What do you think?
Rate this book
The Hainish Cycle
Hainish Novels & Stories, Vol. 1: Rocannon’s World / Planet of Exile / City of Illusions / The Left Hand of Darkness / The Dispossessed / Stories
Beginning in the 1960s and 70s, Ursula K. Le Guin redrew the map of modern science fiction. In such visionary masterworks as the Nebula and Hugo Award winners The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, she imagined a galactic confederation of human colonies founded by the planet Hain—an array of worlds whose divergent societies, the result of both evolution and genetic engineering, afford a rich field for literary explorations of “the nature of human nature,” as Margaret Atwood has described Le Guin’s subject. Now, for the first time, the complete Hainish novels and stories are collected in a definitive two-volume Library of America edition, with new introductions by the author.
Le Guin first conceived her League of All Worlds in three early novels of daring inventiveness. In Rocannon’s World (1966), Hainish scientist Gaverel Rocannon ventures to an unnamed planet to conduct a peaceful ethnological survey only to discover a secret outpost of the League’s deadly enemy. In Planet of Exile (1966), the fate of colonists from Earth stranded on distant Werel depends on working together with the planet’s indigenous peoples if they are to survive the oncoming fifteen-year winter. City of Illusions (1967), set far in the future on a sparsely populated Earth that has lost contact with all other planets and is ruled by the mysterious, mind-lying Shing, turns on the appearance of an amnesiac with yellow eyes who may hold the key to humanity’s freedom.
In The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) Earth-born Genly Ai travels to wintery Gethen to convince its nations to join the Ekumen, the confederation of known worlds. To do so he must navigate the subtleties of politics and culture on a planet populated by an ambisexual people who have never known war. This is the novel that inspired Harold Bloom to observe that “Le Guin, more than Tolkien, has raised fantasy into high literature.”
The Dispossessed (1974), a philosophical adventure story in which a physicist strives to complete a theory of simultaneity that will for the first time allow instantaneous communication between all the planets of humanity, is set against the backdrop of Le Guin’s richly textured vision of what an anarchist society might look like in practice.
Also included are four short stories and six essays about the novels, plus the surprising original 1969 version of the story “Winter’s King.” The endpaper map of Gethen has been colorized from a drawing by Le Guin herself.
Le Guin first conceived her League of All Worlds in three early novels of daring inventiveness. In Rocannon’s World (1966), Hainish scientist Gaverel Rocannon ventures to an unnamed planet to conduct a peaceful ethnological survey only to discover a secret outpost of the League’s deadly enemy. In Planet of Exile (1966), the fate of colonists from Earth stranded on distant Werel depends on working together with the planet’s indigenous peoples if they are to survive the oncoming fifteen-year winter. City of Illusions (1967), set far in the future on a sparsely populated Earth that has lost contact with all other planets and is ruled by the mysterious, mind-lying Shing, turns on the appearance of an amnesiac with yellow eyes who may hold the key to humanity’s freedom.
In The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) Earth-born Genly Ai travels to wintery Gethen to convince its nations to join the Ekumen, the confederation of known worlds. To do so he must navigate the subtleties of politics and culture on a planet populated by an ambisexual people who have never known war. This is the novel that inspired Harold Bloom to observe that “Le Guin, more than Tolkien, has raised fantasy into high literature.”
The Dispossessed (1974), a philosophical adventure story in which a physicist strives to complete a theory of simultaneity that will for the first time allow instantaneous communication between all the planets of humanity, is set against the backdrop of Le Guin’s richly textured vision of what an anarchist society might look like in practice.
Also included are four short stories and six essays about the novels, plus the surprising original 1969 version of the story “Winter’s King.” The endpaper map of Gethen has been colorized from a drawing by Le Guin herself.
1100 pages, Hardcover
First published September 5, 2017
99 people are currently reading
1340 people want to read
About the author
Ursula K. Le Guin
1,047 books30.3k 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
October 5, 2017
Done with volume 1 of Ursula Le Guin's Hainish stories and novels! The whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. It's an amazing achievement, definitely worth reading for any fan of science fiction, or even of political philosophies, or of feminism. The novels and stories definitely gained in meaning and resonance from being read close together. (It took me about 6 weeks to get through all 1000+ pages.)
This volume contains five novels:
Rocannon's World
Planet of Exile
City of Illusions
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Dispossessed
Also four short stories and several essays and commentaries.
Full review to come.
I received a free copy of this book (and Volume 2 as well) from the publisher for review.
This volume contains five novels:
Rocannon's World
Planet of Exile
City of Illusions
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Dispossessed
Also four short stories and several essays and commentaries.
Full review to come.
I received a free copy of this book (and Volume 2 as well) from the publisher for review.
November 16, 2017
Rocannon's World
Le Guin's first Hainish novel is as much fantasy as science fiction and as much derived from Norse myth as anything contemporary. It's slight but distinctive, more fun than profound. It saved my interest in Le Guin's SF, though, after I was heavily put off by The Dispossessed, which I found slow, dull and obvious - in sharp contrast to seemingly everybody else who's read it.
Planet of Exile
Probably the most conventional SF adventure tale Le Guin ever wrote and yet it shows glimmers of the concerns that would become trade-mark Le Guin themes; clash of cultures, reconciliation of differences, anthropology. Surprisingly violent.
City of Illusions
I liked this much more first time round, I think because it was the best Le Guin SF novel I had read at the time. Since then, Left Hand of Darkness and The Lathe of Heaven have completely overshadowed all these early works about the League of All Worlds. I'm not sure Le Guin has ever been all that comfortable with the technological trappings of SF or the pew! pew! of simplistic adventure/space opera stories. Her strengths lie in character and culture. The opportunity to imagine completely different societies is what SF&F gave her and when she shifted to play to her strengths her great works began to flow. Nevertheless, our protagonist's struggles when he arrives in the City of Illusions are still psychologically compelling to me and the description of a heavily depopulated North America are fun.
The Left Hand of Darkness
My re-reading of this was heavily disrupted by having to focus on other books as a matter of urgency. Nevertheless I enjoyed it greatly, as previously. This time I was struck by how everything goes wrong through mis-communication. Genli Ai can't understand the rules of the alien culture he's been dropped in, alone and with no immediate help to hand. On Gethen people can only communicate obliquely and this compounds the political shenanigans surrounding Genli's arrival. The confusion ultimately causes death. Nothing goes right until people start talking to each other openly and honestly.
It's nothing to do with gender, but it's what I took from this reading.
Winter's King
OK, now I want to talk about gender. The original version of this story was written prior to Left Hand of Darkness and is re-printed in the appendix of this volume. This version was re-written after Left Hand was published and it switches from referring to everybody on Gethen as "he" to referring to everybody as "she." Immediately I switched from thinking of the characters as male to thinking of them as female. But they are both and neither.
I've never come across a better illustration of why we need gender-neutral pronouns in English. It's looking like "they" is going to win out despite the consequent singular-plural ambiguity.
Also, good story about the effects of special relativity!
Winter's King
1969 (original) version. Not as good as the later revision.
Le Guin's first Hainish novel is as much fantasy as science fiction and as much derived from Norse myth as anything contemporary. It's slight but distinctive, more fun than profound. It saved my interest in Le Guin's SF, though, after I was heavily put off by The Dispossessed, which I found slow, dull and obvious - in sharp contrast to seemingly everybody else who's read it.
Planet of Exile
Probably the most conventional SF adventure tale Le Guin ever wrote and yet it shows glimmers of the concerns that would become trade-mark Le Guin themes; clash of cultures, reconciliation of differences, anthropology. Surprisingly violent.
City of Illusions
I liked this much more first time round, I think because it was the best Le Guin SF novel I had read at the time. Since then, Left Hand of Darkness and The Lathe of Heaven have completely overshadowed all these early works about the League of All Worlds. I'm not sure Le Guin has ever been all that comfortable with the technological trappings of SF or the pew! pew! of simplistic adventure/space opera stories. Her strengths lie in character and culture. The opportunity to imagine completely different societies is what SF&F gave her and when she shifted to play to her strengths her great works began to flow. Nevertheless, our protagonist's struggles when he arrives in the City of Illusions are still psychologically compelling to me and the description of a heavily depopulated North America are fun.
The Left Hand of Darkness
My re-reading of this was heavily disrupted by having to focus on other books as a matter of urgency. Nevertheless I enjoyed it greatly, as previously. This time I was struck by how everything goes wrong through mis-communication. Genli Ai can't understand the rules of the alien culture he's been dropped in, alone and with no immediate help to hand. On Gethen people can only communicate obliquely and this compounds the political shenanigans surrounding Genli's arrival. The confusion ultimately causes death. Nothing goes right until people start talking to each other openly and honestly.
It's nothing to do with gender, but it's what I took from this reading.
Winter's King
OK, now I want to talk about gender. The original version of this story was written prior to Left Hand of Darkness and is re-printed in the appendix of this volume. This version was re-written after Left Hand was published and it switches from referring to everybody on Gethen as "he" to referring to everybody as "she." Immediately I switched from thinking of the characters as male to thinking of them as female. But they are both and neither.
I've never come across a better illustration of why we need gender-neutral pronouns in English. It's looking like "they" is going to win out despite the consequent singular-plural ambiguity.
Also, good story about the effects of special relativity!
Winter's King
1969 (original) version. Not as good as the later revision.
May 2, 2018
"...all are the stars, and the darkness between the stars: and all are bright."
- Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish Novels & Stories, Vol. 1 is LOA N°296 and contains the following works:
1. Rocannon's World: Read - Apr 26, 2018
2. Planet of Exile: Read - Apr 27, 2018
3. City of Illusions: Read - April 28, 2018
4. The Left Hand of Darkness: Read - May 1, 2018
5. The Dispossessed: Read - June 15, 2014
6. Stories: Hit and missed. Will review as part of a couple other books.
- Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish Novels & Stories, Vol. 1 is LOA N°296 and contains the following works:
1. Rocannon's World: Read - Apr 26, 2018
2. Planet of Exile: Read - Apr 27, 2018
3. City of Illusions: Read - April 28, 2018
4. The Left Hand of Darkness: Read - May 1, 2018
5. The Dispossessed: Read - June 15, 2014
6. Stories: Hit and missed. Will review as part of a couple other books.
Read
September 6, 2021I've reviewed the books individually, the introductions and essays are universally amazing, as Le Guin's non-fiction usually is. I likewise enjoyed all of the short stories included. which are:
Winter's King - Interestingly this contains both the 1969 version with he/him pronouns and gendered relational descriptors and the 1975 version altered with she/her pronouns. It's also extremely unlike LHoD, basically action packed from start to finish. Amazing seeing how much like many other stories in the series it explores exile, otherness, and coming home as major themes.
Vaster than Empires and More Slow - Only slightly mentally derange folks will take the job to travel to survey faraway planets. Surprisingly snarky and also brutal. Really adored it. I have to assume this is set in the world of the next full novel I have to read.
