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Hainish Cycle #2
Il pianeta dell'esilio
Su Werel, terzo pianeta del sistema di Gamma Draconis, le stagioni durano decine d'anni terrestri, e ora l'Autunno sta per finire. L'Inverno sarà una sorpresa per le generazioni più giovani, che non l'hanno mai conosciuto, e una dura prova per tutti. Ma le ostilità del clima non sono le sole contro cui gli abitanti devono combattere: ci sono anche i barbari Gaal e i mostruosi diavoli della neve. La contesa contro la natura avversa e i nemici esterni unisce le due razze umanoidi di Werel: i Nati Lontano, ultimi superstiti della colonia hainita che vivono nella città costiera di Landin, ormai isolati da oltre seicento anni dalla madrepatria, e i nomadi nativi del pianeta. È così che Jakob Agat Alterra, discendente degli "alieni" hainiti, conosce la giovane Rolery, figlia di un capo Clan nativo, e se ne innamora. Ma non sarà facile stabilire un'alleanza fra due razze che sembrano destinate all'eterna incomprensione… Pubblicato nel 1966, Il pianeta dell'esilio costituisce il secondo tassello del "Ciclo dell'Ecumene", un grandioso affresco della storia futura dell'umanità che Ursula K. Le Guin tratteggia con un'eccezionale abilità nel dare vita sulla pagina ad affascinanti mondi alieni.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
About the author
Ursula K. Le Guin
973 books26k followersUrsula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.
She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.
She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.
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October 27, 2017
A pretty strong 3 stars, but I've dropped off of my initial 3.5 star (rounded up) rating. Final review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:
We’re on the backwater planet Werel, where a human colony from Earth landed some 600 years ago, dropped off by a starship than then left them to fight an unnamed enemy of humanity. Stranded ever since, and having lost all communications with galactic society, this group is slowly dying out, unable to thrive in Werel’s environment (among other things, the rate of spontaneous abortion and stillbirths is extremely high). They’re holding on to as much technology as they are able, but are slowly losing ground.
Werel also contains other tribes of humans in a primitive, superstitious pre-wheel society. These humans have been on the planet far longer, seeded by the Hainish galactic civilization countless millennia ago. There’s cautious trading and relations between the more recent arrivals, but also deep suspicion of the “farborn” by the natives, with their blue-black skins and technology that the natives don’t comprehend. Their peoples have been separated for so long that the farborn can’t successfully have children with the natives, who they call hilfs (highly intelligent life forms).
The unique thing about Werel is that one of its years is equivalent to 60 normal Earth years. So every season lasts for 15 years, and Winter is coming ― which is truly brutal; everyone just hunkers down and survives on the food they’ve been able to store. But now word has come that a group of barbaric nomads, the Gaal, has organized into a mass army and is marching on both the farborn and the local natives, killing everyone in their path.
The farborn and the local hilfs make a tentative, hard-won deal to cooperate in fighting the Gaal. That deal violently falls apart when Agat Alterra and Rolery, a farborn man and a hilf woman, enter into what seems to be a very ill-advised fling, forbidden by hilf society on pain of death. Now the barbarians are at the door, and everyone’s in trouble.
Initially I was mentally dinging this novel for relying on insta-love, but it’s not really that. It’s more infatuation and loneliness on the part of both Agat and Rolery, which is eminently believable. It begins as a temporary relationship, a coming together for comfort and sex, though it’s deeper and more meaningful than just a fling. But both Rolery and Agat think their secret relationship won’t ― can’t ― last. As everything goes south, literally and figuratively, they may find out differently.
Planet of Exile is the second novel in the two-volume Ursula K. Le Guin: The Hainish Novels and Stories collection that I’m currently making my way through. At the end of the first volume is a fascinating commentary, written by Le Guin in the 70s, in which she chides herself for falling into fairly traditional sexual roles with this novel. However, as Le Guin also points out, Rolery, as quiet as she is, has grit and determination, and is much more of an active change catalyst than she may seem to be at first glance.
One of the more interesting aspects of Planet of Exile is anthropological: Le Guin’s creation of a primitive human society and what happens when it exists side by side with, but relatively separated from, a more advanced civilization. The Notes section at the end of the Hainish Novels and Stories collection point out some of the features of the hilf society that echo actual native cultures on Earth, including avoiding direct eye contact (considered an aggressive gesture in many Native American groups) and the ritual of stone-pounding.
Planet of Exile is a very short novel, one of Le Guin’s earliest. The scientific underpinnings of this tale were rather suspect in several ways; you just have to roll with them. But I still enjoyed the read; even in her early days, Le Guin’s emerging talent is clear. Points to her for including an interracial romance in a 1966 science fiction novel, and also for having the black people be the far more advanced civilization. In the 60s, that was significant.
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend Planet of Exile as a stand-alone read, but read in conjunction with her next novel, City of Illusions, which deals with some travelers from Werel many generations later, its impact on me was greatly enhanced.
Content note: There's a sexual relationship, but it's very subtly handled. No explicit sex.
We’re on the backwater planet Werel, where a human colony from Earth landed some 600 years ago, dropped off by a starship than then left them to fight an unnamed enemy of humanity. Stranded ever since, and having lost all communications with galactic society, this group is slowly dying out, unable to thrive in Werel’s environment (among other things, the rate of spontaneous abortion and stillbirths is extremely high). They’re holding on to as much technology as they are able, but are slowly losing ground.
Werel also contains other tribes of humans in a primitive, superstitious pre-wheel society. These humans have been on the planet far longer, seeded by the Hainish galactic civilization countless millennia ago. There’s cautious trading and relations between the more recent arrivals, but also deep suspicion of the “farborn” by the natives, with their blue-black skins and technology that the natives don’t comprehend. Their peoples have been separated for so long that the farborn can’t successfully have children with the natives, who they call hilfs (highly intelligent life forms).
The unique thing about Werel is that one of its years is equivalent to 60 normal Earth years. So every season lasts for 15 years, and Winter is coming ― which is truly brutal; everyone just hunkers down and survives on the food they’ve been able to store. But now word has come that a group of barbaric nomads, the Gaal, has organized into a mass army and is marching on both the farborn and the local natives, killing everyone in their path.
The farborn and the local hilfs make a tentative, hard-won deal to cooperate in fighting the Gaal. That deal violently falls apart when Agat Alterra and Rolery, a farborn man and a hilf woman, enter into what seems to be a very ill-advised fling, forbidden by hilf society on pain of death. Now the barbarians are at the door, and everyone’s in trouble.
Initially I was mentally dinging this novel for relying on insta-love, but it’s not really that. It’s more infatuation and loneliness on the part of both Agat and Rolery, which is eminently believable. It begins as a temporary relationship, a coming together for comfort and sex, though it’s deeper and more meaningful than just a fling. But both Rolery and Agat think their secret relationship won’t ― can’t ― last. As everything goes south, literally and figuratively, they may find out differently.
Planet of Exile is the second novel in the two-volume Ursula K. Le Guin: The Hainish Novels and Stories collection that I’m currently making my way through. At the end of the first volume is a fascinating commentary, written by Le Guin in the 70s, in which she chides herself for falling into fairly traditional sexual roles with this novel. However, as Le Guin also points out, Rolery, as quiet as she is, has grit and determination, and is much more of an active change catalyst than she may seem to be at first glance.
One of the more interesting aspects of Planet of Exile is anthropological: Le Guin’s creation of a primitive human society and what happens when it exists side by side with, but relatively separated from, a more advanced civilization. The Notes section at the end of the Hainish Novels and Stories collection point out some of the features of the hilf society that echo actual native cultures on Earth, including avoiding direct eye contact (considered an aggressive gesture in many Native American groups) and the ritual of stone-pounding.
Planet of Exile is a very short novel, one of Le Guin’s earliest. The scientific underpinnings of this tale were rather suspect in several ways; you just have to roll with them. But I still enjoyed the read; even in her early days, Le Guin’s emerging talent is clear. Points to her for including an interracial romance in a 1966 science fiction novel, and also for having the black people be the far more advanced civilization. In the 60s, that was significant.
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend Planet of Exile as a stand-alone read, but read in conjunction with her next novel, City of Illusions, which deals with some travelers from Werel many generations later, its impact on me was greatly enhanced.
Content note: There's a sexual relationship, but it's very subtly handled. No explicit sex.
January 8, 2018
Originally published in 1966, the audio version was produced in 2007. Le Guin is a pioneer among women sci-fi writers. Here she does a great job of creating an exciting new world with new beings. The two audiobook readers do a wonderful job of bringing the story further to life.
July 19, 2020
"She the stranger, the foreigner, of alien blood and mind, did not share his power or his conscience or his knowledge or his exile. She shared nothing at all with him, but had met him and joined with him wholly and immediately across the gulf of thier great difference: as if it were the difference, the alienness between them, that let them meet, and that in joining together, freed them."
― Ursula K. Le Guin, Planet of Exile
I'm making my way through Library of America's recent Le Guin Box Set. While the books don't have a specific order, I'm letting LOA chose the path. I guess that makes as much sense as anything. I have, however, already read The Dispossessed, so I guess I'm not reading them in EXACT Library of America order. Oh, well.
'Planet of Exile' is the second book in LOA's Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories, Vol. 1. It was originally published in 1966, Le Guin's second published novel (I believe). I love the prose. I love the spareness. I love the empathy of Le Guin's writing. Themes of foreigness, language, exile, belonging, family, history, surge and bubble througout this series. There is always a bit of an imbalance too in these books (I mean so far, I've only read 3 now).
There are usually those who have more knowledge, history, and perspective than other tribes of men. It is how that chasm gets crossed, fused, and understood that is key. This is where (I believe) much of Le Guin's genius lies. Yes, she is creating her own SciFi universe, but she is doing way more. She is unlocking OUR universe. Ultimately this isn't a Hainish story, this is a story of mankind, told in the form of a fable or tale.
― Ursula K. Le Guin, Planet of Exile
I'm making my way through Library of America's recent Le Guin Box Set. While the books don't have a specific order, I'm letting LOA chose the path. I guess that makes as much sense as anything. I have, however, already read The Dispossessed, so I guess I'm not reading them in EXACT Library of America order. Oh, well.
