City of Illusions

A man in search of himself, because he is different and doesn't know why. So far, so good. The book felt slow at times, but it's a Novella so you know that it can't drag on too long.

The character is pretty likable, but the main story arc only happens in the last third of the book and then the final part is only a couple of pages long.

Recommended for completionist like me, it's a decent read.

This early work of Ursula Le Guin sees her in her period of writing more classical, "hard" science fiction; yet her personal fingerprint is fortunately still all over this story.
This is not a ground breaking piece of literature, it's a nice little well-rounded, bite-size, easily digestible and entertaining story, yet it still manages to discretely subvert many of the genre tropes and stereotypes and raise some interesting questions. And as always, no matter how great and imaginative world building and science fiction technology Le Guin creates, it is always the people who take front and center.

Stylistically, Le Guin hadn't quite found her stride yet when writing this book, it is not as well written as her later works. But it is still immensely enjoyable, and a snapshot of a one-woman literary revolution in its beginnings. And also just plain old entertaining and captivating.

Story and worldbuilding take a leap forward and reinforce each other. First serious engagement with identity and culture as changeable.