The Day Before the Revolution - An account of a well known (if you've read the previous novels) revolutionary, as they are experiencing old age, and watching the youthful revolutionaries progress.
Coming of Age in Karhide - Really anthropologically interesting? It is the reminiscence of an elderly person, recalling going through puberty and their first kemmer cycle. It is fairly explicit!
Such a wild coincidence I was reading this from Sept 1, 2018 - Sept 1, 2021! I need to read the second volume much faster.
Winter's King - Interestingly this contains both the 1969 version with he/him pronouns and gendered relational descriptors and the 1975 version altered with she/her pronouns. It's also extremely unlike LHoD, basically action packed from start to finish. Amazing seeing how much like many other stories in the series it explores exile, otherness, and coming home as major themes.
Vaster than Empires and More Slow - Only slightly mentally derange folks will take the job to travel to survey faraway planets. Surprisingly snarky and also brutal. Really adored it. I have to assume this is set in the world of the next full novel I have to read.
The Day Before the Revolution - An account of a well known (if you've read the previous novels) revolutionary, as they are experiencing old age, and watching the youthful revolutionaries progress.
Coming of Age in Karhide - Really anthropologically interesting? It is the reminiscence of an elderly person, recalling going through puberty and their first kemmer cycle. It is fairly explicit!
Such a wild coincidence I was reading this from Sept 1, 2018 - Sept 1, 2021! I need to read the second volume much faster.
August 8, 2025
Rocannon's World. The short story that leads off this novel is quiet nice: a poetic myth that mixes science fiction and fantasy. The main story, unfortunately, has none of that nuance. It's a pretty standard Planetary Romance that partakes of the worst of the genre, including cardboard characters and a picaresque storyline, where the characters move from episode to episode, and they have almost no effect on the storyline as a whole. The result is dry and dull, with absolutely no building tension. About the only way that I can tell this is Le Guin is that the actual text is sharp and well-written. [2/5]
Planet of Exile. Planet of Exile was first published the same year as Rocannon's World, and presumably written not long afterward, but the difference is night and day. Where Le Guin's first science-fiction novel was an entirely mediocre planetary romance, this one instead is a thoughtful (yet exciting!) story of the clash of cultures. It's really an astounding change because most of the same elements are in place. We have humanity on a distant planet interacting with a race of intelligent natives, who themselves are engaged in a battle for survival. But beyond that ... the increased maturity and depth of the writing makes it feel like these two books were written a decade apart, not a year or two (at best).
Planet of Exile focuses on issues of segregation and integration. You can see that it was written in the middle of the civil rights movement. But it's in no way blatant or preachy about that that inspiration; it's fully its own story about how cultures can be apart or together — and it doesn't set up straw men, but instead offers real, biological reasons for staying apart.
Beyond that it's a melancholy story of dying peoples and their history and a reflective story about the definition of home. But, it's also an exciting story that keeps you on your toes and finally it's a very well-written one.
Le Guin's sophomore science fiction is the one that pointed the direction toward a very bright (and as it would turn out very near) future as one of the genre's best. [5/5]
City of Illusions. In City of Illusions, Le Guin offers a beautiful vision of a post-apocalyptic Earth, lost once more to nature aside from the most scattered human settlements. Though the first half of the story is merely a picaresque journey, Le Guin's writing is both gorgeous and enthralling, making the early parts of the book a real joy.
The second half of the book is something quite different, because our wanderer is a man without memory. The latter half explores that and has some very intriguing thoughts on identity and self, combined with issues of honesty and trust (which is of course where the City of Illusions comes in).
Though this isn't one of Le Guin's best-known books, it's still an enjoyable one, with some depth, and also with some delightful connections to the previous book in the Hainish Cycle, something that I hadn't expected from the statements about how loosely connected it all is.
My only complaint about the book is one of the middle chapters, where the idea of a unreal city of illusions is played up in a hallucinatory shadow box. It adds almost nothing to the story as a whole, and is very much why you'd expect of the worst excesses of '60s science-fiction. But it's not enough to spoil an excellent book. [4/5]
The Left Hand of Darkness. Book by book in the Hainish Cycle, Le Guin has grown more skilled at depicting alien cultures, from Rocannon's World through Planet of Exile to City of Illusions and now here to The Left Hand of Darkness, where she depicts both a world of ice and a humanity without fixed gender. And, she does a magnificent job in how she contemplates and reveals how this strain of humanity could be different. But that's not really the point of the book.
Oh, it informs the major themes of the book, which are about alienness: what's alien to us, how that fades, and how the strange becomes the new norm. But the themes are all encompassed in a deeply personal story about two aliens and the deep friendship that develops between them. That's the story, this much lauded story of the science-fiction: two people who started out totally different from each other, and who learn to bridge that gap. It's magnificently simple, but also magnificently well done.
And, oh, there's so much to love in this book for the modern-day as well. Yes, obviously the thoughts on gender, but also the thoughts on how we can come together through deep divisions ... if only the people on both sides of the divide had the best intentions.
And of course Le Guin's writing itself is lyrical, as usual. [5/5]
The Dispossessed. An entirely brilliant piece of social science-fiction with superb, deep, and lovable characters.
What happens when a society chooses collaborative anarachy? Does it survive? How does it do so? And how does that contrast with a highly capitalist society, gone the way of bread of circuses?
And against all of that, how can a single person do what he truly needs to do, for the betterment of humanity, in conflict with BOTH societies? That's Shevek's puzzle, and he's amazing character, a wonderful revolutionary, and a truly good man. [5/5]
"Winter's King." A nice return to the world of the Left Hand of Darkness, sort of. The first half of the story is a bit confusing and dry, but once we get to the main point, which is the strangeness of near-light-speed travel, it's great [4/5].
"The Word for World is Forest." An interesting interaction with an entirely alien species, but not a lot else distinguishes this work [3/5].
"The Day Before the Revolution." I expected a story about the Odonian revolution. Instead, I got a clear prequel to The Dispossessed, but it's the beautiful story of an older woman considering what she has left in life when she's given everything to the cause. Gorgeous. [5/5].
"Coming of Age in Karhide." This book about sex in the one-sexed/changing-sex world of The Left Hand of Darkness is uncomfortable in some ways, which shows how grossly puritanical the US still is. But it's also an intriguing very different take on sexual relations [4/5].
Planet of Exile. Planet of Exile was first published the same year as Rocannon's World, and presumably written not long afterward, but the difference is night and day. Where Le Guin's first science-fiction novel was an entirely mediocre planetary romance, this one instead is a thoughtful (yet exciting!) story of the clash of cultures. It's really an astounding change because most of the same elements are in place. We have humanity on a distant planet interacting with a race of intelligent natives, who themselves are engaged in a battle for survival. But beyond that ... the increased maturity and depth of the writing makes it feel like these two books were written a decade apart, not a year or two (at best).
Planet of Exile focuses on issues of segregation and integration. You can see that it was written in the middle of the civil rights movement. But it's in no way blatant or preachy about that that inspiration; it's fully its own story about how cultures can be apart or together — and it doesn't set up straw men, but instead offers real, biological reasons for staying apart.
Beyond that it's a melancholy story of dying peoples and their history and a reflective story about the definition of home. But, it's also an exciting story that keeps you on your toes and finally it's a very well-written one.
Le Guin's sophomore science fiction is the one that pointed the direction toward a very bright (and as it would turn out very near) future as one of the genre's best. [5/5]
City of Illusions. In City of Illusions, Le Guin offers a beautiful vision of a post-apocalyptic Earth, lost once more to nature aside from the most scattered human settlements. Though the first half of the story is merely a picaresque journey, Le Guin's writing is both gorgeous and enthralling, making the early parts of the book a real joy.
The second half of the book is something quite different, because our wanderer is a man without memory. The latter half explores that and has some very intriguing thoughts on identity and self, combined with issues of honesty and trust (which is of course where the City of Illusions comes in).
Though this isn't one of Le Guin's best-known books, it's still an enjoyable one, with some depth, and also with some delightful connections to the previous book in the Hainish Cycle, something that I hadn't expected from the statements about how loosely connected it all is.
My only complaint about the book is one of the middle chapters, where the idea of a unreal city of illusions is played up in a hallucinatory shadow box. It adds almost nothing to the story as a whole, and is very much why you'd expect of the worst excesses of '60s science-fiction. But it's not enough to spoil an excellent book. [4/5]
The Left Hand of Darkness. Book by book in the Hainish Cycle, Le Guin has grown more skilled at depicting alien cultures, from Rocannon's World through Planet of Exile to City of Illusions and now here to The Left Hand of Darkness, where she depicts both a world of ice and a humanity without fixed gender. And, she does a magnificent job in how she contemplates and reveals how this strain of humanity could be different. But that's not really the point of the book.
Oh, it informs the major themes of the book, which are about alienness: what's alien to us, how that fades, and how the strange becomes the new norm. But the themes are all encompassed in a deeply personal story about two aliens and the deep friendship that develops between them. That's the story, this much lauded story of the science-fiction: two people who started out totally different from each other, and who learn to bridge that gap. It's magnificently simple, but also magnificently well done.
And, oh, there's so much to love in this book for the modern-day as well. Yes, obviously the thoughts on gender, but also the thoughts on how we can come together through deep divisions ... if only the people on both sides of the divide had the best intentions.
And of course Le Guin's writing itself is lyrical, as usual. [5/5]
The Dispossessed. An entirely brilliant piece of social science-fiction with superb, deep, and lovable characters.
What happens when a society chooses collaborative anarachy? Does it survive? How does it do so? And how does that contrast with a highly capitalist society, gone the way of bread of circuses?
And against all of that, how can a single person do what he truly needs to do, for the betterment of humanity, in conflict with BOTH societies? That's Shevek's puzzle, and he's amazing character, a wonderful revolutionary, and a truly good man. [5/5]
"Winter's King." A nice return to the world of the Left Hand of Darkness, sort of. The first half of the story is a bit confusing and dry, but once we get to the main point, which is the strangeness of near-light-speed travel, it's great [4/5].
"The Word for World is Forest." An interesting interaction with an entirely alien species, but not a lot else distinguishes this work [3/5].
"The Day Before the Revolution." I expected a story about the Odonian revolution. Instead, I got a clear prequel to The Dispossessed, but it's the beautiful story of an older woman considering what she has left in life when she's given everything to the cause. Gorgeous. [5/5].
"Coming of Age in Karhide." This book about sex in the one-sexed/changing-sex world of The Left Hand of Darkness is uncomfortable in some ways, which shows how grossly puritanical the US still is. But it's also an intriguing very different take on sexual relations [4/5].
December 5, 2023
I separately reviewed each of these novellas already on GR. I love the Hainish universe that Le Guin built here and found it refreshing that she doesn't spell things out for us. She challenges all previous science fiction by making sex and gender a key differentiator between alien civilizations in a way that is neither woke nor militant, just alterative ways of how these things could have evolved. You can definitely see her evolving as a writer from the early Rocannon's World, Planet of Exile, and City of Illusions and where she really hits her groove in the now classic The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed as well as the short stories included here. There are also several later introductions included that give additional insight. I really liked this particular volume from LoA as it introduced me to a refreshingly new universe.
