A very sweetly written short story about four kittens born with wings, their journey from the city to the country, and the life lessons they learn.

Catwings
In the story Catwings Harriet, James, Thelma, Roger have to leave their home.
When they were trying to find their now home Roger got hurt by an owl.

I like Catwings because cats can fly. I like the story it's funny. One thing I learned was if cats have wings do not pull on them.

If you were a cat and kids were grabbing you and pulling on your wings and you can't fly anymore. this would be a big problem for a catwing.

This book is so good because cats can fly and the happy ending.

When Roger is better two kids come and find the cats , feed them and take care of them.

Book Review: Catwings by Ursula K.A. LeGuin

Would you want to be a cat with wings? Catwings is a book about four cats that have wings and they're on their own until two kids deicide to keep them. They stay until they decide to go visit their mother in the old neighborhood. I learned that the little birds in the story were upset that the cats could fly because the cats could eat them. The pictures were great! You might want to read this book and find out what happens. It is a very good book for kids. It has lots of adventure. After you read it you will feel good about something.

Le Guin was probably one of the most powerful voices in science fiction of the sixties and seventies. "The Left Hand of Darkness" and the "Dispossessed" remain two of the most powerful science fiction novels of their time, and still stand out as literary classics transcending the limitations of the genre. However, since that time, her output has been minimal. She has been quiet for too long, so when this collection of novellas came out, I was over the moon. I wasn't at all disappointed. Each story, weaving characters and events from the others, paints a picture of two worlds, their cultures and above all the people who inhabit them in a way few other writers can. Her prose is simple, lacking the excessive use of adjectives and flowery ornamentation that characterise the writing of many a lesser author, painting a vivid landscape and fully fleshed characters. Moving love stories, powerful descriptions of the clash of cultures and the search for individual dignity and meaning are at the heart of all four stories. Painted against the common backdrop of the struggles for freedom of the slaves of Yeowe against the slave masters of Werrel, the personal stories of the characters are never lost against this broader backcloth. Le Guin has always focused on character and plot, set against a detailed background, rather than on scientific extrapolation and high adventure. It's not juvenile writing (unlike most science fiction), but adult literature for those who like to be challenged by what the read, rather than looking to be passively. There are few writers who take the real political, cultural and social issues of our day and explore them so thoroughly in science fiction la setting. Paul Park and Iain M. Banks may be two modern exceptions, but Le Guin remains the master (or mistress!) of the genre. I can only hope that this isn't the last we hear of her for a long time, and heralds the renaissance of her writing career.

Ursula K. Le Guin's stories of life on other worlds always seem to speak of what it means to be human. This, for me, is the hallmark of her science fiction.

Four Ways to Forgiveness is a powerful showcase of Le Guin's ability to forge characters of great depth - characters real enough to play out dramas of slavery and power, of submission and rebellion, of extreme cruelty and everyday pettiness, of love and understanding. Stories of forgiveness.

A deeply moving collection of four of Le Guin's stories, Four Ways to Forgiveness is a must-read for any science fiction enthusiast, for anyone who is capable of cruelty, for anyone who is capable of love, for anyone who would like to feel a little more human for a while.

A marvellous book, the four stories of Yeowe & Werel intertwined subtly and beautifully.

The issues of slavery and female subjugation, so central to any moral history of real humankind on real planet earth, are treated with Ursula's characteristic compassion and humanity, in the context of an imaginary planet and its colony-satellite.

The characters of these stories, their acts of bravery cowardice revolt submission, are so familiar from earth's own history of colonizations and exploitations! As always I marvel at how LeGuin, White American and presumably priviledged, knows so well the hearts of the enslaved and the colonized.

How familiar to see the lives of slaves who go on century after century without thinking to revolt!

How familiar to see the slave who, at the moment of choice, remains on the side of the master and sticks to the familiar, instead of striding into the unknown world of freedom!

