Setting: On a planet with a human population at one just one point, exiles from earth who arrived in two waves: First a group of criminals from South America (many thousands, though their origin isn't commonly known among them), then decades later a global group of pacifists (only two thousand, a smaller group). Everything is different, of course: different animals, and the landscape is dominated by trees growing in rings. The animals are also super cool and changing and only very vaguely resemble the Terran animals they are named after. (Apart from the adorable and adorably-named wotsit). The conflict between the city and the village Shantih is stark and a great setup – especially the narrative slowly revealing that the village may see itself as an equal partner, but the city certainly sees them as little more than slaves. I'm not sure what I think about the framing of the refusal of communication as moral violence – general the pacifists are on the extreme end of collaboration, cooperation and communication, and I'm not sure what their final failure can say under those premises. The writing, of course, is lush and insightful and makes you want to just sink into the book and enjoy it forever. Loving details everywhere, paired with a mastery of both writing and human nature – pure le Guin. It's weird how there's a fair bit of gender … opinions, let's call them opinions, in there, and even though they're pretty sweeping statements about how men and women are, I don't even want to argue, I can enjoy them for the insight they offer even while they're not universally true. Le Guin in magical like that. Rating note: Undecided between three stars and four stars – I was kinda afraid she'd show the idealists just magically win, so I was glad that wasn't how things played out. But the ending is also bitter-sweet and left me … mostly with vibes and some questions. Which, I suppose, is a good thing, so I decided to round up.