The Word for World Is Forest
{4.5/5} “Do men kill men, except in madness? Does any beast kill its own kind? Only the insects. These yumens kill us as lightly as we kill snakes. The one who taught me said they kill one another, in quarrels, and also in groups, like ants fighting.”
The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin, published in 1972
People from Earth called it New Tahiti. A Place where they were logging all the trees an preparing the way for farmers. The creatures they called creechies helped them, doing manual labour. Until one day when many creechies came out of the forest and destroyed a whole camp, killing all the humans in it.
It’s about what happens when you don’t consider other beings sapient.
The story takes place right when the ansible is developed — so humans get orders from Earth immediately instead of 54 years later.
It’s a novella that was 1st published in Again, Dangerous Visions but it’s also available as a standalone book.
It might not feel quite as new as it would have in the 1970s, but it’s still got Le Guin’s brilliant prose and insights.
I’ve read 19 of Le Guin’s books. I previously reviewed her collection Four Ways to Forgiveness.