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A review by erasmios
The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.0
The Athshean culture Le Guin has created feels organic and cohesive, apparently coincidentally sharing many similarities with the Senoi people of Malaysia. For the little green men of Athshe dreaming isn't separated from reality, but the other half of it. The book is quite short so it left me hoping for more details regarding the Athshean way of living as we don't really see how the wake-dreaming works until the very end. But that's just something all good books do, they leave you wanting more. At least the story never stagnates but rolls forward at a steady pace.
Even when writing about distant planets and alien species that don't exist, Le Guin had the talent to write about real things, things that actually matter. Here Le Guin warns us how dangerous it can be to not see people as people, but as animals, as rats. How easily one can consider slave camps "The Voluntary Autochthonous Labour Corps", or how easily the end justifies the means if it's for the good of the human race. The evil in this novel is utterly corrupted, beyond salvation, probably the evilest Le Guin has ever written. I wonder if Colonel Miles Quaritch (Avatar) was modelled after Captain Davidson (they honestly feel like the same character to me). The bellicose evil he represents isn't fictional but has fought, killed, tortured, raped, murdered and burned homes since the dawn of man.
This novel is a must-read for all SciFi fans.
Even when writing about distant planets and alien species that don't exist, Le Guin had the talent to write about real things, things that actually matter. Here Le Guin warns us how dangerous it can be to not see people as people, but as animals, as rats. How easily one can consider slave camps "The Voluntary Autochthonous Labour Corps", or how easily the end justifies the means if it's for the good of the human race. The evil in this novel is utterly corrupted, beyond salvation, probably the evilest Le Guin has ever written. I wonder if Colonel Miles Quaritch (Avatar) was modelled after Captain Davidson (they honestly feel like the same character to me). The bellicose evil he represents isn't fictional but has fought, killed, tortured, raped, murdered and burned homes since the dawn of man.
This novel is a must-read for all SciFi fans.