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...
December 1, 2025
This volume was a great way to delve deeper into the world of Le Guin. The shirt stories deepen the world building and the notes/essays about each novel give more context to what Le Guin wanted to do and how she approaches writing.
There are other volumes. I have volume 2 to read and a third volume I received as a gift (thanks Eddie). But for now a break before I come back for more Le Guin.
There are other volumes. I have volume 2 to read and a third volume I received as a gift (thanks Eddie). But for now a break before I come back for more Le Guin.
October 14, 2017
There is something marvelous reading a well made book. And, something even more so when it contains the works of a master story teller. Le Guin's Hainish novels and stories are a wonderful treasure trove of ideas and language and philosophy. She loves to talk about journeys, but physical and internal, and I love to take the journeys with her and her characters.
March 8, 2020
(This review is for The Dispossessed.)
Touching and hope-filled social sci-fi on how an anarcho-syndicalist society would work. Every bit as relevant today as when it was published decades ago. One of the few stories where I couldn't stop crying for a minute or two--and it wasn't at a death but at love and commitment to it.
(Chomsky's On Anarchism is next.)
Touching and hope-filled social sci-fi on how an anarcho-syndicalist society would work. Every bit as relevant today as when it was published decades ago. One of the few stories where I couldn't stop crying for a minute or two--and it wasn't at a death but at love and commitment to it.
(Chomsky's On Anarchism is next.)
April 18, 2025
It has been a great privilege to walk through the permutations of this universe.
April 21, 2022
In reading a novel, any novel, we have to know perfectly well that the whole thing is nonsense, and then, while reading, believe every word of it. [...] The novelist says in words what cannot be said in words.
May 19, 2020
As this edition is a collection of novels and stories, the rating is for the edition as a whole.
April 14, 2025
I spent the last month fully immersed in this collection of Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic Hainish novels and stories. And I love the way this woman writes. Her stories really touch the heart and provoke the mind to wild thought. I will eventually read everything she’s ever written because I’ve just fallen in love. Individual reviews for the content in this volume below!
Rocannon’s World
- This is a very simple book, but epic in the scope of how it feels. I could write for days about how beautiful Le Guin’s prose is, but you’ll just have to read it for yourself. She takes this fantasy-esque story, but blends it with sci-fi elements so seamlessly and it feels more natural than many other sci-fi books I’ve read.
The blending of myth and technology is so perfectly done, and the imagery evoked by her prose is stunning. The characters are kept at a distance from the reader for the most part, and I think that actually enhances the story.
I cannot wait to read more of her works.
Planet of Exile
- I don’t know why this simple book struck me in the heart so hard. Ursula K. Le Guin tells a simple story of an oncoming Winter, a siege, and a romance between two species.
But it’s all done so beautifully. The prose is stunning, the atmosphere quiet and anxiety-inducing.
The romance between Rolery and Jakub is so tender and mature. It was simple, but effective and beautiful. This lady knows how to WRITE.
And the setting itself was stunning, a city on the sand with a black tower over the causeway - with an impending, years-lasting Winter barreling toward them.
I really loved this one.
City of Illusions
- This book is such a great companion/follow-up to the first two Hainish books I read. It’s a loose sequel, but I think it continues the themes from Rocannon’s World and Planet of Exile perfectly.
The narrative device of the main character having amnesia is one that often-times doesn’t work, but here it really enhances the mystery and desire to find out the truth along with our protagonist Falk.
His journey through the distant future landscape of Earth - a setting where nature has reclaimed and dismantled most of what mankind had made - was so eerie and evocative. Then once he made it to the titular City of Illusions, the story was just so perfect from there.
I know in Ursula’s introduction to this book, she views it as one of her lesser works, but it’s still a very entertaining and thoughtful novel and I really enjoyed it!
The Left Hand of Darkness
- Ursula K. Le Guin’s writing is magnificent to behold. Her prose is masterful. This novel is about an androgynous race living on a planet with harsh winters. But it isn’t just about that. It’s also about the way different governments and political structures deal with the Other and how they dispose of threats to rule. It’s about a deep friendship built on trust and mistrust. It’s about how the gendered way we view the world colors how we interact with others and what the inverse of that would mean.
Le Guin isn’t a writer who only focuses on actions within a narrative. She is interested in the decisions. The thoughtful moments that leads one to act. What that means on both an individual and societal level. She is the kind of writer I aspire to be. You can tell with each sentence and each chapter how engaged she was while crafting this story and how she wants her audience to be similarly engaged. You might struggle with this, but accepting and engaging with that struggle will make you all the better.
Le Guin’s books remind me why I fell in love with reading.
The Dispossessed
- This is one of THE best books I’ve read. Ursula K. Le Guin has crafted a masterpiece with so much nuance and depth. I really just want to dive back in and reread it immediately.
Shevek is an anarchist in a world of anarchists - which by association means that him and his ideas are no longer welcome. Their twin world is a dangerous Capitalistic Hell and Shevek goes to visit. A very simplistic description of a VERY layered book.
Some of the questions posed: Socialism versus Capitalism, what does a life mean, why do we always reach for something just out of grasp? These themes are explored, interrogated, but never answered. She provokes thought and makes you truly question, as Shevek does within his society.
Ursula’s prose is some of best writing I have ever read. Her turns of phrase are so simple, yet devastatingly beautiful. I have fallen in love with this woman and it’s a shame that she is not discussed more often. Her works truly are masterpieces within the science fiction genre and she has cast a large long shadow.
Winter’s King
- a short story about Karhide and their king who fears plots and assassinations so much she flees the world. A neat little sorry that has an emotional payoff and also calls back to the first “story” in this collection The Necklace (prologue to Rocannon’s World). The version in this collection is the revised version where the Gethenian gender is ambiguous, but also includes the original printing where their pronouns were he/him. Interesting to read both version and contrast how Ursula shifted the story to make it align with her intended vision of the planet Winter.
Vaster Than Empires and More Slow
- an expedition group strikes out into the universe to find alien life untouched by Hainish colonization. This is a GREAT short story - eerie, and filled with beautiful prose. Probably my favorite short story of hers.
The Day Before the Revolution
- a distant prequel to The Dipossessed about the end of Odo’s life. Her reflections on her revolution and being a figurehead and what that meant for her life as an individual. Melancholic and thoughtful. Beautiful.
Coming of Age in Karhide
- a nice short story that gives insight into the Gethenian process of kemmer and more of a look into how it *feels* rather than Genly’s observations in Left Hand of Darkness. It is alien and strange and I loved it.
Rocannon’s World
- This is a very simple book, but epic in the scope of how it feels. I could write for days about how beautiful Le Guin’s prose is, but you’ll just have to read it for yourself. She takes this fantasy-esque story, but blends it with sci-fi elements so seamlessly and it feels more natural than many other sci-fi books I’ve read.
The blending of myth and technology is so perfectly done, and the imagery evoked by her prose is stunning. The characters are kept at a distance from the reader for the most part, and I think that actually enhances the story.
I cannot wait to read more of her works.
Planet of Exile
- I don’t know why this simple book struck me in the heart so hard. Ursula K. Le Guin tells a simple story of an oncoming Winter, a siege, and a romance between two species.
But it’s all done so beautifully. The prose is stunning, the atmosphere quiet and anxiety-inducing.
The romance between Rolery and Jakub is so tender and mature. It was simple, but effective and beautiful. This lady knows how to WRITE.
And the setting itself was stunning, a city on the sand with a black tower over the causeway - with an impending, years-lasting Winter barreling toward them.
I really loved this one.
City of Illusions
- This book is such a great companion/follow-up to the first two Hainish books I read. It’s a loose sequel, but I think it continues the themes from Rocannon’s World and Planet of Exile perfectly.
The narrative device of the main character having amnesia is one that often-times doesn’t work, but here it really enhances the mystery and desire to find out the truth along with our protagonist Falk.
His journey through the distant future landscape of Earth - a setting where nature has reclaimed and dismantled most of what mankind had made - was so eerie and evocative. Then once he made it to the titular City of Illusions, the story was just so perfect from there.
I know in Ursula’s introduction to this book, she views it as one of her lesser works, but it’s still a very entertaining and thoughtful novel and I really enjoyed it!
The Left Hand of Darkness
- Ursula K. Le Guin’s writing is magnificent to behold. Her prose is masterful. This novel is about an androgynous race living on a planet with harsh winters. But it isn’t just about that. It’s also about the way different governments and political structures deal with the Other and how they dispose of threats to rule. It’s about a deep friendship built on trust and mistrust. It’s about how the gendered way we view the world colors how we interact with others and what the inverse of that would mean.
Le Guin isn’t a writer who only focuses on actions within a narrative. She is interested in the decisions. The thoughtful moments that leads one to act. What that means on both an individual and societal level. She is the kind of writer I aspire to be. You can tell with each sentence and each chapter how engaged she was while crafting this story and how she wants her audience to be similarly engaged. You might struggle with this, but accepting and engaging with that struggle will make you all the better.
Le Guin’s books remind me why I fell in love with reading.
The Dispossessed
- This is one of THE best books I’ve read. Ursula K. Le Guin has crafted a masterpiece with so much nuance and depth. I really just want to dive back in and reread it immediately.
Shevek is an anarchist in a world of anarchists - which by association means that him and his ideas are no longer welcome. Their twin world is a dangerous Capitalistic Hell and Shevek goes to visit. A very simplistic description of a VERY layered book.
Some of the questions posed: Socialism versus Capitalism, what does a life mean, why do we always reach for something just out of grasp? These themes are explored, interrogated, but never answered. She provokes thought and makes you truly question, as Shevek does within his society.
Ursula’s prose is some of best writing I have ever read. Her turns of phrase are so simple, yet devastatingly beautiful. I have fallen in love with this woman and it’s a shame that she is not discussed more often. Her works truly are masterpieces within the science fiction genre and she has cast a large long shadow.
Winter’s King
- a short story about Karhide and their king who fears plots and assassinations so much she flees the world. A neat little sorry that has an emotional payoff and also calls back to the first “story” in this collection The Necklace (prologue to Rocannon’s World). The version in this collection is the revised version where the Gethenian gender is ambiguous, but also includes the original printing where their pronouns were he/him. Interesting to read both version and contrast how Ursula shifted the story to make it align with her intended vision of the planet Winter.
Vaster Than Empires and More Slow
- an expedition group strikes out into the universe to find alien life untouched by Hainish colonization. This is a GREAT short story - eerie, and filled with beautiful prose. Probably my favorite short story of hers.
The Day Before the Revolution
- a distant prequel to The Dipossessed about the end of Odo’s life. Her reflections on her revolution and being a figurehead and what that meant for her life as an individual. Melancholic and thoughtful. Beautiful.
