This is an incredibly difficult book to review. Even after I finished it I spent several hours trying to wrap my head around how I would rate this, because it's not as clear cut as most books I read. 
 If we're going purely on enjoyment--of the plot, characters, etc--then this is probably inching into 3-star territory. The writing is dense and at times challenging, the plot is interesting but not always engaging. The characters are flawed and not always likeable (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). 
 But on the other hand, when I think about this book beyond that--as a classic cornerstone of science fiction, for what it's trying to do and what it's trying to say, about the themes and subversions and everything--then it has to be more like 4-stars. 
 Trying to think about this book as it would've been seen in 1969 is a difficult but worthwhile exercise. Le Guin has a lot to say about the world through the lens of this book and it's interesting to see what has changed and what has stayed the same. Or rather, despite the progress we've made how much further we still have to go. This book is fascinating as it is both speculative fiction and almost historical fiction in a sense. And by that I mean you can see how certain attitudes of the 60s are reflected even still in a society that has developed nearly FTL travel. 
 There are certain passages in the writing that resonated so strongly with me--because the themes and ideas Le Guin is trying to lay down are powerful stuff. Genly and Estraven's conversation about essentially becoming exiles on behalf of the other--albeit it in completely different ways--is one that sticks out. I can imagine innumerable theses being written about this book and this is a case where I'd be eager to read them if only to pull out even more meaning from these pages. 
 At the heart of it all though, I'm still conflicted. Because on a pure enjoyment level this was middle of the road for me. But on the level of literary merit and importance I think it's pretty spectacular. And the fact that such a difference exists makes it hard for me to reconcile into a rating, though I've tried. I'm going to go with 4 stars if only because I think the amount of time I've spent thinking about this ought to count for something.