I first read this book in my early 20s, and it was my first Le Guin book ever. I don't remember much of my thoughts from that time but my review was essentially "this was good but I couldn't get over the sexism." I'm so glad I read this again eleven years and multiple Le Guin books later. I appreciate every choice Le Guin made here, including the sexism, and I feel like I can confidently say that she was a genius. Reading this really made me want to dive deep into her work immediately, rather than as a nebulous "maybe someday" goal.

Le Guin was definitely a master of world building. I went into this already knowing the premise both from my initial read and from a more recent read of the associated short story "Growing Up in Karhide" in The Birthday of the World and Other Stories. Having that knowledge helped me fully appreciate the way that Le Guin slowly revealed more information about the world simply through plot points, setting descriptions, and characters' reflections. Her descriptions of the world of Gethen were so vivid, and while I can see this being a perfect winter read, I really enjoyed reading about a bitingly cold world in the horrible heat of summer. It was so fun to see all the adaptations that the Gethenians had due to the environment they grew up in, especially contrasted to Ai, who I'm sure most readers would relate to in that respect. Of course Le Guin would think about how every aspect of this planet would affect Gethenian society. And of course she created two very different nations and didn't flatten out the entire planet to ~ one culture ~.

And that isn't even touching on the Gethenian biology and traditions and expectations surrounding sex! I think I was better able to appreciate this on my second read because I have more experience with Le Guin's earlier work and more knowledge on the state of science fiction at the time she was writing this. While a lot of the discussions surrounding sex and gender here feel outdated today, it's incredible to think that Le Guin wrote this in the 1960s. I now think that Ai's initial misogyny was necessary to show his character growth in better understanding the Gethenians. His realization in the end was so satisfying in comparison to his thoughts in the beginning of the book.

I was also so pleasantly surprised by the character development in this novel. The other Le Guin books I've read have been hit-or-miss for me, and the misses are usually due to lack of character depth. Here we really get to know Ai of course, as well as Estraven, and their growing relationship happens so naturally and seamlessly that it felt inevitable. The way they connected to each other through both their similarities and differences was so heartwarming, and of course made the end hit so hard. I can't remember tearing up like this with Le Guin's other work.

When I first started reading more of Le Guin's work, I realized that she tends to write a lot of journey narratives (at least in the Hainish Cycle), where the main character goes on a long trip. In some of her books, especially City of Illusions, this kind of journey really dragged for me, but it was very engrossing in this book, mainly due to the vivid descriptions and character/relationship development. I almost didn't want it to end!

But end it did, and I realized through a comment here that I had missed something key to one of the characters that was only hinted at and never explicitly mentioned, and it made me look at the entire novel in a new light yet again. And gave me the desire to reread it AGAIN haha but I will save that for the future.

Obviously I highly highly recommend this, though I would encourage readers today to go into it expecting outdated gender norms in order to better appreciate how groundbreaking it was. And to read Le Guin's later thoughts on what she had learned since writing this, and what she would do differently. Because it's wonderful to see someone publicly admit that they have grown and learned more and would make different choices now than they did in the past.