"The left hand of darkness" is one of Le Guin's science fiction books, shares the same background as "Rocannon's World" and "The Disposessed" among others though they are all perfectly self-contained and there is no one you need to read first. In my view they share a lot of the magic, powerful writing etc... of the Earthsea books although of course with an SF spin (rather minimal - her love of fantasy comes through!)
The reason I recommend it to you is about slashiness I'm afraid - sorry if I'm making assumptions - though it's also one of my very favourite books! It's the story of a man from an interstellar alliance who is sent alone and unarmed as an emissary to an isolated and rather backward planet called Gethen. His job is to try and persuade the nations of Gethen to join the alliance. The people of Gethen are human just like most people roundabout due to colonisation millions of years ago. Except that, unlike all the other humans, they are androgynous and that runs through all their culture including their love stories, their taboos, legends, and so on. The story is about the emissary's adventures and his developing understanding of / relationship with the Gethenians and with one in particular. I guess the slashiness comes more than anything from terminology because, except for a few days a month when they become male or female at random, the Gethenians are neuter so Le Guin refers to them throughout as 'he' 'lord' 'king' and so on as she (or the narrator) thinks male terms are more suitable, less loaded.
no subject
The reason I recommend it to you is about slashiness I'm afraid - sorry if I'm making assumptions - though it's also one of my very favourite books! It's the story of a man from an interstellar alliance who is sent alone and unarmed as an emissary to an isolated and rather backward planet called Gethen. His job is to try and persuade the nations of Gethen to join the alliance. The people of Gethen are human just like most people roundabout due to colonisation millions of years ago. Except that, unlike all the other humans, they are androgynous and that runs through all their culture including their love stories, their taboos, legends, and so on. The story is about the emissary's adventures and his developing understanding of / relationship with the Gethenians and with one in particular. I guess the slashiness comes more than anything from terminology because, except for a few days a month when they become male or female at random, the Gethenians are neuter so Le Guin refers to them throughout as 'he' 'lord' 'king' and so on as she (or the narrator) thinks male terms are more suitable, less loaded.