would ruin it. So, I'll say this instead. This work focuses on neurodiversity and morays within the crew of an Extreme Surveying mission. Le Guin's strength is psychological, character motivation on a beautifully drawn tableau. Complexity without being obscure, and the glorious sensation of drifting on a river of words.
Riveting short story that makes a perfect bedtime treat.
I could make analogies and really nail down the concepts of the story, but I think that would ruin it. So, I'll say this instead. This work focuses on neurodiversity and morays within the crew of an Extreme Surveying mission. Le Guin's strength is psychological, character motivation on a beautifully drawn tableau. Complexity without being obscure, and the glorious sensation of drifting on a river of words.
Riveting short story that makes a perfect bedtime treat.
December 5, 2023
This was a great disaster story of a kind of backstage nature as the Ekumen face technical issues with space travel and time dilation. Not connected directly to the other stories, it is sort of a curious interlude where we see how the Ekumen works and get to ponder the difficulties of space travel in terms of time and accuracy as well.
Fino's Reviews of Ursula Le Guin
The Lathe of Heaven: Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Hainish Cycle
Hainish Novels & Stories, Vol. 1: Rocannon’s World / Planet of Exile / City of Illusions / The Left Hand of Darkness / The Dispossessed / Stories: Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Hainish Novels & Stories, Vol. 2: The Word for World Is Forest / Five Ways to Forgiveness / The Telling / Stories Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Rocannon's World Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Planet of Exile Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...#
City of Illusions Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Left Hand of Darkness Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Word for World Is Forest Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Five Ways to Forgiveness Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...#
The Telling Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Earthsea Cycle
A Wizard of Earthsea Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Tombs of Atuan Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Farthest Shore Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Tehanu Fino Review:
The Other Wind Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Short Stories
Unlocking the Air and Other Stories Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Fino's Reviews of Ursula Le Guin
The Lathe of Heaven: Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Hainish Cycle
Hainish Novels & Stories, Vol. 1: Rocannon’s World / Planet of Exile / City of Illusions / The Left Hand of Darkness / The Dispossessed / Stories: Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Hainish Novels & Stories, Vol. 2: The Word for World Is Forest / Five Ways to Forgiveness / The Telling / Stories Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Rocannon's World Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Planet of Exile Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...#
City of Illusions Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Left Hand of Darkness Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Word for World Is Forest Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Five Ways to Forgiveness Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...#
The Telling Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Earthsea Cycle
A Wizard of Earthsea Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Tombs of Atuan Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Farthest Shore Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Tehanu Fino Review:
The Other Wind Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Short Stories
Unlocking the Air and Other Stories Fino Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
October 21, 2019
A novelette emphasizing the importance of acceptance of the other in order to overcome the irrationalities of the human mind.
As always, Le Guin does a beautiful job with the prose and characters, finding deeper meaning with a survey crew of a new planet.
As always, Le Guin does a beautiful job with the prose and characters, finding deeper meaning with a survey crew of a new planet.
September 19, 2025
This long short story is a fascinating and unusual take on first contact and the complexities of empathy, isolation and community. While ideas are paramount, Le Guin also delivers strong characters and a vivid setting. I read this in a collection of all her novellas, The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin.
December 10, 2025
This story is my platonic ideal for a meaty and satisfying short story that scratches the itch of a novel in much less words without sacrificing depth of concepts or characters. At first I was concerned it had too many characters and it was biting off too much from a concept level for short story but Le Guins writing here is an example of how if an author is sufficient skilled then all “rules” of writing become irrelevant. One of the first things they tell you in most creative writing classes is that short stories should seek to expansion one idea or a single moment instead of trying to condense the events of a whole novel. This short story conforms to neither of those conventional notions - it has many themes and ideas and multiple locations and contrary to conventional norms this versatility and range work in its favour.
The main reason Vaster than Empires and More Slow is so successful is Le Guin is able to seamlessly imagine and portray a form of intelligence and a way of life that is completely different from the way humans operate and yet totally plausible. This imagined intelligence grew my understanding of the limits of human connection and made me wonder what we might be capable of with a different view on things. Not to seem pretentious but the main question I walked away with from this story is; what could we achieve as a species if we could see the effects of our decisions in a truly long-term perspective over thousands or millions of years? And how would that perception be altered if we could understand one another not as individuals but as one symbiotic entity. I’ve never read a story that made me appreciate the limits of my own existence while identifying the strengths of how we currently live at the same time.
