Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This book is a classic so there is really nothing I can say that others have not already said, and better. It is science fiction that addresses the social consequences of contact between people from different planets rather than fixating on technology and the things that can go wrong. It is a great story with wonderful characters and descriptions of imagined worlds. It addresses the issues of sex and gender by imagining how a person from a world with two biological sexes would interact in a world where everyone is both sexes at once. The issue is not desire and the sex act, but rather how our social perceptions, interactions and expectations are shaped in rather profound ways by our ideas about gender. This is not the main point of the book but rather part of the rich social and philosophical landscape where the action takes place. I had been meaning to read this for years and am now a devoted Le Guin fan. I really think this might have made it into my top 20 favorite books.