Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Star Bks. (1983), Paperback
Description
The Earth colony of Landin has been stranded on Werel for ten years - and ten of Werel's years are over 600 terrestrial years, and the lonely and dwindling human settlement is beginning to feel the strain. Every winter - a season that lasts for 15 years - the Earthmen have neighbors: the humanoid hilfs, a nomadic people who only settle down for the cruel cold spell. The hilfs fear the Earthmen, whom they think of as witches and call the farborns. But hilfs and farborns have common enemies: the hordes of ravaging barbarians called gaals and eerie preying snow ghouls. Will they join forces or be annihilated?
User reviews
LibraryThing member spiphany
A slim volume set in Le Guin's Hainish universe. It's a quick read, not too heavy or too preachy, and with an interesting setting. There's also a connection to her later novel "City of Illusions" which I hadn't realized when I picked the book up, but was neat to learn more about Ramarren/Falk's
One of the themes Le Guin explores here is the question of how to adapt to an alien environment, both culturally and biologically. She returns to this idea (more successfully, I think) in her powerful short story "The Eye Altering". While "The Eye Altering" deals with the purely physical changes which must take place before we can feel at home on an alien planet, "Planet of Exile" has a bit of a different spin on it, examining the necessity of a cultural exchange between the natives and the colonists.
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world which we get glimpses of in that novel.One of the themes Le Guin explores here is the question of how to adapt to an alien environment, both culturally and biologically. She returns to this idea (more successfully, I think) in her powerful short story "The Eye Altering". While "The Eye Altering" deals with the purely physical changes which must take place before we can feel at home on an alien planet, "Planet of Exile" has a bit of a different spin on it, examining the necessity of a cultural exchange between the natives and the colonists.
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LibraryThing member CBJames
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
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 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
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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 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
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LibraryThing member EmScape
In this very slim novel science fiction novel, a planet's natives and the "farborn" (human colonists who were left behind a really long time ago, and probably aren't going to be retrieved) are readying for a winter that's going to last about fifteen years. Every "Year" a group of barbarians migrate
So, they fight. The end. Seriously.
I usually like LeGuin quite a bit and really admire the messages she tries to send about gender and conqueror-native relations, but I thought the women in this book, particularly the "savage natives" were very submissive, and also that the only lesson to be gleaned was that two groups of outnumbered folks are better than one, even if we are still pretty much outnumbered even together.
However! It was a quick read, and I didn't hate it.
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south, raiding native settlements on their way. Unfortunately this year they might have figured out how to organize and are probably not going to be easy to repel. The only chance the two groups have of surviving is to join forces, but they don't exactly trust each other. A young lady from the native tribe goes all Pocahontas and sleeps with their leader which threatens the whole team-up-and-stay-alive plan. Uh-oh! So, they fight. The end. Seriously.
I usually like LeGuin quite a bit and really admire the messages she tries to send about gender and conqueror-native relations, but I thought the women in this book, particularly the "savage natives" were very submissive, and also that the only lesson to be gleaned was that two groups of outnumbered folks are better than one, even if we are still pretty much outnumbered even together.
However! It was a quick read, and I didn't hate it.
