MsB’s Reviews > The Left Hand of Darkness > Status Update

I’m in a strange place with this. I think I like it… but it’s not the sort of book I’d normally say I like. It reads almost like an anthropological study threaded with political tension. It is very measured and very observational and is cool rather than warm. Yet, I’m clearly engaged.

About a fifth in and I think I’m liking it. The premise is really interesting. The political tension, the outsider perspective, the way gender is handled so matter-of-factly that it becomes destabilising. It feels cool and deliberate so far, but there’s clearly something simmering beneath it.