Total masterpiece and a true 5 out of 5.
The main reason Vaster than Empires and More Slow is so successful is Le Guin is able to seamlessly imagine and portray a form of intelligence and a way of life that is completely different from the way humans operate and yet totally plausible. This imagined intelligence grew my understanding of the limits of human connection and made me wonder what we might be capable of with a different view on things. Not to seem pretentious but the main question I walked away with from this story is; what could we achieve as a species if we could see the effects of our decisions in a truly long-term perspective over thousands or millions of years? And how would that perception be altered if we could understand one another not as individuals but as one symbiotic entity. I’ve never read a story that made me appreciate the limits of my own existence while identifying the strengths of how we currently live at the same time.
Total masterpiece and a true 5 out of 5.
August 25, 2024
Sad sad sad sad sad sad sad sad shit. Lordy, Le Guin really grinds the horror of bigotry’s shank right into the solar plexus and tears out your heart in this 1970 offing (said shank doubling as a rib spreader in that analogy—somehow). Originally published in Amazing Stories, meaning I fucked up the chronology of my reading. Meh, it’s a standalone.Two space characters in spaceship from outer-outer space Karhide, you know there’s tunics, baby.
December 31, 2021
Excellent. I'm finding that I enjoy her longer stories much more than her short ones. This is an excellent piece of both science and psychological fiction.
December 8, 2024
Fantastic, subtle, short sci-fi story.
March 26, 2021
Vaster than Empires and More Slow is the story of 10 people from a variety of backgrounds within the 'League of Worlds', each with their own specialties and abilities. These people are brought together when they all volunteer to travel to the outer expanse of known space, losing 1000+ years of time debt, to gather research on as of yet unknown planet called "World 4470".
Key to this group is Osden, a man who has an extraordinary and uncontrollable capacity for empathy, this is thought to be due to his treatment for (and subsequent curing of) infantile autism. Osden can feel all life around him and is constantly struggling with picking up on his teammates emotions towards him, and often expresses those same emotions outwardly towards the others as a kind of self-defense. It is due to these tensions that Osden is sent to do his surveys alone in the forest of World 4470...
I shan't go into spoiler territory story-wise - its less than 50 pages but it's a great little tale. Read it if you get the chance.
Other than the discussion regarding autism and empathy, a primary theme of VtEaMS is how a species interacts with a planet as a whole - a study of a relationship between a people and a world. This really gripped me, and I read the story through again straight away, just to really take it all in and appreciate everything it has to offer.
I can't help but adore these utopia-fringed, philosophical, space opera stories. The content, as well as Le Guin's incredible writing ability has me very pleased to be, at long last, submerging myself in her Hainish Universe. Either 'Planet Of Exile' or 'The Matter of Seggri' will be up next for me Hainish-wise and I cannot wait.
Thank you for reading my review!
Key to this group is Osden, a man who has an extraordinary and uncontrollable capacity for empathy, this is thought to be due to his treatment for (and subsequent curing of) infantile autism. Osden can feel all life around him and is constantly struggling with picking up on his teammates emotions towards him, and often expresses those same emotions outwardly towards the others as a kind of self-defense. It is due to these tensions that Osden is sent to do his surveys alone in the forest of World 4470...
I shan't go into spoiler territory story-wise - its less than 50 pages but it's a great little tale. Read it if you get the chance.
Other than the discussion regarding autism and empathy, a primary theme of VtEaMS is how a species interacts with a planet as a whole - a study of a relationship between a people and a world. This really gripped me, and I read the story through again straight away, just to really take it all in and appreciate everything it has to offer.
'We all have forests in our minds. Forests unexplored, unending. Each of us gets lost in the forest, every night, alone.'
