The Left Hand of Darkness

Paperback, 366 pages

English language

Published Sept. 16, 2010 by Ace Books.

ISBN:
978-0-441-47812-5
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
53345521
ASIN:
B00YBA7PGW
Goodreads:
118028

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4 stars (18 reviews)

On the planet Winter, there is no gender. The Gethenians can become male or female during each mating cycle, and this is something that humans find incomprehensible.

The Ekumen of Known Worlds has sent an ethnologist to study the Gethenians on their forbidding, ice-bound world. At first he finds his subjects difficult and off-putting, with their elaborate social systems and alien minds. But in the course of a long journey across the ice, he reaches an understanding with one of the Gethenians — it might even be a kind of love

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Review of 'The Left Hand of Darkness' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Here it is... this infamous volume of feminist sci-fi that I have found my younger contemporaries have never heard about. Which I find shocking, as this book is trumpeted as an infamous volume of feminist sci-fi literateur. Does it deserve this reputation? Does it deserve the Nebula and Hugo award that it concurrently? Is that even an indication of quality since garbage like Ender's Game seems able to.... but I digress.

The Left Hand of Darkness follows (mostly) Genly Ai, an Envoy originally from Terra (code for our world!) sent to the creatively named planet of Winter to try and convince them to join a planetary union known as the Ekumen. On Winter, Ai must find a way to navigate the strange, alien politics to achieve his goal without being killed in the process.

And what's so strange about this society that the politics would be hard to navigate? Well, …

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