A review by cjblandford
Worlds of Exile and Illusion: Rocannon's World, Planet of Exile, City of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 There are 3 novellas or very short novels in this collection. The first is Rocannon's World about a scientist from a group called The League of All Worlds who is in the process of making second contact with a civilization on the planet when he realizes he has been cut off from the rest of the League, which can only mean that war has broken out and that The Enemy have come to this planet. The only thing he can try to do is break into the enemy's base to use their communication device to warn The League that the Enemy have come. The story becomes a fairly straightforward '70s adventure story, but I appreciated the little details here. Careful attention is placed on the anthropological details. I appreciated the way Rocannon's name is spelled when a native is pronouncing it versus how people from off-world spell it. The League has an interesting approach to these worlds, in that they do not want to interfere with the natural development of the people on these planets and don't introduce technology that could sway them in a particular direction. This story, and well, all of the stories to some extent could be considered space fantasy, because the civilization on this planet that Rocannon is involved in, uses swords and armor, ride flying cats, and believe prophecy more than science. But on his journey, Rocannon basically assimilates into the native culture, but his name become's legendary in the greater League culture. The second story is called Planet of Exile, and it was a bit shorter, about 100 pages in the edition I read. The story involves another group of League scientists trying to survive on a remote planet where the seasons are incredibly long, and an invading group from the Northern part of the planet is threatening to destroy their settlement along with another native group who is slightly allied with the League scientists. Again, the League scientists don't use technology from the League and are also cut off from communicating with the rest of the League. This story is crucial for the last book, because it shows how the League group and the natives are able to merge and survive instead of staying separate and dying out. The story was more brutal with its depictions of violence and war, distrust, and stereotyping. But it ended on a hopeful note. The third story, City of Illusions was very interesting, especially the last 20 or so pages. The story follows a man with no memory as he travels the continent of North America in an attempt to find the truth of who he is and what happened to him. He appears to be from off-world, but during his journey he becomes an Earthling in his heart. We meet the Enemy, the Shing, in this story and the true conflict between the two groups is very interesting to me. The Shing believe in Reverence For Life, and preach not killing any life. They have figured out how to lie using Mindspeech, a form of telepathy that all of the main characters have been able to use to some extent. The difference being that normally, you cannot lie when using it. You are sharing pure thought, intention, and emotion directly from your mind to another's mind, and lying is impossible, but the Shing have figured out a way to transmit falsehoods, and so they are able to take over, despite their smaller numbers, because they convince everyone that there is no war, there is no enemy, just rebels from the League, and that they, with their reverence for life doctrine, are better at being the leaders and unifying everyone. But their process for doing this is to limit the technology that people develop or use, and using a device to destroy a person's personality and memory, but keeping them alive, because they have the superior reverence for life. How the main character learned about this and overcame the enemy was very interesting and thought-provoking. All of the stories were interesting, but the third one was the best and more mature novel. I'm looking forward to diving further into the Hainish cycle.