Storyline: 4/5 
 Characters: 3/5 
 Writing Style: 4/5 
 World: 4/5 
 Winner of the Hugo and the Nebula, top-ten-ranking on many a science fiction list, often listed as number one or number two of all time on blogs and forums. It was difficult to approach this without expectations. 
 And I was underwhelmed. 
 It was a good book. No doubt. I liked both Planet of Exile and City of Illusions, and Le Guin builds on her successes from there. All of her previous Hainish Cycle books have been short - novellas or short story collections. This was her first full-fledged novel, and she put her experience with the short story format to good use here, providing a tale from a scattering of sources, chronologies, and perspectives. Le Guin continues with her trademark sociological inquiry into the other and again complements it with a story of arcadian self-exploration. All of this Le Guin has done well before, and I enjoyed it here again. 
 I think that this is one of those books that, in hindsight, will be esteemed more for its significance than for its inherent qualities. It is significant because a woman won the Hugo and the Nebula. Because it did not shy away from the topics of gender and equality between the sexes. That it was an accomplishment in 1969, I can understand. That does not, itself, make for quality reading today, however. Le Guin was more in control of the gender discussion of this story as it pertained to the exotic worldbuilding. The allegories to real world sexism and feminism, however, were left unsatisfactorily vague. This was more of a cursory probing than a thorough delving. This was true, too, of her discussion of the political systems involved in the main plot. A gentle introduction, a mild reprimand the story held here as well, but the lessons and applications were still hazy and inchoate. I like Le Guin the ethnologist more than I like Le Guin the fantasy world-builder. Thus, the first half of this book reaffirmed for me her weaknesses as a fantasy writer while the second half reminded me of just how good she is with confronting the unfamiliar and alien. 
 Perhaps I would have been more wowed had its reputation not been so venerable. I found it a mediocre fantasy story, a minor science fiction one, a rather good adventure tale, and a better-than-average socio-political statement. "Great" I will not concede to it, but worthy of reading, I surely will.