And how familiar to see oppression and war and famine continuing, in different form, after freedom from the external oppressors.

(Former colonies of the European oppressors will remember sorely how brown/black bosses promptly took over the former_roles of the white masters after liberation.)

And how familiar to see, the lonely and driven activist, the former slave who wants all enslavements to end, the few moral beings in an often immoral world.

The cry of slave peoples on Werel -- "Oh, Oh, Ye-o-we" -- so mournful, so similar to the bittersad poetry of colonized peoples everywhere.

Actually, the four ways have now become five ways, as LeGuin has written one more story set in Werel, in the collection "The Birthday of the World".

One of the great writers of the 20th century offers an exhilerating workout for writers of narrative fiction & nonfiction. It is a handbook full of warm up exercises such as "I Am Gorgeous" for reading aloud; writing a chaste paragraph of descriptive narrative prose without one adjective or adverb & "Changing Voices" - writing the same story from different perspectives.

What I like about Steering The Craft is that I'm seriously studying along with this fabled author & suddenly there I am, brow frowning, mind minding every precious word & she stops me on a dime with a pun of the first water!

A quietly important, useful & informative textbook for writers wishing to flex the muscles of their minds. You know a writer? This would be a superb gift! For my full review do check out: [my website]

"Steering the Craft" is a surprisingly good and practical book on creative writing. I was surprised because books and essays on writing by established authors can be downright patronizing and intentionally vague. Le Guin, on the other hand, uses lucid language and a gentle tone to explain the essential elements of good prose writing. The examples she uses are eye-opening, perhaps because I keep seeing the same examples from the same group of contemporary authors in most recent books on writing. Her exercises are also innovative, especially those intended to help fiction writers recognize the subtle "music" in prose, and how that is different from poetry. Scattered throughout the book are several opinion pieces where Le Guin discusses various trends in contemporary prose writing. This is where you decide whether her book is right for you--Le Guin definitely has some strong views: she believes that immediacy of the present tense narrative is an illusion and is equally skeptical about hybrid genre prose. If you are in agreement with her or can live with those views, then I have no qualms about recommending this little gem.

Steering the Craft is useful for anyone engaged in creative writing, whether the outcome is fiction or narrative nonfiction. Her exercises are meant to be consciousness-raisers, says LeGuin, whom I interviewed for my own bestselling WRITING IN FLOW, and whom I found to be quite forthcoming about her writing process. In this book, for instance, she covers how to show characters thinking, shifting points of view, the uses of repetition, and so on. Although I normally don't care for exercises as such, hers are fresh and flexible (write a page of descriptive narrative without adjectives or adverbs or dialogue; you can do this as part of whatever you're working on). An original contribution to the advice field.

As noted in other reviews here, the collection is mixed. Some of the dabbling in fable styles and neo-primitivism (The Rock That Changed Things, for instance) left me cold. Ursula is an unabashed feminist, and more power to her; but she is at her best when she integrates her ethical and political ideas into her stories, rather than merely proselytizing.

The last three stories, dealing with a bizarre faster-than-light travel method called "churten" (sort of a descendant of Le Guin's FTL communication device, the ansible) are collectively worth the price of the book. "The Shobies' Story" explores fractured views of reality, taking its cue from the uncertainties of quantum physics. "Dancing to Ganaam" is an enjoyable spoof of the smug Captain Kirk-style space hero -- I envision its hapless protagonist as a close cousin to Zap Brannigan in the "Futurama" TV show. The final story, "A Fisherman of the Inland Sea," works a strangely paradoxless time-travel thread into its exploration of science and human relations. The mild yet intense scientist-hero is reminiscent of Shevek from "The Dispossessed," and Le Guin's suggestion of a workable four-person marriage is quite intriguing. It rivals "Hernes" from "Searoad" as the best short story Le Guin ever wrote.

I can't give enough praise for this book. It contains some of the best stories I have ever read, especially the last story, "The Fisherman of the Inland Sea." That story alone is worth the money of the book. LeGuin once again introduces complex and beautiful worlds that are wonderful as our own.

