Kaiju Reviews’s Reviews > Hainish Novels & Stories, Vol. 1: Rocannon’s World / Planet of Exile / City of Illusions / The Left Hand of Darkness / The Dispossessed / Stories > Status Update

This may be one of my favorite books of all time. A nearly perfect collection. Loved The Day Before the Revolution. Really liked Vaster than Empires. Liked Winter's King (updated version). The Dispossessed is a masterpiece of literature. A character study, hard SF, and social SF all together.

the dispossessed may be the best yet, but also the slowest to get going

Left Hand of Darkness - a beautiful book. Should be required reading. Actually, reading these novels, 4 now, back to back reveals elements that had i read independently I'd have missed. Like in City of Illusion, Left Hand relies heavily on a journey along which one is mostly misled until a revelation occurs, both staggering to this reader. Both integral to the theme.

Left Hand is very different than the prior novels. Taken a bit off guard, but not unpleasantly so. This, clearly, is a more fleshed out narrative. The switching perspectives so far have been well handled, but the luxurious prose is less at the forefront here, having taken a back seat to exposition and character development.

Loved City of Illusion - totally understand the slow pace having reached the end. Left Hand has an excellent start as well. I've grown to completely trust Le Guin and have really enjoyed reading these books back to back.

Something extremely different here than in other books of a similar type. Most books these days, especially F&SF, focus on a detailed world and plot, have thin archetypal characters, and obvious YA-esque themes. In Planet of Exile, themes take the front stage. 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.

Planet of Exile has an excellent start. The writing is beautiful. The links to Rocannon's World are subtle and meaningful. I'm early in, but this seems like it could have been a seed for GRRMs Song of Ice and Fire. Some interesting parallels anyway (but, like I said, early on, could totally change direction.)

Rocannon's World: I loved the writing, the references, the slow and steady pace, and the feeling of loneliness, loss, melancholy, and exile, yet perseverance.