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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
- brilliant early take on "othering"
- (narrative) gaze is shifting and shifting again
- constantly asking who are the "aliens" here?
- and directly addressing the readers with that question.
- early stance in Le Guin's career on hierarchy, norms, power and domination
- also: "winter is coming"
FIRST LINE REVIEW: "In the last days of the last moonphase of Autumn a wind blew from the northern ranges through the dying forests of Askatevar, a cold wind that smelled of smoke and snow." An opening sentence that's a great example of this genre, carried out so well by Le Guin. A tightly-written, very short novel that carried me back to the sci-fi I used to love reading as a young boy. Good, intelligent stuff!
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh, this is much better than Rocannon's World. I still have some issues with it, but this is a tight book, not branching off too much. Definitely a step up, imo.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
There was a single survivor of an advanced civilization stranded on a primitive planet in the first book. For the second, there's an entire lost colony that has been stranded for ~600 years. The book switches viewpoints between Rolery, a female of the Tevaran, one of the native humanoids, and Jakob, one of the Terrans.
The Terrans have become very insular over the centuries, as shown by the statement that a certain woman was "his cousin ten times over, his sister-playmate-lover-companion." I felt that this book had a strong influence on some aspects of Game of Thrones. A quick search showed others thought similarly. The phrase "Winter was coming" is used, and is meant in the same way as in GOT because their winters are very long, nearly 15 years, and harsh. There were various other similarities.
There are snowghouls, which play a rather minor role. I thought they were going to be snow zombies, but they were not-yeti. There's also a part where a character almost says "Life finds a way". Probably half the book is a (moderate spoiler).
This book was very different from the first in many ways though it had a similar set-up. The book began with a lot of imagery that I enjoyed. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed reading this. It could have been better in various ways, and after going to sleep and then awaking I saw this more clearly. A lot of the names seemed to slightly off from their real-world counterparts, but that's fine, and in some ways to be expected. There's a character named Jonkendy which immediately made me think of JFK and he's, so yeah, I don't know if that was meant to be a reference or not.
The Terrans have become very insular over the centuries, as shown by the statement that a certain woman was "his cousin ten times over, his sister-playmate-lover-companion." I felt that this book had a strong influence on some aspects of Game of Thrones. A quick search showed others thought similarly. The phrase "Winter was coming" is used, and is meant in the same way as in GOT because their winters are very long, nearly 15 years, and harsh. There were various other similarities.
There are snowghouls, which play a rather minor role. I thought they were going to be snow zombies, but they were not-yeti. There's also a part where a character almost says "Life finds a way". Probably half the book is a (moderate spoiler)
Spoiler
siege on the last remaining Terran city, Landin, by the not-Mongol hordes led by Kubben (not-Kublai)This book was very different from the first in many ways though it had a similar set-up. The book began with a lot of imagery that I enjoyed. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed reading this. It could have been better in various ways, and after going to sleep and then awaking I saw this more clearly. A lot of the names seemed to slightly off from their real-world counterparts, but that's fine, and in some ways to be expected. There's a character named Jonkendy which immediately made me think of JFK and he's
Spoiler
killed later on
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
So incredibly ahead of its time with the concept of aliens and “the other” and belonging! What is a neighbor? A LOVE STORY and a quick read! Amazing and mind blowing as all of Ursula’s creations!!!
Despite a promising setting, this story was not too intriguing for me, and its execution fell flat. I would've liked to read more about these long winters and the future of the humans and the hilfs on this planet; instead we got the plot with the gaal and its one battle, which were anticlimactic. As in Rocannon's World, the concept of mindspeech is again underdeveloped, not really used, and would have way more consequences for a society than was shown.
The prose was, as usual for LeGuin, very beautiful and made it an easy and enjoyable read for me despite not being very satisfied with the plot.
The prose was, as usual for LeGuin, very beautiful and made it an easy and enjoyable read for me despite not being very satisfied with the plot.
adventurous