Coming of Age in Karhide
- a nice short story that gives insight into the Gethenian process of kemmer and more of a look into how it *feels* rather than Genly’s observations in Left Hand of Darkness. It is alien and strange and I loved it.
June 2, 2025
This book is an omnibus of Le Guin's Hainish Cycle novels, along with a few short stories set in the world of the novels. I've written longer reviews for each of the novels, with THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS and THE DISPOSSESSED being some of the best sci-fi novels I've ever read, so I don't want to devote too much space to those. Rest assured, they're well worth your time.
Instead, I'll mention the stories featured in this volume:
-Winter's King: Set on Gethen, where LEFT HAND takes place, this story follows a king who leaves their reign behind to travel to another planet, and during a stay of several months, decades pass on their homeworld. When they return, they find painful circumstances awaiting them. I'm using neutral pronouns here, but Le Guin does something interesting with this story. This story was written before LEFT HAND; therefore, Le Guin hadn't nailed down the genderless nature of Gethenians. The original story used male pronouns for every character, but in the version printed here, Le Guin swapped all the male pronouns for female. It leads to some interesting juxtapositions, i.e. "The king is pregnant." It's not the most substantial story, but the ending creates a powerful image.
-Vaster than Empires, and More Slow: This is an absolutely phenomenal story about a deep-space exploration crew traveling to the very edge of the galaxy to find non-human life forms. In the world of the Hainish cycle, all populated planets are merely colonial offshoots from the planet Hain, including Earth. As a result, all of the different "species" are simply humans that have undergone different evolutionary cycles. The crew, made up of members of all humanoid species, travel to a remote planet covered with thousands of miles of forest, and soon begin to think they aren't alone there. I can't express just how much I love this story. The experience of the crew is truly alien, terrifying and profound in equal measure. This should be a movie or something; it's that good!
-The Day Before The Revolution: In THE DISPOSSESSED, the moon colony of Antarres is populated by an anarchist commune that call themselves Odonians, derived from the woman who founded their ideology. DAY BEFORE follows the experience of Odo herself, but goes about it in a very different way than expected. Odo is painted as a fierce revolutionary by the Odonians, regularly imprisoned for her beliefs and practically a saint in the eyes of her followers. In this story, Odo is an old woman, made bitter after years of trying and failing to gain independence from her home planet's overwhelming hypercapitalist society. She is terminally ill, perpetually lost in the past, and tired of being the poster child for revolution. The end of the story implies that the Odonians are about to get what they want, but Odo will not live to see it realized, like Moses before the Promised Land. Though poetic, the story is quite sad, overly so in fact.
-Coming of Age in Karhide: Once again set on the genderless world of Gethen, Le Guin uses her considerable sci-fi clout to finally strap in and explain how the Gethenians reproduce, and boy, she sure got creative with it. The story is told from the perspective of a Gethenian youth who is about to enter their first "kemmer." For the unenlightened, the Gethen have no sex drive outside of "kemmer," in which a person essentially goes into heat. Gethenians have intersex genitalia that are influenced by the hormones of their partner; as a result, they can become male or female during any given session, which comes once a month. During these times, Gethenians go to "kemmerhouses," which are basically giant orgy palaces where they can fuck whoever they want, becoming sexless once again after they satisfy their needs.
Sound crazy? Trust me, it's WAY crazier than my brief description can convey. Le Guin has created a truly alien physiognomy AND culture, one in which a Gethenian describes their first time having sex, then warmly recalls that same partner also mating with two of their children. The person in the story describes impregnating a partner, and being impregnated on two other occasions. Any sense of regular human sexuality is completely absent, and Le Guin should be applauded for managing to make alien sex so utterly fascinating. That said, it's hilarious that once she had established herself as a singular voice in sci-fi, THIS is what she decided to go for.
All in all, the Hainish Cycle has been an incredibly rewarding experience! I'll be moving on to the rest of her short stories in this universe, along with her last novel, The Telling. I'm looking forward to seeing what else she's got in this series!
Instead, I'll mention the stories featured in this volume:
-Winter's King: Set on Gethen, where LEFT HAND takes place, this story follows a king who leaves their reign behind to travel to another planet, and during a stay of several months, decades pass on their homeworld. When they return, they find painful circumstances awaiting them. I'm using neutral pronouns here, but Le Guin does something interesting with this story. This story was written before LEFT HAND; therefore, Le Guin hadn't nailed down the genderless nature of Gethenians. The original story used male pronouns for every character, but in the version printed here, Le Guin swapped all the male pronouns for female. It leads to some interesting juxtapositions, i.e. "The king is pregnant." It's not the most substantial story, but the ending creates a powerful image.
-Vaster than Empires, and More Slow: This is an absolutely phenomenal story about a deep-space exploration crew traveling to the very edge of the galaxy to find non-human life forms. In the world of the Hainish cycle, all populated planets are merely colonial offshoots from the planet Hain, including Earth. As a result, all of the different "species" are simply humans that have undergone different evolutionary cycles. The crew, made up of members of all humanoid species, travel to a remote planet covered with thousands of miles of forest, and soon begin to think they aren't alone there. I can't express just how much I love this story. The experience of the crew is truly alien, terrifying and profound in equal measure. This should be a movie or something; it's that good!
-The Day Before The Revolution: In THE DISPOSSESSED, the moon colony of Antarres is populated by an anarchist commune that call themselves Odonians, derived from the woman who founded their ideology. DAY BEFORE follows the experience of Odo herself, but goes about it in a very different way than expected. Odo is painted as a fierce revolutionary by the Odonians, regularly imprisoned for her beliefs and practically a saint in the eyes of her followers. In this story, Odo is an old woman, made bitter after years of trying and failing to gain independence from her home planet's overwhelming hypercapitalist society. She is terminally ill, perpetually lost in the past, and tired of being the poster child for revolution. The end of the story implies that the Odonians are about to get what they want, but Odo will not live to see it realized, like Moses before the Promised Land. Though poetic, the story is quite sad, overly so in fact.
-Coming of Age in Karhide: Once again set on the genderless world of Gethen, Le Guin uses her considerable sci-fi clout to finally strap in and explain how the Gethenians reproduce, and boy, she sure got creative with it. The story is told from the perspective of a Gethenian youth who is about to enter their first "kemmer." For the unenlightened, the Gethen have no sex drive outside of "kemmer," in which a person essentially goes into heat. Gethenians have intersex genitalia that are influenced by the hormones of their partner; as a result, they can become male or female during any given session, which comes once a month. During these times, Gethenians go to "kemmerhouses," which are basically giant orgy palaces where they can fuck whoever they want, becoming sexless once again after they satisfy their needs.
Sound crazy? Trust me, it's WAY crazier than my brief description can convey. Le Guin has created a truly alien physiognomy AND culture, one in which a Gethenian describes their first time having sex, then warmly recalls that same partner also mating with two of their children. The person in the story describes impregnating a partner, and being impregnated on two other occasions. Any sense of regular human sexuality is completely absent, and Le Guin should be applauded for managing to make alien sex so utterly fascinating. That said, it's hilarious that once she had established herself as a singular voice in sci-fi, THIS is what she decided to go for.
All in all, the Hainish Cycle has been an incredibly rewarding experience! I'll be moving on to the rest of her short stories in this universe, along with her last novel, The Telling. I'm looking forward to seeing what else she's got in this series!
December 20, 2021
In this volume, I read the novel Left Hand of Darkness (1969) that has become a classic science fiction novel that is great reading, though the notions regarding gender and sexuality have changed so much in the past fifty years. Le Guin for her time was progressive, but I cringed when reading most of the passages, which had some degree of sexist bias, regarding the shifting genders of the androgynes on world of Hain.
The lyrical prose of Le Guin is an aspect of the novel to savor, as are her periodic forays into cultural anthropology, religion and philosophy that arise when an earthling, a Terran, visits the planet of Hain with a species of humans who resemble us in all regards except their sexual nature and identity: they shift sex and gender periodically from man to woman. Also, they are sexually active as men or women for a short time, and otherwise they are sexually inactive. And they all resemble androgynes, showing aspects of man and woman, in appearance and behavior.
I read the novel in this edition published by Library of America because I had initially started to read it in the the 50th year edition that used such a small format book with large fonts and wide margins that it made reading it a hassle, for I had to keep flipping through pages so often and relatively quickly. As a result, I got a different edition with smaller fonts and narrower margins, the Library of American edition that made my reading experience much better.
The lyrical prose of Le Guin is an aspect of the novel to savor, as are her periodic forays into cultural anthropology, religion and philosophy that arise when an earthling, a Terran, visits the planet of Hain with a species of humans who resemble us in all regards except their sexual nature and identity: they shift sex and gender periodically from man to woman. Also, they are sexually active as men or women for a short time, and otherwise they are sexually inactive. And they all resemble androgynes, showing aspects of man and woman, in appearance and behavior.
I read the novel in this edition published by Library of America because I had initially started to read it in the the 50th year edition that used such a small format book with large fonts and wide margins that it made reading it a hassle, for I had to keep flipping through pages so often and relatively quickly. As a result, I got a different edition with smaller fonts and narrower margins, the Library of American edition that made my reading experience much better.
June 12, 2020
This is the best of Le Guin, who is already one of the best sci-fi writers. Inspired by anthropology rather than engineering, her future is compelling, consistent, and genuinely thought-provoking. My favorite is the opening short story, "The Necklace," which captures the thrill of science fantasy more than a hundred laser swords. This edition is replete with snarky, later-in-life asides from the author, but you don't need to agree with her about pronouns to enjoy the work.
May 27, 2021
Not all of the content in this collection is 5 star. However, by collecting a related body of work together, along with some essays (mostly intros to editions of the novels), the reader can see both the connections between different novels and stories in Le Guin's Hainish universe as well as her growth as a writer. Of the novels included in this volume, I probably would not have read them outside of this collection — and wouldn't necessarily recommend all of them standalone — yet I am glad to have read them all together.
March 5, 2020
I'd already read the novels in this book, but I so enjoyed the accompanying short stories and notes from Le Guin. Highly recommend.
September 24, 2021
I can't find any other author who combined science fiction, politics, sociology, gender studies, feminism and anthropology as well as Le Guin does. I enjoyed all the stories immensely, and grateful for the high quality printing and binding by Library of America.
Le Guin is not appreciated nowadays as much as she deserves, but I hope her legacy endures and the world will rediscover the brilliance and depth of her works beneath the sci-fi label.
Le Guin is not appreciated nowadays as much as she deserves, but I hope her legacy endures and the world will rediscover the brilliance and depth of her works beneath the sci-fi label.
November 13, 2022
While I just finished reading all the material collected in this amazing omnibus edition, I'd actually begun reading these novels and stories in 2010. This collection is certainly a very high Rickommendation.
