Rat 🛸

I was expecting a weird maths fantasy and instead I got that with additional feminism? So yeah good book

this book has so much to live up to as its known as such a classic and there are absolutely moments where it does. I really love the frantic, thoughtless way that so many characters speak, it feels so reminiscent of ai-tiktok speak. The superficial personalisation of tech to make it feel like it's "part of the family" is very prescient. Weirdly a lot of the ways in which I question this book are in relation to the attitude it shows towards books. So much of the stuff is about Great Writings from Great Men, and while I do think these are incredibly important as part of history, and to encourage debate, I also think there could be a lot more emphasis on writing as a creative art, and the ways in which Guy finds himself moved by the writings.

I don't like the way that women are treated in the book. Mildred could be a really interesting character by herself, but the shallowness we see from her is mirrored in almost every other female character to the point of it feeling like a stereotype. Clarisse is the only exception, and she feels like a very wispy virginal darling. I could really appreciate her character if other aspects of the story were less gendered (the men at the end?? like why do they all have to be men???)

I really love how UKLG does world-building; she doesn't do it for the sake of thinking of fun character names or wondrous settings or exciting aliens. She does it to delve into the question of how another society would work, whether we could truly live beholden to each other rather than to governments and money. The society is so fleshed out with it's virtues and flaws and characters who make the world operate.

in terms of the narrative, I did enjoy, but felt that more could have happened for Shevek on Urras. The conversations were interesting but the plot was thin. I would have liked him to go to Thu, as he always generalises "this is what it's like on Urras" when he has only experienced one government there.

even with the slow plot (until the last quarter!!) I did really enjoy. I am very interested in Anarchism, I believe in some anarchist ideals, and I think that Le Guin does well to create a situation that makes anarchism work. One of the reasons I don't believe Anarchism could work within my lifetime is that no matter your form of government (or lack of government) you will still have the same people in your society; there will still be enough greedy people, cruel people and apathetic people to exploit others if they are not restrained from doing so. On Annares, there are only people who have chosen to be there, only people who believe in the cause, so this problem is solved by social pressure.

There were aspects of the descriptions of Urras that really haunted me, the beauty and brutality of a capitalist society rich in natural resources.

didnt really live up to expectations, as most of the essays either talked about scifi in the broadest and most obvious terms ("imagination is what makes us human" girl how do you know that a bee doesnt dream?), or in minutiae that aren't even that interesting if you know the very specific subject. There were a few things that stood out to me, some of the essays were more enjoyable, but overall felt like the editors should have sought essays on topics that have an essay-length-amount to say about them (eg. an essay on eco-fables, an essay on time travel writing, an essay on digital companionship). Did provide ok food for thought tho.

love, just extremely well executed. Murderbot needs access to tumblr soo bad. One of the most fun POVs I've ever read, and a really well-actualised use of tech-communication for the plot and humour. Such a fun little bite of Scifi, will be reading the sequels.