…the man… was trapped in his own cruelty: the jailer is the prisoner’s prisoner.
I’ve read two of the later Hainish Cycle novels—The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed—and I don’t think this one measures up. Partly that’s because I personally prefer sci-fi over fantasy, and stylistically this is very much a fantasy novel, even if it involves spaceships. But it also lacks any particularly thought-provoking elements. Perhaps the most unique idea in it (which only plays a very minor role) is the culture which has telepathic, communal memory but only remembers happy things.
Enjoyable, not memorable.