I can't help but adore these utopia-fringed, philosophical, space opera stories. The content, as well as Le Guin's incredible writing ability has me very pleased to be, at long last, submerging myself in her Hainish Universe. Either 'Planet Of Exile' or 'The Matter of Seggri' will be up next for me Hainish-wise and I cannot wait.
Thank you for reading my review!
October 4, 2021
We all have forests in our minds. Forests unexplored, unending. Each of us gets lost in the forests, every night, alone.
- from the introduction to the first edition of 'Vaster than Empires and More Slow'
This story represents a really interesting moment in UKLG's writing career. This is one of her earlier works, first published in 1971, and it explores some themes that will continually pop up in her work in the future. In my opinion, your best experience of reading this would be to read her novella The Word for World is Forest (which was published a year later in 1972) immediately afterwards. These two books explore different sides of the themes of variant forms of consciousness and space colonialism. This has to be one of the OG extraterrestrial plant horror stories to actually explore the implications of plant consciousness. Definitely required reading (paired with TWfWiF) for anyone interested in forest sci-fi or UKLG's development of the main themes of her Hainish world.
Without giving too much away, the final thing I want to discuss is her depiction of Osden, an autistic character. I've seen some reviewers react negatively to Osden, which I can definitely respect, but I'd like to offer a touch of nuance. She describes him as someone who has been "cured" from "infantile autism" which are understandably the kinds of regressive buzzwords that many autistic people recoil from today. In the 21st century, the social attitude to autism is undergoing a dramatic change with groups like the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network framing autism in terms of the disability rights movement, rather than as a disease to be cured. 50 years ago, when this book was written, the social attitude to autism was solidly situated in treating autism as a disease and so, I actually think that Osden is a really progressively portrayal of an autistic character (for the time). If you can be patient with her extremely outdated language, I actually think that Osden might be one of the earliest humanizing portrayals of an autistic character in the science fiction genre. It's not perfect, but this story is definitely required reading for anyone studying the history of autistic characters in literature.
I actually think that the main theme of this story is neurodivergence, the clashes that come when very different kinds of consciousness encounter each other, and the ultimate subjectivity of an experience depending on our background.
May 3, 2018
"We all have forests in our minds. Forests unexplored, unending. each of us gets lost in the forest, every night, alone".
I don't usually read science fiction but Le Guin knows how to keep the reader's attention to the last page. She pack conflict, emotions, small details, and adventure by showing each character's inner workings and action in complete agreement, making this compact short story into a smooth easy read.
"All these volunteers to the Extreme Survey crew shared one peculiarity: they were of unsound mind."
What happens when autism is cured by inverting the underlying coping mechanism of emotional withdrawal? Why, enhanced empathic reaction of course! And what happens if you stick this empath (who is also a scientist) in a spaceship with several other oddball scientists and send them all off to explore extremely remote new planets in the furthest reaches of space? Closed circuit emotional feedback, personality friction,cabin fever spaceship fever.
"the surveyors were escapists, misfits. They were nuts."
Vaster than Empires and More Slow: A Story is a clever observation of emotional triggers such as prejudice, hatred, as well as intelligence and the nature of things and I enjoyed it immensely. I can't wait to read more from The Wind's Twelve Quarters.
I don't usually read science fiction but Le Guin knows how to keep the reader's attention to the last page. She pack conflict, emotions, small details, and adventure by showing each character's inner workings and action in complete agreement, making this compact short story into a smooth easy read.
"All these volunteers to the Extreme Survey crew shared one peculiarity: they were of unsound mind."
What happens when autism is cured by inverting the underlying coping mechanism of emotional withdrawal? Why, enhanced empathic reaction of course! And what happens if you stick this empath (who is also a scientist) in a spaceship with several other oddball scientists and send them all off to explore extremely remote new planets in the furthest reaches of space? Closed circuit emotional feedback, personality friction,
"the surveyors were escapists, misfits. They were nuts."
Vaster than Empires and More Slow: A Story is a clever observation of emotional triggers such as prejudice, hatred, as well as intelligence and the nature of things and I enjoyed it immensely. I can't wait to read more from The Wind's Twelve Quarters.
