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doomfelter's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Le Guin has yet to disappoint me, and this book certainly did not. Such an easy but also excellent read.
grayjay's review against another edition
3.0
An earlier independent novel of Le Guin's with many of her favourite themes. A planet called Victoria was settled as a penal colony of Earth in one wave by criminals and the wives they brought over later, and a second wave of exiled pacifist utopian. The two groups haven't fully integrated in a hundred years and the first group has begun to subjugate the second, intending to set up a feudal system and farms using the forced labour of the pacifists. A young man and woman on other side are trying to find their places in the world amid the struggle.
I found parts of it a little dull, parts of it good.
I found parts of it a little dull, parts of it good.
zelos's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
revarevareva's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
voxlunae's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Part of me wishes it was longer, but I appreciate the way it ends and the things left unsaid and questions left unanswered. It really feels like a new beginning for the people of Shantih, with all the good and bad that comes with that. I love the world, though, and would happily spend more time in it. You know Le Guin is the GOAT when one of the most engaging and memorable parts is the description of a tree's life cycle, and that's in a book under 200 pages long!
ecroot's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
rixx's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Setting: On a planet with a human population at one just one point, exiles from earth who arrived in two waves: First a group of criminals from South America (many thousands, though their origin isn't commonly known among them), then decades later a global group of pacifists (only two thousand, a smaller group). Everything is different, of course: different animals, and the landscape is dominated by trees growing in rings. The animals are also super cool and changing and only very vaguely resemble the Terran animals they are named after. (Apart from the adorable and adorably-named wotsit).
The conflict between the city and the village Shantih is stark and a great setup – especially the narrative slowly revealing that the village may see itself as an equal partner, but the city certainly sees them as little more than slaves. I'm not sure what I think about the framing of the refusal of communication as moral violence – general the pacifists are on the extreme end of collaboration, cooperation and communication, and I'm not sure what their final failure can say under those premises.
The writing, of course, is lush and insightful and makes you want to just sink into the book and enjoy it forever. Loving details everywhere, paired with a mastery of both writing and human nature – pure le Guin. It's weird how there's a fair bit of gender … opinions, let's call them opinions, in there, and even though they're pretty sweeping statements about how men and women are, I don't even want to argue, I can enjoy them for the insight they offer even while they're not universally true. Le Guin in magical like that.
Rating note: Undecided between three stars and four stars – I was kinda afraid she'd show the idealists just magically win, so I was glad that wasn't how things played out. But the ending is also bitter-sweet and left me … mostly with vibes and some questions. Which, I suppose, is a good thing, so I decided to round up.
The conflict between the city and the village Shantih is stark and a great setup – especially the narrative slowly revealing that the village may see itself as an equal partner, but the city certainly sees them as little more than slaves. I'm not sure what I think about the framing of the refusal of communication as moral violence – general the pacifists are on the extreme end of collaboration, cooperation and communication, and I'm not sure what their final failure can say under those premises.
The writing, of course, is lush and insightful and makes you want to just sink into the book and enjoy it forever. Loving details everywhere, paired with a mastery of both writing and human nature – pure le Guin. It's weird how there's a fair bit of gender … opinions, let's call them opinions, in there, and even though they're pretty sweeping statements about how men and women are, I don't even want to argue, I can enjoy them for the insight they offer even while they're not universally true. Le Guin in magical like that.
Rating note: Undecided between three stars and four stars – I was kinda afraid she'd show the idealists just magically win, so I was glad that wasn't how things played out. But the ending is also bitter-sweet and left me … mostly with vibes and some questions. Which, I suppose, is a good thing, so I decided to round up.
gronklfluff's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
smuds2's review against another edition
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
UNFINISHED
REVIEW RATING SYSTEM - [ 1 = FELT DECEIVED, 2 = NOT WHAT I EXPECTED IN A BAD WAY BUT WASN'T A WASTE OF TIME, 3 = WHAT I EXPECTED FELT LIKE MY TIME WAS USED AS EXPECTED, 4 = PLEASANTLY SURPRISED, 5 = THINKING ABOUT IT MONTHS LATER ]
RULES : (1) can not give anything a 5 outright, must either be a re-read or a update to score, (2) can not give incremental ratings, except for 4.75 which is functionally a "revisit in case it is actually a 5", (3) I should always end with a "this leads me to think" of 2-3 ideas this book roused in me.
I want to start off by saying I'm a Le Guin stan. I like all of her stuff and she always pretty much gets the benefit of the doubt from me - fairly or not I suppose.
This book, though, was a bit iffy on some of the politics and result, let alone craft. I think that I will be harsher than I need to be, because it's more than possible that Le Guin did what Le Guin wanted - and I'm asking something of the book that it's not trying to do. But whatever. It's my world, this books just living in it.
