I have to admit – this was the first full-length novel by Ursula K. LeGuin that I’ve ever read, although I’ve read two volumes of her short stories. I’m not entirely sure I can do a proper review of it at this point, since it is one of those books that needs to sit on one’s consciousness for a while. Nevertheless, I shall try.

The story is told from several points of view, but most prominently that of Genly Ai, a Terran who has come to the planet of Gethen, or Winter, as a first-contact Envoy. It starts two years into his term there, and the story begins almost precisely when things start going oddly. Genly Ai’s job is to ask the Gethenians if they would like to be part of the Ekumen, which is a coalition of more than 80 worlds for mutual benefit, mostly involving trade. The Gethenians in Karhash, the first ones we meet, are a bit distrustful, but Genly isn’t that discouraged.

The odd thing about the Gethenians (all of them on the planet) is that they’re basically neuter for the majority of the month, and they go into heat (which they call ‘kemmer’) once a month, for two to five days. They can take on either gender during kemmer, and have a pretty high likelihood of becoming pregnant (if they are female). Of course, this means that they think that Genly, who is Terran and therefore ‘always’ in heat, is a bit of a Pervert.

In any case, Genly makes friends with a high-ranking Karhashian he calls either ‘Estraven’ (his land-title) or ‘Harsh’ (his family name). Estraven risks his life for Genly’s cause, and is exiled. He goes to a neighboring land, and Genly also goes there, but things go a bit pear-shaped again after that.

There’s a long journey, and a lot of meditations on friendship and unity and the divisions between the sexes. I understand that LeGuin wrote the book in the 60s, when women were still very much second-class citizens. It was probably a bit revolutionary of her to make Genly a black man. (The darkness of his skin is much commented on by the lighter-but-still-not-white Gethenians.) However, some of her observations about women – that they’re all more inclined to peaceful solutions and child-rearing – read as somewhat dated to a 21st century audience. Her observations on outsiders, life on other planets, survival, friendship, and love are definitely not outdated.

It was a bit difficult to read, and I wouldn’t recommend it for someone too terribly young – there are some dry moment and a lot of pieces to the puzzle which don’t fall together immediately or as planned. The plot, as I’ve described it, isn’t that active, although there are no lags in action. It’s an odd book, not the kind I read a lot of, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. I’d give it 4.5/5 stars.