The Birthday Of The World (And Other Stories)★★★★☆
Ursula K. Le Guin A collection of stories set in Le Guin’s Hainish universe, on worlds with vastly different gender relations. Plus a couple of stand-alone stories. Mostly ranging from good to great, with Solitude and Paradises Lost being my favorites of the batch.
City of Illusions★★★★☆
Ursula K. Le Guin How can you be yourself when you don’t know who you really are? A story of isolation, adaptation, kindness, cruelty, trust and hope, and above all, how to piece together the truth (or at least pick out the lies) on a future, depopulated Earth.
Five Ways to Forgiveness★★★★☆
Ursula K. Le Guin Five loosely-connected stories set in the final years of a color-based enslaving society, the war for liberation, and the messy aftermath.
Planet of Exile★★★★☆
Ursula K. Le Guin A tighter story than Rocannon’s World, with better-drawn characters, and more ambitious in its worldbuilding and themes.
Rocannon’s World★★★☆☆
Ursula K. Le Guin A serviceable quest story that melds fantasy and sci-fi. Engaging enough, but I’d only recommend it to someone who’s read her later work.
Solitude★★★★★
Ursula K. Le Guin The people of Eleven-Soro live alone except for a bare minimum of human interaction. But what is that bare minimum, and what does it mean for people who avoid all other contact?
The Telling★★★★★
Ursula K. Le Guin A thoughtful tale of discovery, as an observer from Earth struggles to find and understand fragments of the lost cultures hidden beneath a society that’s thrown away its past in favor of a single vision.
Vaster Than Empires And More Slow★★★★☆
Ursula K. Le Guin An intriguing story of a dysfunctional crew dealing with each other and a planet that, at first glance, appears to have no sentient life, only plants.
The Wind’s Twelve Quarters★★★★½
Ursula K. Le Guin A collection of short stories from early in Le Guin’s career, spanning her first sale through the time when she’d begun to be recognized as a major force in the genre.
The Word for World is Forest★★★★☆
Ursula K. Le Guin Infuriating to read…and that’s the point. A story of colonial exploitation, asymmetric warfare, dehumanization and environmental destruction.
Worlds of Exile and Illusion★★★★☆
Ursula K. Le Guin Interesting to see Le Guin as she’s developing her craft. Not the best place to start with her work, but absolutely worth reading.