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LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
This was Ursula Le Guin's second novel, one of the books in her Hainish series that includes the famous Left Hand of Darkness. It's not anywhere near as impressive as that book or the first three Earthsea books, classics in science fiction and fantasy. But more so than her first novel, Rocannon's
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World, you can see her authorial voice and theme beginning to develop. Her first book seemed like Tolkien's Middle Earth overlayed with space opera. In clever ways, but hardly original. This one is still rather conventional--nothing radical in its ideas in the way of Left Hand of Darkness, but it's one where the planet's cosmology does more to drive the plot: this is a planet with a year sixty times longer than our earth about to enter a winter that will last 15 of our years. Although this is hardly hard science fiction--the science of this book is more anthropology than physics and telepathic powers are part of the mix. Still, this feels more like science fiction than Rocannon's World, which felt half-fantasy. In this book humans have been established on the planet of exile for 600 years in Earth terms. They've isolated themselves, respecting the laws of their ancestors not to interfere with the indigenous people on the planet. But circumstances are forcing them to chose between staying human and exiles, or truly making the planet home. I wouldn't call this book particularly memorable compared to Le Guin's other works--but it is enjoyable. Show Less
LibraryThing member karamazow
This is a formative novelette incorporating some of the themes LeGuin developed later on a much larger scale. The endless winter of "Left Hand' and some of the ideas that would emerge in 'The dispossessed' are here in an embryonic state. The main theme (as mostly with this writer) is adaptation to
The setting is interesting, atmospheric, well-pictured and credible, but the story itself still relies too much on examples from the past. There is an interracial romance (not very credible) and the usual difficulties between groups that try to communicate from disparate starting points. As you would expect, the hero gets his girl and cooperation between immigrants and natives is established in the end. Ancient mores are depicted with conviction, but overall this is too lightweight to really excite and above all too predictable. Surely this is interesting for those who would like to see LeGuin's development of ideas starting to emerge, but since the story is weak, your satisfaction will rely largely on her fine style and her ability to create environments that ring true. Not enough to save the work, but still a nice enough read.
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adverse circumstances. Through these circumstances, natives and immigrants are finally forced to forego their differences to be able to defend their way of living against an external common enemy.The setting is interesting, atmospheric, well-pictured and credible, but the story itself still relies too much on examples from the past. There is an interracial romance (not very credible) and the usual difficulties between groups that try to communicate from disparate starting points. As you would expect, the hero gets his girl and cooperation between immigrants and natives is established in the end. Ancient mores are depicted with conviction, but overall this is too lightweight to really excite and above all too predictable. Surely this is interesting for those who would like to see LeGuin's development of ideas starting to emerge, but since the story is weak, your satisfaction will rely largely on her fine style and her ability to create environments that ring true. Not enough to save the work, but still a nice enough read.
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LibraryThing member DelightedLibrarian
I couldn't get into the flow of the book and the ending was resolved but not because of anything any of the characters did. It was like there was all this potential, an amazing world, but not a well told story.
LibraryThing member KingRat
Planet of Exile is one of Le Guin’s earlier works. In fact, this 1978 edition includes an introduction in which the author spends a few paragraphs defending her lack of feminism in the book, explaining she wrote it before feminism got its hooks in to her. Like Rocanaon’s World, the plot,
I wouldn’t really recommend the book except to those who are studying Le Guin or are completists of her works. But it’s also not a horrible way to fill time if you happen on a copy either.
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settings, and characters are all pretty clunky. Le Guin found her voice and improved her writing skill as she endured as an author.I wouldn’t really recommend the book except to those who are studying Le Guin or are completists of her works. But it’s also not a horrible way to fill time if you happen on a copy either.
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LibraryThing member JBreedlove
Excellent read with not a lot of fat, brief but effective descriptions of characters, and a sense of place and history of a planet and the humanoid drama unfolding, all in 124 pages. One of her better works.
LibraryThing member comfypants
Awkwardly written at first (I found the first chapter almost unreadable), but it eases up as it gets going. There are some interesting sci-fi and anthropological elements, but it's essentially an action story, which is not Le Guin's strength.
LibraryThing member akelei
Well written, but SF and war not my genre. Read in reviews that her other books are better. This was my first Le Guin. Written in 1966, still sort of 'actueel' (relevant today)'.
LibraryThing member renbedell
While this is a SciFi book, it still has a fantasy feel to it. While space travel exists, this planet had an embargo on it preventing any up to date technology. Ursula also explores the differences in race by having a love story between essentially two different types of humans. It's a short but
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very interesting book. Show Less
LibraryThing member Ailinel
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
The novel takes place on a colony planet where, due to a war the League was fighting, a group of colonists have been
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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 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
LibraryThing member sf_addict
This was my first encounter with Le Guin and although its a short book (126 pages) it was a struggle to finish to be honest!
