Others: Mostly positive Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have isolated his planet of anarchists from the rest of the civilized universe. To do this dangerous task will mean giving up his family and possibly his life. Shevek must make the unprecedented journey to the planet, Anarres, to challenge the complex structures of life and living, and ignite the fires of change.
Genres: fantasy, science fiction
Lists: …
Philip K. Dick
1959 · 227 pages · 4 reviews
Others: Mostly negativeTime Out of Joint is a dystopian novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in novel form in the United States in 1959. An abridged version was also serialised in the British science fiction magazine New Worlds Science Fiction in several installments from December 1959 to February 1960. The novel epitomizes many of Dick's themes with its concerns about the nature of reality and ordinary people in ordinary lives having the world unravel around them. The title is a reference to Shakespeare's play Hamlet. The line is uttered by Hamlet to Horatio after being visited by his father's ghost and learning that his uncle Claudius murdered his father; in short, a shocking supernatural event that fundamentally alters the way Hamlet perceives the state and the universe ("The time is out of joint; O cursed spite!/That ever I was born to set it right!" [I.V.211-2]), much as do several events in the novel. Ragle Gumm is an ordinary man leading an ordinary life, except that he makes his living by entering a newspaper contest every day -- and winning, every day. But he gradually begins to suspect that his life -- indeed his whole world -- is an illusion, constructed around him for the express purpose of keeping him docile and happy. But if that is the case, what is his real world like, and what is he actually doing every day when he thinks he is guessing 'Where Will The Little Green Man Be Next?'
What made the match, strongest first
Roger Zelazny
1970 · 188 pages · 3 reviews
Others: PositiveFirst in the "Chronicles of Amber" series of fantasy books. The story begins in the hospital when the protagonist wakes up from a coma with amnesia, his true identity unknown to him. He begins his adventure by visiting his sister and we follow him through the story as he slowly regains his lost memory and real purpose as a member of a royal family of Amber.
What made the match, strongest first
Isaac Asimov
1951 · 231 pages · 6 reviews
Others: Leaning positiveOne of the great masterworks of science fiction, the Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are unsurpassed for their unique blend of nonstop action, daring ideas, and extensive world-building. The story of our future begins with the history of Foundation and its greatest psychohistorian: Hari Seldon. For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. Only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future--a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire--both scientists and scholars--and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation. But soon the fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of the receding Empire. And mankind's last best hope is faced with an agonizing choice: submit to the barbarians and live as slaves--or take a stand for freedom and risk total destruction.
What made the match, strongest first
Gene Wolfe
1983 · 950 pages · 9 reviews
Others: MixedThe Book of the New Sun is set a million years in the future, on an Earth transformed in mysterious and wondrous ways, in a time when our present culture is no longer even a memory. Severian, the central character, is a torturer, exiled from his guild after falling in love with one of his victims, and journeying to the distant city of Thrax, armed with his ancient executioner's sword, Terminus Est. This edition contains the first four volumes of the series.
What made the match, strongest first
Ursula K. Le Guin
1969 · 304 pages · 13 reviews
Others: Mostly positiveComment by Kim Stanley Robinson, on The Guardian's website: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin (1969) One of my favorite novels is The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K Le Guin. For more than 40 years I've been recommending this book to people who want to try science fiction for the first time, and it still serves very well for that. One of the things I like about it is how clearly it demonstrates that science fiction can have not only the usual virtues and pleasures of the novel, but also the startling and transformative power of the thought experiment. In this case, the thought experiment is quickly revealed: "The king was pregnant," the book tells us early on, and after that we learn more and more about this planet named Winter, stuck in an ice age, where the humans are most of the time neither male nor female, but with the potential to become either. The man from Earth investigating this situation has a lot to learn, and so do we; and we learn it in the course of a thrilling adventure story, including a great "crossing of the ice". Le Guin's language is clear and clean, and has within it both the anthropological mindset of her father Alfred Kroeber, and the poetry of stories as magical things that her mother Theodora Kroeber found in native American tales. This worldly wisdom applied to the romance of other planets, and to human nature at its deepest, is Le Guin's particular gift to us, and something science fiction will always be proud of. Try it and see – you will never think about people in quite the same way again.
What made the match, strongest first
Gene Wolfe
1975 · 264 pages · 1 review
Others: PositiveFrom back cover: PEACE is the life story of Alden Dennis Weer, an eccentric old man living out his last days and fantasies in an obscure Midwestern town. It is also much more -- an extraordinary combination of the mythic vision of fantasy and the thrilling, disquieting suspense of a mastercrafted ghost story. PEACE will awaken your dreams -- and put you in touch with a magical reality that lies just below the surface of everyday life.
What made the match, strongest first
MixedThe dispossessed, however, just a little bit dry, very academic. The premise, if I told you the premise and you imagined what the book would be, that kind of is what the book is. And that to me is a disappointment because you want there to be more surprises, plot twists, reveals interesting concepts, and it kind of just focuses on this society's capitalist anarchist and just like explores what they were like.
Mixedthis book was an incredible read in terms of comparing and contrasting capitalism with what Socialism or Anarchy or communism could really be there's a lot of elements of all of those in both of the cultures and I really liked comparing and contrasting and seeing what they would really look like in Ursula's Vision but that said I didn't like the character Chev and I also didn't like the story
Loved itby Ursula leuin is really good I enjoyed it it's a story of two societies told through one protagonist a nice contrast between the styles of society
Loved itThe dispossessed by leguin ... what I do recall is very positive ... this is my favorite leguin book I think it's a very morally ambiguous portrayal of an anarchist society
Loved ither novel of utopian societies and colliding World Views and political systems it's one of the most insightful science fiction novels I've read in recent years
Loved itthe other key one for me is the dispossessed
MixedIt's just a shame that the story itself the plot was so boring like I really did not need 300 pages of this random scientist's life.
Loved itI completely recommend the dispossessed which is a fantastically beautifully layered political novel.
