Reviews

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

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direton1's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

pearlygirl3's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

this book, while i did not particularly enjoy it was classic sci-fi. the problem being it thinks so much of itself, instead of just wanting to be a good story it has to think it's teaching you something or changing the way you think. the whole concept is odd, having an androgenous world, and the author jumps around so much it is hard to keep track. while i think the author is passionate, the writing was at times confusing. also, probably my biggest issue was with the fact that the author herself is a woman but in the book managed to say some of the most sexist things. overall not my favorite and i only completed it because it was a bookclub read. also, if you prefer books with more action/dialogue this is not for you, it is basically all world building and description.

bibliocinephile's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5!

absolutely beautiful. took me a long time to finish, but not because of its quality just because im so busy. it was stunning how little physical action can still be so gripping and engaging, and how deep the relationships in the book go. so beautiful

smashproduct's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

newton's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring tense slow-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

4.5

drizzlybear's review against another edition

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reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

it’s always pretty cool to read stuff like sci-fi from 50 years ago, the accepted concepts and tropes are different from what we have now and it’s a cool shift to see
this books reads kind of like an ethnography which was kind of cool? just a detailed account of an alien culture (although there was plot too ofc the overall tone was very ‘documenting this for history’). maybe some people wouldn’t like this but i thought it was neat. and it even got me in the feels at the end!
i really respect ursula le guin. she has a cool afterword at the end (in my 25th anniversary edition, which was 1994) where she discusses how she used he/him pronouns and masculine forms like ‘man’, ‘king’ and ‘lord’ as generic pronouns to describe a sexless race, and how she grew to realise that was unsuitable and she’d do it different now??? we love to see it. and she went on to provide several appendices that played around with the pronouns in different variations. it was weird bc it definitely felt different to read it with neopronouns or mixed/more gender less pronouns, really makes you realise that despite what you know or tell yourself, subconsciously you just like… can’t get away from the pronoun/gender/whole entire personality assumptions.