The Eye of the Heron: A Novel

Ursula K. Le Guin

Sep 2003 · Sold by Macmillan

About this ebook

From multi-award-winning, literary legend Ursula K. Le Guin comes a speculative fiction classic, The Eye of the Heron.

In Victoria on a former prison colony, two exiled groups—the farmers of Shantih and the City dwellers—live in apparent harmony. All is not as it seems, however. While the peace-loving farmers labor endlessly to provide food for the City, the City Bosses rule the Shantih with an iron fist. When a group of farmers decide to form a new settlement further away, the Bosses retaliate by threatening to crush the "rebellion."

Luz understands what it means to have no choices. Her father is a Boss and he has ruled over her life with the same iron fist. Luz wonders what it might be like to make her own choices. To be free to choose her own destiny.

When the crisis over the new settlement reaches a flash point, Luz will have her chance.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings and reviews

I wish I could could agree with some of the reviewers about this book, but I can't. the story is quite simple and straightforward, 1st the oppression which leads to, 2nd, the struggle and rebellion, and finally the push to create a better world for yourself. Not much actually happens in this book, but the author finds a way to drag it out with a lot of unnecessary overwriting. I know some find the writing poetic but I found it stilted, difficult to read and uninteresting. It did not keep my attention and I found myself scanning paragraphs at a time because they were long, drawn-out descriptions of Landscapes, scenery and the tedious inner monologue and angst that the characters go through. the characters were bland and boring and the end, while thorough and a fully thought-out story, left me unfulfilled and disappointed. The ending gives you no pay off whatsoever.

Agree with under-rated. Loved description of alien planet and life there. Wouldn't mind going into Space to get to someplace like that instead of some dead world in Earth's solar system. These sci-fi books were written before we could image other worlds, understood the uniqueness of Earth's biochemistry or understand the evolutionary history of life, or intelligence. It doesn't look like any world like Victoria is out there - even life bearing worlds would be more alien than this. Good story about people.

One of her best, and most underrated, books.

About the author

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) was the author of more than three dozen books for children and adults, including her groundbreaking novels The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, both honored with Nebula and Hugo awards for best novel. She was also awarded a Newbury Honor for the second volume of the Earthsea Cycle, The Tombs of Atuan, and among her many other distinctions are the Margaret A. Edwards Award, a National Book Award, and additional Nebula and Hugo awards. Her other books include The Eye of the Heron, The Word for World is Forest, and the Hainish series. In 2014, Le Guin was named the Medalist for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the National Book Foundation.