'Planet of Exile' is the second book in LOA's Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories, Vol. 1. It was originally published in 1966, Le Guin's second published novel (I believe). I love the prose. I love the spareness. I love the empathy of Le Guin's writing. Themes of foreigness, language, exile, belonging, family, history, surge and bubble througout this series. There is always a bit of an imbalance too in these books (I mean so far, I've only read 3 now).
There are usually those who have more knowledge, history, and perspective than other tribes of men. It is how that chasm gets crossed, fused, and understood that is key. This is where (I believe) much of Le Guin's genius lies. Yes, she is creating her own SciFi universe, but she is doing way more. She is unlocking OUR universe. Ultimately this isn't a Hainish story, this is a story of mankind, told in the form of a fable or tale.
June 12, 2019
3,5
A pesar de mi horrible edición con espantosa traducción he logrado disfrutar de este libro gracias a la grandeza de Ursula K Le Guin.
No se convertirá en una de mis historias preferidas de esta autora, pero como siempre, merece muchísimo la pena.
Se trata más bien de una novela corta (200 páginas) en las que asistimos a la unión obligada de dos especies abocadas a la destrucción por culpa de una gran amenaza. 'Planeta de exilio' trata sobre el beneficio del mestizaje, de la unión de culturas, que puede ser la verdadera clave para la supervivencia.
Una vez más me maravilla la cantidad de temas interesantes y complejos que trata la autora en medio de una trama aparentemente sencilla y superficial.
¿Tendremos alguna vez una (re)edición de TODOS los libros y relatos que componen el ciclo Ekumen en español? Porque vamos, LO NECESITAMOS.
****Como todas las historias que componen este ciclo es una historia autoconclusiva
A pesar de mi horrible edición con espantosa traducción he logrado disfrutar de este libro gracias a la grandeza de Ursula K Le Guin.
No se convertirá en una de mis historias preferidas de esta autora, pero como siempre, merece muchísimo la pena.
Se trata más bien de una novela corta (200 páginas) en las que asistimos a la unión obligada de dos especies abocadas a la destrucción por culpa de una gran amenaza. 'Planeta de exilio' trata sobre el beneficio del mestizaje, de la unión de culturas, que puede ser la verdadera clave para la supervivencia.
Una vez más me maravilla la cantidad de temas interesantes y complejos que trata la autora en medio de una trama aparentemente sencilla y superficial.
¿Tendremos alguna vez una (re)edición de TODOS los libros y relatos que componen el ciclo Ekumen en español? Porque vamos, LO NECESITAMOS.
****Como todas las historias que componen este ciclo es una historia autoconclusiva
March 5, 2023
While Le Guin's short fiction, for me, has been a mixed bag, I've liked (or, in one case, at least appreciated) the four novels by her that I've read. This was the second of those, read not long after A Wizard of Earthsea (and like it, read out loud to my wife), and the first one in the science fiction genre for which she's most noted. It's also only the second novel the author wrote, so quite an early work in her corpus.
Much of Le Guin's SF is set in the far future, and premised on the idea that humanoid life in our galaxy evolved on a planet called Hain. In the remote past, they supposedly established colonies on a number of other worlds, including Earth (from which humans are descended); but interstellar contact then ceased for eons, during which the various planetary populations evolved in different ways, sometimes influenced by early Hainish genetic engineering experiments. Sometime in our distant future, interstellar contact between Hain, Earth and a few other (relatively) nearby planets was restored, and they set up a Hain-led federation, the Ekumen, that then set about re-exploring the galaxy. Various novels and stories, including this one, are set in the centuries and millennia of that re-exploration. All of this body of work is often referred to –though not by Le Guin herself!-- as a series, the so-called “Hainish Cycle.” In point of fact, however, though they're united by this premise, the various individual works don't form a true series, and the author never conceived of them as one. They're all about entirely different characters, and they're not tied into any sort of common chronology. Le Guin stated on her website: "People write me nice letters asking what order they ought to read my science fiction books in — the ones that are called the Hainish or Ekumen cycle or saga or something. The thing is, they aren't a cycle or a saga. They do not form a coherent history. There are some clear connections among them, yes, but also some extremely murky ones. And some great discontinuities..." Barb and I approached this particular book as a stand-alone, and that basically fits with the author's own intention.
Our setting here is a planet that's quite some distance from its sun, so one of its years is as long as about 60 of ours. So seasons last about the equivalent of 15 years, including winter –and this far from the sun, winters are brutal. For some 600 Earth years, it's been home to a human colony; but their ancestors were forgotten long ago by the rest of the galaxy, and they don't have much high technology. The native human-like population (the colonists call them “hilfs,” from the acronym HILF, or “highly intelligent life form;” and the hilfs refer to them as the “Farborn”) is primitive in material culture, not yet having invented the wheel. They're divided into two cultural/ethnic groups, one of which settles in defined areas and has quasi-permanent, fortified communal settlements, occupied especially during the winter. The other group, the Gaal, are aggressive nomads who live further to the north during warmer weather, but migrate south of the equator at the approach of winter, plundering and slaughtering any non-Gaal in their path that they can overrun; and as the book opens, winter is approaching.
For generations, the Farborn have been dwindling in numbers. Their physiology just isn't adapted to the planet's microbiology, and miscarriages and stillbirths are common. They're at peace with their nearest settled hilf neighbors, and there's some desultory contact and trade. But the two groups don't really like or trust each other, and while sexual unions and even marriages aren't unheard of (local hilf leader Wold had a now-deceased Farborn wife, though she was just one spouse in a polygamous household), they're frowned on, and none of them have ever produced offspring; the Farborn's doctor believes that the genetic makeup of the two races is incompatible, due to their long evolutionary adaptation to different worlds. At the outset of this tale, though, two momentous events complicate the normal order of things. Most obviously, word comes into the area that the Gaal have formed a super-tribal alliance that's bringing their horde together, not in separate streams in different localities, but in one homicidal tidal wave –-and its headed this way. Less obviously, but ultimately just as importantly, a chance meeting between Wold's daughter Rolery and Farborn leader Jacob Agat Alterra soon leads the two into a tentative and at first undefined relationship born of sexual attraction and mutual loneliness. Their world is on the cusp of great events; and the reader will have a front-row seat to watch those unfold.
Back in the 60s, some observers of the SF field, impressed with Le Guin's early works, hailed her as “the next Leigh Brackett.” From what little I've read of Brackett's work, that wouldn't have been a mean role to play. As it turned out, Le Guin's work turned in different and more individual directions. But this and some of her other early work shows where the Brackett comparisons came from. Here, we have a vividly drawn, low-tech and hostile world that demands courage and toughness for survival, and we're looking at the prospect of warfare with edged weapons. It's not so violent as Brackett's Black Amazon of Mars, and unlike the title character of the latter, Rolery isn't a warrior woman. But readers can expect some violence –Le Guin probably sympathized with the “flower children” ethos of that era, but when you're dealing with the Gaal, greeting them with peace signs and flower bouquets won't be a winning strategy-- and our heroine here IS a strong-inside young woman with guts, agency and a sense of responsibility. Related to her upbringing by a father who was a world-class academic cultural anthropologist, Le Guin also brings a much stronger grasp of sociology and cultural dynamics to her world building (which here is superb!) than Brackett did; and she's also able to draw a much deeper picture of believable inter-racial and cross-cultural relations, including a romantic relationship. Indeed, the latter is a major theme here, trail-blazing for its time (both in the SF genre and in American fiction generally), and IMO a significant strength of this novel. She adds to that very skilled realistic characterizations, a compelling plot, and highly readable style.
If her world-building has a flaw (which she shares with Anne McCaffrey, particularly in the latter's Pern novels), it's the determined exclusion of any element of theistic religion in the imagined cultures. This reflects both authors' atheism (Le Guin was a professed Taoist, and in her preface to the edition of this book that I read relates some of her plotting here to Taoist values; but Taoism is in itself neither theistic nor necessarily atheistic); but it could be questioned whether it's as realistic as it was congenial. (The evidence of cultural anthropology would suggest that it's not, though this was one instance where Le Guin chose to ignore her favorite academic discipline.) Some readers also fault her for depicting the Jacob-Rolery relationship as an insta-love connection. On that count, however, I would defend her; I agree with another reviewer that their relationship, at least at its inception, isn't love as such (though that doesn't mean that it can't become that.... )
In summation, I think this would be a rewarding read for most fans of science fiction, and a good introduction to the genre for the curious. (Some critics consider Le Guin's later novel The Left Hand of Darkness to be her masterpiece; but though this isn't a majority position, I personally like this one better.)
Much of Le Guin's SF is set in the far future, and premised on the idea that humanoid life in our galaxy evolved on a planet called Hain. In the remote past, they supposedly established colonies on a number of other worlds, including Earth (from which humans are descended); but interstellar contact then ceased for eons, during which the various planetary populations evolved in different ways, sometimes influenced by early Hainish genetic engineering experiments. Sometime in our distant future, interstellar contact between Hain, Earth and a few other (relatively) nearby planets was restored, and they set up a Hain-led federation, the Ekumen, that then set about re-exploring the galaxy. Various novels and stories, including this one, are set in the centuries and millennia of that re-exploration. All of this body of work is often referred to –though not by Le Guin herself!-- as a series, the so-called “Hainish Cycle.” In point of fact, however, though they're united by this premise, the various individual works don't form a true series, and the author never conceived of them as one. They're all about entirely different characters, and they're not tied into any sort of common chronology. Le Guin stated on her website: "People write me nice letters asking what order they ought to read my science fiction books in — the ones that are called the Hainish or Ekumen cycle or saga or something. The thing is, they aren't a cycle or a saga. They do not form a coherent history. There are some clear connections among them, yes, but also some extremely murky ones. And some great discontinuities..." Barb and I approached this particular book as a stand-alone, and that basically fits with the author's own intention.
