Le monde de Rocannon

mass market paperback, 190 pages

français language

Published Aug. 15, 2003 by Le Livre de Poche.

ISBN:
978-2-253-07248-5
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3 stars (1 review)

Une planète sans nom du système stellaire de Fomalhaut est l'enjeu d'un conflit entre la Ligue de Tous les Mondes et un ennemi inconnu. Cinq espèces intelligentes se la partagent, dont aucune n'a dépassé le niveau féodal. Rocannon, ethnologue, y est envoyé en observation par la Ligue avant l'arrivée d'une mission technologique qui assurera le développement de la société la mieux placée. Mais l'ennemi surgit avant que le plan ne soit accompli. Avec une poignée de compagnons, Rocannon va entreprendre de chasser les envahisseurs.

5 editions

Least-favorite LeGuin

3 stars

Ansible—the open-source “infrastructure as code” tool—borrowed its name from this novel.

In the story, an ansible is a faster-than-light (FTL) communication device—words typed on one ansible appear instantaneously light-years away.

This factoid was chief among my reasons for reading this book.

I also read it for completeness sake—“Rocannon’s World” is the first novel in the Hainish Cycle—Ursula K. Le Guin’s epic future history, which includes one of my all-time favorite books: “The Dispossessed.”

But this was my least-favorite Le Guin story I’ve read thus far (although that’s a high bar).

The story was nothing more than your average 1960s sci-fi/bronze-aged castles with flying cats mashup.

While that sounds exciting, the actual book was slow.

There needed to be more plot for such a plot-driven story.

Plot

I ride with Olhor, who seeks to hear his enemy’s voice, who has traveled through the great dark, who has seen the World hang …