On The Left Hand of Darkness: Like Le Guin's other sci-fi novels the focus here is not on future history or scientific developments or even playing around with how people interact with almost magical technologies, the focus here is on humanity. Some people have called Le Guin's approach to sci-fi as if it is "soft" sci-fi. I suppose this means that they see "hard" sci-fi as the stuff of laser beams, black holes, FTL space travel and alien species with a taste for human flesh. Except it seems that these typical troupes and conventions of sci-fi as a genre are just window dressing for a lot of masculine adolescent fantasies. Clearly the high adventure style sci-fi, or Space Operas, like Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, John Carter of Mars and David Starr, Space Ranger are not "hard" sci-fi at all but merely easy sci-fi. What Le Guin does best is approach situations from a different focal point in order to examine the human condition. In this novel that is exactly what she's doing. She's not looking at how weapons of mass destruction could be used to conquer an alien species, but she recognizes that the most devastatingly effective weapons of mass destruction are ignorance and intolerance. That's the focus of this book. Here is a culture that is so exquisitely realized that the reader could be forgiven in suddenly finding our own culture alien. This is world building on the grandest scale but, once again, the focus is not on the nuts and bolts but on the motivations, the expectations and the interactions. This is the stuff that fiction in general strives desperately to become: relevant regarding the human condition. Le Guin lures the reader into a densely realized world of complex social structure and even more complex human interactions, but she does so with an envious degree of simplicity. The descriptions of social structure and human relationships are offered in an almost casual manner. Le Guin effectively shows us the differences and thus never has a need to tell us anything. Le Guin is truly one of the greatest American storytellers.
On The Dispossessed: Le Guin is undeniably one of the finest writers if speculative fiction in American Literature, but I'd include her not only as one of the finest writers of American Literature, but also one of the finest writers - period. I haven't read all of her works, but when I'd read this one it immediately rose up to become one of my personal favorite novels of all time. Le Guin not only weaves her usual magical prose into a narrative that is as topical and poignant now as it was when it was first published, but she also delivers a subtle and compelling treastise on what a truly anarchist society would be like. This book is a novel, but it's also the study of a theoretical social model and it is delivered with astonishingly vivid detail. The reader can almost smell the atmospheric texture of the protagonist's society, not to mention seeing the conspicuous consumption of the culture he visits. Anyone looking for an excellent book to use to break down the concepts of utopia and dystopia as used in literature would be a complete fool to ignore this book. It is as rich with social commentary as it is with fascinating characters. Quite simply this is one of the finest books by one of the finest authors.
On Rocannon's World, Planet of Exile & City of Illusions: These three short novels are some pretty early work by Le Guin. There are also a lot of fantasy elements here that don't quite jive with the more complex works like The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. Still there's a lot of interesting characters, provocative themes and wonderfully realized worlds. Le Guin may not have been at the top of her form with these early works, but the promise of amazing things to come is there and they are still entertaining and imaginative stories.
On the stories and essays included: I can not praise Le Guin highly enough. She was a master wordsmith who knew how to turn a phrase and catch the readers attention. As I said earlier, this collection is certainly a very high Rickommendation.
On The Left Hand of Darkness: Like Le Guin's other sci-fi novels the focus here is not on future history or scientific developments or even playing around with how people interact with almost magical technologies, the focus here is on humanity. Some people have called Le Guin's approach to sci-fi as if it is "soft" sci-fi. I suppose this means that they see "hard" sci-fi as the stuff of laser beams, black holes, FTL space travel and alien species with a taste for human flesh. Except it seems that these typical troupes and conventions of sci-fi as a genre are just window dressing for a lot of masculine adolescent fantasies. Clearly the high adventure style sci-fi, or Space Operas, like Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, John Carter of Mars and David Starr, Space Ranger are not "hard" sci-fi at all but merely easy sci-fi. What Le Guin does best is approach situations from a different focal point in order to examine the human condition. In this novel that is exactly what she's doing. She's not looking at how weapons of mass destruction could be used to conquer an alien species, but she recognizes that the most devastatingly effective weapons of mass destruction are ignorance and intolerance. That's the focus of this book. Here is a culture that is so exquisitely realized that the reader could be forgiven in suddenly finding our own culture alien. This is world building on the grandest scale but, once again, the focus is not on the nuts and bolts but on the motivations, the expectations and the interactions. This is the stuff that fiction in general strives desperately to become: relevant regarding the human condition. Le Guin lures the reader into a densely realized world of complex social structure and even more complex human interactions, but she does so with an envious degree of simplicity. The descriptions of social structure and human relationships are offered in an almost casual manner. Le Guin effectively shows us the differences and thus never has a need to tell us anything. Le Guin is truly one of the greatest American storytellers.
On The Dispossessed: Le Guin is undeniably one of the finest writers if speculative fiction in American Literature, but I'd include her not only as one of the finest writers of American Literature, but also one of the finest writers - period. I haven't read all of her works, but when I'd read this one it immediately rose up to become one of my personal favorite novels of all time. Le Guin not only weaves her usual magical prose into a narrative that is as topical and poignant now as it was when it was first published, but she also delivers a subtle and compelling treastise on what a truly anarchist society would be like. This book is a novel, but it's also the study of a theoretical social model and it is delivered with astonishingly vivid detail. The reader can almost smell the atmospheric texture of the protagonist's society, not to mention seeing the conspicuous consumption of the culture he visits. Anyone looking for an excellent book to use to break down the concepts of utopia and dystopia as used in literature would be a complete fool to ignore this book. It is as rich with social commentary as it is with fascinating characters. Quite simply this is one of the finest books by one of the finest authors.
On Rocannon's World, Planet of Exile & City of Illusions: These three short novels are some pretty early work by Le Guin. There are also a lot of fantasy elements here that don't quite jive with the more complex works like The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. Still there's a lot of interesting characters, provocative themes and wonderfully realized worlds. Le Guin may not have been at the top of her form with these early works, but the promise of amazing things to come is there and they are still entertaining and imaginative stories.
On the stories and essays included: I can not praise Le Guin highly enough. She was a master wordsmith who knew how to turn a phrase and catch the readers attention. As I said earlier, this collection is certainly a very high Rickommendation.
October 8, 2022
Le Guin is one of the finest writers of fiction ever, and this volume showcases some of the best books I've ever read. Seeing them in context of the broader "Hainish cycle" is even better. This is a big volume, so I don't think I can get all my thoughts out concisely, so I think I'm liable to not be concise, but even then there's a lot to interrogate in any one of the 5 novels or the additional short stories in this volume, so I will inevitably be missing some pieces of the cohesion of the parts that make such a winning whole.
The introduction alone is compelling: Le Guin writes "I flinch when they're called 'The Hainish Cycle'...that implies they are set in a coherent fictional universe with a well-planned history, because they aren't, it isn't, it hasn't. ... Methodical cosmos-makers make plans and charts and maps and timelines early in the whole process. I failed to do this. ... Some stories connect, others contradict." We're in a period of media production/consumption (I'm looking at you, Marvel and Star Wars) that focuses so wastefully on what is "canon" and on "plot holes" and "backstory", to which Le Guin basically answers "who cares? It's all made up" which is extraordinarily refreshing and focuses on what makes a good story instead of a meticulous search for a grand theory of connected world-building.
A through-line of these books is that they are all, in one way or another, about the periphery. The "League of Worlds" is an advanced super-civilization, spanning many solar systems of interconnected civilizations and peoples. And in 5 books that are connected to it, we never see the core of the League. The Dispossessed is chronologically set before the League grew up (providing the "ansible" technology that allows faster-than-light communication as the basis for the League's future growth) and has very little to do with interstellar politics. The Left Hand of Darkness uses an "alien visitor" as a pretense to have someone serve as a tourist to a planet not part of the League. Rocannon's World is about an explorer, years removed from visitation by the League. Planet of Exile and City of Illusions are placed far from the League's influence in a time of relative weakness. But even that is I think a preference, not a straightforward throughline.
The first 3 novels form a sort of narrative, though each stand alone. Rocannon's World is basically a fantasy story, but instead of any magic, the Rocannon has some special space gear. He's on a remote world where hostile aliens have landed, threatening the local people. The locals, introduced in the short story, Semley's Necklace, fit somewhat standard fantasy tropes - proud sword-carrying nobles, forest elves, some short robust dwarf-like folks. There is a fair degree of norse-inspired imagery, as well as flying cat horses and some human-sized bee-like creatures, so not all is straightforward. Telepathy (called mindspeech) is introduced here, but not too fully explored since there aren't too many people that Rocannon even desires to speak with. Planet of Exile picks up many of the same threads as it has members of the League marooned on a remote planet who are able to use mindspeech but are slowly dying out. They live apart from an intelligent but pre-industrial indigenous human population. The slow revelation of the divergence in technological understanding and history of the two people's, introduced first as two tribes is well-introduced as sociological reality to the people's there. Behind that is a fairly standard "repel the invaders" story with some more fun with the planet on a highly eccentric orbit where one lifetime relates to one "year" and so each generation only experiences a long and harsh winter once. The maintenance of high technology while living in a remote civilization is well-explored, but while mindspeech is common among the aliens, it doesn't appear to have a huge sociological impact, which you would kind of expect. Le Guin hints this in the introduction where she notes that mindspeech kind of just goes away because she didn't find it possible to plausibly imagine what a culture would look like where you could pry into others thoughts.
City of Illusions caps what I think of as the same continuous story from the first two books. Both this and Rocannon's world feature a protagonist crossing unexplored territory, but where the former felt like a standard fantasy romp, here I felt much more connection to the physical difficulty of long distance overland travel and dealing with weather and survival, not in hostile terrain, but purely when you don't have modern comforts of technology or civilization to guide you. The people and places visited during the overland trek of post-apocalyptic North America depicted in this book are, to me, reminiscent of Fallout 1 and 2. While an interconnected civilization has fallen, people are everywhere. But their disconnectedness and tenuous survival have resulted in odd, ritualistic, and ossified social and ideological structures. Cultures are *weird* are are doubly so when they are isolated and must be distrustful of outsiders when travel is rare. Le Guin reveals in the commentary that none of this is what she wanted to write about - she wanted to write about a man with two minds, something introduced well into the latter half of the book, alongside The Shing, an "Enemy" of the League of Worlds who Le Guin characterizes in the commentary as somewhat useless for being evil without any cause to be. I didn't think of them so much - I did enjoy the "who can you trust" element introduced after the titular City of Illusions is introduced. There were different plausible (but contradictory) realities introduced there, and determining truth from lies is a fun exercise for the reader. I also enjoyed the reintroduction of the descendents of the people from Planet of Exile because I actually very much enjoyed them as characters.