Our setting here is a planet that's quite some distance from its sun, so one of its years is as long as about 60 of ours. So seasons last about the equivalent of 15 years, including winter –and this far from the sun, winters are brutal. For some 600 Earth years, it's been home to a human colony; but their ancestors were forgotten long ago by the rest of the galaxy, and they don't have much high technology. The native human-like population (the colonists call them “hilfs,” from the acronym HILF, or “highly intelligent life form;” and the hilfs refer to them as the “Farborn”) is primitive in material culture, not yet having invented the wheel. They're divided into two cultural/ethnic groups, one of which settles in defined areas and has quasi-permanent, fortified communal settlements, occupied especially during the winter. The other group, the Gaal, are aggressive nomads who live further to the north during warmer weather, but migrate south of the equator at the approach of winter, plundering and slaughtering any non-Gaal in their path that they can overrun; and as the book opens, winter is approaching.
For generations, the Farborn have been dwindling in numbers. Their physiology just isn't adapted to the planet's microbiology, and miscarriages and stillbirths are common. They're at peace with their nearest settled hilf neighbors, and there's some desultory contact and trade. But the two groups don't really like or trust each other, and while sexual unions and even marriages aren't unheard of (local hilf leader Wold had a now-deceased Farborn wife, though she was just one spouse in a polygamous household), they're frowned on, and none of them have ever produced offspring; the Farborn's doctor believes that the genetic makeup of the two races is incompatible, due to their long evolutionary adaptation to different worlds. At the outset of this tale, though, two momentous events complicate the normal order of things. Most obviously, word comes into the area that the Gaal have formed a super-tribal alliance that's bringing their horde together, not in separate streams in different localities, but in one homicidal tidal wave –-and its headed this way. Less obviously, but ultimately just as importantly, a chance meeting between Wold's daughter Rolery and Farborn leader Jacob Agat Alterra soon leads the two into a tentative and at first undefined relationship born of sexual attraction and mutual loneliness. Their world is on the cusp of great events; and the reader will have a front-row seat to watch those unfold.
Back in the 60s, some observers of the SF field, impressed with Le Guin's early works, hailed her as “the next Leigh Brackett.” From what little I've read of Brackett's work, that wouldn't have been a mean role to play. As it turned out, Le Guin's work turned in different and more individual directions. But this and some of her other early work shows where the Brackett comparisons came from. Here, we have a vividly drawn, low-tech and hostile world that demands courage and toughness for survival, and we're looking at the prospect of warfare with edged weapons. It's not so violent as Brackett's Black Amazon of Mars, and unlike the title character of the latter, Rolery isn't a warrior woman. But readers can expect some violence –Le Guin probably sympathized with the “flower children” ethos of that era, but when you're dealing with the Gaal, greeting them with peace signs and flower bouquets won't be a winning strategy-- and our heroine here IS a strong-inside young woman with guts, agency and a sense of responsibility. Related to her upbringing by a father who was a world-class academic cultural anthropologist, Le Guin also brings a much stronger grasp of sociology and cultural dynamics to her world building (which here is superb!) than Brackett did; and she's also able to draw a much deeper picture of believable inter-racial and cross-cultural relations, including a romantic relationship. Indeed, the latter is a major theme here, trail-blazing for its time (both in the SF genre and in American fiction generally), and IMO a significant strength of this novel. She adds to that very skilled realistic characterizations, a compelling plot, and highly readable style.
If her world-building has a flaw (which she shares with Anne McCaffrey, particularly in the latter's Pern novels), it's the determined exclusion of any element of theistic religion in the imagined cultures. This reflects both authors' atheism (Le Guin was a professed Taoist, and in her preface to the edition of this book that I read relates some of her plotting here to Taoist values; but Taoism is in itself neither theistic nor necessarily atheistic); but it could be questioned whether it's as realistic as it was congenial. (The evidence of cultural anthropology would suggest that it's not, though this was one instance where Le Guin chose to ignore her favorite academic discipline.) Some readers also fault her for depicting the Jacob-Rolery relationship as an insta-love connection. On that count, however, I would defend her; I agree with another reviewer that their relationship, at least at its inception, isn't love as such (though that doesn't mean that it can't become that.... )
In summation, I think this would be a rewarding read for most fans of science fiction, and a good introduction to the genre for the curious. (Some critics consider Le Guin's later novel The Left Hand of Darkness to be her masterpiece; but though this isn't a majority position, I personally like this one better.)
December 27, 2022
"Nei giorni finali dell'ultima fase lunare d'Autunno, il vento cominciò a soffiare dalle terre settentrionali e colpì le foreste morenti dell'Askatevar: un vento gelido, che sapeva di fumo e di neve".
Sono trascorsi circa 600 anni dal giorno del primo contatto e il gruppo di umani sbarcati sul pianeta Werel sono alla loro decima generazione, abbandonati, soli e ormai in estinzione.
Su Werel la stella Gamma Draconis è lontana e un suo anno copre il periodo di un'intera vita umana. Le stagioni durano decenni e l'inverno sta arrivando. (caro Martin ho trovato la tua fonte! :P)
Sul pianeta ci sono altre popolazioni ad un livello tecnologico pre ruota, e la convivenza con gli "alieni" non è mai stata accettata. Una grave minaccia incombe ed è ora di unirsi per affrontarla.
Più che un romanzo si tratta di un racconto lungo in cui la LeGuin preferisce limitarsi a raccontare invece di mostrare. Avesse avuto trecento pagine in più per approfondire personaggi, interazioni sociali, ambientazione e dinamiche, avrebbe potuto essere un romanzo completo.
L'idea non è male ma è poco sviluppata specie se paragonata agli altri due romanzi del ciclo dell'Ecumene: "La mano sinistra del diavolo" e "I reietti dell'altro pianeta", entrambi ottimi romanzi.
Sono trascorsi circa 600 anni dal giorno del primo contatto e il gruppo di umani sbarcati sul pianeta Werel sono alla loro decima generazione, abbandonati, soli e ormai in estinzione.
Su Werel la stella Gamma Draconis è lontana e un suo anno copre il periodo di un'intera vita umana. Le stagioni durano decenni e l'inverno sta arrivando. (caro Martin ho trovato la tua fonte! :P)
Sul pianeta ci sono altre popolazioni ad un livello tecnologico pre ruota, e la convivenza con gli "alieni" non è mai stata accettata. Una grave minaccia incombe ed è ora di unirsi per affrontarla.
Più che un romanzo si tratta di un racconto lungo in cui la LeGuin preferisce limitarsi a raccontare invece di mostrare. Avesse avuto trecento pagine in più per approfondire personaggi, interazioni sociali, ambientazione e dinamiche, avrebbe potuto essere un romanzo completo.
L'idea non è male ma è poco sviluppata specie se paragonata agli altri due romanzi del ciclo dell'Ecumene: "La mano sinistra del diavolo" e "I reietti dell'altro pianeta", entrambi ottimi romanzi.
February 1, 2022
Neither grief nor pride had so much truth in them as did joy, the joy that trembled in the cold wind between sky and sea, bright and brief as fire.
Hilfs and farborns meet as enemies but must find peace in order to survive the coming fifteen years of Winter. Barbarian hordes and Winter’s creatures become common enemies to the natives and aliens. They must decide if culture will keep them from compromise.
Le Guin’s work is deeper than plot. She makes the reader reconsider what it means to be native when every lifeform is alien, when every planet is connected but forgotten. Humanity is more than DNA, and even DNA can change.
Hilfs and farborns meet as enemies but must find peace in order to survive the coming fifteen years of Winter. Barbarian hordes and Winter’s creatures become common enemies to the natives and aliens. They must decide if culture will keep them from compromise.
Le Guin’s work is deeper than plot. She makes the reader reconsider what it means to be native when every lifeform is alien, when every planet is connected but forgotten. Humanity is more than DNA, and even DNA can change.
January 21, 2021
The second novel of The Hainish Cycle is much more nuanced and lucid than the first one, I could see Le Guin's writing beginning to flourish here.
At the crux of the story is a 'forbidden' romance. Growing despite a long history of conflict between the light skinned, light haired Tevarans - a tribe indigenous to the planet Werel and the dark haired, dark skinned colonists of earth humans stranded on Werel, the love between Rolery and Jakob Agat holds the story together throughout its violent development.
The Tevarans believe the colonists to be barbarous witches - mostly because the colonists are capable of telepathy although they seldom practice it even amongst themselves without an explicit permission from the recipient. The Tevarans are also extremely bigoted, sexist and racist to the point of punishing any woman from their tribe with rape and death if she pursues a romantic relationship with a colonist.
However, the approaching harsh winter with its hordes of marauders and snow ghouls forces the two tribes to unite forces despite conflict (including a severe case of lynching) around the marriage between Rolery and Jakob.
Both the societies insist on the certainties of their culture although the Tevarans take excessive pride in theirs which eventually leads to their destruction.
The love story seemed very abrupt in its development, but I do greatly admire Le Guin for begining a writing tradition here that she was to follow throughout her life - the merging of socially important themes with science fiction.
At the crux of the story is a 'forbidden' romance. Growing despite a long history of conflict between the light skinned, light haired Tevarans - a tribe indigenous to the planet Werel and the dark haired, dark skinned colonists of earth humans stranded on Werel, the love between Rolery and Jakob Agat holds the story together throughout its violent development.
The Tevarans believe the colonists to be barbarous witches - mostly because the colonists are capable of telepathy although they seldom practice it even amongst themselves without an explicit permission from the recipient. The Tevarans are also extremely bigoted, sexist and racist to the point of punishing any woman from their tribe with rape and death if she pursues a romantic relationship with a colonist.
However, the approaching harsh winter with its hordes of marauders and snow ghouls forces the two tribes to unite forces despite conflict (including a severe case of lynching) around the marriage between Rolery and Jakob.
Both the societies insist on the certainties of their culture although the Tevarans take excessive pride in theirs which eventually leads to their destruction.
The love story seemed very abrupt in its development, but I do greatly admire Le Guin for begining a writing tradition here that she was to follow throughout her life - the merging of socially important themes with science fiction.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 2, 2011
In my review of Left Hand of Darkness, the first of LeGuin's works that I read, I wondered whether she had the authorial depth to create another unusual vision, or whether her books were all of a similar tone. I admit I did not expect them to be quite this similar.
The first four Hainish stories, despite taking place on different worlds with different characters, all share tone, plot, theme, and character types. We have a male protagonist who has an important position in his society, but who is living through a period of upheaval and unsurety which renders his high position less useful.
