Planet of Exile

Planet of Exile shows Le Guin's growing confidence as a writer, with an interest in ecological and sociological matters. Werel/Gamma Draconic III is defined by its 60 Terran-year elliptical orbit, which gives it a seasonal cycle that matches a human lifespan. Winter is coming, and the standard preparations of the local Tevaran tribe and abandoned League of All Worlds colony Landin is interrupted by the arrival of nomadic Gaal. This season, the Gaal have united under a charismatic warlord, and rather than bypass fortified cities are sacking and enslaving them.

The main characters are the elderly Wold, the great man of the Tevarans, his wayward and curious daughter Rolery, and leader Jakob Abat of the Landin's. Jakob and Rolery fall in show more love, despite taboos that divide their two cultures and genetic differences which mean they'll never have children. There is a desperate war against the horde of Gaal, and finally the hard triumph of survival.

Wold, Rolery, and Jakob are all much more finely drawn characters than the romantic stereotypes of Rocannon's World. There's a great sorrow in Jakob and the Landiners, a once proud and intelligent people on the edge of extinction because the biochemistry of the world wants them dead and few of their children survive. The Tevarans are stubborn, but have some sharp touches in their use of "I listen" as a cultural marker of respect, shrugs for yes, and particularly the rite of stone-pounding which opens their councils, where the chaos of many people banging rocks together must fall into sync before debate can begin.

The romance between Rolery and Jakob is somewhat arbitrary, he mindspeaks her to save her from being caught in a deadly tide, and this creates a bond which means they'll either love each other or kill each other, but for it's arbitrary beginning has a realistic weight of infatuation and appreciation. The basic plot, with winter coming, the threatening Gaal, who are atypically for Le Guin impossible to communicate with despite being humanoid, and the climatical siege, all work well. The ecology of Werel is novel and sets the stage for much of what is to come. And in one nice touch, both Landin and Tevar say that they're human, and the other one inferior aliens. The word we use to refer to ourselves always just means "people." show less

Though this is my least favorite of Le Guin's first three Hainish novels (often bundled together, as in the Worlds of Exile and Illusion), on this re-read I really found a lot to appreciate and be intrigued by. Especially Wold! Honestly I think this whole story could have been interesting just from Wold's perspective.

Like Rocannon's World, Le Guin explores her themes and ideas in the background of, and entwined with, a more action-oriented foregrounded plot. In Rocannon's World it was a quest, in Planet of Exile it's a siege. Once again I found the main plot compelling enough, but it's the worldbuilding that really interests me.

Here worldbuilding means the seasons-- for Werel, each season is around 15 earth years long, so a full year is show more the length of a lifetime. The length of the Werellian year informs not just environment of the world, but its cultures and customs, each person living on it, and the plot of the novel itself, in a way that ties everything together intimately, foundationally, and symbolically. Honestly, George R R Martin could never. One of the ways in which this theme is expressed that I found most interesting is in the stark differences in how cultural memory functions in each of the novel's two main groups-- the semi-migratory Tevarans who rely on their elders' memories and stories, and the record-keeping alien Alterrans whose ancestors are from earth, and how these differences make them mistrust and misunderstand each other.

Unfortunately, one way in which I think Le Guin definitely missed a trick is by having Jakob Agat be older than Rolery-- not just because that's such a tired situation in literature, but because much of Rolery's relationship to her community is defined by being born unusually "out of season" in the summer fallow. She has no equals in age among the spring adults and autumn children of her people, and having Jakob be the same age as her would help to explain why she is so attracted to him as a companion-- an equal, a contemporary. Conversely, and this I think is explored by the book, Jakob is attracted to Rolery because of her quietness and strangeness and loneliness, the way she turns her face away from him while all others in his life look intimately towards him, even into his mind. What an interesting relationship! She is a human who feels out of place in her community, he an alien who is of a necessity deeply attached and overwhelmed by his own. Ah well, most of that is still there anyway. I'll just ignore the few references to his real age and think of them as the same.

