Audiobook Review: 'The Word for World Is Forest' (Hainish Cycle) by Ursula K. LeGuin, narr. by Kevin Pariseau

 Ursula K. LeGuin is a legend, in every way of the world. I've adored her non-fiction and when I finally read The Left Hand of Darkness last year I began to understand her in a completely new way. And so I decided to continue with the Hainish Cycle, starting with The Word for World Is Forest.

Pub. Date: 15/5/1972
Audible Publisher: Audible Studios
Audible Pub. Date: 7/12/2009

Centuries in the future, Terrans have established a logging colony & military base named "New Tahiti" on a tree-covered planet whose small, green-furred, big-eyed inhabitants have a culture centered on lucid dreaming. Terran greed spirals around native innocence & wisdom, overturning the ancient society.

Humans have learned interstellar travel from the Hainish (the origin-planet of all humanoid races, including Athsheans). Various planets have been expanding independently, but during the novel it's learned that the League of All Worlds has been formed. News arrives via an ansible, a new discovery. Previously they had been cut off, 27 light years from home.

The story occurs after The Dispossessed, where both the ansible & the League of Worlds are unrealised. Also well before Planet of Exile, where human settlers have learned to coexist. The 24th century has been suggested.

Terran colonists take over the planet locals call Athshe, meaning "forest," rather than "dirt," like their home planet Terra. They follow the 19th century model of colonization: felling trees, planting farms, digging mines & enslaving indigenous peoples. The natives are unequipped to comprehend this. They're a subsistence race who rely on the forests & have no cultural precedent for tyranny, slavery or war. The invaders take their land without resistance until one fatal act sets rebellion in motion & changes the people of both worlds forever.

As I have repeated endlessly, LeGuin stated that Science Fiction should not be 'descriptive' but 'prescriptive', as in that it should always describe reality, even if it takes place among the stars. And truly, no novel does that quite like The Word for World Is Forest. This is a harsh, brutal novel, a novel that will shock you even though it is half a century hold. LeGuin described the reality of colonialism, both the casual and the intentional cruelty of the process, the way violence spreads and how it alters a culture, the way misogyny becomes commonplace, the way that nature becomes a weapon and a tool. While I think it is everyone's responsibility to make themselves aware of colonialism and its effects, I also believe that fiction like this can play a special role in that education. The way LeGuin paints the picture here, the way the change wrought by this oppression feels irrevocable, it will make a lasting impact if you open yourself to it.

Human colonists have landed on Athshe and have began logging its wide forests for shipments back to Terra. Although we're in the space age some things never change and the Terran approach to colonisation is as old school as it gets. The Athsheans have been enslaved, their world is being destroyed, and now hatred has entered their mind. Our story gives us two perspectives. On the one hand there is Captain Davidson, a Man's Man, convinced of his own right and the superiority of humans. On the other hand there is Selver, an Athshean, who has suffered directly under Davidson's cruelty. Selver has managed to become friends with one Terran, yet he becomes the spark that lights a flame. As we get to know the culture of the Athsheans, their ability to Dream, and their love for their World, we also get to know the cruelty of colonialism. There is beauty here, but there is also horror.

Who am I to comment on Ursula K. LeGuin's writing? What is there to say that hasn't been said before? What remains true is that her writing is incredibly evocative and demanding without being high-brow or exclusionary. Her writing makes this accessible without losing any potential beauty or depth. Some of the descriptions and scenes in The Word for World Is Forest are rough and may stay with you for a long time. But it is meant to. This novel is meant to ring like an alarm bill when it comes to racism and ecological issues. What really stood out to me was the way in which the interspecies racism brought out the "everyday racism" we see today as well, the one flowing smoothly into the other. All kinds of themes raise their head in The Word for World Is Forest, too many to name, yet the brilliance of the novel is in showing how they all inter-relate, how they depend on one another to support racism and (white) supremacy. It is about the disregard of nature, racism, misogyny, and poverty all coming together to create a certain world view in which nothing else matters but you. I can't wait to read more of LeGuin's books and learn more.

I give this novel...

5 Universes!

The Word for World Is Forest is a stunning novel, a brilliant and horrid exploration of colonialism and echological destruction. LeGuin makes her novel as accessible as possible without losing any complexity.