The Left Hand of Darkness is a very intriguing book, and sometimes hard to follow. What strikes me as odd are the alternating of chapters that sometimes are told from the point of view of the main character, and are sometimes presented as historical "texts" from the planet in which they are on. I drew a few parallels between this book and the book Ender's Game, in the way that there is the instant communication device, which I think is an interesting concept. The book as a whole seems an extension of multiple ideas about space presented in the late 1900's, such as the time difference if Ai were to travel off-world. The concept of a race that is androgynous reminds me of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, when there was also an androgynous race. I am interested to see where Ai's journey takes him. I wonder if the author saying that the entire society prefers not to write anything is some sort of prediction about where our own society is headed. In chapter three, this circumstance is referenced in the quote, "Karhiders do not read much as a rule, and prefer their news and literature heard not seen" (Chapter 3, page 29). It will be interesting to see if he makes any further commentary on that situation.
Patsy- At the moment I don't have any strong theories about how Gently Ai will get the planet to join, but I do think the King will probably not come around, and the King will either get killed, or removed, or something.
Do the concepts in this book remind you of other Sci-Fi books you have read?
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