I became completely enamored by the writings of Le Guin, when rediscovering her through reading The Left Hand of Darkness. Therefore, I had very high expectations when reading this book, and although it was good, it did not really capture the same magic as the aforementioned book. I do recommend reading it if one enjoys Le Guin's style, as she still excels with the idea of exploring thought experiments, but I would probably recommend starting with one of her other books.

Where The Left Hand of Darkness (in my opinion) focuses on the exploration of human connections and culture, I would say this book is more philosophical in nature, exploring different aspects of ethics. A large part of it is about utilitarianism, as well as what agency one should have over other people's lives. It also covers other aspects, and I have a hard time identifying all the themes.

Although the ideas were interesting, I think they were spread a bit thin. For example, the characters were a bit flat, to emphasize the clash of their differing stances. While this made some dilemmas more clear, it also made their interactions a bit repetitive.

The title initially confused me, but I later learned that it comes from a slight mistranslation of a line in the foundational Taoist text Zhuangzi, which was translated to "lathe of heaven", pertaining to something like "heavenly mechanisms". Another fun bonus is that the book was written over fifty years ago, and is surprisingly current when it comes to topics such as climate change. So, while this book did not fully live up to my expectations, it is still a good book which made me think.