Malice vs The Left Hand of Darkness: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Fiction
Malice
"The Banished Lands has a violent past where armies of men and giants clashed in battle, but now giants are seen, the stones weep blood and giant wyrms are stirring. Those who can still read the signs see a threat far…
vs
The Left Hand of Darkness
[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…
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 11 for Malice.
- Malice has the widest readership — 617 ratings behind its score.
- The Left Hand of Darkness runs the darker storyline; Malice stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Want a one-evening read?
The Left Hand of Darkness
≈ 6h vs 11h for Malice
New to the genre?
Malice
Moderate vs Challenging for The Left Hand of Darkness
In the mood for something dark?
The Left Hand of Darkness
a darker storyline than Malice
Want something lighter?
Malice
an easier tone than The Left Hand of Darkness
Scores by source
| Malice | The Left Hand of Darkness | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 4.3 (262) |
| Hardcover | 4.2 (2) | 3.0 (2) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (617) | 4.5 (576) |
Reception
| Malice | The Left Hand of Darkness | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 617 | 576 |
| Editions | 5 | 91 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 502 |
| Reading it now | — | 15 |
| Written reviews | — | 27 |
| Wikipedia attention | 820 | 34258 |
| Pages | 634 | 329 |