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Book Details

The Left Hand of Darkness

92.9% complete
1969
94,240
2008
1 time
Science fiction
Science fiction, American
See 21
1 - A Parade in Erhenrang
2 - The Place Inside the Blizzard
3 - The Mad King
4 - The Nineteenth Day
5 - The Domestication of Hunch
6 - One Way into Orgoreyn
7 - The Question of Sex
8 - Another Way into Orgoreyn
9 - Estraven the Traitor
10 - Conversations in Mishnory
11 - Soliloquies in Mishnory
12 - On Time and Darkness
13 - Down on the Farm
14 - The Escape
15 - To the Ice
16 - Between Drummer and Dremegole
17 - An Orgota Creation Myth
18 - On the Ice
19 - Homecoming
20 - A Fool's Errand
The Gethenian Calendar and Clock
Book Cover
Has a genre Has comments Has an extract Has a year read Has a rating In my library In a series 
1416
Copyright ©, 1969, by Ursula K. LeGuin
For Charles
sine quo non
I’ll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination.
May contain spoilers
But the boy, Therem's son, said stammering, "Will you tell us how he died? - Will you tell us about the other worlds out among the stars - the other kinds of men, the other lives?"
Comments may contain spoilers
Got this book because it's an award winner that I had not read and it is also by and author (Ursula K Le Guin) whom I had never read.
Extract (may contain spoilers)
Lord Berosty rem ir Ipe came to Thangering Fastness and offered forty beryls and half the year's yield from his orchards as the price of a Foretelling, and the price was acceptable.  He set his question to the Weaver Odren, and the question was, On what day shall I die?

The Foretellers gathered and went together into the darkness.  At the end of darkness Odren spoke the answer: You will die on Odstreth (the 19th day of any month).

"In what month? in how many years?" cried Berosty, but the bond was broken, and there was no answer.  He ran into the circle and took the Weaver Odren by the throat choking him and shouted that if he got no further answer he would break the Weaver's neck.  Others pulled him off and held him, though he was a strong man.  He strained against their hands and cried out, "Give me the answer!"

Odren said, "It is given, and the price paid.  Go."

Raging then Berosty rem ir Ipe returned to Charuthe, the third Domain of his family, a poor place in northern 0snoriner, which he had made poorer in getting together the price of a Foretelling.  He shut himself up in the strong-place, in the highest rooms of the Hearth-Tower, and would not come out for friend or foe, for seedtime or harvest, for kemmer or foray, all that month and the next and the next, and six months went by and ten months went by, and he still kept like a prisoner to his room, waiting.  On Onnetherhad and Odstreth (the 18th and 19th days of the month) he would not eat any food, nor would he drink, nor would he sleep.

His kemmering by love and vow was Herbor of the Geganner clan.  This Herbor came in the month of Grende to Thangering Fastness and said to the Weaver, "I seek a Foretelling."

"What have you to pay?" Odren asked, for he saw that the man was poorly dressed and badly shod, and his sledge was old, and everything about him wanted mending.

"I will give my life," said Herbor.

"Have you nothing else, my lord?" Odren asked him, speaking now as to a great nobleman, "nothing else to give?"

"I have nothing else," said Herbor. "But I do not know if my life is of any value to you here."

"No," said Odren, "it is of no value to us."

Then Herbor fell on his knees, struck down by shame and love, and cried to Odren, "I beg you to answer my question.  It is not for myself!"

"For whom, then?" asked the Weaver.

 

Added: 31-Jan-2015
Last Updated: 21-Nov-2024

Publications

 01-Nov-1974
Ace
Mass Market Paperback
In my libraryI read this editionOrder from amazon.comHas a cover imageBook Edition Cover
Date Issued:
Cir 01-Nov-1974
Format:
Mass Market Paperback
Cover Price:
$1.50
Pages*:
286
Catalog ID:
47802
Read:
Once
Internal ID:
1544
Publisher:
ISBN:
0-441-47802-6
ISBN-13:
978-0-441-47802-6
Printing:
7
Country:
United States
Language:
English
Credits:
Alex Ebel  - Cover Artist
Ursula K. LeGuin
The Left Hand
of Darkness


Not since DUNE has a science fiction novel generated as much enthusiasm and excitement as THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS.  Discover for yourself this thought-provoking tale of an alien planet where all the people are of one sex, and the lone earthman is forced into a subtle planetary intrigue where he is the pawn and his future is the prize.

"Anybody who can write a novel like this has my respect and admiration." - DAMON KNIGHT

"As profuse and original an invention as THE LORD OF THE RINGS." - MICHAEL MORCOCK

"What got to me was the quality of the story-telling.  She's taken the mythology, psychology - the entire creative surround - and woven it into a jewel of a story." - FRANK HERBERT
Cover:
Book Cover
Notes and Comments:
First Ace printing; March, 1969
Second Ace printing: November, 1972
Third Ace printing: April, 1973
Fourth Ace printing: June 1973
Fifth Ace printing: September, 1973
Sixth Ace printing: May, 1974
Seventh Ace printing: November, 1974
Seventh printing is assumed
Image File
01-Nov-1974
Ace
Mass Market Paperback

Related

Author(s)

Awards

1970Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of AmericaNebula Award - Best Novel Winner
1970World Science Fiction SocietyHugo Award - Best Novel Winner
*
  • I try to maintain page numbers for audiobooks even though obviously there aren't any. I do this to keep track of pages read and I try to use the Kindle version page numbers for this.
  • Synopses marked with an asterisk (*) were generated by an AI. There aren't a lot since this is an iffy way to do it - AI seems to make stuff up.
  • When specific publication dates are unknown (ie prefixed with a "Cir"), I try to get the publication date that is closest to the specific printing that I can.
  • When listing chapters, I only list chapters relevant to the story. I will usually leave off Author Notes, Indices, Acknowledgements, etc unless they are relevant to the story or the book is non-fiction.
  • Page numbers on this site are for the end of the main story. I normally do not include appendices, extra material, and other miscellaneous stuff at the end of the book in the page count.






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