A
This book must be the poster child, and gold standard, of speculative fiction: to describe it in one sentence, it asks, "what would society be like if everyone was gender-neutral, except once a month, when they pair off to mate?" But there's a lot more to this novel than that. It manages to go beyond the surface level of speculation, venturing into deeper philosophical exploration about the nature of gender, the causes of war and nationalism, and, most of all, the difficulty of communication. Indeed, at its heart, this is a love story, between interplanetary envoy Genly Ai and Karhide's forward-thinking prime minister Therem Harth rem ir Estraven. Overcoming their failure to understand each other, as a result of the light years of distance between their cultures, is the central arc of the story; and it's where Le Guin is at her best, showcasing human emotion in small encounters and conversations amidst a wider story spanning planets. Another way in which this book is triumphant? The way it packs more wisdom into just over 200 pages than many fantasy novels can do in 1000. After I read stories, I forget details; plot summaries, character names, worldbuilding aspects often fade quickly, with only the very basic idea remaining. But I won't forget LeGuin's dialogue about "the perfect uselessness of knowing the answer to the wrong question" anytime soon.