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It feels weird to give an out-of-five star rating, the same way I'd rate a USB cable I bought online, to a book like this.

It's like the worst of asking lay people whether they like Beethoven's Fifth Symphony or Einstein's paper on the photoelectric effect. Yes, of course, but that's almost beside the point now, and focusing on it distracts from the true importance.

This is an incredible story, from the nature of the telling, to the glimpses given of a vast science fiction universe that say a lot in few words in Le Guin's classic manner, to its depiction of gender that, as I understand it, feels less shocking now in part due to the impact it had when it first came out. My only regret for this book is that it took me so long to finally start to read it. It's even a fast and easy read, that draws you in and wondering what will happen next whether the characters are on a perilous journey or quietly talking in a monastery.