Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Review

… not sure what this book wants to convey.

First of all the pacing is weird. It spends too much time on the skiing adventure. I have the most of my attention on that section as there is real action there, however, there is pretty much no content there. Unlike Robin Robb’s book, where there is no plot, there are character interactions and development, in this book there really is very little thing in that section. The emotional and relationship build-up is there, but minimal, not enough to justify the length of the section.

And then the ending. Okay? The alien finally came, so what? What are you trying to say? Tbh I don’t quite get the main theme, which is the 太極 陰陽雙生 light is the left hand of darkness while darkness is the right hand of light thing. Obviously I understand what it means, but what does it have to do with the theme of the book? Sure the Kardashians (Gethenians) are 陰陽共體, but I don’t see how the main plot is connected to that. The world settings and the plot just don’t seem very well connected with each other.

I find the world settings interesting. The biology, the culture, and how sex affects their personality are thought-provoking. So are they the things or the metaphors you want to convey? And the plot is merely a device? If that’s so it’s still a bit weak. It would have been much better if this book was written out as a novella or even a short story, as the world settings are enlightening, but the main plot is really necessary. There is no reason to make the book a 300-pager.

Also, why do people say it’s a sci-fi? It’s not a sci-fi at all. It’s more like literary fiction. A literary speculative fiction yes, but never science fiction.

After reading a few reviews I really don’t think I’ve missed out on anything substantial, which I thought I had. I like the prose, they are very subtle and indirect, and make you feel good and mesmerized by the subtlety when you reread a confusing sentence and then realize what it means. But the main theme also suffers from subtlety, for me at least. It is too subtle to connect the different parts of the story and make up a big wheel of time, which is what I prefer in a story, especially in full-length speculative fiction (The Wheel of Time is extremely mediocre tho). I do also enjoy stories without a main epic theme but some well-written characters such as Liveship Traders, but I don’t think the characters are particularly well written with significant character development and engaging emotional interactions in this book also.

Again, they are way too subtle. This level of subtlety is just not for me I guess. They are okay for passing time or clearing your mind, but can never become my all-time favorites.

I’d have to give it a 6/10. 6 is actually not the worst score. You can’t get a 6 from me if there’s nothing interesting in the story, but I cannot imagine how can anyone think of this book as life-changing.

I have yet to find a 20th western classic that is actually great. I am hoping The Book of the New Sun to be the one, but I highly doubt it after so many let downs, though I have barely passed a quarter of its first installment.

Have no idea this book is in the “Hainish Cycle” series tho.

Quotes

Fire in Karhide is to warm the spirit not the flesh.

As they say in Ekumenical School, when action grows unprofitable, gather information, when information grows unprofitable, sleep.

Oracular ambiguity or statistical probability provides loopholes, and discrepancies are expunged by faith.

But also if it were proven that there is a god, there will be no religion.

I had my eyes on the stars, and didn’t watch the mud I walked in.

Winter hasn’t achieved in thirty centuries what Terra once achieved in thirty decades. Neither has Winter ever paid the price that Terra paid.

“Fire and fear, good servants, bad lords.” He makes fear serve him.

Reading Log

Started the book on Feb. 17, and finished on Feb. 21. Read the paperback version, and found it to be understandable and enjoyable without looking up word definitions most of the time. Due to the indirectness of Ursula Le Guin’s prose, I was not able to speed through it, but I enjoy it. I picked up the speed during the skiing adventure section as there are more actions and is more straightforward there, but I did not enjoy that part as much as the previous world-building sections. It was more of a drag to me, a filler section. Part of the process growing up I guess, the past excitements become cheap tricks, while the past boredoms become insights.

I really think my English novel reading comprehension increased after the first 2 books of Broken Earth and a bit of The Book of the New Sun. In fact, after reading a few pages of The Book of the New Sun, everything becomes so easy and straightforward.

I’ll try a few or at least one more Ursula Le Guin. The Dispossessed would be the first. Hope that it won’t also be the last.