"Rocannon's World" by Ursula Le Guin

This is the second book in the 'Hainish Cycle' (or the first, as some people consider the 'Planet of Exile' the second one), and follows the later life (and eventual death) of Rocannon, an ethnologist for the League of All Worlds, originally from the planet Hain, of Hainish mother and Terran step-father, but stationed on the planet of New South Georgia before his departure for Fomehault 2, the unnamed planet that will eventually bear his name.

The story begins with a prologue "The Necklace" which is a short story previously published in 'Astounding Stories' and on top of which the entire novel is developed. The prologue tells us about the trip of Semley, a noble woman of the Angyar race from Fomehault 2, to recover a necklace that is kept at the ethnological museum on New South Georgia, where Rocannon works. She gets the necklace, but incurs 'time debt' on her way back (on a starship lent to the Gdemiyar, a race of underground, gnome-like beings with advanced technology, by the League) and her husband is dead and her daughter grown up, which drives her to madness.

Rocannon arrives at Fomehault 2 many years later, Semley's daughter is an old woman now, and ethnological expedition comes with him to explore the varied races of the planet, which was placed in 'exploration embargo' until then by Rocannon himself. However another race from the planet Farradey, who got technology from teh League to help in the fight of an extra-galactic enemy, but instead chose to use the weapons to conquer and subdue League worlds, are using Fomehault 2 for their secret launch base on other worlds, and kill many locals to keep them in fear, also including destroying Rocannon's ship and all his colleagues.

Rocannon is angry and makes it his sole purpose to find the Faradeyan base and send message to the league by 'ansible' and instant-communication device, despite of distance, so that the Faradeyans can be destroyed. On the way he is joined by an Angyar, grandson of Semley, a feya Kia, feya being little, happy fairy-like creatures, and several 'midmen' looking mostly like Terrans (the Angyar being 8 feet tall), riding on 'windsteeds' a kind of flying, carnivorous lions or griffins.

They meet many obstacles on the way, and the novel goes mostly in heroic, a la 'Lord Of the Rings', fashion for most of its length, and many of the members of the 'fellowship' die in the process. Finally Rocannon alone, after getting the gift of 'mindspeaking and mindlistening' gets to the Faradeyan base and sends the message. The base is evaporated few hours later, and Rocannon goes back to the Angyar settlement on the south continent where he dies in 8 years, just short of the 9 years needed for the League ship to arrive from the nearest League world. They call the planet Rocannon's world, or Rokanan, in his honor.

It is a beautifully written book, more in the Tolkien fashion, with heroes, and swords, and beasts, and many races, gnomes, fairies, 'tall' humans and ordinary humans and appeals to the same emotions as Tolkien's books, except for the first and last 10 pages, which is more science-fiction like. One very important thing to note is that Le Guin is much more interested in the sociological and anthropological aspects of the 'aliens' on the planet, than in their technology or science, which puts most of Le Guin's books in the genre of 'soft' science fiction. Another very important theme, both in this book and in 'Planet of Exile' is Le Guin's presentation and emphasis that advanced technology and science is futile when the people are disconnected from the advanced society, and left to themselves they quickly digress into a lower society. An example of this are the Farborn in 'Planet of Exile' who, although from a society that developed inter-stellar travel technology level, are brought down to pre-historic civilization level because they don't have the means to maintain their technology, they forgot their uses, and because of the 'cargo laws' which restricted the use of many technologies.

In Rocannon's world, after his ship is destroyed, and especially after the almost-drowning in the great channel, Rocannon is left only with his impervasuit, and for the rest he's pretty much lowered to a level of a bronze-age hero, with the means only available from the bronze-age period, until almost the very end of the book. Thus, Le Guin, insists and constantly emphasizes, that there is no permanent safety in high technology, and no reason to feel secure, important or even 'above' races with lower technology, as the technological advantage can be lost very quickly and permanently, and then a being is left only to its initial devices and whatever strengths of body and mind alone it possesses. This is very well depicted in the helpless rage of the Farborn in 'Planet of Exile' against the 'primitive' HILFs, a rage that is futile, as the Farborn are already degenerating into the same civilization level and find themselves much less adapted physically and mentally to such life, thus becoming and considered inferior and 'weaklings' by the HILFs who are still at hunter-gatherer level of civilization.