Left Hand of Darkness, The

by Ursula K. Le Guin (1969)

8/10

Update 10/6/23:

I re-read this and my original review mostly stands, although the scant climax didn’t bother me as much. I’ve been reading a lot of Le Guin lately so I’ve gotten accustomed to her pacing problems and rushed climaxes. She actually improved from her first few novels to this one in that unlike those first ones this has a legitimate denouement.

I can’t say the book was ultimately that memorable from reading it 8 years ago. Going on I didn’t recall much except “androgynous” and “cold.” I guess that about sums it up lol…

But now I do have more appreciation for how substantively she fleshed out this world. She’s an extremely thoughtful speculator and a very talented writer, and I was able to enjoy those aspects of the work more this time around.

My only new complaint is how long and tedious the crossing-the-ice sequence is. It’s 70 pages and very monotonous, and could have been easily half as long.

Original review December 2015:

The justifiable classic is a fascinating interplanetary political drama with flourishes of pure adventure — all of that’s enough to keep it compelling even before you factor in the astonishingly original premise of gender-nullification, fostering gratifying commentary on gender, patriotism and society.

As with Le Guin’s other internationally acclaimed novel, The Dispossessed, this one focuses at least as much on “concept + ideas” as it does story, and with the same impressive-while-less-than-absolutely-satisfying results. Ai and Estraven are two memorable characters and you feel for them, but most of the book’s value comes from their dialogues and inner monologues.

The world-building is top-notch and consistently captivating, especially with a planet peopled by biological androgynes. But to put it frankly: after three novels I have yet to see evidence that Le Guin is capable of strong action sequences. The climax here is woefully under-narrated and is over in less than a page. While the bones of the conclusion are fulfilling, its execution was lacking.

So ultimately I’m finding that I admire the hell out of Le Guin for her penetrating ideas and metaphors, but she still feels vaguely incomplete as a novelist despite the uniqueness of her vision. I look forward to reading more of her to either corroborate or refute this impression. Either way, her introduction to Left Hand is fantastic and worth reading by itself for any fans of sci-fi or aspiring writers.

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