Some of the other stories can be mischievous, fun, and are just stories to enjoyed. This isn't your usual LeGuin, but they are enjoyable nevertheless. But that last story! A Classic LeGuin.

Ursula has a true gift with the English language. Her prose and her style of writing all give such life to her stories! All the stories in this collection are gems, masterpieces. Especially "Newton's Sleep" an astonishing tale of an orbiting habitat above a chaotic earth. "The Shobies' Story" starts to turn into surrealist literature toward the end; no doubt Le Guin has had some experience with surrealist literature...the way she handles the churtening experience is virtuoso. And the last story...unbelievable! The way she weaved in the Urashima Japanese myth with that story was fascinating. The whole story was just fascinating, period. If you're into speculative fiction done well, I highly suggest reading this book now.

I am a fan of most of Le Guin's books. Although I don't like every one of them, several of her books are among my favorite novels. I really admire her explorations into the "otherness" of gender, which was the primary theme in her greatest novel "The Left Hand of Darkness." In "The Birthday of the World", Le Guin revisits Karhide (where "Left Hand of Darkness" took place) and plays with the idea of complex marriages, unbalanced societies, and the loss of innocence, all themes she has touched on throughout her writing career.

If you are new to Le Guin, I'd recommend you read one of her great novels first ("Left Hand of Darkness", "The Dispossessed) Then, these stories should flesh out an appreciation for her work. If you are working on writing your own science fiction or speculative fiction, I'd highly recommend this book of short stories along with "Steering the Craft", her writing workshop handbook. These two volumes really should be packaged together for fiction writers.

In this collection of short stories, Le Guin returns to her fictional universe of the classics "The Left Hand of Darkness" and "The Disposessed." The stories in this volume equal the power of her best works. Le Guin discusses superstition and religion in the title story; however, it is surpassed by the novella "Paradises Lost," in which she portrays human nature, sexuality, and deontology vs. teleology in a stunning way. Although this book is not appropriate for young children, all other Le Guin fans and newcomers to her work will certainly enjoy it.

To coin a term for a form of prose that's lacked one, Ursula K. Le Guin as chosen "story-suite" for a collection of short stories that are connected by theme, location, or events. This book mirrors her last SF story-suite, Four Ways to Forgiveness, in connectivity by theme but diverges from connectivity by place. At least, it makes wide ranges 'round the setting of many of her SF stories, called her "Hainish Universe." (Le Guin, typical of her self-deprecating humor, talks of her laziness in re-using this setting in her forward.)

The theme of these stories is relationships. With ourselves. With our lovers. With our society. They use various tools to explore this topic and reveal the complexities of being human. Stories range from a first-contact tale with a deeply anthropological tone to a "comedy of manners" among some of the most complicated relationships in the universe. Along the way, we touch on some familiar settings (the world of Left Hand of Darkness, that of Four Ways) and get a look at some new.

The final tale in this collection, a novella entitled Paradises Lost, is a bit of a divergence from the rest. It does not reside in the Hainish universe setting but upon a ship bound for a distant planet. Generations are born and die upon the ship as it crosses the vastness of space towards its destination. We watch one of those generations grow up and deal with a crisis of faith. In the end, we are presented with the answer chosen by the characters through whom we see the story. Typical of her skill, however, Le Guin does not present this solution as an absolute. That these people are protagonists does not make them absolutely right; other choices remain valid and are not demonized.

Most refreshing for me, is the number of stories in this collection that have, for at least part of their narrative, the voices of children. For her last couple of books, Le Guin was excercising a mature voice, one of parents, grandparents, rulers burdened with great decisions. I suspected the trend followed Le Guin's own aging; that she was now writing the books of her maturity while previous ones were the books of her youth. In this collection, however, we see that her talent cannot be so easily pigeon-holed. The youthful voices speak with vigor and candor. The ideas are fresh, whole; they make a maddening sense and immerse you fully in their gossamer worlds.

