Worlds of Exile and Illusion by Ursula K. Le Guin

In Agat’s lifetime and for long before there had been no energy or leisure for subtle and complex affirmations of man’s skill and spirit. All their luxuries, all that made them civilized, all that kept them Alterran, was old. Even the glass in the windowframes was old. The handpress books in cases under the windows were old. The cup in his hand, blue porcelain, was very old, a work of the Fifth Year. Jakob is under extreme pressure to find a way to persuade native clans to form a coalition to repel the invaders. In advance of the long winter, the migratory hostile tribes of the native Gaals have united into a horde that threatens to destroy what remains of the colony as well as every other peaceful tribe in their path. Seemingly abandoned on this planet for over six hundred years, Jakob's colony is slowly shrinking only a couple thousand of his people remain.

On the planet of Gamma Draconis III, Rolery of Askatevar is saved from drowning by Jakob Agat, leader of the Alterrans, aka farborns. And I wish never to be again where I might hear the voices of my enemies.' I have changed I have drunk from the well in the mountains. The climax is bittersweet and satisfying I can't imagine a better ending. Her imagination and creative talents are masterful and the prose is exhilarating. While astonishing us with advanced technology, she also succeeds at creating empathy for her characters. One of the first things that I noticed here was Le Guin's sensitive yet objective treatment of alien cultures.

“I was born on a world called Hain by my mother’s people, and Davenant by my father’s. Many years later, with an intergalactic war brewing, the ethnographer Rocannon who gave Semley the necklace from the museum, returns to Fomalhaut II. They give her back the necklace but when Semley returns to her people, she finds everything has changed. She travels to the caves of the Gdemiar, a nocturnal race, where she is taken to the Starlords who have her necklace in a museum.

On the world planet Fomalhaut II, Semley of the Angyar race, wife of Durhal, seeks the lost treasure of her family, a sapphire necklace. In them there is a “League of Worlds,” but the Ekumen does not yet exist. where they fit in the “Hainish cycle” is anybody’s guess, but I’d read them first because they were written first. These are Leguin's debut novels and she suggested reading them first: Le Guin contains three novels in the Hainish cycle: Rocannon's World, Planet of Exile, and City of Illusions. Worlds of Exile and Illusion by Ursula K. I've started with the Hainish cycle and these are Le Guin's debut novels. I have been posting my reviews over at r/fantasy but hope you don't mind if I post them here too. This year it's my goal to read (and review) as many Le Guin works as possible.

Worlds of Exile and Illusion by Ursula K. Le Guin