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that_vnr's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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
5.0
!!! MILD SPOILERS AHAID !!! I genuinely don't want to touch another book for a month. This book broke my heart in all the good ways a book can. Leaves you wanting for more, leaves you numb and speechless. It's the book I always needed. A sci fi story that challenges you. The reader and the protagonist are informed very early on what the outcome of the story will be, so it leaves you wondering about what truly, in my opinion, matters: What is love, what is gender, what is humanity? What makes us so different from the androgynous dwellers of Gethen? Why as a reader did it feel so natural to assign a gender to these genderless people, just as Genly Ai did, but why did I also feel then need to reprimand him and myself while doing so? Why as a person in real life do i do the same? I don't throw the word masterpiece around easily, but this is a treasure for sure.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement and Incest
Minor: Death, Suicide, and Violence
bakatan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Torture
Minor: Incest and Miscarriage
libellumartinae's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Alrightie, this book was... intense. beautifully so, but I can't help but deny that partnering this book with another was a bad choice in my part that inevitably staunched my enjoyment of it. One of the things, in fact, I struggle with the most is a sort of initial confusion that didn't diminish throughout the reading experience as I tried to piece together the author's world. It's also true that as I have noted from other reviews not much happens throughout this book and this brought it to be a boring in some parts.
But gods! the whole architecture and meaning of this is utterly fabolous, alongside the knowledge that everything written is somehow already happened and you can see the echoes of it throughout the writing. An enchanting scifi reads.
But gods! the whole architecture and meaning of this is utterly fabolous, alongside the knowledge that everything written is somehow already happened and you can see the echoes of it throughout the writing. An enchanting scifi reads.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Blood, Grief, Dysphoria, War, Classism, and Deportation
gilnean's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Incest, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Ableism, Child death, Cursing, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Excrement, Vomit, and Sexual harassment
shiveryteacup's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Blood, and Medical content
ylimets's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Xenophobia
Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Incest
verytwilly's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
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? No
Striking, beautiful, elegant in its prose, consideration of topics, and motifs. This novel is both a work of art and of philosophy. I enjoyed it to such an extent that I’m lost for words to describe how much it fascinated, compelled, and inspired me…
Content Warnings
Minor: Body shaming, Confinement, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Suicide, and Violence
kemrick19's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Incest, Slavery, Suicide, and Grief
thomasdj's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Slavery and Torture
Minor: Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
angorarabbit's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
TLDR: A bit challenging, it needs a closer reading than many first contact sci-fi novels, but is worth the effort for the ideas and the writing.
Clarketech: Mind speech, near light speed space travel, ftl communications, Chabe stoves, cryosleep or hibernation during space flights.
Context: I loved what had been published in the Earthsea series in the late 1970’s so tried to read this then. Sadly, my head was too full of wizards and dragons for me to appreciate this gem. I am sorry I didn’t rectify my error before now.
I did have difficulty getting into the novel. The book is written first person singular with short hearth-tales, interspersed for the first quarter of the novel. Then a second voice is added. You then go back and forth between povs with the only indication being the context of the chapter..
Ms LeGuin does not hold your hand introducing you to this new world. While my edition did have a few helpful footnotes and a Gethenian Calendar and Clock addendum; there are many words are in the native languages with little to no explanation as to what an earth translation might be. It took me awhile to understand that Estraven was writing in a journal and that the strange words were dates.
I have read that there is some controversy over the use of the pronoun he to describe the inhabitants of Gethen. Ms LeGuin has appologized for this. I would point out that he was used instead of they in the US in the 1960’s The author has also acknowledged and apologised for the presumption that all Gethens were heterosexual . So much of the novel being Genly’s report, I don’t think there is enough information to judge how the Gethens actually felt about orientation. I would agree that Genly does appear to be homophobic or perhaps in denial over his own orientation, especially in the middle chapters.
I also wondered at Genly’s statement that very few women were known as mathematicians, composers, or inventors. He seems to be at a loss when talking about women at all and seems to be uncomfortable with what he sees as feminine characteristics. It seemed that the Ekumen would have an equal division of labour on its ships. In fact the first Ekumen off the ship in the last chapter is identified as female. One would also think that their first contact on a planet would be more comfortable with any gender.
There are many thoughtful and beautiful passages in the book and it is a great starting point to discussing gender and orientation. I did not see any passages that would be problematic for a tween to read. I would like to get the collected Hainish Cycle and read the novels and stories in sequence, plus reread this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcohol
gender and orientation diversity is complicated