Book Review
Jun. 22nd, 2024 11:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariCity of Illusions
by Ursula K. Le Guin
City of Illusions is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth and recounts the story of Falk, a man who stumbles into a forest village with no memory of who he is or how he got there. The villagers take him in and teach him their ways and their history. After a few years, Falk and the villagers realize that he must solve the mystery of who he is, so with their advice and aid, Falk sets out on a journey across the land to find the truth in Es Toch, the city of the conquering and duplicitous Shing. It is a dangerous journey in which he encounters other settlements and groups, some brutal, some secretive and strange.
City of Illusions is a hero's journey in which Falk must contend with a series of strange encounters, with his time in Es Toch being the strangest of all, which gradually reveal the dangers and oddities of truth-seeking. He must also grapple with the relationship between searching internally and externally and between seeking in solitude or with the help of others. I enjoyed Falk's journey and the way it allowed Le Guin to explore the different shapes human society could take after an apocalyptic collapse. Once Falk gets to Es Toch, things get a little more opaque. I wish that there had been a little more transparency around how Falk sifts truth from lies and how he arrives at his conclusions in the last few chapters.
by Ursula K. Le Guin
City of Illusions is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth and recounts the story of Falk, a man who stumbles into a forest village with no memory of who he is or how he got there. The villagers take him in and teach him their ways and their history. After a few years, Falk and the villagers realize that he must solve the mystery of who he is, so with their advice and aid, Falk sets out on a journey across the land to find the truth in Es Toch, the city of the conquering and duplicitous Shing. It is a dangerous journey in which he encounters other settlements and groups, some brutal, some secretive and strange.
City of Illusions is a hero's journey in which Falk must contend with a series of strange encounters, with his time in Es Toch being the strangest of all, which gradually reveal the dangers and oddities of truth-seeking. He must also grapple with the relationship between searching internally and externally and between seeking in solitude or with the help of others. I enjoyed Falk's journey and the way it allowed Le Guin to explore the different shapes human society could take after an apocalyptic collapse. Once Falk gets to Es Toch, things get a little more opaque. I wish that there had been a little more transparency around how Falk sifts truth from lies and how he arrives at his conclusions in the last few chapters.
