Product Description

In Victoria on a former prison colony, two exiled groups--the farmers of Shantih and the City dwellers--live in apparent harmony. All is not as it seems, however. While the peace-loving farmers labor endlessly to provide food for the City, the City Bosses rule the Shantih with an iron fist. When a group of farmers decide to from a new settlement further away, the Bosses retaliate by threatening to crush the "rebellion."

Luz understands what it means to have no choices. Her father is a Boss and he has ruled over her life with the same iron fist. Luz wonders what it might be like to make her own choices. To be free to choose her own destiny.

When the crisis over the new settlement reaches a flash point, Luz will have her chance.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1054064 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
"This small gem of a novel encapsulates the qualities that make Le Guin a key figure in today's science fiction." --Publishers Weekly
-- Review

Review

About the Author
Ursula K. Le Guin is the author of many award-winning novels for adults and young readers, including the Earthsea series.

Customer Reviews

A good novel, but not Le Guin's best
The Eye of the Heron chronicles the inhabitants of the planet Victoria, originally a prison colony of Earth. However, 'The People of Peace,' who led a non-violent movement against the great wars of Earth, were also sent to the planet be the government of a great nation. When the novel begins, the people of the prison colony enjoy great comforts in town, disdaining the People of Peace, who do their farming.

Those who live outside the city grow tired of this poor exchange, and want to go found a new city, with no oppression. The novel explores the struggle to do this, as the non-violent people question their own ideals.

This book has beautiful moments, and the characters are well-conceived. However, it lacks the depth of some of Le Guin's other novels like The Dispossesd and The Left Hand of Darkness. It is an enjoyable read, but in the end it is lighthearted rather than than deep and pondering.

A well-written novel... and a thoughtful look at nonviolence
While this novel may not rise to the level of her very best work, prose-wise, it nonetheless is well-written--and its explorations of nonviolence, its challenges and the ways in which it can both succeed and fail, were highly influential on me, and have had a long term effect on how I view conflict. This one is well worth reading, and is as worthy of Le Guin's name as any of her better-known works.

Fine thriller just not sci fi
The planet Victoria was founded as a prison colony, but the original mission expired. The descendents of the prisoners and guards/wardens evolved into two prime groups: the Shantih farmers and those who live in the City. The agricultural residents of Shantih believe in independence for the individual and peaceful coexistence as a group. Bosses reign over the City and employ force to severely rule over the farmers.

Tired of tyranny, some farmers decide to begin a new colony far away from their oppressors. However, the Bosses believe that one escapee could destroy their positions of power. Luz, daughter of the Big Boss of the City, knows oppression first hand though she has lived a relatively pampered life. She decides to grasp at freedom at all costs by joining the rebellious farmers.

Ursula Le Guin's "Earthsea" books were some of my first fantasy novels so this reviewer has a special bias for one of the genre greats. THE EYE OF THE HERON is a reprint of a late 1970s tale that occurs on another world, but nothing unique really makes the reader feel that they are off-planet. Still, the key cast members, especially Luz and her father, come across as genuine, so that the audience sees the quest for independence and few societal restrictions and intrusions on two levels, that within a family and that between two castes with one enjoying the fruits of a dominant position that they refuse to cede (South Africa before Mandela). This still remains a solid work of fiction just not science fiction.

Harriet Klausner