Lucas Blogs About City of Illusions

 

Hey! It's this book again!

So, what's this boo—oh it's another of Ursula K. LeGuin's Hainish novels!

That it is. This one is called City of Illusions.

Okay, but what's its deal?

All right, so this one takes place on Earth, or Terra (I have to admit that I'm irrationally annoyed when science fiction novels treat "Terra" as a more universal alternative to "Earth," but that has nothing to do with this book).  A young woman named Parth comes across a naked amnesiac with cat-like yellow eyes (like so amnesiac that he doesn't even remember how to talk). Over time, the amnesiac, Falk, learns the customs of Parth's people, including learning the new strain of Taoism that has been passed down through the centuries. Eventually, Falk decides that he needs to learn where he comes from, so he sets off for the mysterious city of Es Toch where the Shing rule the Earth with lies and illusions. Who are the Shing? No one rightly knows except that they were apparently the mysterious enemies of the League of All Worlds. Oh, and also they erase the memories of criminals and dump them in the wilderness. As he makes his way across North America, Falk encounters kindess, cruelty, the Prince of Kansas, dangers and, of course, talking animals. But when he gets to Es Toch he is confronted with an entirely unexpected revelation that he is, in fact, Ramarren, a descendent of Jakob and Rolery from the novel Planet of Exile sent to Earth as part of an expedition to determine the outcome of the League's war. But are the Shing really who they say they are? Is Falk really who they say he is? What about the Werellian teenager who treats him like a long-lost mentor? And how is he going to figure any of this out?

I suppose I'll have to read City of Illusions to find out?

Guessed it in one, Hypothetical Reader!

So is it any good?

Yeah, it's pretty good. Like Rocannon's World and Planet of Exile, it's maybe not as mature a work as The Left Hand of Darkness or The Dispossessed, but it's still an engaging science fiction adventure novel that raises interesting questions about the nature of truth and identity.

Like, how can Falk know who he really is?

Yeah, like that. And how can he tell who's a friend and who's an enemy?

But aren't people in the Hainish series slightly psychic?

Some people yes, but the word in the wilderness is that the Shing are able to mind-lie; that's supposed to be impossible, but it's enough to put most people off of using mind-speech.

Okay. Wait, we're doing that thing where we talk about internal logic instead of what makes the book work or not.

You're right. Okay, so I'd say that this one isn't quite as tightly plotted as Rocannon's World or Planet of Exile. It's a bit slow going and episodic. Falk will move from one place to another, encounter a danger, make a new friend or enemy, then move on to the next. Though its trappings are more explicitly science fiction-y than those other books with hover vehicles, ray-guns, and interstellar travel all featuring in the action. And like the others, the more interesting questions raised by the narrative do get pushed aside a bit in the conclusion. I don't want to give away too much — even though the novel is decades old — but the ambiguous nature of the Shing is discarded pretty quickly as the novel barrels towards the finale.

Like in Captain America: The Winter Soldier?

Uh . . . yes. But why was that your go-to.

Why not?

Fair enough. I'm running out of things to say here, so I think we're about done. City of Illusions is a pretty good novel that doesn't quite reach the heights of Le Guin's best.

City of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin, from Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories, Volume One, Library of America hardcover edition, 2017, originally published 1967, 159 pages, pairs well with whatever  the Shing are giving Orry, it sounds like that really takes the edge off

Links:

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