2.5

2024 Hugo nominee for best short fiction, 2024 Nebula nominee for best short story. Read for free at Clarkesworld. https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kim_02_24/

I'm glad I read the original Le Guin before reading this, because I can see how it is in conversation with the Le Guin piece. It unfortunately doesn't seem to have even a fraction of the nuance Le Guin did.

This story very obviously lays out the theme, pokes at it with a stick, then turns to you and asks if you Get It. Half of me finds the obviousness of it charming, and the other half wishes I had five seconds to think about the story on my own merit and not have it shoved in my face while I read.