Fool's Assassin vs The Left Hand of Darkness: Which Should You Read?

Both live on shelves: Fantasy

Fool's Assassin Robin Hobb ★★★★☆ 4.4 705 pages · ≈ 13 h 03 m · Moderate

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERNearly twenty years ago, Robin Hobb burst upon the fantasy scene with the first of her acclaimed Farseer novels, Assassin’s Apprentice, which introduced the characters of FitzChivalry Farseer…

Find on Amazon More like this →

The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin · 1969 ★★★★☆ 4.4 329 pages · ≈ 6 h 06 m · Challenging

[Comment by Kim Stanley Robinson, on The Guardian's website][1]: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin (1969) One of my favorite novels is The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K Le Guin. For more than 40 years…

Gender Ice Age LGBTQ gender identity Space Travel

Find on Amazon More like this →

Side by side

The verdict

Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
The Left Hand of Darkness is the quickest read — about 6 hours vs 13 for Fool's Assassin.
Fool's Assassin has the widest readership — 69685 ratings behind its score.

Fool's Assassin: Check price →The Left Hand of Darkness: Check price →

Affiliate links: we may earn a commission on purchases.

How to choose

Want a one-evening read? The Left Hand of Darkness ≈ 6h vs 13h for Fool's Assassin New to the genre? Fool's Assassin Moderate vs Challenging for The Left Hand of Darkness

Scores by source

	Fool's Assassin	The Left Hand of Darkness
Goodreads	4.4 (69685)	4.3 (262)
Hardcover	4.4 (359)	3.0 (2)
Apple Books	4.5 (639)	4.5 (576)
	Check price →	Check price →

Reception

	Fool's Assassin	The Left Hand of Darkness
Ratings	69685	576
Editions	—	91
Film adaptations	1	1
Want to read	65513	502
Reading it now	3590	15
Written reviews	4903	27
Wikipedia attention	1439	34258
Pages	705	329
	Check price →	Check price →

Questions readers ask

Which is rated higher: Fool's Assassin or The Left Hand of Darkness?

Fool's Assassin has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Fool's Assassin 4.4/5, The Left Hand of Darkness 4.4/5).

Which is shorter to read: Fool's Assassin or The Left Hand of Darkness?

The Left Hand of Darkness is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: The Left Hand of Darkness (329 pages, ≈ 6 h 06 m); Fool's Assassin (705 pages, ≈ 13 h 03 m).

Which is harder to read: Fool's Assassin or The Left Hand of Darkness?

Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Fool's Assassin: Moderate; The Left Hand of Darkness: Challenging.