Lucas Blogs About Books

  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

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 so

I'll admit it, I possess a weakness for Le Guin omnibuses . . . omnibi? So, what's this book's deal? Oh, hey, it's another Ursula K. Le Guin collection! It is, but this time I'm only blogging about the first book: Rocannon's World . So, I've already read The Left Hand of Darkness  and The Dispossessed  with which it shares a setting, but this is the first book she wrote in what is generally called The Hainish Cycle. Speaking of Hain, Rocannon, the protagonist hails from Hain. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The novel begins with a brief ethnological note about the second planet of Fomalhaut, where a previous survey had revealed multiple sentient hominids with a roughly bronze/iron age level of technology. However, after this sketch, the prologue feels like a fairytale: with a young princess in search of an appropriate dowry. She travels to her father's castle and is told that the family treasue, a necklace was given to the dwarf-like Gde

You may have noticed that I daintily withdrew two fingers to make sure that the author's name would be visible. You're welcome. So, what's this book's deal? The idea that a deal could belong to any one book is propertarian excrement! Beg pardon? Just getting into the spirit of this week's book. The Dispossessed , a novel which is apparently labelled as "An Ambiguous Utopia" in previous editions. And speaking of this edition, Harper Perennial published it with a number of embarrassing typos. That's not something you usually harp on. No it is not, Hypothetical Reader. But there's a particularly egregious one I'd like to point out before we go any further. See, the novel follows the main character, Shevek, from infancy to adulthood, and in the section where Shevek is eight years old, his age is initially given as eighty. That's pretty egregious. But you're getting ahead of yourself. Who wrote this book? Oh, it's by Ur