Well, as nominator for this book I can't really claim to have voted for it to spite Jon. I've come to accept that his opinion and mine rarely meet and I did know in advance that he wouldn't approve of the choice, but this did not motivate me to nominate. The blame lies with my TBR pile for this year.
I'm quite a fan of Le Guin and her Hainish Cycle has been my biggest personal inspiration for writing (ie. the only idea I've had that I thought I might one day realise in prose was inspired by this "series" of books). I will agree with the criticism that it's not really science fiction. In fact, I find that she only uses science fiction as a setting more than anything else.
I really enjoyed this book. I knew nothing about it being an answer book and I've never read
Atlas Shrugged. I've never studied Anarcho-Syndicalism either, so I have insufficient background there to provide in-depth critiques on that basis. However, I enjoyed looking at the struggles of the main character: denying, suspecting, rebelling against and then coming to accept the limitations of the political structure in which he exists. I liked the gallant attempt to go out and share his ideas with the universe and the pitfalls he faces in doing so on Urras.
I don't mind shameless pot shots at Capitalism because I don't particularly like it, but I prefer it to be a tempered view that shows the weakness of alternatives. As Ralph Sir Edward states: "...humans are a sorry species, and always will be."
I like that a utopian novel attempts to be ambiguous and I think this was - enough so for me. I prefer ambiguity in things like this as I don't really think anything is "the" answer to anything else. It's all about trying to realise ideals as best as you can and accepting that there are going to be contradictions and challenges. I particularly liked the personal aspect - the kinds of sacrifices you need to make personally when your society is your highest duty. This isn't unique to the utopia presented on Anarres; even Urras would have its fair share of this, but I like seeing the conflict between personal and public duty.
If I was going to criticise the book and Le Guin in general, I would say that I never find her particularly subtle. It's not necessarily a serious fault; all stories don't have to be enigmas. On the other hand, I do like to give points for clever writing, and I found this plot and its subtext to be quite straightforward.
One of the other things I'd mention is that Anarres reminded me quite a bit of the cloistered communities created by Stephenson in
Anathem. I don't necessarily mean that both were exploring the same political themes, but that the society they created felt similar to me.