Lucas Blogs About Planet of Exile

Yep, more Le Guin!

So, what's this book's deal?

As you can see, it's another of Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish novels. This time it's Planet of Exile which, like Rocanon's World, includes both fantasy and science fiction tropes. Though it certainly does lean more into the science fiction side of the premise.

The premise being?

So, remember how the League of All Worlds is at war with some other unnamed faction?

Vaguely.

Well, that's still going on. However, it hasn't directly affected the planet of Werel, where this story takes place.

Only indirectly?

Yeah. See, the League has established a colony there, which is currently at relative peace with the local population.

And by local population you mean who exactly.

Well, the human settlers call them HILFs.

Humanoids I'd Like to Fu—

No! It stands for Highly Intelligent Life Forms. But yes, they are humanoid (again due to the spread of the ancient Hainish civilization) and yes, some of the settlers and some of the natives are DTF. However, intermarriage is rare because interbreeding is impossible (that is, often results in miscarriage or death of the mother). Anyway, the settlement has been more or less abandoned by the League due to the war. Meanwhile, possibly due to the shenanigans that Rocannon got up to on his eponymous world, the settlers are forbidden from using technology much more advanced than the natives do. So roughly Bronze Age. Most of the native people are nomadic, but a quirk of the planet's orbital period does mean that they set up permanent cities about once in a generation, to sit out the winter.

How long is the winter?

Well, it takes Werel about sixty earth years to orbit its star, so seasons can span decades. Anyway, the story kicks into motion when Rolery, a young Tevaran woman is nearly washed away at high tide and is rescued by Jakob Agat, a leader in the League colony of Landin (get it?), who manages to bespeak her (contact her telepathically, look some humans have telepathy, okay). While the two are immediately intrigued by each other, this meeting is fortuitous because Jakob has been meaning to contact Rolery's father, Wold, the elder of the Tevarans. It turns out that a hostile warlord in the north (whose tribe normally travels south in the winter) has amassed a horde and is sacking winter cities in order to steal their supplies. Jakob wants to form an alliance between Landin and the Tevarans. This proves to be controversial in both communities and leads to further complications when Jakob and Rolery become lovers. Will these two peoples be able to overcome their prejudices and survive the winter?

Will they?

You can read it to find out.

Okay. So I think I see how this fits in with Le Guin's interest in anthropology. 

Yeah, it's primarily the story of two groups who have to learn to put aside their differences and work together. Specifically it's about how they have to reevaluate their prejudices since each group thinks the others are subhuman barbarians.

Sounds a little on the nose.

It is a little on the nose. Planet of Exile isn't as skillfully executed as some of Le Guin's later Hainish books. Places like Karhide, Orgoreyn, Anarres, and Urras from The Left Hand of Darkeness and The Dispossessed are built with more specificity than either Tevar or Landin are in Planet of Exile. Similarly, the characters also feel a bit more like types. Like they exist as a vehicle for the ideas of the story. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I did find that it took me out of the story more and made the going a bit more difficult. You can see elements of her later work peeking through, specifically the thoughtful ways in which she makes you consider various characters viewpoints, but they aren't quite coalescing yet.

Do you think you might have gone easier on this book if you hadn't read her later material first?

That's entirely possible. When you go back and read an author's earlier material, it's hard not to compare it to their later output. Particularly when the comparison is unfavorable. Reading Planet of Exile it's easy to see a path towards something like The Dispossed, but to also be disappointed that Le Guin hasn't quite reached those heights.

Well, since we're already comparing it to her other Hainish books, how does it stack up against Rocannon's World?

It's certainly a more thoughtful book, but Rocannon's World also has a kind of shaggy charm. It's almost like a sword and sorcery story. And while there is plenty of tension when Landin is under seige, the novel never feels quite comfortable with its action elements. So I'd say that while Planet of Exile is certainly an interesting novel, it doesn't quite scratch the Ursula K. Le Guin itch.

That's gibberish.

Maybe, but I just couldn't help but feel a little let down. Still, it has its good points. Although the romance between Jakob and Rolery is quite sudden, Le Guin does manage to sell the depth of their psychic connection. Similarly, she paints a very convincing portrait of Wold as a leader with the wisdom and experience to see that sometimes tradition needs to be challenged but having lost the wherewithal and conviction to persuade others.

Okay, anything else you want to highlight?

Yeah, although both the settlers in Landin and the Tevarans (and other local tribes) distrust each other, I like how Le Guin establishes that a major problem in establishing friendly relations is the fact that the settlers view the locals with condescension and refuse to consider their point of view. It's a smart detail, and something that she expands on in The Left Hand of Darkness. Again, I don't think this is a bad book, it just doesn't quite live up to the quality of her later work.

Got it.

Planet of Exile by Ursula K. Le Guin, from Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories, Volume One, Library of America hardcover edition, 2017, originally published 1966, 104 pages, pairs well with contemplative silence and an awareness of your own faults

Links:

Here's the author's website, if you're into that kinda thing.

Apparently the movie rights were sold in 2017, but who knows if anything will come of it.