He wanders through a strange world, lonely and confused, unable to connect with anyone around him. Despite this lack of connection, he still develops an obsessive romance with a woman despite remaining alienated from her. He continues to follow a path towards a single, constant goal for which he must sacrifice his love, his friends, and his sense of self.
Throughout the story, there will be hints and inferences about homosexuality, but despite foreshadowing, any such relationship will melt away shortly before the climax, never to be mentioned again. There will be a tone of fundamental isolation as the protagonist frets and ruminates about his relationships, which will always remain laconic and strained. He will form a relationship with a mentor character who will either die or disappear before he is ready.
It works better in some stories than in others. In the true isolation of a man alone on an alien world in Left Hand of Darkness, it is understandable, if still somewhat overwrought. In The City of Illusions , the story of a man who has lost himself in a world where he can rely on no one, it seems the logical conclusion for a protagonist who is fundamentally paranoid and truly alone.
However, in this book, it is less effective. We also do not have the interesting conceptual story of Rocannon's World , ingeniously blending fantasy with sci fi, so of the series, this book is the most flat. All the books are rather detached and stoic, so without a unique concept to explore, there is not a lot left.
Likewise, the story does not develop a coherent reason for the protagonist to remain so detached and unsure, even within his own society. If LeGuin is depicting a character with some sort of social disorder, she never depicts any of the other characters as finding his mode off-putting, which I certainly did. And beyond that, all the protagonists in the series have the same social problems.
Guilelessness is rarely good for an author, since they end up injecting themselves, their assumptions, desires, philosophies, and worldviews into their character without accounting for how it affects the story. For an author with a dull, stilted personality, this is a death sentence: no matter their intention, they will write a hidebound, dull book, returning always to their own natural level.
For an author with a skewed, unusual way of looking at things, it is somewhat less problematic, since their book and characters will tend to be interesting and unpredictable, but the problem is to keep things fresh while writing what are fundamentally the same characters, themes, and story over and over.
Ironically, this can sometimes be more of a problem for an idiomatic author, since their habitual stories and types will stand out more, not being able to fade into the background as easily as more common and recognizable character types and stories. It is easier to write repetitive stories when those stories already have an accepted place in the culture.
Most authors have a type, a mode which they write in, as evidenced by the 'Byronic hero' or 'Lovecraftian horror', but it is important for an author to challenge themselves, pushing the limits of what they can do, ensuring that each story is, in some way, fundamentally different, and to avoid writing a story which is a watered-down version of something they have already written.
LeGuin is usually good at creating differentiation in her stories; even if she keeps returning to the same character types and themes, at least the settings and subgenre material are different. As an adventure, this book is not bad, and we get some of LeGuin's odd world-building.
In addition, this story provides the background for the conclusion of the next book in the series, City of Illusions, which may be why it is a less in-depth story, itself. Though happily, the next book has some of LeGuin's best writing, so this one is hardly a sign that her talents are on the wane.
The first four Hainish stories, despite taking place on different worlds with different characters, all share tone, plot, theme, and character types. We have a male protagonist who has an important position in his society, but who is living through a period of upheaval and unsurety which renders his high position less useful.
He wanders through a strange world, lonely and confused, unable to connect with anyone around him. Despite this lack of connection, he still develops an obsessive romance with a woman despite remaining alienated from her. He continues to follow a path towards a single, constant goal for which he must sacrifice his love, his friends, and his sense of self.
Throughout the story, there will be hints and inferences about homosexuality, but despite foreshadowing, any such relationship will melt away shortly before the climax, never to be mentioned again. There will be a tone of fundamental isolation as the protagonist frets and ruminates about his relationships, which will always remain laconic and strained. He will form a relationship with a mentor character who will either die or disappear before he is ready.
It works better in some stories than in others. In the true isolation of a man alone on an alien world in Left Hand of Darkness, it is understandable, if still somewhat overwrought. In The City of Illusions , the story of a man who has lost himself in a world where he can rely on no one, it seems the logical conclusion for a protagonist who is fundamentally paranoid and truly alone.
However, in this book, it is less effective. We also do not have the interesting conceptual story of Rocannon's World , ingeniously blending fantasy with sci fi, so of the series, this book is the most flat. All the books are rather detached and stoic, so without a unique concept to explore, there is not a lot left.
Likewise, the story does not develop a coherent reason for the protagonist to remain so detached and unsure, even within his own society. If LeGuin is depicting a character with some sort of social disorder, she never depicts any of the other characters as finding his mode off-putting, which I certainly did. And beyond that, all the protagonists in the series have the same social problems.
Guilelessness is rarely good for an author, since they end up injecting themselves, their assumptions, desires, philosophies, and worldviews into their character without accounting for how it affects the story. For an author with a dull, stilted personality, this is a death sentence: no matter their intention, they will write a hidebound, dull book, returning always to their own natural level.
For an author with a skewed, unusual way of looking at things, it is somewhat less problematic, since their book and characters will tend to be interesting and unpredictable, but the problem is to keep things fresh while writing what are fundamentally the same characters, themes, and story over and over.
Ironically, this can sometimes be more of a problem for an idiomatic author, since their habitual stories and types will stand out more, not being able to fade into the background as easily as more common and recognizable character types and stories. It is easier to write repetitive stories when those stories already have an accepted place in the culture.
Most authors have a type, a mode which they write in, as evidenced by the 'Byronic hero' or 'Lovecraftian horror', but it is important for an author to challenge themselves, pushing the limits of what they can do, ensuring that each story is, in some way, fundamentally different, and to avoid writing a story which is a watered-down version of something they have already written.
LeGuin is usually good at creating differentiation in her stories; even if she keeps returning to the same character types and themes, at least the settings and subgenre material are different. As an adventure, this book is not bad, and we get some of LeGuin's odd world-building.
In addition, this story provides the background for the conclusion of the next book in the series, City of Illusions, which may be why it is a less in-depth story, itself. Though happily, the next book has some of LeGuin's best writing, so this one is hardly a sign that her talents are on the wane.
June 19, 2016
Le Guin'in bu kitaba dair geriye bakıp günah çıkartmasıyla açılan kitap, bu eserin değerini benim gözümde bir kademe daha artırdı. Yazarın kendiyle ilgili yapabildiği bu özeleştiri takdire şayan.
Sürgün Gezegeni ise Hainish Cycle'da okumadığım ve dolayısıyla o döngüyü tamamlamama engel bir eksiklikti. Ne mutlu ki döngüyü tamamlamaya bir adım daha yaklaştım.
Eser, Krizalitler'deki gibi "gerçek insan", "gerçek suret" gibi kavramları içinde barındırıyor. Krizalitler'deki gibi ana konu bu değil, ancak gezegeninin iki halkı arasındaki yaklaşım bana bu çağrışımı yaptı ve ben bundan dolayı oldukça mutluyum.
Farklılıklar, kabullenmeler, zamansız bir aşk ve doğanın gücü üzerine sakin bir eser. Sakin diyorum, ama bir o kadar da durağan demeliyim. Le Guin zaten doldudizgin yazan bir usta değil. Bence onun aksiyonlu eserleri (onun standardına göre) Yerdeniz Serisi idi. Eğer ustanın durağan kitaplarından ya da öykülerinden okuduklarınız varsa bu kitapla sorun yaşamayacaksınız. Eğer onlardan hiçbirine denk gelmediyseniz kitabı sıkıcı bulma ihtimaliniz çok yüksek. Ayrıca, Le Guin okumaya başlamak için de bu doğru kitap değil, benden söylemesi.
Acelesi olmayan okurlar için kısacık bir eser bu. Birlik olmanın önemine dair okura söyleyecek bazı sözleri var.
Sürgün Gezegeni ise Hainish Cycle'da okumadığım ve dolayısıyla o döngüyü tamamlamama engel bir eksiklikti. Ne mutlu ki döngüyü tamamlamaya bir adım daha yaklaştım.
Eser, Krizalitler'deki gibi "gerçek insan", "gerçek suret" gibi kavramları içinde barındırıyor. Krizalitler'deki gibi ana konu bu değil, ancak gezegeninin iki halkı arasındaki yaklaşım bana bu çağrışımı yaptı ve ben bundan dolayı oldukça mutluyum.
Farklılıklar, kabullenmeler, zamansız bir aşk ve doğanın gücü üzerine sakin bir eser. Sakin diyorum, ama bir o kadar da durağan demeliyim. Le Guin zaten doldudizgin yazan bir usta değil. Bence onun aksiyonlu eserleri (onun standardına göre) Yerdeniz Serisi idi. Eğer ustanın durağan kitaplarından ya da öykülerinden okuduklarınız varsa bu kitapla sorun yaşamayacaksınız. Eğer onlardan hiçbirine denk gelmediyseniz kitabı sıkıcı bulma ihtimaliniz çok yüksek. Ayrıca, Le Guin okumaya başlamak için de bu doğru kitap değil, benden söylemesi.
Acelesi olmayan okurlar için kısacık bir eser bu. Birlik olmanın önemine dair okura söyleyecek bazı sözleri var.
April 28, 2015
This turned out to be a fairly average read. The world building and the general ideas behind the plot are excellent. Sadly Le Guin fails when it comes to storytelling. Her writing feels distant and as a result I felt a bit disconnected from the characters and the happenings. Which was a shame as I felt like this had the potential to be something special.
The story takes place on the planet of Werel, a fascinating place where one year is equivalent to 60 Earth years. The seasons on Werel match those on Earth meaning that they last 15 years each on Werel. The Earth colony of Landon has been stranded there for 10 years. 10 local years that is which is 600 Earth years! The colony is dying slowly and the population is down to its last few thousand. The colony folk have a peaceful, but strained relationship with the local humanoid aliens, but both cultures must learn to work together or fall under the migrating horde of Gaals. For the first time ever the Gaals tribes have united under one leader and rather than just peacefully migrating south for the winter, as they normally do, they plan to invade and capture a few winter cities along the way.
The story touched on a number of themes including racism, prejudice, isolation, and the struggle for survival. Unsurprisingly this was quite dark at times.
Rating: 3 stars.
