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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
City of Illusions, September 19, 1999
By A Customer
A man crawls out of the woods, naked, hungry, without knowledge, without spirit. The people who take care of him call him Falk. He is being educated, he gains knowlegde and spirit. He becomes a man of honour and truth. But who is he? After 5 years with his new family, he starts on a quest to find his true identity.He is on Earth, in a far future. Earth that has conolized many planets, is now a barbaric world. The people of Earth are no more what they used to be. No more explorers, inventors, politicians, scientists. They became tribes, nomads and slaves. He leanrs that he actually is a man from another world. And he IS human. He tries to find a way to win this 'battle' he is in. This book tells of the value of truth and honour and of the importance to know yourself. It tells a good sf story about the human race that is conquered by an alien race that used the lie as their main weapon. And this is not an sf story in which technology and space battles are the main ingredients, but everyday life, a long journey, weird lines of thought, psychological struggle and conversations that don't seem to make any sense. I have read The Left Hand of Darkness as well, another wonderful book by Ursule LeGuin. They are on the same line of history in a far future. In both books, an individual will change the future of a whole world. In both books, honesty, honour, integrity, intelligence and courage turn out to be the way to conquer problems. In this line of history, LeGuin has written two more books: Rocannon's World and Planet of Exile, and I can't wait to start reading them.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The best of the Hainish novels?, January 30, 2009
Why do so many science fiction lists have places for every cocktail napkin that Philip K. Dick scribbled a note on, but a real writer like Ursula K. Leguin is frequently restricted to only two novels? I suppose literary cannons, whether for academics or sci fi nerds, are as subject to fads as anything else, but in this case its really a pity. The Hainish novels are worth the effort to read, and give great insight into a Titan of Science Fiction.
"City of Illusions" is a terrific quest novel. It is a welcome reward for having read the two previous Hainish novels, and perhaps slightly better than the undeveloped metaphor of Left Hand of Darkness. By this point in her career LeGuin has mastered her trademark motif of having a man cross a world on foot. More playful, and interesting than the boring trek that pads out the last third of "Left Hand of Darkness" the walk of Falk, our hero, across a sort of apocalypse United States, is the best part of this novel which has many great features. Let me first note that LeGuin, as always with the Hainish novels, shows us a post race world which is absent in most science fiction written by male writers. Again the foundation of the book is an excellent characterization of a likable hero who always behaves in human ways, and logical, subtle world building that is only ever shown to us through the speech, and the gestures of the characters, and never in dreary, long winded exposition. The spare science fiction of "Planet of Exile" harmonizes the over abundant fantasy of "Rocannon's World" as a realistic world is peppered with talking animals, and bits of technology. The overarching element of science fiction/fantasy, however, are psychic abilities, that characters have to varying degrees.
The ending loses its way slightly...as our hero and the book switch gears from adventure, to intrigue and spy games, but still its a satisfying peice of work.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exploring Truth in the City of Illusions, November 21, 1997
In City of Illusions, Ursula K. LeGuin shares an interesting insight about truth. In a war where lies are used as weapons, she says that the most powerful counteragent is truth. The liar will not recognize truth as such, or trust it, and will thus be suspicious of everything. To use a lie against a liar is to fight on the enemy's domainŠa great tactical advantage for the liar. Similarly, to use truth against falsehood will confuse the enemy. In either case, the side or sides using lies will inevitably become so mired in falsity that no real victory can be declared indefinitely. If the side of the liar appears to win, it will only be undermined eventually by lies from within. It is a tenuous victory at best, and very hollow and unfulfilling to keep power solely by subtle word-twisting. How tempting it is, though, in real life, to attempt to use a lie to gain a tactical advantage. Le Guin shows the validity of maintaining integrity and refusing to lie. One slip of the tongue may not destroy an empire, but a slip of the tongue can be the stumble that can send one down the slippery slope from which there is no ascencion. City of Illusions is just thatŠa city set not on a hill, but in a gorge, attempting to hide from the light that may reveal it to be what it is, a foundation of falsity that can crumble when struck by anything unwilling to immerse itself in the lie. Is integrity a realistic idea in the real world? I believe it is the only thing that will endure. Anything less is simply attempting to build a society, or a city, or a life on a foundation of illusion.
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