The audiobook narrators were good, but I found it kind of silly that they had one person for for the Jakob Agat and Wold sections and one for the Rolery sections-- it made it clear that they cast a "woman reader" and a "man reader" which doesn't make much thematic sense for the story. Any of the following make much more sense to me: two narrators but split Tevaran/Alterran (one does Rolery and Wold and the other Jakob Agat), three narrators (one for each perspective character), or just one narrator for the whole novel (honestly I think Carrington MacDuffie would have been great all on her own). show less

This is an enjoyable yarn, not as distinguished as some of her other work, less challenging, more visceral, less analytical. I notice that often earlier works of favorite authors of mine show more stamina for description and exposition. I have a preference for plunging into the narrative and making the reader figure things out. I love Le Guin's faith in the power of love and community to overcome war and chaos.

Probably the weakest of the Hainish Cycle novels, The Planet of Exile still touches on interesting questions relating to the value of traditions and to xenophobia. This book is more like a bridge to the first significant novel of the series - City of Illusions

Ursula K. LeGuin's science fiction has always focused on ideas. This is one reason why I like her so much, her focus on foundational questions. What makes us human? What must we do to survive? While her science fiction always prompts reflection and discussion, what it sometimes lacks are the memorable characters you'll find in her fantasy work. I don't think I'm the first of her fans to point this out, either.

Planet of Exile is a good example. The novel asks what will happen to humanity if it interbreeds with an alien species? Will it still be human? If it's the only way for humanity to survive, should it be pursued?

Planet of Exile takes place 600 years after humans settle on Askatevar. Unable to return home or to maintain contact with show more earth, humanity has adapted as best as it can. Although they have intermingled with the human-like native population enough to know that interbreeding is a possibility, they view the natives as too inferior intellectually to mate with them.

While humanity has survived on Askatevar, their numbers have begun to dwindle, and the planet is entering a 15-year-long winter that many fear humanity will not survive unless it moves in with the native people.

This is stuff meant to generate thought. The thrill ride many readers have come to expect in their dystopian futures of late will not be found in Ursula K. LeGuin. She is playing another game. That she tends to sacrifice character in order to address other issues in Planet of Exile is something of a fault. I haven't minded this sacrifice in other books like The Lathe of Heaven, or The Dispossessed, but here I wanted something more grounded to hang my hat on. In her other books, Ms. LeGuin gives us a person in trouble we can root for while we deal with larger issues. That that person doesn't become as memorable as the characters in her fantasy novels doesn't bother me much.

I just need someone human to guide the way a bit this time around show less

A dwindling colony of stranded Earthmen must ally with the Hilfs, an indigenous humanoid race, to survive a brutal 15-year winter. The fragile alliance is tested when a native woman and an alien leader fall in love, ultimately forcing the cultures to unite against a ravaging barbarian horde.

The Earth colonists, descendants of the Hainish people, have lived in the city of Landin for 600 terrestrial years and are slowly dying out. Each time Werel's prolonged winter begins, they are joined by the native Hilfs.

Historically, the natives fear the colonists, calling them farborns and viewing them as witches. A turning point occurs when a young Hilf woman, Rolery, and the human leader, Jakob Agat, form a telepathic bond and fall in love. This show more romance causes deep tension between the two groups. However, this cultural and political friction takes a backseat when the Gaals, a tribe of northern barbarians, unite for the first time to raid and pillage the southern lands. Facing annihilation from the cruel winter and the marauders, the Hilfs and the human exiles must bridge their deep ideological and biological divides. show less

Planet of Exile is a short novel set in Le Guin's Hainish universe. It is a quick read set in a new location with new cultures (as well as the League members currently on the planet).

The novel takes place on a colony planet where, due to a war the League was fighting, a group of colonists have been left for 600 years without contact. Due to League rules they have been forced to live (for the most part) at the technological level of the local hilfs. The story begins at the end of summer on a world where a year lasts for sixty earth years, and a season lasts a good part of a person’s life. The colonists know that the migratory people, the Gaals, have advanced somewhat-- this year they are coming as a horde, destroying cities, crops, and show more winter storage. They attempt to form an alliance with the local hilfs in attempt to survive the beginning of winter, though each side sees the other as something less than human. The story alternates between the perspective of Arak, one of the colony leaders, and Rolery, a child of the hilfs born out of season and showing an independence and curiosity that make her unusual for her people. show less