Audio Note: The narration was split between Carrington MacDuffie and Steven Hoye. A ploy that did not work particularly well as they made no effort at consistency of interpretation. The producers should probably just have went with MacDuffie as she was more adept at voicing the characters.
The story takes place on the planet of Werel, a fascinating place where one year is equivalent to 60 Earth years. The seasons on Werel match those on Earth meaning that they last 15 years each on Werel. The Earth colony of Landon has been stranded there for 10 years. 10 local years that is which is 600 Earth years! The colony is dying slowly and the population is down to its last few thousand. The colony folk have a peaceful, but strained relationship with the local humanoid aliens, but both cultures must learn to work together or fall under the migrating horde of Gaals. For the first time ever the Gaals tribes have united under one leader and rather than just peacefully migrating south for the winter, as they normally do, they plan to invade and capture a few winter cities along the way.
The story touched on a number of themes including racism, prejudice, isolation, and the struggle for survival. Unsurprisingly this was quite dark at times.
Rating: 3 stars.
Audio Note: The narration was split between Carrington MacDuffie and Steven Hoye. A ploy that did not work particularly well as they made no effort at consistency of interpretation. The producers should probably just have went with MacDuffie as she was more adept at voicing the characters.
January 12, 2017
Κάλλιο αργά παρά ποτέ,ανακάλυψα κι εγώ την Le Guin!!
Το βιβλίο αυτό ήταν το καλύτερο ανάγνωσμα γι'αυτές τις χειμωνιάτικες, χιονισμένες μέρες. Υπόθεση:
Γήινοι είναι αποκλεισμένοι εδώ και εκατονταετίες σ'έναν πλανήτη πολύ μακριά από το δικό τους κι έχουν προσαρμοστεί όσο καλύτερα μπορούν, ενώ αντιμετωπίζουν την καχυποψία και την περιφρόνηση των ντόπιων (τους οποίους ντόποιους οι γήινοι βλέπουν σαν πρωτόγονους). Παρ'όλα αυτά, θα αναγκαστούν να βάλουν στην άκρη τις διαφορές τους για να συγκρουστούν με φυλές του βορρά που,ενωμένες, κάνουν επίθεση σ'όποιον βρεθεί στο δρόμο τους.
Η μυθολογία με ενθουσίασε,η δράση συνεχής και οι χαρακτήρες με έκαναν να εύχομαι να τους συναντήσω και σε άλλα βιβλία της. Σίγουρα θα ξαναδιαβάσω σύντομα Le Guin και την προτείνω ανεπιφύλακτα σε όλους!
[Readathon17: 4/52, "ένα βιβλίο επιστημονικής φαντασίας"]
Το βιβλίο αυτό ήταν το καλύτερο ανάγνωσμα γι'αυτές τις χειμωνιάτικες, χιονισμένες μέρες. Υπόθεση:
Γήινοι είναι αποκλεισμένοι εδώ και εκατονταετίες σ'έναν πλανήτη πολύ μακριά από το δικό τους κι έχουν προσαρμοστεί όσο καλύτερα μπορούν, ενώ αντιμετωπίζουν την καχυποψία και την περιφρόνηση των ντόπιων (τους οποίους ντόποιους οι γήινοι βλέπουν σαν πρωτόγονους). Παρ'όλα αυτά, θα αναγκαστούν να βάλουν στην άκρη τις διαφορές τους για να συγκρουστούν με φυλές του βορρά που,ενωμένες, κάνουν επίθεση σ'όποιον βρεθεί στο δρόμο τους.
Η μυθολογία με ενθουσίασε,η δράση συνεχής και οι χαρακτήρες με έκαναν να εύχομαι να τους συναντήσω και σε άλλα βιβλία της. Σίγουρα θα ξαναδιαβάσω σύντομα Le Guin και την προτείνω ανεπιφύλακτα σε όλους!
[Readathon17: 4/52, "ένα βιβλίο επιστημονικής φαντασίας"]
October 13, 2015
4.5 stars
This novel had me from the first sentence, introducing a wilful young female protagonist and a strange, poetically evoked world. On this planet, a single cycle of the moon is more than 400 days, and the full solar year is so long that only the most elderly people have seen any of its long seasons more than once.
The 'girl' Rolery, whom we follow at first, is part of a non industrial, hierarchical, patriarchal and peacable society, partly nomadic but with some mixed agriculture and spending the long Winters in walled, partially submerged earthwork cities rather than their warm-weather tents. The planet also has parasitic raiders who threaten the safety of Rolery's kin, and a large colony of 'farborn' people from a League world, who are also humanlike, maybe they are our kin. The farborn group keep to their enclave, living in a coastal town of comfortable, heated houses, preserving their knowledge of their foreign culture but forbidden by League convention to use or disseminate technology advanced far beyond the local level. Unlike Rolery's people, they use wheeled carts, but they don't use engines. The two groups interact rarely, peacefully, but hardly in friendship, each calling itself 'mankind' and the native group seeing the aliens as 'witches' while the colonists think the natives bigoted and backward. Le Guin makes it clear that the supposedly advanced aliens, who regard the natives somewhat as known to their social science, are actually quite ignorant of their culture; viewpoints shift in this novel, exposing mutual ignorance, misunderstandings and hostilities.
The farborns are apparently what on Earth might be regarded as a racially diverse group, mainly described as dark or brown, though Rolery notes that some she sees when she walks around the the alien town are 'not much darker' than her own light-skinned kin. The elected council group is of mixed ages and genders, while the strongest leader of the group, Agat, is relatively young, described as attractive and dark brown in colouring. The native people have (thrillingly) 'golden' eyes. The aliens have been on the planet for many generations, but they are declining. Apart from the length of the year, the world-building is most interesting to me in that it explores how the aliens are genetically ill at ease on the planet – they need to take enzymoids to digest foods and their fertility is mysteriously low, while on the plus side they aren't subject to the local pathogens and so don't get sick or suffer infection. This connects with their isolation from the natives, leading into some really nice philosophical material, which Le Guin leaves us to play with while quietly offering her own conclusions in the narrative.
Le Guin is very clever when it comes to making communication seem alien. Creativity around etiquette and turns of phrase (turn taking and agreement signifed by 'I listen' or 'I hear' for example) is one part of this, but more subtley the feeling that conversations are slightly rudely or bizarrely conducted reminds that the culture we are listening in on is elsewhere. Yet, everyone is relateable and the narrative is always emotionally involving. I appreciate stories that cast the climate as a protagonist, and here the coming of Winter is key to the action, not just an exotic backdrop. Referring back to Rocannon's World , the farborns are trained in controlled telepathy, and the implications of this are sensitvely explored, with romantic flair, in the relationship between Rolery and Agat. A fascinating situation is explored here with insightful, critical attention. Another highly satisfying and mind-stretching read.
This novel had me from the first sentence, introducing a wilful young female protagonist and a strange, poetically evoked world. On this planet, a single cycle of the moon is more than 400 days, and the full solar year is so long that only the most elderly people have seen any of its long seasons more than once.
The 'girl' Rolery, whom we follow at first, is part of a non industrial, hierarchical, patriarchal and peacable society, partly nomadic but with some mixed agriculture and spending the long Winters in walled, partially submerged earthwork cities rather than their warm-weather tents. The planet also has parasitic raiders who threaten the safety of Rolery's kin, and a large colony of 'farborn' people from a League world, who are also humanlike, maybe they are our kin. The farborn group keep to their enclave, living in a coastal town of comfortable, heated houses, preserving their knowledge of their foreign culture but forbidden by League convention to use or disseminate technology advanced far beyond the local level. Unlike Rolery's people, they use wheeled carts, but they don't use engines. The two groups interact rarely, peacefully, but hardly in friendship, each calling itself 'mankind' and the native group seeing the aliens as 'witches' while the colonists think the natives bigoted and backward. Le Guin makes it clear that the supposedly advanced aliens, who regard the natives somewhat as known to their social science, are actually quite ignorant of their culture; viewpoints shift in this novel, exposing mutual ignorance, misunderstandings and hostilities.
The farborns are apparently what on Earth might be regarded as a racially diverse group, mainly described as dark or brown, though Rolery notes that some she sees when she walks around the the alien town are 'not much darker' than her own light-skinned kin. The elected council group is of mixed ages and genders, while the strongest leader of the group, Agat, is relatively young, described as attractive and dark brown in colouring. The native people have (thrillingly) 'golden' eyes. The aliens have been on the planet for many generations, but they are declining. Apart from the length of the year, the world-building is most interesting to me in that it explores how the aliens are genetically ill at ease on the planet – they need to take enzymoids to digest foods and their fertility is mysteriously low, while on the plus side they aren't subject to the local pathogens and so don't get sick or suffer infection. This connects with their isolation from the natives, leading into some really nice philosophical material, which Le Guin leaves us to play with while quietly offering her own conclusions in the narrative.
Le Guin is very clever when it comes to making communication seem alien. Creativity around etiquette and turns of phrase (turn taking and agreement signifed by 'I listen' or 'I hear' for example) is one part of this, but more subtley the feeling that conversations are slightly rudely or bizarrely conducted reminds that the culture we are listening in on is elsewhere. Yet, everyone is relateable and the narrative is always emotionally involving. I appreciate stories that cast the climate as a protagonist, and here the coming of Winter is key to the action, not just an exotic backdrop. Referring back to Rocannon's World , the farborns are trained in controlled telepathy, and the implications of this are sensitvely explored, with romantic flair, in the relationship between Rolery and Agat. A fascinating situation is explored here with insightful, critical attention. Another highly satisfying and mind-stretching read.
Read
August 26, 2016Sürgün Gezegeni alışılageldik temaları, entelektüelliğine kaynaklık eden psiko-antropolojik bakış açısıyla hikâyeselleştirmekte. Ortada iki-üç cümleyle özetlenebilecek basitlikte bir hikâye var.
İmkânsız aşk teması Romeo ve Juliet’i akla getirmekte. Pek çok uzay serüveninde olduğu gibi, yabancı bir gezegende farklı kültürden halklar ve tuhaf yaratıklarla karşılaşılmakta. Pek çok defa işlenmiş telepati kavramı, hikâye merkezinde olmasa da, gene kullanılmış. Yüksek kültürün ilkel kültürle karşılaşmasından doğan gerilim de olmazsa olmazlardan. Yabancı düşmanlığı da bunun peşinden gelmekte tabii.