The latter 2 books in the volume diverge almost completely from the more standard fantasy romps of the first 3 books. While exploration is fun, the allegorical potential of the Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed are where Le Guin can truly shine. Over time I think the Left Hand of Darkness has not quite retained its radical purpose. Le Guin brings up in the commentary the line "The King is pregnant" which I think was one of those brain-bugs that wouldn't leave and she had to write a story about, forming this people who were both androgynous and hermaphroditic at once. But as much as that's part of the sociological base of the story, it's just as much a story about fighting the elements during travel (similar to City of Illusions) or of a long Winter that shapes the culture of a people (like Planet of Exile). She mentions in the commentary that part of the rationale for this book was to envision a world that didn't have the concept of "war" - it's explained in the book that political assassination and kidnapping, poisoning, or border forays were all part of the culture, but that the mass murder in war was never put together. This is partly from the people's gender politics, but also from living on a world where survival was so hard that working together was always a better option than wasting energy on fighting because afterward wasting resources on fighting, you'd freeze. It's a great book, and the idea of "foretelling" and "knowing what questions not to ask" are also great throughlines to the strength of the book. There are some extra short stories about sexual exploration and kingdom maintenance that I think add some nice flavor to the world, the former grounding the gender exploration of the book less anthropologically and more socially with the focus on a teen going through their equivalent of puberty and an introduction to sexual life.
The Dispossessed is one of my favorite books ever written. Anarchists from the moon sounds like such a silly premise, but it's taken entirely seriously and explored in great depth. The power of communal solidarity, the risk of revolutionary rigidity and stagnation, the censure of improper thoughts within strict political regimes, the simultaneous freedom and oppression at opposite ends of the economic spectrum in free-market liberal democracies, there's so much there politically and it's all backed up by a single man's struggle to find truth in physics and a long love story. That's good fiction! While the text contains a rebuke of the ideological rigidity of Anarres's anarchist population, I still emulate some of their thought patterns: desiring to eschew "propertarianism" or understanding how "altruism" can be used as a curse world when compared to "solidarity".
I don't think there's an author I respect, enjoy, and find as little to critique as Le Guin. And any critiques I have (for a 'feminist' author, a lot of her stories have male protagonists who push forward the action), she has already made herself and written other works that bolster any deficiencies (in the case of the specific critique I mentioned, her short essay The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction is a great reflection). I read a Wizard of Earthsea as a kid and was enraptured by the world she created - it's a testament to her skill that when I started reading her science fiction over a decade later as a very different person, I was and am still fully in love with her words and worlds.
The introduction alone is compelling: Le Guin writes "I flinch when they're called 'The Hainish Cycle'...that implies they are set in a coherent fictional universe with a well-planned history, because they aren't, it isn't, it hasn't. ... Methodical cosmos-makers make plans and charts and maps and timelines early in the whole process. I failed to do this. ... Some stories connect, others contradict." We're in a period of media production/consumption (I'm looking at you, Marvel and Star Wars) that focuses so wastefully on what is "canon" and on "plot holes" and "backstory", to which Le Guin basically answers "who cares? It's all made up" which is extraordinarily refreshing and focuses on what makes a good story instead of a meticulous search for a grand theory of connected world-building.
A through-line of these books is that they are all, in one way or another, about the periphery. The "League of Worlds" is an advanced super-civilization, spanning many solar systems of interconnected civilizations and peoples. And in 5 books that are connected to it, we never see the core of the League. The Dispossessed is chronologically set before the League grew up (providing the "ansible" technology that allows faster-than-light communication as the basis for the League's future growth) and has very little to do with interstellar politics. The Left Hand of Darkness uses an "alien visitor" as a pretense to have someone serve as a tourist to a planet not part of the League. Rocannon's World is about an explorer, years removed from visitation by the League. Planet of Exile and City of Illusions are placed far from the League's influence in a time of relative weakness. But even that is I think a preference, not a straightforward throughline.
The first 3 novels form a sort of narrative, though each stand alone. Rocannon's World is basically a fantasy story, but instead of any magic, the Rocannon has some special space gear. He's on a remote world where hostile aliens have landed, threatening the local people. The locals, introduced in the short story, Semley's Necklace, fit somewhat standard fantasy tropes - proud sword-carrying nobles, forest elves, some short robust dwarf-like folks. There is a fair degree of norse-inspired imagery, as well as flying cat horses and some human-sized bee-like creatures, so not all is straightforward. Telepathy (called mindspeech) is introduced here, but not too fully explored since there aren't too many people that Rocannon even desires to speak with. Planet of Exile picks up many of the same threads as it has members of the League marooned on a remote planet who are able to use mindspeech but are slowly dying out. They live apart from an intelligent but pre-industrial indigenous human population. The slow revelation of the divergence in technological understanding and history of the two people's, introduced first as two tribes is well-introduced as sociological reality to the people's there. Behind that is a fairly standard "repel the invaders" story with some more fun with the planet on a highly eccentric orbit where one lifetime relates to one "year" and so each generation only experiences a long and harsh winter once. The maintenance of high technology while living in a remote civilization is well-explored, but while mindspeech is common among the aliens, it doesn't appear to have a huge sociological impact, which you would kind of expect. Le Guin hints this in the introduction where she notes that mindspeech kind of just goes away because she didn't find it possible to plausibly imagine what a culture would look like where you could pry into others thoughts.
City of Illusions caps what I think of as the same continuous story from the first two books. Both this and Rocannon's world feature a protagonist crossing unexplored territory, but where the former felt like a standard fantasy romp, here I felt much more connection to the physical difficulty of long distance overland travel and dealing with weather and survival, not in hostile terrain, but purely when you don't have modern comforts of technology or civilization to guide you. The people and places visited during the overland trek of post-apocalyptic North America depicted in this book are, to me, reminiscent of Fallout 1 and 2. While an interconnected civilization has fallen, people are everywhere. But their disconnectedness and tenuous survival have resulted in odd, ritualistic, and ossified social and ideological structures. Cultures are *weird* are are doubly so when they are isolated and must be distrustful of outsiders when travel is rare. Le Guin reveals in the commentary that none of this is what she wanted to write about - she wanted to write about a man with two minds, something introduced well into the latter half of the book, alongside The Shing, an "Enemy" of the League of Worlds who Le Guin characterizes in the commentary as somewhat useless for being evil without any cause to be. I didn't think of them so much - I did enjoy the "who can you trust" element introduced after the titular City of Illusions is introduced. There were different plausible (but contradictory) realities introduced there, and determining truth from lies is a fun exercise for the reader. I also enjoyed the reintroduction of the descendents of the people from Planet of Exile because I actually very much enjoyed them as characters.
The latter 2 books in the volume diverge almost completely from the more standard fantasy romps of the first 3 books. While exploration is fun, the allegorical potential of the Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed are where Le Guin can truly shine. Over time I think the Left Hand of Darkness has not quite retained its radical purpose. Le Guin brings up in the commentary the line "The King is pregnant" which I think was one of those brain-bugs that wouldn't leave and she had to write a story about, forming this people who were both androgynous and hermaphroditic at once. But as much as that's part of the sociological base of the story, it's just as much a story about fighting the elements during travel (similar to City of Illusions) or of a long Winter that shapes the culture of a people (like Planet of Exile). She mentions in the commentary that part of the rationale for this book was to envision a world that didn't have the concept of "war" - it's explained in the book that political assassination and kidnapping, poisoning, or border forays were all part of the culture, but that the mass murder in war was never put together. This is partly from the people's gender politics, but also from living on a world where survival was so hard that working together was always a better option than wasting energy on fighting because afterward wasting resources on fighting, you'd freeze. It's a great book, and the idea of "foretelling" and "knowing what questions not to ask" are also great throughlines to the strength of the book. There are some extra short stories about sexual exploration and kingdom maintenance that I think add some nice flavor to the world, the former grounding the gender exploration of the book less anthropologically and more socially with the focus on a teen going through their equivalent of puberty and an introduction to sexual life.
The Dispossessed is one of my favorite books ever written. Anarchists from the moon sounds like such a silly premise, but it's taken entirely seriously and explored in great depth. The power of communal solidarity, the risk of revolutionary rigidity and stagnation, the censure of improper thoughts within strict political regimes, the simultaneous freedom and oppression at opposite ends of the economic spectrum in free-market liberal democracies, there's so much there politically and it's all backed up by a single man's struggle to find truth in physics and a long love story. That's good fiction! While the text contains a rebuke of the ideological rigidity of Anarres's anarchist population, I still emulate some of their thought patterns: desiring to eschew "propertarianism" or understanding how "altruism" can be used as a curse world when compared to "solidarity".
I don't think there's an author I respect, enjoy, and find as little to critique as Le Guin. And any critiques I have (for a 'feminist' author, a lot of her stories have male protagonists who push forward the action), she has already made herself and written other works that bolster any deficiencies (in the case of the specific critique I mentioned, her short essay The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction is a great reflection). I read a Wizard of Earthsea as a kid and was enraptured by the world she created - it's a testament to her skill that when I started reading her science fiction over a decade later as a very different person, I was and am still fully in love with her words and worlds.
May 23, 2022
When I was 22 I read The Left Hand of Darkness- and liked it; but 20+ years later, all I could remember was the gender fluidity...and crossing the ice. I must have been high--or a little too wrapped-up in my own kemmer cycle--because there's so much more to the novel. Yes, it raises interesting questions about gender, but reading LeGuin's own reflection on that novel (and her other works) helps elucidate just how effectively her thought experiment was run-and that, after all, is what makes for great science fiction. Le Guin is a pioneering master of the craft, and assembling these related stories, novellas, essays, and full novels really lets her gifts shine through. This collection is not just cerebral, it is superlative and enjoyable speculative fiction.
The collection begins with the novella Rocannon's World, which is as close to perfect as an tale I've ever read. Remarkably, it was the first sci-fi that Le Guin ever wrote. It's such great storytelling!
Next, Planet of Exile was another great, engaging work of science fiction. There's interstellar romance and high-action. I'm starting to think there needs to be a Hainish Cinematic Universe!
City of Illusions did nothing to change my opinion that everybody should be hearing these rip-roaring stories. It's a post-apocalyptic adventure with a deeply intriguing mystery that resolves with awesome twists and a fantastic, unpredictable ending. (This would be an excellent, episodic cable-TV series that ties in with the movies!)
And, of course, The Left Hand of Darkness is a 5-star classic that needs to be read, and not just because of the interesting questions it raises about US but also for the great adventure story.
If The Dispossessed slowed things down a little it still raises important questions - and it makes up for some thick theorizing with an explosive climax.
The stories collected here were absolutely delightful contributions to the Hainish mythos and really help that world seem more real, with limitless possibilities. I've spent months emerged in this universe, but I'm still hungry for the second volume that collects the rest of the Hainish cycle. Highly recommended for any fans of science fiction....or the human condition
The collection begins with the novella Rocannon's World, which is as close to perfect as an tale I've ever read. Remarkably, it was the first sci-fi that Le Guin ever wrote. It's such great storytelling!
Next, Planet of Exile was another great, engaging work of science fiction. There's interstellar romance and high-action. I'm starting to think there needs to be a Hainish Cinematic Universe!
