I don’t often read science fiction, but I was intrigued by
this book. Really all that I knew about it was that it’s about an alien species
that’s androgynous. And that’s really all that it’s about, a human on a planet
with all these androgynous aliens trying to understand their life.
Basically these aliens are asexual until they reach the
point in their cycle where they enter kemmer, then they could either develop
the organs of a man or a woman. At this point, they could swear kemmer to other
beings and reproduce. It’s an interesting concept, although there is no mention
of homosexuals (but the narrator does say that multiple people could swear
kemmer, haha).
The most intriguing part of the novel is how this sexuality
affects their outlook on the world. There’s a lot more about unity than
duality, and there are no gender-based stereotypes, for starters. And since
it’s all through the eyes of an Envoy, a person like us, the reader explores
the world as he does.
Besides that, the plot centers around the Envoy trying to
convince the planet to join in this alliance of other humanoids in the
universe. But it’s mostly the driving force instead of the focus. Not much
happens on that front other than the Envoy talking to people briefly about it.
Not that you would realize that in the first couple of
pages, Le Guin throws you right into the politics of the planet, and I’m not
sure I completely understood it all. It serves to both completely immerse and
confuse you, like many things. (My advice is if you don’t understand something,
just keep going. Odds are it isn’t terribly important.) This is probably one of
those books where you pick up more about the characters on the second reading,
the first is just to wrap your head around it.
I know that this is definitely a book that I’ll be coming
back to, but for first timers, if you’re primarily interested in what the human
race would look like without genders, be sure to check this out.
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