Reviews

Worlds of Exile and Illusion: Rocannon's World, Planet of Exile, City of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin

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danielles_reads's review against another edition

adventurous reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

Average rating: 3.75

Rocannon's World: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Unlike most readers it seems, this was my favorite book of this bind-up, and it was all downhill from here. This one sucked me in so quickly, as the prologue with Semly’s necklace was so immediately intriguing and heartbreaking. I really liked learning about the lore of the planet, and seeing the differences between the races and their histories. I think UKLG did a great job of pacing Rocannon’s journey, as there were important events happening throughout. And I even enjoyed the descriptions of the planet. Plus, Rocannon’s story was also sad. I liked seeing him help everyone he met and then determinedly save the planet. The ending was bittersweet though. 🥲

Spoiler

I was surprised we didn’t see Rocannon die and missed out on most of his life. But him not reuniting with his own people felt fitting for his character arc.

This had a very mythological feel and I’m very impressed it was Le Guin’s debut!

Planet of Exile: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
I initially rated this 3.5 but I bumped it up a little after reading the last story, which added more depth.

Spoiler

It was nice to learn that the Werelians survived and creating a thriving, space-faring society. I don’t think City of Illusions would have been as satisfying without having read this story first.

I really like the idea of a planet of the descendants of colonists trying to ally with the natives in a war. Their enemy was pretty much just an archetypal barbarian depiction, but the narrative did acknowledge they are also trying to survive in this harsh world. The world building was so interesting, as UKLG really put some thought into how 15 year long seasons would affect a society’s culture (one of my favorite aspects of the sci-fi genre!). Both of the two main cultures were depicted in such captivating detail.

What really brought my enjoyment down though was the romance. The female MC came across as 20ish years old to me, with the male MC feeling around 40. Their power differential combined with their characterizations gave me the ick. Plus, the female MC didn’t really do much. And the fact that they so suddenly had the hots for each other and wanted to get married so soon just had me rolling my eyes. I could’ve dealt with it if it was a side plot, but it pretty much ended up being a main driver of the story. Bleh.

City of Illusions: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
God, this one took me forever to get through. The first chapter was really interesting—the question of where Falk came from (

Spoiler

I already knew it was Werel based on reviews talking about these stories being connected, but I wanted to know how he got to that point

) got me immediately intrigued. But then it turned out Falk had to go on a suuuuper long journey before he could figure it out. And in typical Le Guin fashion, that journey is described in excruciating detail (it’s really a hit-or-miss for me whether these journeys are enjoyable and this one was a miss). I think it’s primarily because Falk is such a blank slate every-man character that he’s not super interesting, and he spends most of his journey alone getting fucked over again and again. It felt so repetitive after the third antagonist stranger. Plus, I really didn’t like Estrel and how she was so… compliant. Made me uncomfortable. Honestly, if I didn’t go in knowing who Le Guin was, I would’ve thought these books were written by a man, solely based on how passive and sexist the depictions of the female characters are.

But once Falk finally ended his journey (a little over halfway in), the book got interesting again! Falk’s indecision about restoring his memory was interesting to think about, and I like how Le Guin played with

Spoiler

the two competing personalities of Falk and Agad. But I gotta admit that Agad is WAY more interesting of a character, so it was nice to see a competent and confident man take over from Falk’s narration. I also liked the two of them reasoning out whether or not the Shing were lying, and how they took them down together. And seeing how mindspeech was developed and standardized since PoE was really cool too.

Binding up these three novellas was a great choice, as they definitely all built upon each other, lending more emotional impact and intrigue as it went on. But ultimately the icky romance, passive female characters, and uneven pacing made this a mixed bag for me.

roryd's review

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emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

jojothebookbean's review

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adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

twdrake's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5

schnoebs13's review against another edition

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5.0

Though not one of these stories was a 5 star for me, I truly appreciate and love this bind up. I had only read the first book in Earthsea before this and was not going into this with high hopes but that quickly changed. I relate to the intro and feeling like my appreciate for Le Guin started to late now that she’s gone but I look forward to reading her backlog. I was so impressed with the writing and creativity of the worlds and experiences her characters went through. I think she’s able to tackle complex experiences but in such a simple way that doesn’t make you feel overwhelmed and not sure what’s going on in the story. I think that this is definitely a great place to start for her and I look forward to see what else I enjoy from her.