Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Oof. It’s not a good sign when you feel a sense of grim relief upon finally finishing a book. This was brutal. Le Guin’s writing is precise and elegant. The good news stops there. This story is long and boring and predictable, and the plot moves with the same glacial ponderousness as the ice plates of planet Winter. The characters are flat and completely uninspired. I literally cared about nobody throughout this book. The socio-political parallels she draws between Gethen and historical European monarchies is clunky and well... a bore. This book bored me to tears. I am actually hesitant to continue plowing through Le Guin’s canon due to the unpleasantness of plodding through this thing. Do yourself a favor and read Thus Spake Zarathaustra instead of whatever this is. Nietzche addresses all the same tropes as this thing does, and pontificates upon them in a way more enthralling manner. AND he doesn’t call it it Sci Fi so you don’t feel an empty sort of befuddled disappointment when you finally reach the last page.