City of Illusions did nothing to change my opinion that everybody should be hearing these rip-roaring stories. It's a post-apocalyptic adventure with a deeply intriguing mystery that resolves with awesome twists and a fantastic, unpredictable ending. (This would be an excellent, episodic cable-TV series that ties in with the movies!)
And, of course, The Left Hand of Darkness is a 5-star classic that needs to be read, and not just because of the interesting questions it raises about US but also for the great adventure story.
If The Dispossessed slowed things down a little it still raises important questions - and it makes up for some thick theorizing with an explosive climax.
The stories collected here were absolutely delightful contributions to the Hainish mythos and really help that world seem more real, with limitless possibilities. I've spent months emerged in this universe, but I'm still hungry for the second volume that collects the rest of the Hainish cycle. Highly recommended for any fans of science fiction....or the human condition
December 22, 2020
Overview:
This first volume is easily one of the finest books I've ever read. Nothing between these pages outright failed for me, and the progression from Rocannon's World through to the Dispossessed was a journey I'll never forget. I highly recommend reading it from start to finish without long pauses between novels and stories.
Rocannon's World:
This is my first longer work by Le Guin to read, and honestly, I'm glad I waited. My prediction is that context is everything. Had I stumbled across this in a magazine as a young man, shoved between more standard stories, I'd have probably found it meandering and overly pastoral. Within the context of my current self-taught master class on Le Guin, I found it fascinating and delightful.
I loved the writing, the references, the slow and steady pace, and the feeling of loneliness, loss, melancholy, and exile, yet perseverance.
Planet of Exile:
I read this immediately after Rocannon's World, and while I liked that one better than Planet of Exile, I felt more in tune with Le Guin's soft and beautiful style in this one. There is something extremely different here than in other books of a similar type. Most books published these days, especially in fantasy and SF, focus on a detailed world and plot, have often thin archetypal characters, and obvious YA-esque themes. In Planet of Exile, I felt the themes almost took the front stage, with the plot and characters there almost as fable-like vehicles. That isn't to say the characters are thin or archetypal, they aren't. Nothing about this felt familiar to me at all. I was always captivated and held.
However, those looking for a climactic finish in a more narrative driven sense would be disappointed. In fact, readers concerned with strong narrative should probably look elsewhere. Personally, I felt the quiet and arguably joyous conclusion fitting.
And despite the obvious 'winter is coming' connection, I'd still be surprised if GRRM hadn't read this at some point in the past. There are more than a few similarities (page-count and completion not being one of them...)
City of Illusions:
Rocannon's World - Planet of Exile - and now City of Illusions. I've really enjoyed them all. Wonderful to read, as the prose is like a slow mindful walk through a beautiful but sometimes harsh countryside. And in fact, the majority of this third Hainish novel IS an actual walk through a beautiful but harsh countryside.
Of the three, this is the one that gave me the most pause. It's pace, though steady and lovely, is slow. I was teetering towards a feeling of 'okay, let's get going'... but, that's years of reading bad books having ill trained me for Le Guin's expertise. This book absolutely has to be this way. It's the classic show, don't tell adage being utilized when most writer's would've taken a short-cut. One must make the long walk along with Falk, observe what he observes, and live in his footsteps, for the end of the novel to truly deliver.
Le Guin states that this novel had a villain problem and I believe she is right. But it didn't detract from my enjoyment, nor did this limitation stand out to me while reading.
Left Hand of Darkness:
One must be in the right frame of mind for much of Le Guin. These novels are focused on the journey, and rely on the reader to stick with it despite it sometimes feeling irrelevant, cold, distant, etc. Those descriptions are accurate, by the way. City of Illusions and Left Hand of Darkness are cold and distant, and can feel plodding, almost joylessly picaresque. But, both also pay off. At least for me they did. The characters learn things about themselves and each other that they otherwise could not have learned.
Genly Ai, the main character, enters into a situation in which he is quietly superior, moderately judgmental, debatably unwilling to adapt in some ways, and overly self-important. Yet, he is also ignorant and smugly proud of his own admissions. His liaison on Gethen is Estraven, who shares many of those same traits, or seems to anyway. And then, blow after blow, Genly learns that he knows nothing. The man he is at the end is rich with ignorance and loss where the man at the beginning is flush with naivety. Sure, other characters in other novels grow and learn and have arcs or whatever, but here its more of a complete transformation. It's an undoing.
And frankly, a little undoing would be good for all of us right now. Set aside all our 'facts' and 'opinions' and things we incontrovertibly 'know', and just say to ourselves, like Estraven does when looking out at the ice upon his likely demise, "I'm glad I have lived to see this."
The Dispossessed
The Dispossessed, in comparison to the previous five Hainish entries, for me, was the most difficult to get into, and ultimately the most rewarding. In a bold stroke of genius, it is the most literary but also the most science-fictional. Many SF novels/stories these days don't even really need the SF, it's just window dressing or a cool setting. This story though couldn't be told without the SF. And yet, it is a story about a man's journey away from and return home. It is a character study through and through.
I do wonder how I would have enjoyed this not only out of the context of the other five novels, but also had I read them over the course of many years as opposed to back to back. I feel each one ups the ante of the last, takes on more complexity, and ultimately prepares the reader for the next level. I feel like a casual reader stepping into this or Left Hand of Darkness may struggle with the slow and difficult beginnings.
My favorite part about both the Dispossessed and Left Hand of Darkness lies with the characters' imperfections. Shevek is persuasive and intelligent and also full of contradictions and failures of self-awareness. He struggles and fails time and time again against the mechanisms in place around him, and while he does (greatly) impact the world(s) for the better, his personal journey is what matters.
The method used to tell Shevek's contrasting experiences on Anarres and Urrus is initially challenging, but essential. Like the other novels, patience and trust pay dividends to readers that stay with it.
The stories:
These were excellent as well. Winter's King was my least favorite, and reading the 1969 version didn't change this. Vaster Than Empires and More Slow is a stand alone story with some Philip K. Dick style moments. While this was the most 'standard' of the stories, it was very enjoyable. The Day Before the Revolution I loved, and it was at this moment, reading this story, that I realized what an amazing volume of work this was. Coming of Age in Karhide 'fleshes' out some details from Left Hand of Darkness and kemmering. Also a great addition.
The essays:
Surprisingly, the essays did little for me. The ground covered in them is better covered in the novels themselves. While they weren't bad, they just didn't open anything up or make me think differently about what I had read in any way.
That said, there's not a page in this volume that warrants skipping.
This first volume is easily one of the finest books I've ever read. Nothing between these pages outright failed for me, and the progression from Rocannon's World through to the Dispossessed was a journey I'll never forget. I highly recommend reading it from start to finish without long pauses between novels and stories.
Rocannon's World:
This is my first longer work by Le Guin to read, and honestly, I'm glad I waited. My prediction is that context is everything. Had I stumbled across this in a magazine as a young man, shoved between more standard stories, I'd have probably found it meandering and overly pastoral. Within the context of my current self-taught master class on Le Guin, I found it fascinating and delightful.
I loved the writing, the references, the slow and steady pace, and the feeling of loneliness, loss, melancholy, and exile, yet perseverance.
Planet of Exile:
I read this immediately after Rocannon's World, and while I liked that one better than Planet of Exile, I felt more in tune with Le Guin's soft and beautiful style in this one. There is something extremely different here than in other books of a similar type. Most books published these days, especially in fantasy and SF, focus on a detailed world and plot, have often thin archetypal characters, and obvious YA-esque themes. In Planet of Exile, I felt the themes almost took the front stage, with the plot and characters there almost as fable-like vehicles. That isn't to say the characters are thin or archetypal, they aren't. Nothing about this felt familiar to me at all. I was always captivated and held.
However, those looking for a climactic finish in a more narrative driven sense would be disappointed. In fact, readers concerned with strong narrative should probably look elsewhere. Personally, I felt the quiet and arguably joyous conclusion fitting.
And despite the obvious 'winter is coming' connection, I'd still be surprised if GRRM hadn't read this at some point in the past. There are more than a few similarities (page-count and completion not being one of them...)
City of Illusions:
Rocannon's World - Planet of Exile - and now City of Illusions. I've really enjoyed them all. Wonderful to read, as the prose is like a slow mindful walk through a beautiful but sometimes harsh countryside. And in fact, the majority of this third Hainish novel IS an actual walk through a beautiful but harsh countryside.
Of the three, this is the one that gave me the most pause. It's pace, though steady and lovely, is slow. I was teetering towards a feeling of 'okay, let's get going'... but, that's years of reading bad books having ill trained me for Le Guin's expertise. This book absolutely has to be this way. It's the classic show, don't tell adage being utilized when most writer's would've taken a short-cut. One must make the long walk along with Falk, observe what he observes, and live in his footsteps, for the end of the novel to truly deliver.
Le Guin states that this novel had a villain problem and I believe she is right. But it didn't detract from my enjoyment, nor did this limitation stand out to me while reading.
Left Hand of Darkness:
One must be in the right frame of mind for much of Le Guin. These novels are focused on the journey, and rely on the reader to stick with it despite it sometimes feeling irrelevant, cold, distant, etc. Those descriptions are accurate, by the way. City of Illusions and Left Hand of Darkness are cold and distant, and can feel plodding, almost joylessly picaresque. But, both also pay off. At least for me they did. The characters learn things about themselves and each other that they otherwise could not have learned.
Genly Ai, the main character, enters into a situation in which he is quietly superior, moderately judgmental, debatably unwilling to adapt in some ways, and overly self-important. Yet, he is also ignorant and smugly proud of his own admissions. His liaison on Gethen is Estraven, who shares many of those same traits, or seems to anyway. And then, blow after blow, Genly learns that he knows nothing. The man he is at the end is rich with ignorance and loss where the man at the beginning is flush with naivety. Sure, other characters in other novels grow and learn and have arcs or whatever, but here its more of a complete transformation. It's an undoing.
And frankly, a little undoing would be good for all of us right now. Set aside all our 'facts' and 'opinions' and things we incontrovertibly 'know', and just say to ourselves, like Estraven does when looking out at the ice upon his likely demise, "I'm glad I have lived to see this."
The Dispossessed
The Dispossessed, in comparison to the previous five Hainish entries, for me, was the most difficult to get into, and ultimately the most rewarding. In a bold stroke of genius, it is the most literary but also the most science-fictional. Many SF novels/stories these days don't even really need the SF, it's just window dressing or a cool setting. This story though couldn't be told without the SF. And yet, it is a story about a man's journey away from and return home. It is a character study through and through.
I do wonder how I would have enjoyed this not only out of the context of the other five novels, but also had I read them over the course of many years as opposed to back to back. I feel each one ups the ante of the last, takes on more complexity, and ultimately prepares the reader for the next level. I feel like a casual reader stepping into this or Left Hand of Darkness may struggle with the slow and difficult beginnings.
