A review by smoladeryn
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

What will the creature made all of seadrift do in the dry sand of daylight; what will the mind do, each morning, waking?

p2

Slow at first, definitely a product of its time, the brilliance and reason for this to be deemed a “classic” shows itself for the last 1/3 of the book. 

Terrifying in the end, a heartbreaking look at a terrible abuse of power. 

Le Guin shows in less than 200 pages how “good intentioned” men do indeed become abusive, power hungry, and ultimately, lost, men. 

The quality of the will to power is, precisely, growth. Achievement is it’s cancellation. To be, the will to power must increase with each fulfillment, making the fulfillment only a step to a further one. The vaster the power gained, the vaster the appetite for more. 

p131

just believing you’re right and your motives are good isn’t enough. You have to… be in touch. He isn’t in touch. No one else, no thing even, has an existence of its own for him; he sees the world only as a means to his end. It doesn’t make any difference if his end is good; means are all we’ve got… He can’t accept, he can’t let be, he can’t let go. 

p156

and a machine is more blameless, more sinless even than any animal. It has no intentions whatsoever but our own. 

p174