A review by p_t_b
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

5.0

tempted to assign the rare 4.76 rating except once again for the infinity-th consecutive time the five-star rating thing makes that not an option. Well anyway this book is amazing and rich and creates an entire planet with such a beautiful economy of thought and gesture. My big complaint is not very big and it is merely that the flights of Genly and Estraven are accurately boring in the way that being an actual refugee/fugitive/prisoner probably is. This is the best novel written about the Cold War as far as I concerned even if that was not the intent of the author. Précis: a dude from an enlightened confederacy of planets visits a not backward but slightly plodding planet more concerned with its own international rivalries than the higher good. Also the humanoids who live on this planet, alternately called Winter/Earth, are intersex. The envoy Genly is a cis dude. He tries and fails to parse the cynical politics of the two main nations and ponders at what price his mission may be completed. A slowly unfolding trust between Genly and a single Gethenian is basically the whole of the book. It's not that narrow as a story, although it does have some slightly slow bits. Fully rad smart sci fi for anyone who liked BSG redux before it got stupid or high church ST. Please point me to the other sci fi novels that compare to this in depth and literary poise.