Reviews

Planet of Exile is the 2nd book in Ursula K. Le Guin Hainish Cycle Sci Fi series. Winter is coming to the planet of Askatevar, The planet circles a dying sun and the year lasts 60 earth years, so winter is 15 years. The Tevars are a race that have lived on the planet since the beginning and they are now in their winter home, building their Winter City where they will hunker down for the season until they can come out again in Spring.
Rolery, a young girl, one of the daughters of the Tevar leader, Wold, is avoiding work and exploring, heading to the city of the Farborn, an off planet race, part of the League of Planet, who arrived at Askatevar 600 years ago to see if the races of the planet had enough know how to become members of the League. But a war with a Dark Evil meant that all of their ships had to leave to defend the League, leaving behind a small group of Farborn... as they call themselves, 'Men'. The Farborn have lived in relative harmony with the Tevar people but now their leader Jacob Agat, has a warning. Another race, the Gaal has joined all of its tribes and is bent on destroying the Tevar and Farborn before Winter comes.
There is the gist of the story. As well, there is love story developing between Rolery and Jacob that will affect their possible alliance. Jacob is trying to persuade Wold to leave the Winter City and head back into the mountains to shift the Gaal away from their cities because he fears the destruction of both. His relationship with a Tevar is not permitted and means that it will affect his ability to persuade the Tevar to fight with his people.
Makes sense? I do have some difficulty sometime putting stories like this down succinctly.😒🤔
It's a very short story that moves along rapidly from the initial contact between Rolery and Jacob and the battle to save the Tevar and Farborn from the rampaging Gaal. It's kind of breath-taking but at the same time very thoughtful in its discussion of the relationship between Farborn and Tevar, how the Farborn are not able to force their technology on a planet's people until they demonstrate abilities themselves (Star Trek much?) and how the Farborn are forgetting their own past as they live in isolation on this planet. Interesting characters. Interesting interactions and lots of action. An excellent story and as the 2nd book in the Hainish Cycle, it provides more information on the League of planets and their efforts to explore other planets. A better written story than Rocannon's World as Le Guin seemed to find her stride as she explored this series in more depth. (4.0 stars)

ghostmeat47's review against another edition

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4.0

Throughout Planet of Exile are references I felt I should be familiar with. References to places, people, and events. I later found out this was book two in a series. Despite not knowing, I never felt lost. I was still able to enjoy this imaginative and tense story.

enbypirate's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

runefactories's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No

3.25

eliathereader's review against another edition

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4.0

Ursula bu dünyanın en güzel detaylarından sadece bazen biraz karmaşık olabiliyor okuması

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