The Word for World is Forest

Book review for The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin. I rated it 4 stars The Word for World is Forest is rather a short read, clocking in at only 189 pages. The storyline reminds me of the James Cameron movie Avatar. And it turns out that it's quite the obvious leap to make - a quick Google shows post titles like "A Better Version of Avatar", "Like Avatar, but Not Stupid" or the most straightforward, "blatant ripoff". (This was written in 1972 so if it's not obvious, Avatar is the one doing the ripping-off). So as you might guess, the plotline is about humans colonising a planet to use it for logging, as wood has become a rare resource. The original inhabitants of the planet are a monkey-like species, the Athsheans, that the humans call "creechies". They are known for their peaceful nature - even among their own kind, there is never any killing. As they cannot speak English (duh) and cannot really communicate with the humans, they are brushed off as being a dumb, lower…