Plot: 4/9. It’s concerned with an extraterrestrial exploration and a man’s transformation in learning love. But I could not resonate with the extreme terror inasmuch as the weak plot and lame suspense bored me to death.

The ship of the survey group once carried an autistic empath called Osden who was particularly repellent to all other mates despite his brilliant bioempathic receptivity, because he was easily bent to other’s emotions especially their hostility in nature.

They arrived at an bizarre planet where no man or large animals was found (“You don’t think Creation would have made the same hideous mistake twice?”) But some crew reported something big in the forest and Osden was even knocked down by the unknown living being.

Osden assumed that the forest was an integral giant sentient being interconnected by root and epiphytes. Apparently, the crew were all influenced by the fear of the forest. In order to save their sanity, Osden decided to abandon his wont to rebound the emotion and learned to absorb it at the cost of giving up himself to the alien. His plan worked, but Osden finally chose to stay there alone.

Core: 4/9. In order to appease a planet-wide creature like Solaris in 1961, one man had to abandon himself and learn how to love for the first time. I would give a higher score if Le Guin could write less on their drama and paid more appropriate attention to Osden’s inner struggle. Moreover, some settings here failed to convince me:

• It’s ridiculous that they could quickly transfer not information but human insomuch as “cosmic mass intelligence could not yet been eliminated from the operation of the ansible.” Why not therefore send carriers that held mass to and fro so that they don’t need to suffer unnecessary absolute loneliness?
• Why could Osden be so confident that the forest wouldn’t hunt people after he was literally attacked by it?
• It should be Vaster Than Empires and Slower instead of Vaster Than Empires and More Slow.

Character: 4/9. Indeed, those surveyor were nuts. But why not create some cool, charismatic, interesting or at least funny weirdos? Osden was nasty but at least he’s cool.

Do you think the average human is a well of loving-kindness? My choice is to be hated or to be despised. Not being a coward, I prefer to be hated.

But I am not a man. They are all of you. And there is myself. I am one.

World and Others: 3/9. I would give a higher score if the social structure and the landscape would be phrased in a more elaborated detail.

Overall: 4/9. Merely judged from this article, Le Guin seemed to be the type of writers good at characters instead of building triggering plots, mysteries, worlds and wonders. I need to read more about her works to ascertain her advantages on writing. For the time being , I don’t think she is my cup of tea.