With each new release, Le Guin demonstrates that she is master of her craft.

Like other reviewers, I have read some translations of the Tao Te
Ching (Daodejing) and looked at many others. Like Mrs. Le Guin points
out in her note at the end of the book, I also believe that the one by
Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English is the most satisfactory in a literary
sense. However, sometimes it lacks the simplicity and immediacy which
this rendition gives to Lao Tzu's "very easy to understand"
words. Also, Mrs. Le Guin stayed with me throughout the book, and what
she had to say amounted to a fantastic commentary to the wisdom of the
Tao. Take for example Chapter 11 in page 14. At the bottom is a note
that says: "One of the things I love about Lao Tzu is he is so
funny. He's explaining a profound and difficult truth here, ....[and]
goes about it with this deadpan simplicity, talking about pots."
This kind of comment conveys, in my opinion, exactly the essence of
Taoism as predicated by Lao Tzu. There's nothing complicated, nothing
intrincate about Taoist wisdom. And Mrs. LeGuin sticks to this
(taoist) simplicity throughout the book. Being a translator myself, I
dare say that some of Lao Tzu's translators became obsessed with
"extracting" deep meaning from the Tao Te Ching, trying to
retain the tone, now looking for complicated words to convey
"exact" meaning, now glossing over a passage, losing the
reader along the way. As Mrs. LeGuin points out in the introduction to
this book "Scholarly translations of the Tao Te Ching as a manual
for rulers use a vocabulary that emphasizes the uniqueness of the
Taoist "sage", his masculinity, his authority." The
result is dry, unsatisfactory, nihilistic, detached. This rendition
is, like Ursula Le Guin says of the original, "...the purest
water....the deepest spring". I daresay that if Lao Tzu could
read all the modern English versions of his work, he would enjoy
Ursula LeGuin's the most, laughing heartily at every page. There is no
way that someone who reads this version will not want to re-read it,
or fail to come out of the reading with a new perspective on life, one
that recognizes the simplicity, unity, and changeable nature of
everything. Thank you, Ursula Le Guin, for rendering Taoism for the
modern Western rader. This book is my bedside companion, I have given
it to everyone I love, and recommend it to anyone who has ever
wondered about Taoism, and to all other translators, not for its exact
use of English equivalents for Chinese words, but for the perfect way
in which the idea behind the words has been committed to
paper. "...I was lucky to discover [Lao Tzu] so young, so that I
could live with his book my whole life long" says Ursula LeGuin
in her introduction. I think I was very lucky to read her version,
which has helped me see the beauty, the magic, the simplicity, the
Tao.

I've read a handful of Tao Te Ching translations and examined many more, but this one is by far my favorite. It's not because of its accuracy to the original text. Le Guin says up front that that wasn't her intention. Still, I find it a more faithful translation than most of the classics, which Le Guin discusses in the book's appendix. The reason is because Le Guin has captured the spirit of Tao. Her spare, gorgeous language goes to the heart. I came upon her version at a giant bookstore with dozens of Tao Te Chings. I wanted one, but I didn't know which. So I picked up a bunch that looked interesting and read the first three "chapters" of each. Le Guin's won hands down. It moved me in just that short of a time. Also, perhaps it's relevant, that I'm an anarchist (an issue that Le Guin coincidentally touches on in the book) as well as an atheist. This book connected with the sense of inner peace I get from these two beliefs.

I've bought several versions of the Tao Te Ching over the years, my favorite being that by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English. Le Guin's "rendition" startled me with its everyday language and showed the Tao in a new light.

Translations of this work vary considerably, so I was particularly impressed with Le Guin's inclusion of material explaining what led her to this undertaking and why she cast Lao Tzu's ideas the way she did. This honesty and the bare, simple beauty of her language seem to me very much an expression of the Tao.

