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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
dark
reflective
medium-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:
Yes
Maanpakolaisten planeetta ei kuulu lukemieni Le Guin kirjojen (tai Hain-sarjan) kärkikastiin. Mielestäni tarina oli lähtökohdiltaan ihan kiinnostava, mutta se kuitenkin jotenkin vesittyi heti alun jälkeen ja muuttui melko tavalliseksi tarinaksi "kielletystä" rakkaudesta ja sodasta. Tämän vuoksi kirjan lukeminen oli omalla kohdallani vähän pakkopullaa, kun mitään erityisen kiintoisaa siinä ei oikeastaan tapahtunut ja mikään ei sen kummemmin jaksanut yllättää. Hahmot olivat melko hengettömiä, eikä yksikään heistä ollut erityisen mieleenjäävä. Kokonaisuutena siis vähän vaisumpi, joskin onneksi lyhyt teos, joka ei jää millään erityisemmällä tavalla lukijan mieleen. Annan tälle vain 2 tähteä.
In their exploration of space, humans planted colonies on many different worlds. Then came the war with the Shing, shattering the League of All Worlds, and the farthest settlements were left alone and forgotten, unknowing of the fate of their home planets.
On Werel, settlers never fully mingled with the native population, although they remain on friendly terms with those who live near to their cities. But when an army threatens their lands from the North, settlers and natives alike can only choose to fight together or be swept away.
The fragile collaboration threatens to shatter when love blossoms between one of the settlers’ representatives and the natives’ chief’s daughter.
Why read it: solid world-building, good writing style, the story is relevant to the next book in the cycle, City of Illusions
Why not: characters are underdeveloped, and thus the main romance plot is boring.
A wondrous world
As with every other sci-fi novel by Le Guin I’ve read, the world-building is nothing short of amazing. Not only she explores the culture of the native population from which the female main character comes, but also the Alterran settlers one, an attempt to rebuild that of their home planet from what little cultural material the first generation brought with them. This was the thing I enjoyed the most about the book.
I also quite enjoyed the descriptions of landscapes, especially the Alterran town. Its description closely resembles some villages from my region, so it’s likely I got attached for sentimental reasons though.
Romeo & Juliet IN SPACE!
On the backdrop of the upcoming war, the narration focuses mostly on the love story between Jakob Agat and Rolery. Born from different peoples, their romance puts a big spanner in the building of an alliance and indirectly leads to many of the most tragic happenings in the plot.
Now I try not to hate on romance because I’m not twelve anymore, but it is definitely the weakest and most boring part of the plot, although it is significant to the overall story and subverts the “national romance” (although it had certainly been done before): it’s not the protagonists’ love that unites their peoples, it’s the invading army from the north and). But it has a big issue in that the characters of this novel, like in Rocannon’s World and partially in City of Exiles, are not fully developed. If in the other two the plot was interesting enough on its own to make up for it, there is no way to make romance interesting if readers don’t care about the characters.
It got really boring at times and I doubt I would have finished it if it wasn’t such a tiny book. Seriously, I had flashbacks of being ten and skipping the kissing to see how the war was going.
Even in the last section
Overall I think I would have preferred to see the story from the POV of Umaksuman, the Tevaran who is most invested in making the alliance, or even better just see how the two peoples merged and changed after. We get to see a bit of that in the next novel of the series, City of Illusions, even though it is not set on Werel.
On Werel, settlers never fully mingled with the native population, although they remain on friendly terms with those who live near to their cities. But when an army threatens their lands from the North, settlers and natives alike can only choose to fight together or be swept away.
The fragile collaboration threatens to shatter when love blossoms between one of the settlers’ representatives and the natives’ chief’s daughter.
Why read it: solid world-building, good writing style, the story is relevant to the next book in the cycle, City of Illusions
Why not: characters are underdeveloped, and thus the main romance plot is boring.
A wondrous world
As with every other sci-fi novel by Le Guin I’ve read, the world-building is nothing short of amazing. Not only she explores the culture of the native population from which the female main character comes, but also the Alterran settlers one, an attempt to rebuild that of their home planet from what little cultural material the first generation brought with them. This was the thing I enjoyed the most about the book.
I also quite enjoyed the descriptions of landscapes, especially the Alterran town. Its description closely resembles some villages from my region, so it’s likely I got attached for sentimental reasons though.
Romeo & Juliet IN SPACE!
On the backdrop of the upcoming war, the narration focuses mostly on the love story between Jakob Agat and Rolery. Born from different peoples, their romance puts a big spanner in the building of an alliance and indirectly leads to many of the most tragic happenings in the plot.
Now I try not to hate on romance because I’m not twelve anymore, but it is definitely the weakest and most boring part of the plot, although it is significant to the overall story and subverts the “national romance” (although it had certainly been done before): it’s not the protagonists’ love that unites their peoples, it’s the invading army from the north and
Spoiler
the destruction of TevarIt got really boring at times and I doubt I would have finished it if it wasn’t such a tiny book. Seriously, I had flashbacks of being ten and skipping the kissing to see how the war was going.
Even in the last section
Spoiler
where the war gets to Landin and everyone is fighting, there is plenty of thinking about romance, Rolery especially seems to worry about nothing save Jakob. It is understandable, since she’s an outsider in Landin and would probably be treated horribly if her husband died, but this doesn’t make it any less tedious.Overall I think I would have preferred to see the story from the POV of Umaksuman, the Tevaran who is most invested in making the alliance, or even better just see how the two peoples merged and changed after
Spoiler
the discovery that interbreeding is possible
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No