Kitabın geçtiği evrenin altını dolduran gezegenlerarası seyahat, ana doktrinleriyle Uzay Yolu’ndaki Yıldız Federasyonu’na benzeyen galaksilerarası birliği de cabası. Hemen hemen hepsi gözünüzün bir yerlerden ısırdığı kategoriler. Kitabı kendine özgü kılan taraf, o kategorilerin altının neyle ve nasıl doldurulduğunda.
Le Guin’in derdini anlatmak için kullandığı enstrümanlardan gelen notaların tınısı, ana parçadaki toplamlarının harmonisinden daha tesirli gibidir. Vardığım bu sonuç ilk başta başarısızlık olarak algılansa da, Le Guin’in de önsözde belirttiği gibi, hayatın her alanında ve her zaman bir arayış söz konusu. Sürgün Gezegeni, ihtiva ettiği zengin içeriğiyle metinleri arasında daha iyi bir dünyayı arayışındaki yolculuğuna okuru da davet etmekte ve yeni düşünce alanlarının kapısını aralamakta.
İyi eser düşündürür. Sürgün Gezegeni, yazarın onu dünyaya getirirken aklına gelmemiş meziyetleriyle bunu gayet iyi yapıyor.
- Cemalettin SİPAHİOĞLU
İncelemenin tamamı için: http://kayiprihtim.com/inceleme/surgu...
İmkânsız aşk teması Romeo ve Juliet’i akla getirmekte. Pek çok uzay serüveninde olduğu gibi, yabancı bir gezegende farklı kültürden halklar ve tuhaf yaratıklarla karşılaşılmakta. Pek çok defa işlenmiş telepati kavramı, hikâye merkezinde olmasa da, gene kullanılmış. Yüksek kültürün ilkel kültürle karşılaşmasından doğan gerilim de olmazsa olmazlardan. Yabancı düşmanlığı da bunun peşinden gelmekte tabii.
Kitabın geçtiği evrenin altını dolduran gezegenlerarası seyahat, ana doktrinleriyle Uzay Yolu’ndaki Yıldız Federasyonu’na benzeyen galaksilerarası birliği de cabası. Hemen hemen hepsi gözünüzün bir yerlerden ısırdığı kategoriler. Kitabı kendine özgü kılan taraf, o kategorilerin altının neyle ve nasıl doldurulduğunda.
Le Guin’in derdini anlatmak için kullandığı enstrümanlardan gelen notaların tınısı, ana parçadaki toplamlarının harmonisinden daha tesirli gibidir. Vardığım bu sonuç ilk başta başarısızlık olarak algılansa da, Le Guin’in de önsözde belirttiği gibi, hayatın her alanında ve her zaman bir arayış söz konusu. Sürgün Gezegeni, ihtiva ettiği zengin içeriğiyle metinleri arasında daha iyi bir dünyayı arayışındaki yolculuğuna okuru da davet etmekte ve yeni düşünce alanlarının kapısını aralamakta.
İyi eser düşündürür. Sürgün Gezegeni, yazarın onu dünyaya getirirken aklına gelmemiş meziyetleriyle bunu gayet iyi yapıyor.
- Cemalettin SİPAHİOĞLU
İncelemenin tamamı için: http://kayiprihtim.com/inceleme/surgu...
February 28, 2024
„Планета за изгнаници“ е изключително силна и емоционална приключенска фантастика! В нея става дума за трудния начин на живот на далечна планета и сложните взаимоотношения между първобитните местни жители и значително по-развитите чужденци, които се намират там в изгнание. Оказва се, че наближава опасна атака от брутални нашественици, а освен това предстои доста дълга и сурова зима, затова двата вида трябва да преодолеят различията си, както и да се разбират и да си помагат...
„— Могат ли всички от вашите хора… да говорят така?
— Някои могат. Това е умение, което се придобива. Само трябва да се упражнява. Ела тук, поседни за малко. Доста преживя днес. — Макар и винаги рязък, сега гласът му сякаш издаваше нещо съвсем различно — като че настоятелността, с която я бе извикал там, на пясъците, вече се превръщаше в безкрайно сдържана, несъзнателна молба, в зов за близост.“
„Чуването на мисли е по-сложно, разбира се, но то е безсловесно. Докато предаването и приемането на мисли е различно. Ако се обърнеш с езика на мисълта към неподготвен за това човек, то той ще затвори съзнанието си пред тебе още преди да е разбрал, че е чул нещо. Особено ако не чува онова, което му се иска.“
„Нито скръбта, нито гордостта бяха толкова осезаеми, колкото радостта, радостта, която трептеше в студения вятър между небето и морето, ярка и мимолетна като огъня. Това беше неговата крепост, неговият град, неговият свят, неговият народ. Той вече не бе изгнаник тук.“
„— Могат ли всички от вашите хора… да говорят така?
— Някои могат. Това е умение, което се придобива. Само трябва да се упражнява. Ела тук, поседни за малко. Доста преживя днес. — Макар и винаги рязък, сега гласът му сякаш издаваше нещо съвсем различно — като че настоятелността, с която я бе извикал там, на пясъците, вече се превръщаше в безкрайно сдържана, несъзнателна молба, в зов за близост.“
„Чуването на мисли е по-сложно, разбира се, но то е безсловесно. Докато предаването и приемането на мисли е различно. Ако се обърнеш с езика на мисълта към неподготвен за това човек, то той ще затвори съзнанието си пред тебе още преди да е разбрал, че е чул нещо. Особено ако не чува онова, което му се иска.“
„Нито скръбта, нито гордостта бяха толкова осезаеми, колкото радостта, радостта, която трептеше в студения вятър между небето и морето, ярка и мимолетна като огъня. Това беше неговата крепост, неговият град, неговият свят, неговият народ. Той вече не бе изгнаник тук.“
January 13, 2021
“..uzaylı kanı ve uzaylı aklı taşıyan bu yabancı kız, Agat’ın ne gücünü, ne vicdanını, ne birikimini, ne de sürgününün paylaşıyordu. Ortak hiçbir yanları yoktu; ama buna rağmen kendisiyle tanışmış, aralarındaki büyük uçuruma karşın ona destek olmuştu. Tanışmalarını, birliktelik kurmalarını sağlayan, onları özgürleştiren şey, aralarındaki o fark, o yabancılıktı sanki.”
Okumaya başladıktan sonra “gelen bir kış”, kışın getirdiği istilacılar, yabanıllar ve yıllar süren mevsimleriyle G.R.R. Martin için nasıl bir ilham kaynağı olduğunu farkediyorsunuz. Uzak bir gezegene 600 yıl önce sürgüne düşen yaban soylular ile izcanlıların birbirlerine çok yakın bir mesafede ama tamamen kapalı bir şekilde yaşayıp, gelmekte olan tehlikeye karşı kolektif bir topluma dönüşme çabasını anlatıyor. Le Guin diğer kitaplarında olduğu gibi, farklı kültürler ve türler arasındaki ötekileştirmeyi fantastik bir dünya aracılığıyla eleştiriyor. Ancak yazıldığı dönem Ursula K. Le Guin’in feminizm ile tanışmadan öncesine tekabül ettiği için toplumsal cinsiyet rollerine dair klasik duruşunun aksine toplumun genel kuralları çerçevesinde kurgulanıyor. Yıllar sonra yazdığı önsözü ile de bu dönemine dair bir özeleştiri sunuyor. O yüzden önsözünü atlamadan okumanız kitabın tamamlanmasını sağlayacaktır. Hainli serisinin birinci kitabı olan Racannon’un Dünyası’na göre aksiyonu çok daha yüksek olan ancak yazarın klasiklerinden biraz uzak bir kitap.
3,5 ⭐️
Okumaya başladıktan sonra “gelen bir kış”, kışın getirdiği istilacılar, yabanıllar ve yıllar süren mevsimleriyle G.R.R. Martin için nasıl bir ilham kaynağı olduğunu farkediyorsunuz. Uzak bir gezegene 600 yıl önce sürgüne düşen yaban soylular ile izcanlıların birbirlerine çok yakın bir mesafede ama tamamen kapalı bir şekilde yaşayıp, gelmekte olan tehlikeye karşı kolektif bir topluma dönüşme çabasını anlatıyor. Le Guin diğer kitaplarında olduğu gibi, farklı kültürler ve türler arasındaki ötekileştirmeyi fantastik bir dünya aracılığıyla eleştiriyor. Ancak yazıldığı dönem Ursula K. Le Guin’in feminizm ile tanışmadan öncesine tekabül ettiği için toplumsal cinsiyet rollerine dair klasik duruşunun aksine toplumun genel kuralları çerçevesinde kurgulanıyor. Yıllar sonra yazdığı önsözü ile de bu dönemine dair bir özeleştiri sunuyor. O yüzden önsözünü atlamadan okumanız kitabın tamamlanmasını sağlayacaktır. Hainli serisinin birinci kitabı olan Racannon’un Dünyası’na göre aksiyonu çok daha yüksek olan ancak yazarın klasiklerinden biraz uzak bir kitap.
3,5 ⭐️
May 29, 2020
GRR Martin sen bu kitaptan ne kadar etkilenmişsin öyle :)
Yabanıllar, uzun kış, kuzey falan derken, Buz ve Ateşin Şarkısı'nı anımsatan o kadar çok şey vardı ki inanılmaz. Çok bariz bir etkilenme olmuş Martin'de. Kötü mü? Hayır.
Biz kitabımıza dönersek, Ursula kısa, öz ve yoğun bir hikaye anlatmış. Beğendim. Hem bilimkurgu hem fantastik benzeri bir tat alıyor insan ama hiç fantastik öğe yok aslında. Güzel bir dengesi var.
Editörlük ise biraz zayıf geldi bana. Birkaç bariz hata var. Kelime atlaması şeklinde ve anlamı bozuyor. Daha dikkat edilmeliydi.
Yabanıllar, uzun kış, kuzey falan derken, Buz ve Ateşin Şarkısı'nı anımsatan o kadar çok şey vardı ki inanılmaz. Çok bariz bir etkilenme olmuş Martin'de. Kötü mü? Hayır.