In a world where everything seems so strident and competetive, this simple account of what one person found in this very old and much-loved book is more valuable to me than shelves full of scholarly, definitive, acclaimed, or approved translations.

This book not only talks about the Tao, it exemplifies the Tao.

This book was riveting. I read this book when I was much younger and I thought it was a bit too wierd from me back then. After seeing the made for TV movie and reading this book again help me apreciate the book alot better. The main character dreams and when he wakes up he find his whole world had changed. Not only does his world had change but his psychologist takes advantage of his abilty and empowers himself for his own personal gain. This book is still truely different from most books out there and its over 20 years old!! I believe this book outshines most books that are in current print today. If you want a unique read give this book a chance.

It is a bit more than a quarter of a century since Ursula K. Le Guin's classic novel of the near future was originally penned; a classic science fiction tale that is quite simply, a masterpiece. Avon Books has re-issued a new trade paperback format of the book, bringing this imaginative fable of power--both uncontrolled and uncontrollable--to a whole new generation of readers. And if you happened to see the WNET movie adaptation done in 1980, please read (or re-read) the book; as with most book to movie translations, the movie was good--but the book is just so much better! THE LATHE OF HEAVEN is the story of George Orr--a man whose dreams become reality, for better or worse. Against his will, Orr is incarcerated, then sent for psychiatric care to treat his "delusions". After a few experimental sessions, Dr. Haber, Orr's psychiatrist, realizes what is going on and decides to start tinkering with the real world...to make it better--with devastating ramifications. Like Philip K. Dick at his best, Le Guin truly gets the reader into the inner machinations of the protagonist's head--while taking sly social sideswipes at such matters as geopolitics, race, socialized medicine, and the patient/shrink relationship. And there is a reason that Le Guin has often been referred to as a "writer's writer". Her prose is artfully wrought with vivid imagery in an inimitable style which conveys more in a few sentences than others tell in pages. It is an allegorical tale in which a "miracle worker" (George Orr) comes under the control of someone wanting to play "master of the universe" (Dr. Haber). It is a dark vision and a warning--a fable of power both uncontrolled and uncontrollable--a truly prescient and startling view of humanity, and the consequences of God-playing. As usual, a brilliant novel from Le Guin, who explores many profound possibilities within the tight story; it is quite simply, a masterpiece. There have been so many works analyzing Ursula K. Le Guin's works since she vaulted to the vanguard of science fiction since the publication of her first novel in 1966--but the best way to know her work is by reading it. And if you have only read her Hainish or Earthsea novels, you are in for a pleasant change of venue

Ursula K. Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven was first published in 1971, but its message is still relevant today. Le Guin's stable of work has included space opera (the Hainish books), fantasy (the Earthsea stories), as well as science fiction (The Left Hand of Darkness). All of her works possess the familiar sense of didactic about them, however. The Lathe of Heaven falls more in the science fiction realm but is probably more accurately described as psychological fiction.

The story is set in the near future and revolves around one man, George Orr, who's dreams can affect reality. He is greatly troubled by this because he cannot control his dreams, thus he tries to stop himself from dreaming through misuse of prescription drugs. He is sent to counseling with a dream therapist, Dr. William Haber, who quickly learns the truth about George's "effective" dreaming. George just wants to be cured of this ability, but Haber sees its potential and decides to manipulate it to turn their troubled world into a better place. As Haber tries harder and harder to manipulate George's uncooperative dreams he becomes the victim of his own good intentions. This leads him down a dark road where he eventually discovers the truth of "the world after April".

