Reviews - The Left Hand of Darkness

11k reviews for:

The Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin

4.07 AVERAGE

andrewgolden's review against another edition

2.75

challenging slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

rooree93's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

doublethinker's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

_slara's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional inspiring 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: Yes

andyslibrary42's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

This was not what I expected from a classic sci fi novel, or really any classics, but it shocked me with some of the things it explored. Specifically gender, sexuality and identity. We follow Genly Ai, an emissary on Winter, whose mission is to persuade the Gethenians to join the Ekumen. The world building in this book was phenomenal. The politics, religions, cultures and even dialect that we got to see through the book were fascinating. It was really interesting that all of the people on this planet were ambisexual and to see how Ai understands them. I really enjoyed getting the POV from one of the natives of this planet as well. I do think some of the pacing was too slow for me so that’s why I didn’t love this more. I understand that this isn’t supposed to be super plot heavy though, so that’s just a personal preference. But I love a good study on humans (or aliens) and humanity/connection in general and this was a great look at that!