This is the second book I’ve read of Le Guin’s. I already see a pattern emerge: she is a master in embedding the description of the defining traits of humanity in thought experiments. The experiment this time is about an alien race without a pre-defined gender, and still on its road to finding out what “country”, “patriotism” and “humanity” mean in practice. Along these lines, Le Guin shows us everything that humanity is: the good, the bad and the ugly. Highly recommended: the value of this book goes well beyond science fiction.