The Lathe of Heaven works on many levels. Simply as a story of a man wrestling with his therapist to find a cure to his ills it is an engaging tale. But it is more interesting as a parable of how one person's attempts to do good can go awry. Dr. Haber sees the power that George Orr possesses and understands the good it can do. The world they live in is plagued by war and overpopulation and he believes that he can use George's power to rid the world of its ills. The problems with this become apparent early on, however. When Haber has George dream of a less crowded world, he conjures up a plague that wipes out billions. Thus the problem of overpopulation is solved, but with terrible consequences. It is important to understand that Haber has only the best of intentions: "The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number" is his motto. The stumbling block comes in his inability to control George's subconscious mind. Every time he tries to do good in one place, he inadvertently conjures evil in another. And this is the strength of the story. It is not about an evil character causing evil in the world, but a good person bringing evil through his inability to control the power he possesses. This should be required reading for all politicians.

At only 175 pages, this is a quick read. Le Guin's writing is accessible and fast paced. There are only three main characters in the story, George Orr, Dr. Haber, and the social worker Heather Lelache, so she does a good job of developing each of them fully. This book is considered a science fiction classic, rightfully so, but also has broader appeal because of its social and political implications. I give The Lathe of Heaven the highest of recommendations.

I bought this book for the first story however all of them will surpass your expectations. Ursula has a unique way with words that rival her tales.
The Winds Twelve Quarters Ursula K. Le Guin (Harper & Row, 1975, hc)
Foreword
Semley's Necklace ["The Dowry of Angyar"] - ss Amazing Sep '64
April in Paris - ss Fantastic Sep '62
The Masters - ss Fantastic Feb '63
Darkness Box - ss Fantastic Nov '63
The Word of Unbinding - ss Fantastic Jan '64
The Rule of Names - ss Fantastic Apr '64
Winter's King - nv Orbit 5, ed. Damon Knight, G.P. Putnam's, 1969
The Good Trip - ss Fantastic Aug '70
Nine Lives - nv Playboy Nov '69
Things ["The End"] - ss Orbit 6, ed. Damon Knight, G.P. Putnam's, 1970
A Trip to the Head - ss Quark #1, ed. Samuel R. Delany & Marilyn Hacker, Paperback Library, 1970
Vaster Than Empires and More Slow - nv New Dimensions I, ed. Robert Silverberg, Doubleday, 1971
The Stars Below - ss Orbit 14, ed. Damon Knight, Harper & Row, 1974
The Field of Vision - ss Galaxy Oct '73
Direction of the Road - ss Orbit 12, ed. Damon Knight, G.P. Putnam's, 1973
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas - ss New Dimensions 3, ed. Robert Silverberg, Nelson Doubleday, 1973
The Day Before the Revolution - ss Galaxy Aug '74

An excellent collection of short stories from this master (mistress?) of Science Fiction and Fantasy literature.

Ursula is a cut above the rest in terms of intellectual involvement, poses moral and spiritual questions, always tells a ripping good yarn.

Fans of The Dispossessed will be entranced by the story of Odo - founder of the Odonian movement which led to settling of the moon Anarres by the anarchists.

Ursula Le Guin is one of my favorite authors (SF or otherwise) - "The Dispossesed" being my personal choice as the best book she wrote. But this story collection is definitely a tie for the second place along with "The Left Hand of Darkness". No doubt the inclusion of the story "The Day before the Revolution" affects my choice - but that's not the only great story this book has. In fact, I liked almost all the stories that are included - and a book which contains even 3 or 4 stories as good as "The Day before..", "The Masters", "Things", "The ones who walked away from Omelas", etc. deserves to be considered as a classic. Personally I am fascinated by Laia Asieo Odo, the anarchist philosopher who is alluded to in "The Dispossesed" (part of the reason I like it so much is its almost believable portraiture of a functioning anarchist society) - and is only explored as a person in the story "The Day before..". I wish Le Guin had given a novel-length treatment of Odo as a person and her development of the syndicalist philosophy.

