Planet of Exile

The second part of the Hainish Cycle unfolds on the faraway planet Werel. The Earth colony Cosmopor has been stuck here for 10 years. Only 10 years on Werel equal more than 600 years on Earth—forever cutting the colonists off from their home civilization. A lonely, lost human settlement shrinks with each year, while inter-racial tension grows. During the merciless freezes of a winter that lasts 15 years on the planet, the people from Earth have to join forces with the People of Askatevar: natives with nothing in common with them. The People of Askatevar fear the colonists, call them sorcerers and “far-born,” while the colonists can’t freely develop their technologies, forced to remain at the level of their tribal neighbors. The only thing that binds them is their common enemy: gaal—cruel barbarian nomads. Will the two settlements be able to unite? What hides in the dark tower on the black rock? And how, amid misunderstanding and alienation, will love like “Romeo and Juliet” bloom?