Colin Ablitt

While being somewhat slow and exposition-heavy in the beginning half, the exposition in this book becomes necessary to flesh out the meaning of this unfamiliar world of Anarres. Each aspect of life on the unforgiving planet is laid out in stark detail, especially when contrasting it with the lush conditions of Urras and its society much like our own current system.

The book really picks up halfway through, and all the exposition gets put into practice as each society wrestles with what ails them: Anarres with its horrible material conditions, and its people’s monk-like devotion to collective survival and solidarity over anything considered non-useful to the collective, and Urras with its massive income inequality and oppressive police/military state.

I wish the ending carried forward so we could see the consequences of the final events, but I understand the authors choice to leave things open. I’m interested to read more of the Hainish series. Overall, I loved this highly thought provoking book.