The Dispossessed

The Dispossessed moves along at a slow pace, introducing many characters, and some very different cultures. The story mainly follows Shevek, a physicist from a land that was settled by revolutionaries from another world. Their new planet is arid and forbidding, and has no property, no government, and little need for such intangibles as new theories of space-time. Thinking that he may need to turn to another planet to find those that would be interested in his work, and feeling the need to shake the status quo of his home world, Shevek decides to break all taboos, and arranges passage to the "propertarian" world in which his people came from. But the people that greet him as if he's a celebrity have their own motives for bringing him to their world...

The leisurely pace is not really a bad thing, as the novel unfolds it's story using flashbacks to reveal how Shevek got into his current position, his motives, the motives of the government of the nation that invited him to their planet, and possibly, the future of both worlds.

The only negative that I might have would be that with such a deliberate pace, it seems as though not much actually happens in the story, though I believe that to be a false impression, as the plot spans a decade of Shevek's life.

3.5 out of 5 stars.