Biz kitabımıza dönersek, Ursula kısa, öz ve yoğun bir hikaye anlatmış. Beğendim. Hem bilimkurgu hem fantastik benzeri bir tat alıyor insan ama hiç fantastik öğe yok aslında. Güzel bir dengesi var.
Editörlük ise biraz zayıf geldi bana. Birkaç bariz hata var. Kelime atlaması şeklinde ve anlamı bozuyor. Daha dikkat edilmeliydi.
May 29, 2021
La leí en un día. Creo que califica más bien como nouvelle. Forma parte del Ciclo Hainish, un universo ficticio de Le Guin que abarca numerosos mundos. Es habitual que los protagonistas de estas novelas tengan que enfrentar alguna clase de choque cultural. En este caso, hay una colonia humana en un planeta distante, cuyos descendientes deben negociar con los Tevaranos, habitantes autóctonos. Los Tevaranos, por sus costumbres, me recuerdan a los indígenas americanos (hasta hay una escena que recuerda el acto de "fumar la pipa de la paz"). Recomendable para introducirse en el universo Le Guin.
July 24, 2022
The second book of the Hainish was rather interesting. It combined a love story and a war in a world that has prolonged winters.
I enjoyed this part of the Hainish Series better that the first part.
I enjoyed this part of the Hainish Series better that the first part.
December 22, 2018
7/10. Media de los 23 libros leídos de la autora : 7/10
La casi siempre efectiva Le Guin no suele ser nunca una mala opción de lectura. Te podrá sorprender más o menos, pero suele ser interesante leerla.
La casi siempre efectiva Le Guin no suele ser nunca una mala opción de lectura. Te podrá sorprender más o menos, pero suele ser interesante leerla.
November 27, 2021
Güzeldi. Lakin ne savaşı, ne aşkı, ne de ötekiyle barışmayı layıkıyla hissedebildim. Ustanın ilk eserlerinden biri olduğu için sanırım böyle. Olsun, Ulu Ursula hep baş tacımız.
August 20, 2019
"Cuando el sol se encoge más que la luna, el frío pronto nos importuna…"
Mi primera novela de Le Guin, ¡por fin!
Una lectura bastante rápida, no puedo decir que sea buena o mala, simplemente que ha sido lo bastante entretenida para mantenerme enganchado, la verdad es que no me identifiqué mucho con ninguno de los personajes pero, eso sí, el tema cultural es bueno y creíble. Por un lado están los negritos que vienen de un planeta lejano para tratar de unirlos a la Liga de Todos los Mundos, por otro lado están los blanquitos, los nativos, todavía no usan ni la rueda y dan golpes en las piedras para convocar una reunión. Se unirán y lucharán contra el terrible invierno y los temibles gaales.
Quiero pensar que George R.R. Martin tomó mucho de este libro para crear su conocida saga Canción de hielo y fuego, no me sorprendería que fuera así. Estuve diciendo en mi cabeza "Winter is coming, winter is coming" gran parte del libro. Por otro lado, la ley de Embargo Cultural me recordó a Star Trek, esta ley prohibe usar conocimientos o tecnología que los nativos no tengan o hayan descubierto, ¿les suena?
Decidido, continuaré con los libros del Hainish Cycle, creo que leer solo uno sería injusto para juzgar.
"Rolery" por Vesea:
Mi primera novela de Le Guin, ¡por fin!
Una lectura bastante rápida, no puedo decir que sea buena o mala, simplemente que ha sido lo bastante entretenida para mantenerme enganchado, la verdad es que no me identifiqué mucho con ninguno de los personajes pero, eso sí, el tema cultural es bueno y creíble. Por un lado están los negritos que vienen de un planeta lejano para tratar de unirlos a la Liga de Todos los Mundos, por otro lado están los blanquitos, los nativos, todavía no usan ni la rueda y dan golpes en las piedras para convocar una reunión. Se unirán y lucharán contra el terrible invierno y los temibles gaales.
Quiero pensar que George R.R. Martin tomó mucho de este libro para crear su conocida saga Canción de hielo y fuego, no me sorprendería que fuera así. Estuve diciendo en mi cabeza "Winter is coming, winter is coming" gran parte del libro. Por otro lado, la ley de Embargo Cultural me recordó a Star Trek, esta ley prohibe usar conocimientos o tecnología que los nativos no tengan o hayan descubierto, ¿les suena?
Decidido, continuaré con los libros del Hainish Cycle, creo que leer solo uno sería injusto para juzgar.
"Rolery" por Vesea:
July 27, 2020
PLANET OF EXILE (1966) was my 3rd book by Le Guin in the last few months, another of her Hainish Cycle. The story follows an exiled group of humans that have taken up residence on the planet of Werel. Le Guin explores "otherness" in this story in actions between the native planetary humans and the "farborn" as the exiled humans are called. She brings in an interesting temporal element here (similar to the GOT idea of the "long summer" and "winter is coming") as seasons last for decades, and then switch abruptly. It's an early work, not as deep and nuanced, but worth the time if you're into Ursula.
December 22, 2016
Yorumun aslı ve tamanı --> https://yaprakonur.wordpress.com/2016...
Ursula Le Guin'in erken dönem eserlerinden biri olan Sürgün Gezegeni, aynı zamanda Hainish Cycle serisinin bir parçası. Serinin her kitabı kendi içinde bütünlüğü olan ayrı ayrı okunabilecek kitaplar. Ben serinin diğer kitaplarını henüz okumadım ama bu kitap bende diğerlerini de öne alma isteği uyandırdı.
Sürgün Gezegeni hakkında konuşmaya nereden başlayacağımı bilemediğim eserlerden. En baştan başlayayım o zaman.
Kitap Ursula Le Guin'in erkek karakterler hakkında yazmanın feminizmle ne kadar bağdaştığıyla ilgili biraz özeleştiri, biraz toplum eleştirisi içeren sunuşuyla açılıyor. Yazara duyduğum saygının daha da artmasına neden olan bu sunuş bize spoiler olacak kadar çok bilgi vermese de kitabın başkahramanlarını tanıtıyor ve hikayenin gidişhatından bahsediyor.
Ursula Le Guin kendisiyle yeni yeni tanışmaya başladığım bir yazar, hala okuma listemde sıra bekleyen çok eseri var. Kendisini çok iyi tanımasam da bu kitaptaki kalemi beni şaşırtmadı. İncelemenin asılda (linki yukarıda) bahsettiğim alt metinlerin tamamı yalın ve durağan bir yazım diliyle ince ince işlenmişti. Ortaya hareketli ve okuyucuyu ters köşeye yatıran bir eser değil, sakin kafayla okunması ve üzerinde düşünülerek farklı anlamlar çıkartılması gereken bir eser çıkmıştı. Le Guin konusunda benden daha deneyimli kişilerin bu kitabın yazarla tanışmak için çok doğru olmadığını söylediğini de dile getirmeden geçmek istemiyorum.
Çevirisi Ekin Odabaş'ın ellerine emanet edilmiş. Kendisi daha önce Çocukluğun Sonu çevirisini okuduğum ve çok beğendiğim, 'Ben, Robotu' onun çevirdiğini duyduğumda havalara uçtuğum bir çevirmen. Bu kitapta da kelime seçimleriyle harikalar yaratmıştı fakat bu sefer cümle sıralamalarıyla ilgili beni biraz zorladı. Elbette bu, düzelti sürecinden ya da benim cümle kuruş tarzımdan da kaynaklanıyor olabilir ama ikinci kez okumam gereken birçok cümleyle karşılaştım.
Kısacası okunması ve üzerinde bolca düşünülmesi gereken kısacık ama dolu dolu bir kitap Sürgün Gezegeni. Böyle bir kitap arayanlara kesinlikle tavsiye ederim.
Okuyup farklı alt metinler bulmuş, farklı çıkarımlar yapmış kişilerle uzun uzun tartışmak isterim...
Ursula Le Guin'in erken dönem eserlerinden biri olan Sürgün Gezegeni, aynı zamanda Hainish Cycle serisinin bir parçası. Serinin her kitabı kendi içinde bütünlüğü olan ayrı ayrı okunabilecek kitaplar. Ben serinin diğer kitaplarını henüz okumadım ama bu kitap bende diğerlerini de öne alma isteği uyandırdı.
Sürgün Gezegeni hakkında konuşmaya nereden başlayacağımı bilemediğim eserlerden. En baştan başlayayım o zaman.
Kitap Ursula Le Guin'in erkek karakterler hakkında yazmanın feminizmle ne kadar bağdaştığıyla ilgili biraz özeleştiri, biraz toplum eleştirisi içeren sunuşuyla açılıyor. Yazara duyduğum saygının daha da artmasına neden olan bu sunuş bize spoiler olacak kadar çok bilgi vermese de kitabın başkahramanlarını tanıtıyor ve hikayenin gidişhatından bahsediyor.
Ursula Le Guin kendisiyle yeni yeni tanışmaya başladığım bir yazar, hala okuma listemde sıra bekleyen çok eseri var. Kendisini çok iyi tanımasam da bu kitaptaki kalemi beni şaşırtmadı. İncelemenin asılda (linki yukarıda) bahsettiğim alt metinlerin tamamı yalın ve durağan bir yazım diliyle ince ince işlenmişti. Ortaya hareketli ve okuyucuyu ters köşeye yatıran bir eser değil, sakin kafayla okunması ve üzerinde düşünülerek farklı anlamlar çıkartılması gereken bir eser çıkmıştı. Le Guin konusunda benden daha deneyimli kişilerin bu kitabın yazarla tanışmak için çok doğru olmadığını söylediğini de dile getirmeden geçmek istemiyorum.
Çevirisi Ekin Odabaş'ın ellerine emanet edilmiş. Kendisi daha önce Çocukluğun Sonu çevirisini okuduğum ve çok beğendiğim, 'Ben, Robotu' onun çevirdiğini duyduğumda havalara uçtuğum bir çevirmen. Bu kitapta da kelime seçimleriyle harikalar yaratmıştı fakat bu sefer cümle sıralamalarıyla ilgili beni biraz zorladı. Elbette bu, düzelti sürecinden ya da benim cümle kuruş tarzımdan da kaynaklanıyor olabilir ama ikinci kez okumam gereken birçok cümleyle karşılaştım.