Basically its set on a planet that has a strange cycle in which each year is sixty earth years and days are counted in Moonphases-the moon and the planet are locked in a
There are snowghouls out there (which we never get to meet) and the mysterious Graal which each end of year travel up from the south and invade the natives who form the focal point of the story. The people are divided into two, the natives (the hilfs) and the colonists from Earth (Farborn) who arrived at the planet aeons ago and are black skinned-not sure if that is meant to be significant but maybe it was some political statement from the 60s. When the Earth colonists first discovered the natives they named them HILF, an acronym of High Intelligent Life Form-it sounds very SF but the book is more like fantasy with magic and mindspeech rather than tech and telepathy.
It all sounds promising but her writing style in this book is somewhat clunky and odd in parts and the characters just not that interesting or engaging. Just not a lot happened really!
Basically its set on a planet that has a strange cycle in which each year is sixty earth years and days are counted in Moonphases-the moon and the planet are locked in a
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strange cosmic dance and the whole system travels around the sun once in 60 years. The start of the year is a long springtime and at the end a harsh winter comes, the snow falling so heavily as to render the landscape a total white out.There are snowghouls out there (which we never get to meet) and the mysterious Graal which each end of year travel up from the south and invade the natives who form the focal point of the story. The people are divided into two, the natives (the hilfs) and the colonists from Earth (Farborn) who arrived at the planet aeons ago and are black skinned-not sure if that is meant to be significant but maybe it was some political statement from the 60s. When the Earth colonists first discovered the natives they named them HILF, an acronym of High Intelligent Life Form-it sounds very SF but the book is more like fantasy with magic and mindspeech rather than tech and telepathy.
It all sounds promising but her writing style in this book is somewhat clunky and odd in parts and the characters just not that interesting or engaging. Just not a lot happened really!
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LibraryThing member xiaomarlo
there's nothing particularly outstanding about this book, but it's a nice world to be in for a while. I did like the hopeful ending.
LibraryThing member Bruce_McNair
The people of Landin are farborn, i.e. their ancestors came from another world. Though they have lived on this world for many generations, the natives treat them as aliens, with suspicion, and sometimes outright fear and hatred. Yet winter is coming, and outside forces drive the two closer together
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for survival and perhaps a better future. In my opinion, this is not one of Le Guin's better stories. I give it 3 stars. Show Less
LibraryThing member RBeffa
"Planet of Exile" follows LeGuin's "Rocannon's World," both published in 1966. I found myself disappointed with this story in comparison to the prior novel. The two stories are not directly related - different planets, different peoples and a completely unrelated story although there is a mention
I found this a weaker story and I also found the writing bothersome in some ways. LeGuin was getting a little too twee here. Rocannon's World was a page turner in many parts. This one was more of a page plodder. Rocannon's World I felt invested in the characters and I cared about what happened to each and every one. Not so here with Planet of Exile.
Looking at other reviewer's comments I see that I am not alone in finding a problem with characters in this novel and I second the comment made: "Awkwardly written at first (I found the first chapter almost unreadable), but it eases up as it gets going." Even though the story and writing improved, the rough start really colored my appreciation for what the author was trying to explore and the story never really got my interest.
I wouldn't recommend this novel to the casual reader, but OK for those exploring LeGuin in more depth.
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of Rocannon in here. Where they are similar from my view is that both books have a sort of anthropological or ethnographic sense to them. A documentation of peoples and cultures and customs and their interactions with others. This is true through most of LeGuin's fiction that I have read. Planet of Exile is still a science fiction story but also has some of the elements that one expects from fantasy novels, but different from what we saw in Rocannon's World. I found this a weaker story and I also found the writing bothersome in some ways. LeGuin was getting a little too twee here. Rocannon's World was a page turner in many parts. This one was more of a page plodder. Rocannon's World I felt invested in the characters and I cared about what happened to each and every one. Not so here with Planet of Exile.
