Published – 1966

Publisher – Ace

The Earth colony of Landin has been stranded on the planet Werel for ten orbits, each of which is sixty Earth years long. As Werel once again enters its fifteen-year-long winter, the lonely and dwindling human settlement is joined by the nomadic hilfs, an indigenous humanoid people who only settle down for the cruel cold spell. The hilfs fear the Earthmen, whom they call farborns, regarding them as witches and avoiding interaction with them. Although both populations share a common genetic heritage in the Hainish people, the differences are believed to be significant enough to prevent interbreeding. But hilfs and farborns also share common enemies: the hordes of ravaging barbarians called gaals and the eerie preying snow ghouls. As the winter dangers approach, a visit from the curious young hilf Rolery to the human colony becomes a sign of coming changes. Will they join forces or be annihilated?

Difficult Second Album syndrome is the idea that after the first hit bands struggle to do something successful next. With books the story we read for an author’s debut may have developed over many years is required to be released only 12-24 months later. Often that raises some problems with speed and a loss of coherence (or sometimes the same plot again Ready Player Two). Now I wasn’t hugely wowed by Ursula K le Guin’s Rocannon’s World but I was intrigued what we would get in Le Guin’s second effort Planet of Exile and I’ll be honest I was not impressed at all.

Werel is an inhabited world with a 60-year long orbit which means a 15-year long winter. The Tevarians are native while the mysterious Farborns are actually Earth humans now stuck on the planet but try to keep to themselves. We meet one of the Tevarian leaders named Wold and his daughter Rolery; she is fascinated by a Farborn named Jakob Agat. Winter is coming and a group named the Gaal are taking over settlements and coming towards Wold’s group. Can the two groups unite to sip their world being in danger.

Ok let’s be sacrilegious I didn’t think this worked at all . It very much feels like a novel poured straight into a novella shaped glass and no care is taken as to what elements are kept to make it work as either. There are lots of interesting ideas here, a planet with huge winters (take that George RR Martin), human settlers and native aliens trying to live together, and we also get classic 60s ideas such as telepathic powers. There is though a mess of a story. The world is way more interesting than the characters. That part of the story suffers as I never cared about anyone. Like Rocannon’s world we get a fantasy style world with quasi-medieval speech, but it feels very inorganic. It’s rattling along so fast nothing matters at all – it also has my standard pet peeve of some insta-love, and it rushes around with what feels a very contrived sense of drama.

Horrible to say but it’s a good thing I know there are better things to come ans otherwise I’d be unlikely to come back. Again, a reminder that authors can over their career get better and find their feet as a storyteller.

Next up City of Illusions