Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories Vol. 1 (LOA #296): Rocannon's World / Planet of Exile / City of Illusions / The Left Hand of Darkness / ... of America Ursula K. Le Guin Edition)

, #1

Hardcover, 1100 pages

English language

Published Sept. 5, 2017 by Library of America.

ISBN:
978-1-59853-538-9
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4 stars (75 reviews)

The star-spanning story of humanity's colonization of other planets, Ursula K. Le Guin's visionary Hainish novels and stories redrew the map of modern science fiction. This first volume in a definitive two-volume edition gathers the first five Hainish novels: Rocannon's World, in which an ethnologist sent to a bronze-age planet must help defeat an intergalactic enemy; Planet of Exile, the story of human colonists stranded on a planet that is slowly killing them; City of Illusions, which finds a future Earth ruled by the mysterious Shing; and the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning masterpieces The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed—as well as four short stories and a new introduction by the author.

"Ursula Le Guin can lift fiction to the level of poetry and compress it to the density of allegory." —Jonathan Lethem

1 edition

Review of "Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories Vol. 1 (LOA #296): Rocannon's World / Planet of Exile / City of Illusions / The Left Hand of Darkness / ... of America Ursula K. Le Guin Edition)" on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

It was actually amazing. I'm incredibly impressed by her ability to make me see images of contexts I do not know (something I'm not typically very good at). I was a bit afraid, at the beginning, of getting lost in proper names, but I finally got the gist of it (it may or may not have me search for a map of Gethen, which helped a lot.)

I must admit I would have loved a HEA. It was fairly obvious from a few chapters before that it was probably not going to happen, and that ending got me frantically turn pages with a "no, no, nooooo" in my head, and it probably delivered a more emotional/memorable ending this way... but I would have loved a HEA.

Review of "Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories Vol. 1 (LOA #296): Rocannon's World / Planet of Exile / City of Illusions / The Left Hand of Darkness / ... of America Ursula K. Le Guin Edition)" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

A tale as old as time. Boring stuff happens, then two people become best friends on a perilous journey.

I'm being unfairly harsh. It's a 70 year old book. I'm unfair to expect novelty. What was novel at its time, I have already seen rehashed a hundred times since. I'm sorry I haven't read it earlier.

I think the first half is boring because there's nothing to care about. The Foretellers sounded like a hook, but they end up on par with an interesting rock. "They commune spiritually and tell the future? Kinda cool, I guess. Anyway..."

The societal aspect is a lot of coverage for two opposed countries. The message seems to be that a powerless monarchy is preferable to an oppressive communist regime. I never felt the need to rank these options, but okay.

Gender. It's pretty cool! It's cool as a gimmick, and it's also cool as …

Excellent Books from A Different Time

4 stars

This book is a collection of five novels and four short stories, as well as an essay and introductions to each of those novels, set in Le Guin's Hainish universe. Each novel contains all the information about the universe necessary to understand that novel, though taken together they reveal a more complex picture than any one alone. The gist is that millions of years ago, the people of a planet called Hain or Davenant seeded various worlds with human colonists. (Though most of these worlds had no previous inhabitants, it is mentioned in one story that hominid life arose independantly on Earth; humans, however, are descended from Hainish settlers.) This serves as a vehicle for exploring humanity in various contexts and situations which otherwise do not exist in real life, as the League of All Worlds - or the Ekumen, in the later novels - started by Hain seeks to …

Review of "Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories Vol. 1 (LOA #296): Rocannon's World / Planet of Exile / City of Illusions / The Left Hand of Darkness / ... of America Ursula K. Le Guin Edition)" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I was a bit bored for the first part of this book, but the latter half was great!

Review of "Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories Vol. 1 (LOA #296): Rocannon's World / Planet of Exile / City of Illusions / The Left Hand of Darkness / ... of America Ursula K. Le Guin Edition)" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Not really anything particularly outstanding about this story, but Ursula’s writing is like comfort food for me. I enjoy her thoughtful, quiet tone.

Review of "Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories Vol. 1 (LOA #296): Rocannon's World / Planet of Exile / City of Illusions / The Left Hand of Darkness / ... of America Ursula K. Le Guin Edition)" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I am dithering between three and four stars for this book. I have a huge amount of respect for the ideas, not only for the unusual gender roles and sexuality the book is famous for, but also for the general theme of duality and otherness that is weaved throughout the book. There’s a lot to think about and to explore in this book as metaphor.

My issue is that the plot wanders, often focuses on subtle and arcane interpersonal politics, and there are whole sections that are just deadly dull. I found myself skimming a lot, especially toward the end when there’s a long long passage of the characters wandering through descriptions of the landscape. I also did not find the characters well formed or well differentiated, and as the point of view shifts from chapter to chapter it usually took me a little while to figure out who was …

Review of "Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories Vol. 1 (LOA #296): Rocannon's World / Planet of Exile / City of Illusions / The Left Hand of Darkness / ... of America Ursula K. Le Guin Edition)" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Woah

Review of "Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories Vol. 1 (LOA #296): Rocannon's World / Planet of Exile / City of Illusions / The Left Hand of Darkness / ... of America Ursula K. Le Guin Edition)" on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book turned me into a science fiction fan, back when. I reread it from time to time, and I always love it just as much as the first time.

I was 10, and I'd read all the kid section and headed into young adult. I was afraid that someone would stop me, actually--"Hey, you're ten, outta there!" But no. And thank goodness, 'cause I ploughed through all their Le Guins.

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