To go back to the stories in "The Wind's Twelve Quarters" - what I find so fascinating is the wide range of stories that are included: from the delightful dargon-and-sorcery fantasy of "The Word of Unbinding" and "The Rule of Names" (the only comparably charming dragons I can think of appear in some of the fables of Orson Scott Card) to the melancholic, existential "Things" and "The stars below" (where an astronomer whose observatory has been burnt down by a mob, ends up living in a mine where the sparkle of the minerals become "the stars below" for him). Many of the stories really make you think about deep social and ethical issues. And then there are the stories which can be just enjoyed for the sheer joy of reading them, like the dragon stories and the time-travel romance, "April in Paris". All in all, a must-read for any thinking person!

I first read this book of the Trilogy (pure chance) and I fell in love with it. After reading the first two books, A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan, I re-read it and enjoyed even more. The book is about the adventures of the archmage, Ged, and a young prince, Arren, in a boat, Lookfar, throughout the islands of Earthsea, trying to find the magical drain. It is not only the non-ending fight between of good and evil what Leguin is telling, nor Ged's story of saving the world (once again). The book is about dragons, magic, and adventure, as well as people and their love and fear. It is about a boy who matures in a magical boat with a stranger on a strange sea. A strong bond forms between Ged and Arren, despite Arren's suspicions and distrust with his companion. Ged's knowledge and sight and Arren's inexperience, faith and fear leads them to the end of their journey, and at the end, it is Arren who saves Ged's life, and brings him back from death. The story flows with the dialogs (even sometimes one might think Ged is talking too much). I recommend all of my friends this book as a "must be read."

For the first and second series of the Earthsea, you'll find in this book suddenly Sparrowhawk, the famous Earthsea wizard, is not the protagonist. The main character has pass down to his accompany, a prince, that aids the wizard's voyage in the sea. The islands of Earthsea is losing balance and magic powers from every continent. Wizards are losing their Name and power, dragons are dying, and even Roke (Wizard school) is dying out its faith among their Names. Sparrowhawk begins a journey to seek the origin of the illness.

Overall, I think this book is much more intense and overwhelming than the last book (Tombs of Atuan). Everything is a mystery in the Earthsea, and characters have changed from the last two books. The mage himself is becoming old and tiresome, but he is still able to restore the balance to Earthsea. If you are a Earthsea fan, remember to read this book! You won't regret it!

LeGuin's third book in her Earthsea series is her most ambitious. Her thesis: you can only become whole by facing and accepting death, the darkest shadow. Lifted straight from Jungian psychology, this is the hardest and the important part of being whole. Sparrowhawk knows most of this truth already: remember the climax to Wizard of Earthsea. Arren, the young prince who accompanies Sparrowhawk on the epic voyages of this third book, has not yet learned this harsh lesson.

You don't need to know anything about Carl Jung to read and enjoy this book. At one level, this is a children's tale. But this book has many levels. Consider: the last king, Maharrion, had prophesied that there would be no king to succeed him until one appeared who had crossed the farthest shore. I'm not giving anything away by telling you that the farthest shore is physical - the western shore of the westernmost isle of Earthsea and metaphysical - death. And readers of earlier books know that for the wizards of Earthasea, there is a low stone fence that separates the living from the dead.

There is another wizard - humiliated by a younger Sparrowhawk - who has both great power and a terror of death. And he has worked a spell that will devastate the world, by denying and avoiding death. But by denying death, he has denied life, and magic, song, joy, reason and even life are draining out of the world. That spell must be undone before it is too late. And that task falls to Sparowhawk and Arren.

Arren must learn to understand and accept that death is necessary. Not just in the abstract but personally. He must cross that low stonewall with no hope of returning. He must cross the final shore.

This story has dragons, despair, joy, loss, discovery and marvelous surprises. Like all of the Earthsea books, it is sparely but beautifully told. The deepest of the first three books, it is an absolute joy. And for a thoughtful, reflecting reader, it might be even more. This is a book that can change a reader's life.

