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Title: Left Hand of Darkness Author: Ursula K. Le Guin Copyright Date: 1969 Publisher: Ace

September 2003

Reviews

In Depth

NO STARS

A brooding, dark, disinteresting tale with no character development. Pure milieu. The interest of the story lies in the world and the lack of gender. I can give this story no rating. For me it held no reason and no enjoyment. It was as if I was reading an encyclopedial life on this featureless, dull, paranoid world. It briefly touched upon interest with side stories, but these lent little to the telling. The words are strung together nicely and the sentences well constructed. Alas, that is all the praise I can give.

This book was more like The Left Hand of WHAT'S GOING ON!!!! Finding the plot for this book wasn't just hard, it was like exhuming a lost pharaoh. If a writer is trying to convey a message with a story, the magic word is: SUBTLETY. Give the audience a plot to entertain them and then weave the message in without sacrificing the story. DO NOT FEAR! The people you're trying to reach are likely the only ones that will recognize there IS an inner message. I enjoyed the intrigue presented by both forms of government. WHAT LITTLE THERE WAS! The planet and cultures are what this book is truly about. This story is essentially about a tourist on an alien world.

I couldn’t even finish this book. I think I made it through chapter 5 and had to give it up. It was extremely boring. I can’t really say much about it cause what I read didn’t make much of an impression. Being that it’s considered a "classic", I might give it a try again someday, but definitely not anytime soon.