My favorite part about both the Dispossessed and Left Hand of Darkness lies with the characters' imperfections. Shevek is persuasive and intelligent and also full of contradictions and failures of self-awareness. He struggles and fails time and time again against the mechanisms in place around him, and while he does (greatly) impact the world(s) for the better, his personal journey is what matters.
The method used to tell Shevek's contrasting experiences on Anarres and Urrus is initially challenging, but essential. Like the other novels, patience and trust pay dividends to readers that stay with it.
The stories:
These were excellent as well. Winter's King was my least favorite, and reading the 1969 version didn't change this. Vaster Than Empires and More Slow is a stand alone story with some Philip K. Dick style moments. While this was the most 'standard' of the stories, it was very enjoyable. The Day Before the Revolution I loved, and it was at this moment, reading this story, that I realized what an amazing volume of work this was. Coming of Age in Karhide 'fleshes' out some details from Left Hand of Darkness and kemmering. Also a great addition.
The essays:
Surprisingly, the essays did little for me. The ground covered in them is better covered in the novels themselves. While they weren't bad, they just didn't open anything up or make me think differently about what I had read in any way.
That said, there's not a page in this volume that warrants skipping.
Read
October 1, 2020kolme ekaa romaania täysin unohdettavaa pikajuoksua, mutta kautta laitain mainiot genretöräyttelyt "left hand" ja "dispossessed" pelastaa minkä tahansa kokoelman, novellit sen sijaan lähinnä alaviitteitä (paitsi mainiosti nimetty "vaster than empires but more slow" -> post-rock projekti???)
December 14, 2025
I cannot praise this collection enough. This collection featuring five novels, four short stories, five introductions, three non-fiction essays and numerous historical notes and literary explications. These collected works stands as most significant publication in science-fiction that I know of. Of the five novels at least three of them are masterpieces and all of them are amazing with huge and far-reaching influences that go beyond the realms of science-fiction touching and moving millions of lives and minds. This collection contains both The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness which are just as relevant, powerful and important as they were over 50 years ago when the world was first introduced to them. Both texts are deeply insightful philosophical treatises exploring political and philosophical quandaries around gender, society and human mind. This collection also contains the first three published novels by Le Guin which taken together stand just as strong as the two previously referenced masterpieces. These stories run the gauntlet from innovative adventure sci-fi, to compelling remixes of class SF idea like the crash landing and Le Guin's fantastic take on a post-apocalyptic setting. They don't get read near as much as they deserve and they are very sophisticated not just for early works but for fans of the genre in general. Predictably the short stories run the gauntlet from masterpieces to very good as well and often serve as sequels or expansions to the already excellent novels. Particularly the short stories; Vaster than Empires and More Slow and The Day Before the Revolution are essential read for fans of this author. The bevy of non-fiction and introductory essay work further highlights Le Guin's unparalleled versatility as an author: able to both captivate with a narrative and compel with fascinating non-fiction argument. If your mind wasn't already made up this massive volume which is somehow only the first half of the legendary Hainish cycle which spans over 40 years of publication contains a wealth of biographical and historical anecdotes about Le Guin, her life and her influences that any fan of her work will find fascinating. Put simply this is a collection of some of the best and most influential novels, short stories and essays of the 20th century and is an absolute necessity for any fan of Le Guin, any fan of science-fiction or just good literature in general.
If I was able to I would give it a 6 out of 5 for its value for money, versatility and quality I would.
GO READ IT!!!!
If I was able to I would give it a 6 out of 5 for its value for money, versatility and quality I would.
GO READ IT!!!!
August 7, 2020
I mean, it's Le Guin. Am I really gonna give her anything less than 5 stars?
I unfortunately didn't truly appreciate her fiction until after her death. I'd read The Left Hand of Darkness in college and sort of liked it, but thought it was slow. Since then I've reread it 3 more times. I wanted to read the rest of the Hainish books, and luckily Library of America compiled them all into a compact 2 volumes.
Obviously I liked some of the books more than others, but overall I loved them all. Le Guin's SFF is so refreshing to me because it's not just about the technology or the worldbuilding; she treats those aspects of the stories as arbitrary plot devices. What really matters is the characters and the philosophy.
Honestly I think City of Illusions was my favorite that I haven't read before, though I know Le Guin herself didn't like it very much. I also loved The Dispossessed of course because it introduced me to anarchism.
5/5 stars. I do wish the LoA books were a little more durable, because after 8 months of lugging this thing around with me, it's pretty beat up now.
Note: This is my final Goodreads review. I'm going to keep the app on my phone, and my account open so that I can keep track of books I want to buy, but I won't be reviewing books here anymore. Trying to keep up with the reading challenges every year kinda sucked the fun out of reading for me. I'm enjoying just reading for fun again and not statistics. I find that reviewing books in a journal is much more therapeutic and fun for me. So, goodbye Goodreads!
I unfortunately didn't truly appreciate her fiction until after her death. I'd read The Left Hand of Darkness in college and sort of liked it, but thought it was slow. Since then I've reread it 3 more times. I wanted to read the rest of the Hainish books, and luckily Library of America compiled them all into a compact 2 volumes.
Obviously I liked some of the books more than others, but overall I loved them all. Le Guin's SFF is so refreshing to me because it's not just about the technology or the worldbuilding; she treats those aspects of the stories as arbitrary plot devices. What really matters is the characters and the philosophy.
Honestly I think City of Illusions was my favorite that I haven't read before, though I know Le Guin herself didn't like it very much. I also loved The Dispossessed of course because it introduced me to anarchism.
5/5 stars. I do wish the LoA books were a little more durable, because after 8 months of lugging this thing around with me, it's pretty beat up now.
Note: This is my final Goodreads review. I'm going to keep the app on my phone, and my account open so that I can keep track of books I want to buy, but I won't be reviewing books here anymore. Trying to keep up with the reading challenges every year kinda sucked the fun out of reading for me. I'm enjoying just reading for fun again and not statistics. I find that reviewing books in a journal is much more therapeutic and fun for me. So, goodbye Goodreads!
February 5, 2025
Although my ratings for the individual works in this collection may not average out to 5 stars, the whole is definitely more than the sum of its parts. The first volume of the Hainish novels takes the reader on such an incredible journey through unique and intricately crafted worlds. I savored every word of the gorgeous prose coupled with deep reflections on human nature. Le Guin makes it very clear that these novels are not meant to be read in any particular order as they do not constitute a chronology and actually contain some discrepancies that would be hard to reconcile if an attempt was made to put them on a timeline. I found myself really appreciating this approach and looking forward to the connections that popped up in unexpected ways in the various narratives.
In addition, I wholeheartedly recommend this Library of America edition for its thoughtful arrangement of Le Guin’s works and for the beauty of the book itself with its detailed maps, clothbound cover, and the inclusion of short stories which are rated below.
Winter’s King - A king whose mind has been tampered with leaves his planet in hopes of escaping his enemies’ sinister plot. – 4 stars
The Day Before the Revolution - An old woman from Urras reflects back on the revolution she started on her home planet which led to the creation of Odonianism, an anarchist philosophy of government. – 4 stars
Vaster Than Empires and More Slow - A group of scientists explore a planet whose only lifeforms are plants and are overtaken by a haunting terror that almost consumes them. – 5 stars
In addition, I wholeheartedly recommend this Library of America edition for its thoughtful arrangement of Le Guin’s works and for the beauty of the book itself with its detailed maps, clothbound cover, and the inclusion of short stories which are rated below.
Winter’s King - A king whose mind has been tampered with leaves his planet in hopes of escaping his enemies’ sinister plot. – 4 stars
The Day Before the Revolution - An old woman from Urras reflects back on the revolution she started on her home planet which led to the creation of Odonianism, an anarchist philosophy of government. – 4 stars
Vaster Than Empires and More Slow - A group of scientists explore a planet whose only lifeforms are plants and are overtaken by a haunting terror that almost consumes them. – 5 stars
September 26, 2019
I can't explain how glad I am this exist. I read the Hainish novels out of their chronological order of publishing, and I was completely awed by the scope of Leguin's imagination , but also her progress both in terms of her writing and her ideas. However, when I discovered that my local library doesn't have all the novels, and that there's a number of short stories that were never translated to Serbian, I became anxious that I would never be able to have them all. Next I went on book depository and found this absolute beauty, a gem, a crown jewel - all of Hainish cycle inside two giant books - available at a reasonable price! I read the first volume from cover to cover, including the appendix, Leguin's introductions, the chronology of her life, notes on the texts, and I think I have never been so engrossed in one writer's work, so much that I wanted to know every single influence of hers and every part of her learning and every thought about her work, society, the universe. The two volumes are currently, without a shadow of doubt, my favorite books in my little home library.
June 4, 2024
Très belle compilation des textes du cycle de Hain d'Ursula Le Guin. Les romans sont totalement indépendants mais ont en commun (à part Rocannon's World dont l'auteure admet dans une préface figurant dans le volume qu'il s'agit d'une tentative de jeunesse, un peu maladroite mais néanmoins agréable à lire) d'utiliser la science fiction pour tester des concepts politiques ou anthropologiques. A chaque fois, Ursula Le Guin parvient totalement à ses fins, avec mention spéciale pour The Dispossessed qui contient l'une des plus fines analyses de la pensée anarchiste qu'il m'ait été donné de lire. Comme si cela ne suffisait, le style est très bon voire parfois splendide et on sent le plaisir de conter que tous les bons écrivains n'ont pas, de sorte que l'intérêt conceptuel des romans ne se fait jamais au détriment de la fiction elle même. Certains passages sont si beaux qu'on en a des frissons. J'ai adoré en particulier le doute que l'auteure sait instiller sur la nature des Shin dans City of Illusions (seul le titre du roman est un peu raté...). Je recommande totalement !
August 16, 2018
As a physical artifact, it's hard to beat books published by the Library of America: the book is weighty but not oppressive. The individual pages are creamy and delicate with beautiful print that manages to not bleed through the immaculately thin setting.
Of course, the interior of this particular book is also a treat, containing not only a number of truly excellent and mind-bending works of fiction (The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed are treasures) but a number of stories stitched together in a way that show Le Guin's evolution as an author and thinker throughout her life. Her introduction is also worth the price of admission (free from your public library!); she explains the evolution of her thinking in terms of the League of All Worlds and the Ansible, a devise that allows instantaneous communication regardless of distance apart.
It is always a joy to read Le Guin, and this book is a wonderful introduction to the Hanish cycle.
Of course, the interior of this particular book is also a treat, containing not only a number of truly excellent and mind-bending works of fiction (The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed are treasures) but a number of stories stitched together in a way that show Le Guin's evolution as an author and thinker throughout her life. Her introduction is also worth the price of admission (free from your public library!); she explains the evolution of her thinking in terms of the League of All Worlds and the Ansible, a devise that allows instantaneous communication regardless of distance apart.
It is always a joy to read Le Guin, and this book is a wonderful introduction to the Hanish cycle.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews