177 books
—
40 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle, #4)” as Want to Read:
The Left Hand of Darkness
(Hainish Cycle #4)
by
Genly Ai is an ethnologist observing the people of the planet Gethen, a world perpetually in winter. The people there are androgynous, normally neuter, but they can become male ot female at the peak of their sexual cycle. They seem to Genly Ai alien, unsophisticated and confusing. But he is drawn into the complex politics of the planet and, during a long, tortuous journey
...more
Get A Copy
Paperback, SF Masterworks, 304 pages
Published
March 9th 2017
by Gollancz
(first published 1969)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
The Left Hand of Darkness,
please sign up.
Popular Answered Questions
Ivan
All books in Hainish cycle are standalone and can be read in any order.
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle, #4)

Jan 15, 2012
Nataliya
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Nataliya by:
Tracy
The question that permeates Le Guin's 1969 sensational for its time novel about the ambisexual society is what remains once the male and the female labels are stripped away? What is underneath the labels - is it simply humanity?

'Androgynous' - Which is how I could not help but picture the Gethenians.

'Androgynous' - Which is how I could not help but picture the Gethenians.
"A man wants his virility regarded, a woman wants her femininity appreciated, however indirect and subtle the indications of regard and appreciation. On Winter they will not exist. One is respecte...more

Oct 12, 2018
Emily May
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Emily May by:
Tatiana
“I'll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination.”
I can't say why it's taken me so many years to finally get to The Left Hand of Darkness. Perhaps because every time I passed it in a bookstore or library it looked like a typical dated 1960s sci-fi novel. But it is so much more than that.
This book is quite astonishing. Hannah Gadsby has made me reluctant to say "ahead of its time" but if any book is ahead of its ...more

I've become rather bitter with sci-fi over the years, as it used to be my favorite genre. But you can only read so many space operas and pretentious near futures before it gets to you a little.
And then you decide to give an author a go because of some weird research string you were on... and it rekindles your love of why you started reading it in the first place.
LeGuin approaches sci-fi as it should be; a thought experiment. Instead of spending pages upon pages describing the minutiae of every ...more
And then you decide to give an author a go because of some weird research string you were on... and it rekindles your love of why you started reading it in the first place.
LeGuin approaches sci-fi as it should be; a thought experiment. Instead of spending pages upon pages describing the minutiae of every ...more

The meagre 2* is more a reflection of my enjoyment rather than an objective measure of the book (it has won prestigious awards). It wasn't to my taste, and that was exacerbated by mismatched expectations. It is not really sci-fi, the gender and sexuality were a bit of a side-show, leaving curious combo of political intrigue and Boys' Own tale of derring-do in an inhospitable climate. The setting is another planet in the future, but right from the start, mentions of rain and reign contributed to
...more

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin has a voyeuristic quality, as if a description to a studious observation. I could not help thinking that I was reading a National Geographic article about a reporter visiting Winter, or Gethen as its inhabitants know it.
Many readers cannot help but comment upon the Gethenians physiological androgyny, and this is certainly a central theme of the story, but there is so much more to fascinate the reader. Le Guin has demonstrated again how she can crea ...more
Many readers cannot help but comment upon the Gethenians physiological androgyny, and this is certainly a central theme of the story, but there is so much more to fascinate the reader. Le Guin has demonstrated again how she can crea ...more

“If civilization has an opposite, it is war.”
In the nascent days of summer, I read a book that I can’t stop thinking about and can’t stop recommending. I’m stirring from my Goodreads silence to tell you about this book, Left Hand of Darkness, by the late Ursula K. Le Guin. Written in 1969 and the winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, this book is just as relevant and important today as it was when it first hit the shelves. Left Hand of Darkness is a gorgeous sci-fi novel of political intrig ...more
In the nascent days of summer, I read a book that I can’t stop thinking about and can’t stop recommending. I’m stirring from my Goodreads silence to tell you about this book, Left Hand of Darkness, by the late Ursula K. Le Guin. Written in 1969 and the winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, this book is just as relevant and important today as it was when it first hit the shelves. Left Hand of Darkness is a gorgeous sci-fi novel of political intrig ...more

“Light is the left hand of darkness
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death, lying
together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way.”

This was written in the sixties, though it feels like it was written yesterday. Ursula K. Le Guin creates a vivid culture of ambisexual humanoids that come with a detailed history and culture. And it is truly fascinating to read about because such discussions and representations of gender and sex are str ...more
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death, lying
together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way.”

This was written in the sixties, though it feels like it was written yesterday. Ursula K. Le Guin creates a vivid culture of ambisexual humanoids that come with a detailed history and culture. And it is truly fascinating to read about because such discussions and representations of gender and sex are str ...more

It took me a few minutes to get a grip on myself after finishing this novel. The Left Hand of Darkness is a fantastic book. It has the quaint flavour of the old sci-fi novels, especially reminiscent of Asimov’s Foundation series (it’s just way better!), Frank Herbert’s Dune, and the Star Trek TV series (released at around the same time as Le Guin’s novel).
This book was published shortly after A Wizard of Earthsea, and both novels are similar in many ways. Both contain the same world-building tro ...more
This book was published shortly after A Wizard of Earthsea, and both novels are similar in many ways. Both contain the same world-building tro ...more

They should do away with these tags - science fiction, speculative fiction and all them other clever maneuvers designed to erect barriers between the strictly literary and the mainstream - when it's Atwood who is writing or a Le Guin. Woe betide anyone who begs to differ. This deeply entrenched contempt of the other and this instinctive loathing of anything we fail to understand after a perfunctory once-over are not only the center of the man-made hullabaloo of gender but the root cause of all f
...more

The Challenge of Sex
Sex is awkward no matter how you look at it - arguably yet another design flaw in our species. Solo sex is likely to be unsatisfying. Straight sex is fraught with gendered miscommunication. Gay sex presents serious reproductive issues. Transgender sex is... well, complicated. And all those don't even consider the morass of multiple simultaneous partners. But Ursula la/le Guin introduces a whole new level of awkwardness in her ambisexual humanoid aliens who shift gender monthl ...more
Sex is awkward no matter how you look at it - arguably yet another design flaw in our species. Solo sex is likely to be unsatisfying. Straight sex is fraught with gendered miscommunication. Gay sex presents serious reproductive issues. Transgender sex is... well, complicated. And all those don't even consider the morass of multiple simultaneous partners. But Ursula la/le Guin introduces a whole new level of awkwardness in her ambisexual humanoid aliens who shift gender monthl ...more

No Mere Extrapolation
"The Left Hand of Darkness" is a work of science fiction published by Ursula Le Guin in 1969.
At the time, it sought to differentiate itself from most other science fiction in two ways.
Firstly, as Le Guin explains in a subsequent introduction, it didn’t just take a current phenomenon and extrapolate it scientifically into the future in some predictive or cautionary fashion.
Secondly, it explored the nature of sexuality as a subject matter from a sophisticated, feminist point ...more
"The Left Hand of Darkness" is a work of science fiction published by Ursula Le Guin in 1969.
At the time, it sought to differentiate itself from most other science fiction in two ways.
Firstly, as Le Guin explains in a subsequent introduction, it didn’t just take a current phenomenon and extrapolate it scientifically into the future in some predictive or cautionary fashion.
Secondly, it explored the nature of sexuality as a subject matter from a sophisticated, feminist point ...more

Sublime in tone and voice. There’s not a superfluous line in it. Beautiful.
Mr. Ai is 17 light years from the nearest planet affiliated with his interstellar league, Ekumen. Karhide is a monarchy on the frozen planet of Gethen. Ai has come to Karhide on a diplomatic mission and has found a receptive ear in Estraven, the prime minister. The novel has a Gothic feel but soon hints of palace intrigue. Sure enough, before you can whistle Dixie, Estraven falls from royal favor. The king it turns out is ...more
Mr. Ai is 17 light years from the nearest planet affiliated with his interstellar league, Ekumen. Karhide is a monarchy on the frozen planet of Gethen. Ai has come to Karhide on a diplomatic mission and has found a receptive ear in Estraven, the prime minister. The novel has a Gothic feel but soon hints of palace intrigue. Sure enough, before you can whistle Dixie, Estraven falls from royal favor. The king it turns out is ...more

“The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.Is Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness only a science fiction story? Far from it, and that is why I enjoyed it so much. Oh, I like reading science-fiction, sometimes just for the entertainment of it. But this goes much beyond that. Different from some reviews, for me it did not seem a feminist advocacy. I would venture and say it is an anti-prejudice assertion. It is just a b ...more

The Should I Read This Book Quiz: Ursula Le Guin is considered a Very Important science fiction writer for her anthropological chops, and The Left Hand of Darkness her classic in which a lone representative of the Ekumen is sent down to a heretofore un-contacted planet to convince its denizens to join this interplanetary human collective. Genly Ai’s mission is complicated by his inexperience with their society—the most significant difference with his own being that all Gethenians are neither mal
...more

They say that The Left Hand of Darkness is a landmark in the field of science fiction literature. Albeit such typecasting seems to be unfair simplification and trivialization since that novel goes much further and deeper than any other of that genre. In view of her interests including cultures, ecology, anthropology, Zen philosophy LeGuin writes humanistic science fiction, focused on creating unusual social models and analyzing living in them people. That way The Left Hand of Darkness can
...more

The term 'Speculative Fiction' was developed out of a desire by some authors to separate themselves from the more pejorative aspects of the Sci Fi genre. Harlan Ellison famously hated the term 'sci fi', scorning the implication that his stories had anything in common with Flash Gordon or Lost in Space.
In Speculative Fiction, technology is not there to facilitate the plot, or to dazzle readers with fantasy, but to provide the author with an opportunity to explore the human mind in unexpected, inn ...more
In Speculative Fiction, technology is not there to facilitate the plot, or to dazzle readers with fantasy, but to provide the author with an opportunity to explore the human mind in unexpected, inn ...more

“It was daunting, also, to me as a novelist. To invent a radically different sexual physiology and behaviour, not just as a speculation, but embodied in a novel, a story about people – people who most of the time were quite sexless but went into heat once a month, one time as a woman another time as a man? To get into the hearts and minds of such strange beings, bring them to being as characters – that would take some skill, not to mention chutzpah.”
So says SF legend, Ms. Ursula K. Le Guin, in h ...more
So says SF legend, Ms. Ursula K. Le Guin, in h ...more

Jan 31, 2016
Markus
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction,
2016
Light is the left hand of darkness,
And darkness the right hand of light.
On the distant world of Winter, ambisexual beings have lived in solitude for as long as anyone can remember. This peace is shattered when an envoy arrives from the Ekumen, offering the nations of Winter the opportunity to join a vast alliance of thousands of worlds…
This book was my first foray into the science fiction works of Ursula K. Le Guin, already one of my favourite authors. I did not find it quite as strong as th ...more
And darkness the right hand of light.
On the distant world of Winter, ambisexual beings have lived in solitude for as long as anyone can remember. This peace is shattered when an envoy arrives from the Ekumen, offering the nations of Winter the opportunity to join a vast alliance of thousands of worlds…
This book was my first foray into the science fiction works of Ursula K. Le Guin, already one of my favourite authors. I did not find it quite as strong as th ...more

It has been a bit of a personal project of for the past year or so to sample from the classics of the sci-fi genre. It’s not that I think modern sci-fi is undesirable—indeed, I’m a huge fan—rather, there is a lot of reward in visiting trends in sci-fi from other times, seeing the foundations of modern sci-fi, and having a base understanding of the language of science fiction. Sci-fi is endlessly self-referential and to be well versed in the genre it is almost a requirement that certain books be
...more

Mar 08, 2013
Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction
Wow, there's a lot about this novel that I hadn't remembered. Like, basically the entire plot, other than the bare-bones outline.
I'm going to stick with 4 stars here. Review to come.
Initial post: Next up read from Ursula K. Le Guin: The Hainish Novels and Stories.* This one I read back in my college days, so my memories of it are pretty hazy. The unusual sexuality of the people on the planet Gethen, or Winter -- sometimes androgynous, sometimes male, sometimes female -- has stuck with me, but th ...more
I'm going to stick with 4 stars here. Review to come.
Initial post: Next up read from Ursula K. Le Guin: The Hainish Novels and Stories.* This one I read back in my college days, so my memories of it are pretty hazy. The unusual sexuality of the people on the planet Gethen, or Winter -- sometimes androgynous, sometimes male, sometimes female -- has stuck with me, but th ...more

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)
The CCLaP 100: In which I read for the first time a hundred so-called "classics," then write reports on whether or not they deserve the label
Book #18: The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K Le Guin (1969)
The story in a nutshell:
A highly unusual and controversial book at the time of its release (but mo ...more
The CCLaP 100: In which I read for the first time a hundred so-called "classics," then write reports on whether or not they deserve the label
Book #18: The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K Le Guin (1969)
The story in a nutshell:
A highly unusual and controversial book at the time of its release (but mo ...more

I bought this book in Canterbury in 2009 and read its description of two people struggling across an icy wilderness on a planet locked in an ice age sitting in an armchair in the middle of Summer and felt thoroughly chilled. I had read The Dispossessed first as a child and a couple of vague memories of it stayed with me until I picked up a copy and read it again. That experience prompted me to read The Left Hand of Darkness.
This is a short novel and a lot is packed into a few pages. The central ...more
This is a short novel and a lot is packed into a few pages. The central ...more

Jan 04, 2010
Tatiana
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
fans of quality sc-fi, people who like to think
As seen on The Readventurer
"The Left Hand of Darkness" turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise for me. I do not read science fiction often and had to abandon my last attempt ("The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy") for its utter stupidity, but this book was a sci-fi of a completely different sort. It wasn't just another novel about green aliens or space travel, it was an extremely clever and deep exploration of gender.
Genly Ai is an emissary of the Ekumen (a union of human worlds) to planet Geth ...more
"The Left Hand of Darkness" turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise for me. I do not read science fiction often and had to abandon my last attempt ("The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy") for its utter stupidity, but this book was a sci-fi of a completely different sort. It wasn't just another novel about green aliens or space travel, it was an extremely clever and deep exploration of gender.
Genly Ai is an emissary of the Ekumen (a union of human worlds) to planet Geth ...more

Sep 13, 2011
Nandakishore Varma
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction
This is a pioneering work of science fiction. It is not space opera; it is not the hard SF of Asimov and Clarke which shows the impact of the science of the future on society; and it is not a fantasy where the scientific framework is used just as a convenient backdrop for the author to air her ideas. Ursula K. LeGuin explores deep questions of gender, about what it means to be a male or female, by creating a society of androgynous individuals, who take on male/ female sexual characteristics only
...more

“Light is the left hand of darkness
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death, lying
together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way.”
This book will really make you think. It will make you consider what it means to be male versus female, and what it means to be human. How do we bridge the gap in differences among cultures and race? How do we learn to trust and earn friendship and love? What does love of one’s country mean?
Charged with the ...more
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death, lying
together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way.”
This book will really make you think. It will make you consider what it means to be male versus female, and what it means to be human. How do we bridge the gap in differences among cultures and race? How do we learn to trust and earn friendship and love? What does love of one’s country mean?
Charged with the ...more

The Left Hand of Darkness: Brilliant depiction of an androgynous society on a frozen planet
Originally published at Fantasy Literature
The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), part of THE HAINISH CYCLE, won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best SF Novel, and is well known as one of the first books in the genre to intelligently explore the nature of gender and identity. Ursula K. LeGuin is a highly respected writer known for her anthropological and humanistic approach to SF, and her presence has attrac ...more
Originally published at Fantasy Literature
The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), part of THE HAINISH CYCLE, won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best SF Novel, and is well known as one of the first books in the genre to intelligently explore the nature of gender and identity. Ursula K. LeGuin is a highly respected writer known for her anthropological and humanistic approach to SF, and her presence has attrac ...more

This is my brain on Ursula Le Guin.
Amygdala: So. Sex and violence, huh?
Cerebral Cortex: Sorry, what? Where did that come from?
A: Well, we're reading The Left hand of Darkness aren't we?
CC: Yes, but this isn't some scantily-clad lady with a raygun, pew-pew-laserfest. This is a serious science fiction novel. You must have noticed that that we haven't had to hide the cover on the train. That's how serious it is.
A: Yes, but it's all about sex and violence.
CC: (sighs) Let’s look at this rationally. T ...more
Amygdala: So. Sex and violence, huh?
Cerebral Cortex: Sorry, what? Where did that come from?
A: Well, we're reading The Left hand of Darkness aren't we?
CC: Yes, but this isn't some scantily-clad lady with a raygun, pew-pew-laserfest. This is a serious science fiction novel. You must have noticed that that we haven't had to hide the cover on the train. That's how serious it is.
A: Yes, but it's all about sex and violence.
CC: (sighs) Let’s look at this rationally. T ...more

What is the first thing we ask when a child is born? - GENDER
The six-letter word, not the three-letter word "sex" of the child - because gender involves our perception of what the child will be, our expectations of what roles the child will perform in the future - the life of the child is determined right away when we ask this question. As Judith Butler puts it, Gender is Performance.
But imagine a world where genders can be changed at will - an androgynous world where humans remain in neuter ...more
The six-letter word, not the three-letter word "sex" of the child - because gender involves our perception of what the child will be, our expectations of what roles the child will perform in the future - the life of the child is determined right away when we ask this question. As Judith Butler puts it, Gender is Performance.
But imagine a world where genders can be changed at will - an androgynous world where humans remain in neuter ...more

DNF 😠 This book began by lecturing me—for just about 12 minutes—on what science fiction was/wasn't and telling me that authors are liars. Said lecture, imo, came off as pompous and wholly unnecessary. Although I already thought I hated it, I magnanimously decided to continue to Chapter 1. By 7:32 into the first chapter, which was narrated by what sounded to me like a very disinterested, very old man, I was done. I had downloaded this book a while back and it fit a challenge requirement, so I was
...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Goodreads Librari...: Correct page count: Left Hand of Darkness, The (ISBN: 9781860491894) | 2 | 311 | Aug 03, 2020 04:13AM | |
SciFi and Fantasy...: "Left Hand of Darkness" Final Thoughts *Spoilers* | 21 | 189 | May 23, 2020 10:37AM |
Ursula 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, Orego
...more
Other books in the series
Hainish Cycle
(6 books)
Articles featuring this book
Dystopias, alien invasions, regenerated dinosaurs, space operas, multiverses, and more, the realm of science fiction takes readers out of this...
579 likes · 531 comments
24 trivia questions
2 quizzes
More quizzes & trivia...
2 quizzes
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
—
2879 likes
“To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.”
—
648 likes
More quotes…