Rating: 
Summary: Truly Great Book
Review: (The Left Hand of Darkness is already highly awarded and doesn't really *need* another review, certainly not from an amateur, but I'm writing one anyway.) This book explores several deeply human themes, in the author's beautifully tragic way-- among them, the themes of sacrifice and dualism (or perhaps more accurately, unity at the heart of dualism.)Le Guin's characters are harsh, fallible, heroic, and at essence, human...and once immersed in the painstaking detail of the book, the people of it became knitted close to my heart. The word "transportation" comes to mind: it is so smooth and believable a transition that in surprise you may find yourself on another planet, amongst aliens in the middle of an Ice Age. She is a miraculous, meticulous architect of worlds and culture; indeed did she create these people, on this world, or did she discover them on a visit with her faster-than-light ship? I'm not sure it's legal to copyright an entire existing world, Ms. Le Guin! For it does exist, although admittedly the rest of humanity may not discover it for another five thousand years or so. Not only do her characters and themes lend depth to the book, but every so often one gets the sensation of a fine undercurrent of musical quality to her words, which may echo in one's head long after finishing the book. I hope many other people read this book and enjoy it as much as I did.
Rating:
Summary: It's cold out there.
Review: On the surface, "The Left Hand of Darkness" appears to be a cold, clinical, obscure science fiction novel, but on further inspection it turns out to be an endearing story about diplomacy, friendship, understanding, and cooperation. If, as Le Guin states in the introduction, all fiction is metaphor, then this novel could be a model of the potential for world harmony.A man named Genly Ai, for all intents and purposes an Earthling like us, is sent by a sort of interplanetary art and commerce forum called the Ekumen as an envoy to the isolated wintry planet Gethen to convince the Gethenians to join the other planets in open trade and communication. The first nation he visits, Karhide, responds to his request with skepticism and hostility, and he doesn't fare much better in the neighboring Orgoreyn, where he is arrested and sent to a prison labor camp. The Gethenians are human, but they have one unique remarkable attribute: they are androgynous, "hermaphroditic neuters," and each one is able to exhibit either male or female sexual characteristics for the purpose of reproduction. This allows them a society that is free from traditional gender roles, so they have no concept of masculinity or femininity. Their civilization seems somewhat primitive compared to those of other worlds; one is unsure whether their physiology is a result of evolution or de-evolution. Genly's closest Gethenian ally is a man named Estraven, the exiled ex-prime minister of Karhide who escapes to Orgoreyn hopefully to help Genly on his mission to convince the government to link with the Ekumen. The best section of the book is the description of Genly and Estraven's difficult journey through hundreds of miles of barren tundra, where the term "male bonding" takes on strange new dimensions due to Estraven's physiological peculiarities. I loved the icy imagery of the weather, the cities, and the landscapes, the depth of the Gethenian philosophies and the richness of their culture, and the tightness of the plot, which achieves a satisfying closure. This is an excellent work of science fiction that delights in pure storytelling rather than making the reader slog through a morass of technical details.
Rating: 
Summary: Save your money!
Review: This book may have introduced some interesting concepts back in 1969, but, compared with books on similiar subjects like "Enders Game" by O.S. Card and "In Conquest Born" by C. S. Friedman, it is simply boring today.
Rating: 
Summary: Great imagination and subtlety, but too little action
Review: Genly Ai, the envoy from a confederation of worlds from all over the galaxy, tries to convince the governments of a cold and rather barbarous planet to join their ranks. The first half of this book is all palace intrigue, which drags at times, but it's the second half, featuring a tedious trek across a glacier that really tries the reader's patience. Still, there's no denying LeGuin's achievement in creating a whole new world, with its own language, weather, food, societies, religion, even its own unique ... Not since Herbert's Dune has such a complete, functioning world been created for us. Too bad LeGuin didn't know what to do with her world once she'd created it. There's no action, little enough real character development, maybe a certain sense of adventure, but after all Jack London covered treks through bitter cold weather very satisfactorily many years ago. Most entertaining is the scene where Genry visits a cloistered sect that practices divination; here LeGuin uses suspense and elegant prose to create a very powerful effect. Apart from that chapter though, there's not much to get excited about. Students of the sci-fi genre should be intrigued by the subtle way LeGuin builds her new setting, but action/adventure fans will likely find this book a chore to read simply because so little actually happens. A bit more plot would have perhaps deflected attention from the love story that LeGuin seems so anxious to tell, but the end result would have been much more enjoyable reading for the mass audience.
