City of Illusions (1967)

A sequel to Planet of Exile, several centuries in the future. To my taste, an advance in craft over that book. Purists might balk at the introduction of fantasy elements into a sci-fi story.

Most of Ursula LeGuin's books have as a protagonist a stranger coping with a strange land. As so often in her books the conclusion is not so much rushed as a sudden reversal of previous events or a coda to the main action. This short novel is somehow less satisfactory than its companion novels, Rocannon's World and Planet of Exile. This may be due to the fact that it is set on a post alien invasion earth that has failed and seems somehow pathetic. The character arrives at some conclusions about the aliens that seem basically meaningless. He seems to comprehend their motivations fairly well and by good fortune obstructs their evil designs. As with many of LeGuin's books he must leave the people he loves permanently in order to accomplish his goal, first on foot and then by NAFAL starship. ( )

A man wanders out of the forest with a severe case of amnesia. The locals take him in and try to teach him their ways, as it is obvious that he is not of their world. When he has learned all he can from them, he must set out across the vast continent toward the city of Es Toch, hopefully to figure out where he came from, why he is there and what happened to his memory. The most important lesson imparted to him from the forest people is to trust no one, particularly the Shing.
Three quarters of the book tells of this man’s journey to Es Toch, and as such is a sort of average questing tale with friends and foes along the way. It is up to our hero to figure out which is which. The ultimate answer he seeks is quite the interesting revelation, as is also what happens after he figures this out. For me, the book really didn’t get good until that final part, and the rest was fair to average. I wish we could have skipped a hunk of the journey and gotten more of the what-happens-next as the ending is just a tad abrupt. Very evocative writing, though, throughout. ( )

Another book in the Hainish cycle of loosely connected science fiction books by Urusla Le Guin, this one, called City of Illusions in English, is about a man who comes from a forest, remembering nothing, not even his own name. The House of Zove take him in, despite his strange cat-like eyes, and teach him about the world, Earth in the far future. Earth is controlled by the Shing, a group that is known for always lying. So how can Falk, the man, know what is true, and who is telling the truth. A group of people that say that they always lie, are they lying when they say that? Are the people from the House just rebellious and slanderous when they say that the Shing lie? Slowly Falk unravels the mystery of who he is, why he has lost his memories, and needs his whole mind to figure out what to do about his situation.
Even though this is a pretty short book (my version is only 186 pages), a lot is going on. Falk’s education, Falk’s travel, and his arrival in the city of the Shing and his mental mystery. I really liked the problems that Falk runs into, how he mentally solves them, and how the whole story comes together in the end, including the small hints that both I as the reader and Falk didn’t understand at the time. ( )

Ursula is probably one of the best writers around. All of her books bring a sense of truth confronting power and this one is no exception. While this isn't her best work, it does present a unique psychological journey of truth to power. It's primarily one man's journey of self and social discovery as he confronts a system whose weapons are lies with truth. ( )