November 19, 2025
Author: Ursula Le Guin
Title: Vaster Than Empires and More Slow
Published: 1971
Genre: novella
What is my first impression?
That reading anything by Ursula Le Guin will challenge you. You have to read between the lines and unveil the conflicts that the text carefully covers up. Ursula Le Guin writes about speculative fiction...what if. Her books focus on psychological states and perceptions. Le Guin writes more about the inner space. PS: I enjoy 1 short story by Le Guin....more than an entire novels by other writers!
Quick Scan:
Group of surveyors are on a exploratory mission to World 4470,
Could they establish a new colony in this alien world?
Something big had tried to attack Porlark, a crew member, in the forest.
Osden is the group's Sensor. He must attempt to detect any presence of intelligent life.
Could Osden confirm that there is a sentient-life form in the forest?
Days later in the forest Osden failed to call in to the mother ship as agreed.
The explorers find him badly beaten...but still alive.
Core message
What one fears is alien.... Go with it. Look boldly at all beliefs, not cynically. Look fairly. Do not be too quick to find answers set in stone. Stay open, flexible.
August 19, 2013
This short story deals with the feeling of fear.Fear for the unknown which surprisingly can be bidirectional. Yes we all fear the unknown, however what if the unknown fears..us?
With many elements of a horror story,this short novel -which is about the long trip of ten problematic scientists in a solar system beyond any civilized planet member of the Union or Ekumen as it's called in the following novels- despite it's short length manages to excite the reader,as the heroes struggle with their own differences and the unknown danger that seems to surround them.
A quite interesting story by Ursula Le Guin.
With many elements of a horror story,this short novel -which is about the long trip of ten problematic scientists in a solar system beyond any civilized planet member of the Union or Ekumen as it's called in the following novels- despite it's short length manages to excite the reader,as the heroes struggle with their own differences and the unknown danger that seems to surround them.
A quite interesting story by Ursula Le Guin.
May 27, 2018
3.5/5.0
November 19, 2023
They treated my man Osden so baaaad
March 9, 2025
A misanthrope's dream.
Le Guin's novella "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" tells of a small group of 10 misfit explorer's on a voyage beyond the stars to study a distant planet. One of the team, an empath named Osden, is simply a prick. Primarily because he senses the true emotions of everyone else around him and is mostly just responding in kind.
Upon landing on Planet 4470, the group finds no fauna but plenty of flora....and Osden quickly senses its emotions and primarily, its fear -- a fear borne of being the only entity on its world now suddenly sharing the space with 10 others. Before the sentient planet can fully defend itself, the crew departs, though Osden remains behind as a "colonist" of sorts and finding an affinity with the forest planet he never could with people.
An interesting and brief little SF tale.
Le Guin's novella "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" tells of a small group of 10 misfit explorer's on a voyage beyond the stars to study a distant planet. One of the team, an empath named Osden, is simply a prick. Primarily because he senses the true emotions of everyone else around him and is mostly just responding in kind.
Upon landing on Planet 4470, the group finds no fauna but plenty of flora....and Osden quickly senses its emotions and primarily, its fear -- a fear borne of being the only entity on its world now suddenly sharing the space with 10 others. Before the sentient planet can fully defend itself, the crew departs, though Osden remains behind as a "colonist" of sorts and finding an affinity with the forest planet he never could with people.
An interesting and brief little SF tale.
August 26, 2017
Read as part of The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin
This was a very heavy sci-fi novella. The story though was quite interesting and I liked how it played out, even though it was still a bit confusing. The main confusion was around the characters which made me feel like I was missing something in terms of their backgrounds. I enjoyed the writing though and the 'twist' was satisfying. I would have liked it more if it had been a bit longer to expand on the characters a bit more and maybe have a few more events happen to draw the story out.
This was a very heavy sci-fi novella. The story though was quite interesting and I liked how it played out, even though it was still a bit confusing. The main confusion was around the characters which made me feel like I was missing something in terms of their backgrounds. I enjoyed the writing though and the 'twist' was satisfying. I would have liked it more if it had been a bit longer to expand on the characters a bit more and maybe have a few more events happen to draw the story out.
