F/SF

One of the stronger Ace Doubles with two above average short novels.

The Kar-Chee Reign is one of Avram Davison's early adventure tales, before he moved to the more literary / historical fantasies such as The Phoenix and The Mirror. The plot is standard -- a far future Earth, mostly exhausted and deserted by after extra-solar colonization -- is invaded by mantis-like aliens (and their pet dragons) who come to strip mine the remaining traces of ore, ripping the world asunder as they go. Gradually a resistance movement arises.

What sets it above the average pulp story is Avram's already developing voice, an atypically dark short chapter involving survivors stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean, and a denouement summarizing somewhat cynically what happened in the following decades.

Recommended.

Rocannon's World is Ursula K Leguin's first novel. Facing the title page is a very enthusiastic note from Donald Wollheim on this promising new author. While the prediction was spot on, and the novel is quite solid, I don't believe anyone reading this novel in the Hainish cycle would have seen her evolution to The Left Hand of Darkness or The Dispossessed. World has a plot structure similar to Left Hand, with an emissary stranded on a fairly primitive planet, with complex political and social structures, forced to make a long arduous journey with a few companions. But where Left Hand pared everything down to focus on a few specific relationships and ideas, World tosses in a variety of science fictional or fantasy tropes including a galactic encyclopedia, windsteeds that appear to be giant flying cats, at least four distinct alien races including vampires, FTL unmanned rockets, battles, and two abductions. A E Van Vogt with far better writing. It's as male dominated as a Conan story, and not above the occasional cliche, e.g., "he slept like a baby". This by no means a bad novel, of just historical interest. It's an enjoyable read, that's just overshadowed by what was to come.

Recommended. ( )

I think this is one of her first novels, if not her first. It combines the legends of fantasy in a brief Science Fiction framework. Rocannon encounters the stereotypically beautiful alien of legend and travels to a backwater world, leaving behind all he knows to find that he has played a part in something that now poses a deadly threat to the people of the planet, and becomes a legend himself. Not as lovely as her later work, but still enjoyable. (January 30, 2005) ( )

it's been a couple of years since I've read any Le Guin, and I have clearly been away for too long. she is still my favourite, despite this not being her best work. pretty-good Le Guin is better than most other things.

I really need to pace myself when I read her work. Her descriptions are pithy, with really good imagery, and you miss a lot of you gloss over them.

The strengths of this book: portraying the different viewpoints of each species, especially at the beginning; affording each character on the journey more depth as the story progresses; beautiful descriptions of setting; depth of worldbuilding. ( )

Tal vez no requiera un orden específico leer el Ciclo del Ekunem o Hainish, pero tras leer La mano izquierda de la oscuridad quería empezar desde el principio la saga. Si bien al principio es algo lento, coge ritmo enseguida y se convierte en una lectura amena e interesante. ( )