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly amazing
Review: I am not one for radical science fiction novels. Most of them are either too confusing, too flat or just too plain weird. So, when my English instuctor practically threw this book in my lap one day and told me, "Here, Erin. You'll love this!" I wasn't exactly thrilled. Little did I realize how amazing this book actually was. I spent three months reading the first two pages and two days reading the rest. Not only does this novel bring out vivid characters and a harsh, daring plotline, but a provoking of thought as well. It makes you consider different aspects of our own society and how we are born into its plain. I'm rambling. If you love science fiction, this is the book for you. If you don't, pick it up and try it anyway. You might be pleasantly surprised.
Rating:
Summary: a book that matures in your mind over the years
Review: guys and girls who dont wanna think a lot about their sexual beings and continue in the state of nature of hormones and instincts, shouldnt care to read this... surely this is a book that may seem appalling to someone whos too much absorbed in his or her identity... as i was back like five years ago when i read it on the suggestion of a feminist professor.. but over the years it makes you be able to look at a man's and woman's face and realize how contingent she or he is what he or she is sexually.. and maybe then you see the woman or man that is, for the first time.. artistic enlightenment to the highest degree.
Rating: 
Summary: Round about way to introduce a spaceman
Review: I have normally been very impressed with the books that have been awarded the Hugo and Nebula awards. The idea of a young planet deciding whether or not to join an interplanetary federation was intriguing. Unfortunately the really fascinating points of such an idea were never fully developed. The story instead revolved around personal struggles of a few individuals rather than how a planet would react to such a monumental event. The ambassador's civilization will always remain a mystery, and I felt that was an important element missing from Winter's decision to join with them. The single sex aspect of the people of Winter was probably the best part of this book. That conflict and the hypothesis concerning the connection between that and war were something worth thinking about. I am not sure, though, that it makes sense when taken in context with their views on politics. Overall, the book might be worth exploring to you if you are tired of normal sci-fi and interested in thinking about some abstract concepts (and in particular, how you would approach them).
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece
Review: A bisexual world. An alien world. One man goes there alone. expect some go-and-go actions? or a little bit of sexual jokes? Well, that's not it. This book is not just a good science fiction. This book talks about friendship, gender and understanding. Just think about the sooooo many books out there shouting to fight and win the butterfly-like aliens! Most of them prove nothing and end up with our dark desire for power. With this book, LeGuin makes us see the reality through this total fantasy world. And besides the rather tragedy things that happens, the world of it is positive.
I see that in some ways this book can be hated. But I NEVER agree. I CAN'T, simply because I read this book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the all time great Sci-Fi Books
Review: One of the all time great Sci-Fi Book. I read it back in 74 and have reread it ever few years since. It still moves me. Not for those that expect shootem up action. This book is extremely subtle and best read with attention to detail. Her other great Sci-Fi award winner, The Dispossessed is also a must read.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting SF story with a gender twist...
Review: I like Science Fiction when it presents me with interesting characters, a good deal of 'hard' science, and when the characters are not overwhelmed by the science in the plot. Basically, I'm fussy. "The Left Hand of Darkness," succeeds on all counts: the narrative character is representing a multi-solar-system trade federation, the sole human on a planet where the native beings are neither male nor female, but both, only becoming of one gender for a brief period of time, when they couple to propogate. Watching the narrator, Genly Ai, navigate this world of genderless/bisexual beings was keenly interesting. The social commentary Le Guin was submitting was there, but not so overpowering as to make you flinch at a preechy story by any means. The machinations of the various governments on this frigid world, called Winter, were truly quite interesting, and the relationship between the narrator and one Winter native was so carefully crafted that it had a resonating gentle emotionality thoughout the novel. Where the book fell apart a little was the language: there is a tendancy of the book to create tongue-twister words for things and processes that do not have a cadence that lends itself to memory. This over-use of science fiction gobbledygook was very frustrating at times, as I had to flip back through the book to find the first time the word was used to remember what it meant. That said, despite this small mishap, the book is a remarkable work of not just science fiction, but sociological commentary. Like all good Science Fiction, there is more here than a tale of alien peoples, there is an extrapolation from our own society, pushed to an extreme limit to better display something not alien, but very human indeed. 'Nathan
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