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A review by oldmin
Planet of Exile by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.0
This little adventure has a lot more texture than its short length would imply.
In Planet of Exile, Le Guin presents us with the apparent last days of human colonization of an alien world, one in which the seasons last decades and the native inhabitants are cautious of human beings. Communication between other human beings and the colony had long since ceased, and the population of humans dwindled, while their relations to the natives grew strained and suspicious. Ironically, the natives themselves seem to have more recognizably "human" inner and social lives than the actual humans, because the human colonists are so far advanced as to have psychic powers--they seem remote and magisterial. One of the natives chances upon the chief of the human colony and discovers her latent psychic abilities. After she returns home, the leader of the local native tribe--her father, a colorful character who had previously wed a human woman--learns that before the upcoming winter, barbarian tribes have united and will conquer their winter fortress. They ally with the human colonists to fend off this attack, but their preparation comes too late.
Le Guin never disappoints with her settings: this one contains so many mysteries, only some of which are resolved by the end, and the work is better for it. By leaving us in the dark about the fate of the greater part of humanity, we are put in the same position as the human colonists who lost contact long ago. By telling the story mostly from the point of view of the natives, learning about the human colonists, we both empathize with the colonized people and find out what future humanity is like alongside these temperamental and bad-at-planning aliens. We can see parts of ourselves both in these perfected (super)humans and in the "less developed" native non-humans--perhaps they were meant to represent our ideals and our past coming into contact.
The colonizer-colonized relationship is complicated in this book but never ignored: Le Guin treats it with nuance and consideration, never falling into easy stereotypes like "the primitive natives" and "the civilized humans" even though, at first glance, the two major groups of characters might be seen as falling into those categories. She weaves a tale of survival, frustration, and intrigue that avoids cliche and makes one want to read more pieces set in this fictional universe.
In Planet of Exile, Le Guin presents us with the apparent last days of human colonization of an alien world, one in which the seasons last decades and the native inhabitants are cautious of human beings. Communication between other human beings and the colony had long since ceased, and the population of humans dwindled, while their relations to the natives grew strained and suspicious. Ironically, the natives themselves seem to have more recognizably "human" inner and social lives than the actual humans, because the human colonists are so far advanced as to have psychic powers--they seem remote and magisterial. One of the natives chances upon the chief of the human colony and discovers her latent psychic abilities. After she returns home, the leader of the local native tribe--her father, a colorful character who had previously wed a human woman--learns that before the upcoming winter, barbarian tribes have united and will conquer their winter fortress. They ally with the human colonists to fend off this attack, but their preparation comes too late.
Le Guin never disappoints with her settings: this one contains so many mysteries, only some of which are resolved by the end, and the work is better for it. By leaving us in the dark about the fate of the greater part of humanity, we are put in the same position as the human colonists who lost contact long ago. By telling the story mostly from the point of view of the natives, learning about the human colonists, we both empathize with the colonized people and find out what future humanity is like alongside these temperamental and bad-at-planning aliens. We can see parts of ourselves both in these perfected (super)humans and in the "less developed" native non-humans--perhaps they were meant to represent our ideals and our past coming into contact.
The colonizer-colonized relationship is complicated in this book but never ignored: Le Guin treats it with nuance and consideration, never falling into easy stereotypes like "the primitive natives" and "the civilized humans" even though, at first glance, the two major groups of characters might be seen as falling into those categories. She weaves a tale of survival, frustration, and intrigue that avoids cliche and makes one want to read more pieces set in this fictional universe.