WfWiF is the 'colonial-lens' foil to the Left Hand of Darkness.

Whereas the previous entry in this series definitely steers the reader in the direction of paternalistic exasperation at the good faith effort of an intergalactic olive branch in the form of the Ansible which is met with regressive hostility and tribalistic stubborness – this novel explores the possibility of colonial exploitation and the logical conclusion of Terran imperialism when met with "lesser" species.

Skirting around questions of what constitutes life or galactic citizenship, we find outself in the middle of a Mai Lai incident, a bureaucratic tribune and subsequent cover-up staging the the titular forest world of Athshe for tyranny at the hands of a few bad men.

I think I like the title of this book the most out of the series so far. The inability of the Terran colonizers to grasp that the local ecology of Athshe thrives on the flora and fauna sustained by its forest, and despite the apparent power imbalance between the Terrans and Athsheans – human judgement is still highly fallible. Their ethics are worse than ever, and there's a few layers of irony at player here. Because the ansible and adjoining League of Worlds were created and formed after the perpetrators of the Athshean Smith Camp massacrate even departed Earth, knowledge of the new technology and the "rules of engagement"/mission directives during the injunction are similarly more informed and civilized than the values of the members of the Terran colonizer missions.

This book is also the darkest one so far. Genocide begets genocide, and ironically, whilst temporarily being elevated to the status of Godhood, the Athshean protagonist mentions that he was able to communicate something to the rest of the planet simultaneously despite the lack of centralized government which made the Terrans think they were so uncivilized. Simultaneous communication also being the exact yardstick by which the League of Worlds surpasses the Terrans with on the totempole of civilization. The clear symbolic meaning being that different does not equal less capable.

Together with Left Hand of Darkness, the Hainish cycle begins to take shape as a "better than average" series, though Le Guin has yet to use the thousand or pages to tie a compelling transcendental arc through all the novels in the timeline. That was never her goal though, even from Rocannon's World so ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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