Looking at other reviewer's comments I see that I am not alone in finding a problem with characters in this novel and I second the comment made: "Awkwardly written at first (I found the first chapter almost unreadable), but it eases up as it gets going." Even though the story and writing improved, the rough start really colored my appreciation for what the author was trying to explore and the story never really got my interest.
I wouldn't recommend this novel to the casual reader, but OK for those exploring LeGuin in more depth.
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LibraryThing member neverstopreading
This story examines humanity's possible interactions with others of a similar species when cut off from the rest of humanity for centuries with no reason known. The survivors are not prisoners or deliberate exiles, as far as they know. They are bound by their rules which are tested in order to
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avoid destruction from neighboring civilizations. Show Less
LibraryThing member mermind
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
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the reader figure things out. I love Le Guin's faith in the power of love and community to overcome war and chaos. Show Less
LibraryThing member GridCube
this books are too short D:
just passing scenes of the collateral worlds of the intergalactic war, worlds left behind, cultures that fade away
just passing scenes of the collateral worlds of the intergalactic war, worlds left behind, cultures that fade away
LibraryThing member Aspenhugger
"The rapidly dwindling Terran colony on distant Eltanin had been stranded for six hundred years, their only neighbors the primitive nomads who feared them and settled beside them during the cruel fifteen-year-long winters.
"But it was the gathering winter that promised them the deadliest threat they
"If Terran and native couldn't overcome the six centuries of fear and mistrust and join forces against the invaders, neither would survive the winter."
~~back cover
I love Ursula LeGuin! She's go such a strong anthropological background, and her writing is impeccable, her plotting ingenious, and her characterization well-developed. Even in this slim book, she captures and holds your interest enthrall.
"In the last days of the last moonphase of Autumn a wind blew from the northern ranges through the dying forests of Arkatevar, a cold wind that smelled of smoke and snow." See what I mean?
"But it was the gathering winter that promised them the deadliest threat they
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had ever faced. For hordes of northern barbarians were about to descend, and the eerie, murderous snowghouls were beginning to appear."If Terran and native couldn't overcome the six centuries of fear and mistrust and join forces against the invaders, neither would survive the winter."
~~back cover
I love Ursula LeGuin! She's go such a strong anthropological background, and her writing is impeccable, her plotting ingenious, and her characterization well-developed. Even in this slim book, she captures and holds your interest enthrall.
"In the last days of the last moonphase of Autumn a wind blew from the northern ranges through the dying forests of Arkatevar, a cold wind that smelled of smoke and snow." See what I mean?
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LibraryThing member dutchmarbel
Story was written in 1966. But good SF stays a nice read.
After reading interviews with the writer you suddenly do notice that the main characters are colored people - which shows me my subconscience bias since I never noticed and always depicted everybody white.
This is about people who were left
The inhabitans are humanoid and alike, so the stranded group doesn't die yet differ enough to have fertility problems. So after 600 years there are not many left.
The original people consider themselves human and the stranded group not entirely human but superior. The immigrants feel the same so there is not a lot of contact between them.
Suddenly they are confronted with a threat they have to face tothether, whilst at the same time a developping romance between the two groups fuels distrust and separation policies.
After reading interviews with the writer you suddenly do notice that the main characters are colored people - which shows me my subconscience bias since I never noticed and always depicted everybody white.
This is about people who were left
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on an alien inhabited planet during an intergalactic war. The inhabitans are humanoid and alike, so the stranded group doesn't die yet differ enough to have fertility problems. So after 600 years there are not many left.
The original people consider themselves human and the stranded group not entirely human but superior. The immigrants feel the same so there is not a lot of contact between them.
Suddenly they are confronted with a threat they have to face tothether, whilst at the same time a developping romance between the two groups fuels distrust and separation policies.
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LibraryThing member mmparker
A tiny bite of the early Hainish cycle. It's easy to see why it was eclipsed by The Left Hand of Darkness, but it's still an interesting read.
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1966-10
Physical description
240 p.
ISBN
0352312432 / 9780352312433