First, on a technical level - wow I did not care aboutJesus lev. at all. sure it's 180 pages so it's hard to build up a character to be cared about in that time frame - but I also think it's a recurring issue through other bits of the book. Victoria is just assumed to be cool and peaceful and wild, never shown to be, really. Lev is assumed to be this fair, impartial presence, but is never shown to be convincingly. City folk are assumed to be kind of all mean, but never shown to be.
This leads into my second issue - Le Guin built the world on dichotomies, with one bridge between (Luz). Was there no internal dissension among the rest of the City folk? Were all the town folk convinced by Non Violence? If we assume yes - the story begins to feel like a folk tale, irrelevant to the real world. If we assume no - then we have to ask why were none of the ambiguities handled? Isn't that directly contradictory to the major theme of reconcilliation processes? Just a weird decision.
Then there is Luz. The opressed opressor who at the first opportunity ditches all of city folk, who assumably, have more oppressed oppressors. And we're supposed to root for her? she knows exactly the pain other women in the city are going through, and what joy freedom can bring. Yet at the first opportunity, she ditches them. Advocates that the townies ditch them.
That leaves just the final crux of the matter imo - her interpretation of King and nonviolence. I think it's outdated, naive, etc. at this point to think mass nonviolence and disobedience will do anything positive for the current political climate. Strikes are cool and all, but as a method to collective salvation - I'm just not convinced. And it also completely undercuts two of Kings more radical messages (imo - not a King scholar or anything). (1) empathy for the oppressor. At no point did it become explicitly clear that it was possible that those oppressing were suffering from the system they participated in, even though it was abundantly clear they did suffer. Falco was clearly distressed about losing his daughter, even though, as far as he possibly could know, he did everything "right". There was no empathy for the fact that a system was in place that caused falco to lose everything he cared about. It was even played off as kind of his "just desserts". (2) didn't king turn more radical towards the end of his life? And that's why he was killed? Aka even he was like "yeah this nonviolence stuff? not gonna cut it".
I like the book because it talks about the politcs of power, explcitly, in a sophisticated way. Which is good.
REVIEW RATING SYSTEM - [ 1 = FELT DECEIVED, 2 = NOT WHAT I EXPECTED IN A BAD WAY BUT WASN'T A WASTE OF TIME, 3 = WHAT I EXPECTED FELT LIKE MY TIME WAS USED AS EXPECTED, 4 = PLEASANTLY SURPRISED, 5 = THINKING ABOUT IT MONTHS LATER ]
RULES : (1) can not give anything a 5 outright, must either be a re-read or a update to score, (2) can not give incremental ratings, except for 4.75 which is functionally a "revisit in case it is actually a 5", (3) I should always end with a "this leads me to think" of 2-3 ideas this book roused in me.
I want to start off by saying I'm a Le Guin stan. I like all of her stuff and she always pretty much gets the benefit of the doubt from me - fairly or not I suppose.
This book, though, was a bit iffy on some of the politics and result, let alone craft. I think that I will be harsher than I need to be, because it's more than possible that Le Guin did what Le Guin wanted - and I'm asking something of the book that it's not trying to do. But whatever. It's my world, this books just living in it.
First, on a technical level - wow I did not care about
This leads into my second issue - Le Guin built the world on dichotomies, with one bridge between (Luz). Was there no internal dissension among the rest of the City folk? Were all the town folk convinced by Non Violence? If we assume yes - the story begins to feel like a folk tale, irrelevant to the real world. If we assume no - then we have to ask why were none of the ambiguities handled? Isn't that directly contradictory to the major theme of reconcilliation processes? Just a weird decision.
Then there is Luz. The opressed opressor who at the first opportunity ditches all of city folk, who assumably, have more oppressed oppressors. And we're supposed to root for her? she knows exactly the pain other women in the city are going through, and what joy freedom can bring. Yet at the first opportunity, she ditches them. Advocates that the townies ditch them.
That leaves just the final crux of the matter imo - her interpretation of King and nonviolence. I think it's outdated, naive, etc. at this point to think mass nonviolence and disobedience will do anything positive for the current political climate. Strikes are cool and all, but as a method to collective salvation - I'm just not convinced. And it also completely undercuts two of Kings more radical messages (imo - not a King scholar or anything). (1) empathy for the oppressor. At no point did it become explicitly clear that it was possible that those oppressing were suffering from the system they participated in, even though it was abundantly clear they did suffer. Falco was clearly distressed about losing his daughter, even though, as far as he possibly could know, he did everything "right". There was no empathy for the fact that a system was in place that caused falco to lose everything he cared about. It was even played off as kind of his "just desserts". (2) didn't king turn more radical towards the end of his life? And that's why he was killed? Aka even he was like "yeah this nonviolence stuff? not gonna cut it".
I like the book because it talks about the politcs of power, explcitly, in a sophisticated way. Which is good.
sydbauer's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5