Reviews

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.

zelos's review against another edition

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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