Genly Ai, the envoy from a confederation of worlds from all over the galaxy, tries to convince the governments of a cold and rather barbarous planet to join their ranks. The first half of this book is all palace intrigue, which drags at times, but it's the second half, featuring a tedious trek across a glacier that really tries the reader's patience. Still, there's no denying LeGuin's achievement in creating a whole new world, with its own language, weather, food, societies, religion, even its own unique ... Not since Herbert's Dune has such a complete, functioning world been created for us. Too bad LeGuin didn't know what to do with her world once she'd created it. There's no action, little enough real character development, maybe a certain sense of adventure, but after all Jack London covered treks through bitter cold weather very satisfactorily many years ago. Most entertaining is the scene where Genry visits a cloistered sect that practices divination; here LeGuin uses suspense and elegant prose to create a very powerful effect. Apart from that chapter though, there's not much to get excited about. Students of the sci-fi genre should be intrigued by the subtle way LeGuin builds her new setting, but action/adventure fans will likely find this book a chore to read simply because so little actually happens. A bit more plot would have perhaps deflected attention from the love story that LeGuin seems so anxious to tell, but the end result would have been much more enjoyable reading for the mass audience.

This book won the 1969 Nebula Award and the 1970 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel of the year. I recall first reading this book when it first appeared and being stunned at the originality and the beauty. I have read every Hugo and Nebula winner (and most of the nominees) and this is still near the top. In this classic novel, all of the action takes place on the planet known as Gethen or Winter, a frozen world set in Le Guin's Hainish universe. All of the humanoid inhabitants of Winter are exactly the same as the humans of Earth except in the means of reproduction. They are all of a single sex and can assume either sex when in "heat." If one person of a couple becomes female, the other automatically becomes male. The culture and society of this world is shaped not only by the harsh environment but by this sexual structure. A main portion of the novel is concerned with the trek of a human ambassador and ethnologist, Genly Ai, across Winter's surface with a Getthenian. The man from Earth and the manwoman from Winter grow to know and understand each other. The novel not only raises issues about our perceptions of sex but the problems associated with cultural chauvinism. It is a book that all serious students of science fiction literature should read. For those earlier reviewers who awarded this book a low rating because it wasn't "classic" science fiction, you have to recall that psychology, sociology, and anthropology are all sciences (remember that the author's father, T. Kroeber, was the first Chairman of the Anthropology Department at U.C. Berkeley), just like physics, chemistry, or, in my case, biochemistry. And to the reviewer from Washington, D.C., (of March 3, 1999) who complained that Genly Ai was too uninteresting as the main character. Perhaps that was the point. Have you forgotten your Heisenberg?

Ursula Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness has never been out of print since its publication. And it won major science fiction awards. With good reason...this is one book that should be making you click madly on the "buy this book" button if you haven't read it yet.

The story is innovative: Genly Ai, an envoy from The Ekumen, is assigned the task of getting the planet Gethen to join with this consortium of planets. The purpose isn't trade--distances are so great that only the transmission of ideas is possible. Messages can travel great than light speed by virtue of the Ansible, a device that simultaneously transfers information.

The Gethenians are unique among the sentient beings of the known planets; they are monosexual, undergoing a kind of estrus or heat once a month where they morph into female or male, completely by chance. Gethen is called Winter because it is perennially cold. The cold, and the ambiguous sexuality of the Gethenians makes for a hostile, foreign yet alluring environment.

Genly Ai has allied himself with Estraven, an advisor to the King of Karhide, one of the nations on the planet of Gethen. But Estraven falls out of favor with the unstable king, and Ai is dragged into the snare of court intrigue. What started out as a peaceful mission of communication is now deadly dangerous.

Ai finds himself inextricably entwined with Estraven, and the resulting adventure reads like the best science-fiction saga mixed with something like Earth's polar exploration adventures.

I am not sure if the sexual device of a mostly-neuter people worked well here--supposedly Gethenians have both male and female attributes, but they seemed primarily male in the book. Nonetheless, this is one of science fiction's greatest adventures and tales of friendship and if you haven't read it, you are in for a huge treat.