Pages : 561
Overall Mark : 8/10
Ursula K. Le Guin has been recognised for almost fifty years as one of the most important writers in the SF field – and beyond. These two collections bring together some of her finest short fiction, including Award-winners ‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’, ‘The Day Before the Revolution’. ‘Sur’ and the Hugo-nominated ‘Winter’s King’, which gave readers their first glimpse of the world later made famous in her Hugo- and Nebula-winning masterpiece The Left Hand of Darkness.
URSULA K. LE GUIN (1929-)
Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the finest writers of our time. Her books have attracted millions of devoted readers and won many awards, including the National Book Award, the Hugo and Nebula Awards and a Newbery Honour. Among her novels, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed and the six books of Earthsea have already attained undisputed classic status. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
VERDICT
THE WIND’S TWELVE QUARTERS
The majority of the stories in this collection are easily worthy of five stars and well worth reading, but there are a handful that simply aren't very good. Fans of Earthsea and The Hainish Cycle will enjoy some of the short stories related to the series, and even those unfamiliar with them should get some enjoyment out of them.
THE COMPASS ROSE
This could have been a five star collection if not for one or two subpar stories. The remainder are so imaginative and take the reader on a short journey of wonder that differs between pages at such a varying rate it just goes to prove what an imagination Le Guin truly has.