Kısacası okunması ve üzerinde bolca düşünülmesi gereken kısacık ama dolu dolu bir kitap Sürgün Gezegeni. Böyle bir kitap arayanlara kesinlikle tavsiye ederim.
Okuyup farklı alt metinler bulmuş, farklı çıkarımlar yapmış kişilerle uzun uzun tartışmak isterim...
January 31, 2024
Това е от ранните романи на ле Гуин, но на мен ми е любимият неин, почти засенчен до момента от доста по-късния
”Четири пътя към прошката”
.
Любимата тема на старата дама - различието и различните - този път пряко реферира към съдбата на индианците в САЩ. Естествено, светът в книгата е описан с пестеливо майсторство, а героите ги заобичах.
На планетата в сюжета един цикъл трае 80 години, съответно всеки един от четирите сезона: пролет-лято-есен-зима е 20 години. А зимата там е ужасяваща! Малка колония заселници от технологично напреднала далечна цивилизация и местните номадски племена с еднакво опасение очакват зимата. Междувременно връзките на заселниците с племената се засилват по принуда, и водят до неочаквани събития и открития.
Читателят накрая пак се пита за същината на думата “цивилизация”. И не, ле Гуин не избира лесния път с отчетливите “добри” и “лоши”. Но във фантастиката, за разлика от реалността, шансовете за победа на разума са значително по-високи.
Любимата тема на старата дама - различието и различните - този път пряко реферира към съдбата на индианците в САЩ. Естествено, светът в книгата е описан с пестеливо майсторство, а героите ги заобичах.
На планетата в сюжета един цикъл трае 80 години, съответно всеки един от четирите сезона: пролет-лято-есен-зима е 20 години. А зимата там е ужасяваща! Малка колония заселници от технологично напреднала далечна цивилизация и местните номадски племена с еднакво опасение очакват зимата. Междувременно връзките на заселниците с племената се засилват по принуда, и водят до неочаквани събития и открития.
Читателят накрая пак се пита за същината на думата “цивилизация”. И не, ле Гуин не избира лесния път с отчетливите “добри” и “лоши”. Но във фантастиката, за разлика от реалността, шансовете за победа на разума са значително по-високи.
April 27, 2018
Planet of Exile is not an Ursula K. Le Guin book I'd heard of before. I came on to my radar through my NoveList project, where I take my top ten lists from previous years and look for "read-alikes" on the Novelist database, then read them and compare them to the books that apparently sparked the association.
Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
November 9, 2020
Eto nakon dvadeset godina sto sam procitao ovu knjigu, onako ponovo se zaljubim u Ursulin stil pisanja i tu "zimu" koja nadolazi cijelo vrijeme i trajat ce 9000 dana, brrrr....
Divno je vratit se Ursulinim pocecima, sjetim se zasto sam ju i zavolio jos prije dvadeset godina, i dan danas mi medju pet omiljenih pisaca.
Divno je vratit se Ursulinim pocecima, sjetim se zasto sam ju i zavolio jos prije dvadeset godina, i dan danas mi medju pet omiljenih pisaca.
February 17, 2021
The original ‘Winter is Coming!’ A winter that lasts 6000 days.
Interesting story - simplistic in ways- but also clever A picture is beginning to form of a past where species once traveled the galaxy and now only islands of that past exist.
. Much more sophisticated writing than Rocannon’s World. Looking forward to City of Illusions.
Interesting story - simplistic in ways- but also clever A picture is beginning to form of a past where species once traveled the galaxy and now only islands of that past exist.
. Much more sophisticated writing than Rocannon’s World. Looking forward to City of Illusions.
June 24, 2019
Bir müddet elimde sürünse de adam akıllı başına oturunca bitti ve tadı damağımda kaldı hatta biraz daha uzun sürmesini isterdim.
November 21, 2012
Originally posted at FanLit.
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
Planet of Exile is a novel in Ursula Le Guin’s HAINISH CYCLE and one of the author’s first published books. In this story, a colony of humans has been stranded for many years on the planet Werel, which has such a long orbit around its sun that one year is like 60 Earth years. These humans, gently led by Jakob Agat, live in a city surrounded by a stone wall. Because of the conditions on Werel, especially the effect of its sun’s radiation on human genes, their colony is dwindling. The humans share the planet with two other humanoid species. They have no contact with the Gaal, a nomadic tribe, and they have a tense but sometimes cooperative relationship with the Tevarans.
The planet is moving into its harsh winter phase, which will last about 15 years. Usually when this happens the nomadic Gaal pass by the human city on their way south. But this year there is a rumor that the Gaal do not plan to migrate, but rather to conquer the humans and Tevarans and take their cities for themselves. Jakob Agat hopes the humans and Tevarans can set aside their differences and suspicions and work together to defeat the Gaal. But when he falls in love with Rolery, granddaughter of the Tevaran leader, tensions flare.
If you’re familiar with Ursula Le Guin’s work, I recommend reading Planet of Exile — it’s interesting to see how this excellent writer got her start. However, if you’re new to Le Guin, don’t start here. Her later work is so much better. In Planet of Exile, her world-building and character development has already improved from what we saw in Rocannon’s World, the first of the HAINISH CYCLE books, but it still lacks the vividness of her later works. For example, Jakob’s and Rolery’s love-at-first-sight relationship has no substance to it. I never felt it and wasn’t convinced that Jakob and Rolery felt it either.
Perhaps this is because Le Guin’s main interest in these HAINISH novels isn’t to tell a love story, but to use science fiction to explore cultural anthropological themes. This is something that she also does better in later novels. Here, as in Rocannon’s World, her races and cultures seem too unnaturally distinct and isolated to be living so close together on the same planet.
I have to say that if Planet of Exile wasn’t written by Ursula Le Guin, I probably wouldn’t recommend it at all, but I love Le Guin’s prose and I find it fascinating to compare her earlier and later works. I think that most of her fans will feel the same way. Planet of Exile is short and simple — an easy read. Again, if you’re not a fan yet, don’t start here; I suggest starting with THE EARTHSEA CYCLE or ANNALS OF THE WESTERN SHORE.
I listened to Blackstone Audio’s version read by the excellent Steven Hoye and Carrington MacDuffie. This was a very nice production. All of the HAINISH CYCLE books are available on audio. Each of them can stand alone, so you don’t have to read them in any particular order, but Planet of Exile acts as a prequel to City of Illusions. I’ll be reading that one soon.
Planet of Exile — (1966) The Earth colony of Landin has been stranded on Werel for ten years, and ten of Werel’s years are over 600 terrestrial years, and the lonely and dwindling human settlement is beginning to feel the strain. Every winter, a season that lasts for 15 years, the Earthmen have neighbors: the humanoid hilfs, a nomadic people who only settle down for the cruel cold spell. The hilfs fear the Earthmen, whom they think of as witches and call the farborns. But hilfs and farborns have common enemies: the hordes of ravaging barbarians called gaals and eerie preying snow ghouls. Will they join forces or be annihilated?
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
Planet of Exile is a novel in Ursula Le Guin’s HAINISH CYCLE and one of the author’s first published books. In this story, a colony of humans has been stranded for many years on the planet Werel, which has such a long orbit around its sun that one year is like 60 Earth years. These humans, gently led by Jakob Agat, live in a city surrounded by a stone wall. Because of the conditions on Werel, especially the effect of its sun’s radiation on human genes, their colony is dwindling. The humans share the planet with two other humanoid species. They have no contact with the Gaal, a nomadic tribe, and they have a tense but sometimes cooperative relationship with the Tevarans.
The planet is moving into its harsh winter phase, which will last about 15 years. Usually when this happens the nomadic Gaal pass by the human city on their way south. But this year there is a rumor that the Gaal do not plan to migrate, but rather to conquer the humans and Tevarans and take their cities for themselves. Jakob Agat hopes the humans and Tevarans can set aside their differences and suspicions and work together to defeat the Gaal. But when he falls in love with Rolery, granddaughter of the Tevaran leader, tensions flare.
If you’re familiar with Ursula Le Guin’s work, I recommend reading Planet of Exile — it’s interesting to see how this excellent writer got her start. However, if you’re new to Le Guin, don’t start here. Her later work is so much better. In Planet of Exile, her world-building and character development has already improved from what we saw in Rocannon’s World, the first of the HAINISH CYCLE books, but it still lacks the vividness of her later works. For example, Jakob’s and Rolery’s love-at-first-sight relationship has no substance to it. I never felt it and wasn’t convinced that Jakob and Rolery felt it either.
Perhaps this is because Le Guin’s main interest in these HAINISH novels isn’t to tell a love story, but to use science fiction to explore cultural anthropological themes. This is something that she also does better in later novels. Here, as in Rocannon’s World, her races and cultures seem too unnaturally distinct and isolated to be living so close together on the same planet.
I have to say that if Planet of Exile wasn’t written by Ursula Le Guin, I probably wouldn’t recommend it at all, but I love Le Guin’s prose and I find it fascinating to compare her earlier and later works. I think that most of her fans will feel the same way. Planet of Exile is short and simple — an easy read. Again, if you’re not a fan yet, don’t start here; I suggest starting with THE EARTHSEA CYCLE or ANNALS OF THE WESTERN SHORE.
I listened to Blackstone Audio’s version read by the excellent Steven Hoye and Carrington MacDuffie. This was a very nice production. All of the HAINISH CYCLE books are available on audio. Each of them can stand alone, so you don’t have to read them in any particular order, but Planet of Exile acts as a prequel to City of Illusions. I’ll be reading that one soon.
Planet of Exile — (1966) The Earth colony of Landin has been stranded on Werel for ten years, and ten of Werel’s years are over 600 terrestrial years, and the lonely and dwindling human settlement is beginning to feel the strain. Every winter, a season that lasts for 15 years, the Earthmen have neighbors: the humanoid hilfs, a nomadic people who only settle down for the cruel cold spell. The hilfs fear the Earthmen, whom they think of as witches and call the farborns. But hilfs and farborns have common enemies: the hordes of ravaging barbarians called gaals and eerie preying snow ghouls. Will they join forces or be annihilated?
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