March 22, 2023
CN: very badly aged ideas of autism definitely classified as ableism by today's standards, racism
Man, I really want to read Solaris now.
That note aside - I mentioned in my Nine Lives review that this story makes a wonderful counterpart to said story, as it really digs in on how we can love that which we don't understand. I'm not too keen about all the stereotypes Le Guin brought into this story, but judging it on a grander scheme of themes and tones, I did really enjoy this short story. In general, I think Le Guin writes interpersonal conflict and the navigation of The Other very well, which is why this scored a higher ranking than her more action-laden stories, which I don't particularly mind but also don't love.
Man, I really want to read Solaris now.
That note aside - I mentioned in my Nine Lives review that this story makes a wonderful counterpart to said story, as it really digs in on how we can love that which we don't understand. I'm not too keen about all the stereotypes Le Guin brought into this story, but judging it on a grander scheme of themes and tones, I did really enjoy this short story. In general, I think Le Guin writes interpersonal conflict and the navigation of The Other very well, which is why this scored a higher ranking than her more action-laden stories, which I don't particularly mind but also don't love.
August 22, 2024
I thought it was amazing that Le Guin almost predicted a scientific phenomenon. When this book was written in the 70s most biological knowledge saw different species as remote and only tangentially connected, but Le Guin posits the idea of a huge consciousness, a single inter connected organism around an entire planet. Since VTEAMS was published the biology of symbiosis has had a revolution and we are now beginning to see ecosystems as a network of really tightly connected nodes.
I also love this discussion around empathy and what it means to human psychology.
Overall Ursula Le Guin's writting never fails to blow my socks off.
I also love this discussion around empathy and what it means to human psychology.
Overall Ursula Le Guin's writting never fails to blow my socks off.
April 29, 2020
A colony scout ship story. Normally I'd expect a carefully chosen crew that would somehow integrate well together. In this book it is almost the opposite, a band of misfits that could never integrate. And a world with a sentient plant network maybe? Reads as real science fiction, but prettier, but not in a way that put me to sleep. I wish it had gone just a little deeper into the characters. But a very different kind of empathy.
August 15, 2022
“their voices broke a silence of a thousand million years”
There is something so unique about Le Guin’s voice. She’s one of the (rare) authors I can recognize instantly, feel it’s her after just a sentence or two.
There is something so unique about Le Guin’s voice. She’s one of the (rare) authors I can recognize instantly, feel it’s her after just a sentence or two.
August 12, 2024
“A single human brain can perceive pattern on the scale of stars and galaxies, and interpret it as Love”- love it! Really unique setting on a forest planet, and a prescient take on “forest consciousness” http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-7...
March 11, 2025
Well the depiction of autism has NOT aged well at all but I'll forgive Le Guin being a product of the thinking of her time. Apart from that, this novella is a wonderful eco sci fi fable, picking up the same kind of ideas as the superb The Word for World is Forest.
November 24, 2025
I was gonna leave a joke comment here like “the yaoi version of The Very Pulse of the Machine” but I can’t just leave a comment like that on a short story classic 😭
I think the autism was still not understood by the author but I like that ableism is directly discussed. Like yes he is actively discriminated against by his peers yes he is rude because he is used to discrimination and guards himself by being abrasive. Lowkey would be heat if autism was actually understood. I wonder why they claimed to cure this character of autism though because he acts like a savant stereotype, which is. Still autism. And still carries the connotation that you must be a productive member of society to have value, even if Osden as a character would’ve disagreed with that
Also ugh I hate the savant stereotype but his character development was pretty good so… I guess I’ll take it
I think the autism was still not understood by the author but I like that ableism is directly discussed. Like yes he is actively discriminated against by his peers yes he is rude because he is used to discrimination and guards himself by being abrasive. Lowkey would be heat if autism was actually understood. I wonder why they claimed to cure this character of autism though because he acts like a savant stereotype, which is. Still autism. And still carries the connotation that you must be a productive member of society to have value, even if Osden as a character would’ve disagreed with that
Also ugh I hate the savant stereotype but his character development was pretty good so… I guess I’ll take it
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