The second novel in the Hainish cycle was released the same year as the fist. This would often spell trouble, but not here. I liked Planet of Exile much more than I liked Rocannon’s World

Let’s start with the most important aspect, which I will touch upon with every volume: I hate omnibuses. There’s a special torture device in a special place in hell for people who make them. I hate to take out my backup just to read it in a café! A BACKPACK! I hate those.

But back to the novel, Le Guin was not lying. It fits in the Hainish Cycle as well as a fish in a cake. Sure, it’s there, but should it? It’s a completely separate story (at least from the first, we’ll see how it evolves). The League is here, and there is a single reference to Rocannon’s Planet... but that’s it. Again, we’re in SciFi sandwich, but now the bread is the whole of the larger series. The outside world with its space travel and politics is only a mechanism to tell an entirely different story. There’s even less SciFi than before.

So, we’re on an alien planet. There are natives here (Tevarans), and there are Farborns, who are maroon Earthers. The Farborns and the natives share mutual distrust, but there’s a common thread of The Gaal - a native nomadic and aggressive tribe. The planet is entering a long winter period (60 years, good luck, George Martin), and the food is scarce. Will Tevarans and Farborns be able to leave their differences behind and survive the common enemy?

I’ve learned something about myself: I dislike road stores. It’s not that Planet of Exile is better than Rocannon’s World - they are different, and I enjoyed the former much more. We’re not jumping from place to place searching for something, and instead the story takes place mostly in the same spot. This may be due to my problems with attention span, but this allowed me to care about the people here. It’s a smaller scope story, but I would argue that the novel is much bigger.

Le Guin corrects a bit the League here: it’s no longer a free-for all. We’ve got rules! When you live on a planet, you cannot be more technically than natives. This forces Farborns to reject their space travel and boom sticks. I have no idea if I should treat it a call for integration? Either way, this makes this aspect of the story very up to date. However, more than anything, this makes the story less SciFi, even the book as whole is SciFi. Some writers would literally write fantasy to avoid writing SciFi.

Jokes aside, Planet of Exile is a story about differences, about acceptance, racism and love. It’s a calm story with an inevitable doom - but it’s also full of hope and worth. Moomins in space if you may.

Le Guin wrote here a much more enjoyable novel than her debut, but it’s still not Tehanu. I really, really liked it - but not loved. It’s not as gut-wrenching, soul sucking, beautiful, filled with hope as she will write in the future. Still - it’s good.