Having read up to chapter 17, I have to say...

The book got quite interesting with all the escaping action, but somewhat died down a bit in the chapters I've read more recently. I find the topography of Gethen ever more interesting. I can't believe they have volcanoes, and active ones at that, in an icy cold planet in the midst of an Ice Age. I'm also amazed at the glacier (Gobrin Ice) that sits several thousand feet (was it?) above sea level. I've always imagined glaciers to be close to the level of the land around them, but never considered an area at which the glacier seems to be a wall or mountain itself.

One of the chapters I've most recently read, chapter sixteen, was also interesting for the comparisons between Earth and Gethen, and between the people that reside within each respective planet. I liked how the chapter was written in a journal entry form. Though it seemed to give more minute details, I felt that it gave me a different perspective of the story. I felt as though I were part of the story, side by side with Genly and Estraven as they travelled. I admit reading every single detail about their trip got boring and repetitive after a while (since Estraven just kept mentioning the weather and the travel conditions), but it was a nice change in point of view from somewhat being all-seeing to getting personal. Estraven even enters kemmer in the chapter, and I was certainly glad that he wasn't all over Genly like the Gethenian in the truck on the way to the Orgota farm. Estraven seemed to have control over his kemmer, despite the fact he admits that he gains a lot of spontaneity and starts to ask weird questions.

Chapter seventeen just seemed confusing to me. I wasn't too sure what the meaning behind it was except that it was probably a myth or story of how Gethen was created. The ending of the chapter seemed very pessimistic, however, with Edondurath's kemmering saying, "In the end when were are done, the sun will devour itself and shadow will eat light, and there will be nothing left but the ice and the darkness."