L
L’AMOUR, Louis
B- Sitka 1957 Action
Slightly variant heroic Alaskan western
LARSSON, Steig
A The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium Trilogy 1) 2006 Crime
Satisfying, cold, intellectual, brutal, spare, engaging, original
B+ The Girl Who Played With Fire (Millennium Triology 2) 2006 Action
Capable thriller, at heart deeply conventional, but originally wrapped heroine
A little repetitive, but
impressively weaves a final story into the overstory
LAWHEAD, Stephen
Heavily influenced by Lewis’ Christian fiction and Asimov’s settings and cardboard characters
B- Taliesin (Book 1 of the Pendragon Cycle) 1987 Fantasy
Another version of the Arthur myth incorporating Atlantis and Christianity
LAXNESS, Halldór
C Independent People 1935, 36 Novel
Highly praised. Highly tedious.
B A Murder of Quality (George Smiley investigates) 1962 Crime
Competent enough episode
B+ The Spy who came in from the Cold 1963 Action
Dark, trendsetting, anti-heroic cold war machinations
LE GUIN, Ursula K.
B April in Paris (in ‘The Wind’s Twelve Quarters’) 1962 Short Story/SF
Competent early Le Guin magazine time travel ‘what if’; understandably (and unusually) twee
Dumb, preachy demonising
Wonderful evocation of a fantasy legend somehow effectively incorporating SF elements
Clever realisation of an evocative idea
Great key elements already in place in early Earthsea musings
A A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea, Book 1) 1968 Fantasy
Real sense of magic, depth, legend
A- The Left Hand of Darkness 1969 SF
Manages a rare gravity and dignity
B+ Tales from Earthsea 2001 Fantasy/Short Stories
Five tales, one great, three good, and one disappointing
B The Other Wind (Earthsea, Book 5) 2001 Fantasy
Evocative skills, but this story hinged on some weak plot devices and characters
A- To Kill a Mockingbird 1960 Novel
Effectively following Twain’s tradition of dry narration from a child’s perspective to comment on America, community, morality and race
LEE, Tanith
B Delusion’s Master 1981 Fantasy
Grand scope, discomforting, Clive Barker-ish
B The Silver Metal Lover 1982 SF
Teen romance in a Blade Runner-ish setting
LEHANE, Dennis
Thoroughly enjoyable
B- Darkness Take My Hand (Kenzie/Gennaro 2) 1996 Crime
Disappointing: Lehane uses the same dodgy tropes he ridicules
B+ Sacred (Kenzie/Gennaro 3) 1997 Crime
Some nice pacing, humour and dialogue. Still problems of scale
B+ Gone, Baby, Gone (Kenzie/Gennaro 4) 1998 Crime
Flawed, but not the scale problem of previous novels in the series. Killer moral dilemma climax.
Mostly a great ride, just skirts around another dealbreaking scale flaw, vigilantism oversimplified
LEIBER, Fritz
B Swords Against Wizardry (Book 4 in the Swords series) 1968 Fantasy
Classic sword and sorcery heroes (plus wisecracks and wenches)
B The Swords of Lankhmar (Book 5 in the Swords series) 1968 Fantasy
Classic sword and sorcery heroes (plus wisecracks and wenches)
C The Knight and Knave of Swords (Book 7 in the ‘Swords’ series) 1990 Fantasy
Original ideas, good mood and lead characters undermined by frequent voyeurism
LEON, Donna
B Doctored Evidence 2004 Crime
Capable, avoids cliché, original dealing with bureaucratic context … but never soars
B Bandits 1987 Crime
Leonard knows what he’s doing
B Rum Punch 1992 Crime
OK
LEVI, Primo
A If This Is A Man 1947 Autobiography
Potent witness testimony of eleven months in Auschwitz
B+ The Wrench 1978 Novel/Short Stories
Gracefully narrated stories of a tradesman’s jobs and values
B+ A Tranquil Star 2005 (1946-86) Short Stories
Understated yet engaging style. Mainly SF type ‘what if’s’
LEWIS, C.S.
B+ Out of the Silent Planet 1938 SF
Characters personify philosophical viewpoints in a classically Wellsian setting
A The Screwtape Letters 1942 SF
Honesty, insight, wit
A Voyage to Venus (or Perelandra) 1943 SF
Christian insights in imagined dialogue with contemporary unfallen Eve
B+ That Hideous Strength 1945 SF
Lewis incorporates his love of Christianity, renaissance angelic conceits and Merlin in SF conspiracy novel
A+ The Great Divorce 1946 Fantasy
Brief, potent, inspiring theological speculative allegory
A The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe (Book 2 of the Narnia series) 1950 Fantasy/Juvenile
Fabulous Christian allegory
A- Prince Caspian (Book 4 of the Narnia series) 1951 Fantasy/Juvenile
‘The Return to Narnia’
A- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Book 5 of the Narnia series) 1952 Fantasy/Juvenile
Narnia’s Odyssey
A- The Silver Chair (Book 6 of the Narnia series) 1953 Fantasy/Juvenile
Slightly darker tale of rescue
A- The Silver Chair (Book 6 of the Narnia series) 1953 Fantasy/Juvenile
Slightly darker tale of rescue
A- The Horse and His Boy (Book 3 of the Narnia series) 1954 Fantasy/Juvenile
Cracking adventure in Narnia spin-off
A- The Last Battle (Book 7 of the Narnia series) 1956 Fantasy/Juvenile
Antichrist, eschatology
and Armageddon for kids! Courageous undertaking
LIVELY, Penelope
B The Voyage of QV66 1978 Juvenile
Odd post-apocalyptic setting for talking animals’ adventures
B+ Judgement Day 1980 Novel
Clinical, able, honest,
searching, manipulative
A Moon Tiger 1987 Novel
Great mood, characters, and potent historical settings
A- Passing On 1989 Novel
Some good characters, patient story with a kick, a bit preachy
B+ Heat Wave 1996 Novel
Potent, capable, slow-moving, tragic, venomous
B Making It Up 2005 Short Stories
Typically professional
alternative biographical musing
B+ Ginger, You’re Barmy 1962 Novel
Honest picture of the inanities of national service
B The British Museum is Falling Down 1965 Novel/Novelette/Humour
More broad comedy and less perception than usual, literary in-jokes, and bemoaning Catholic birth control
B+ Out of the Shelter 1970 Novel
Semi-autobiographical coming of
age story of English youth in post-war Germany
B+ Changing Places 1975 Novel/Humour
A middle-aged daydream
A- How Far Can You Go? 1980 Novel
Perceptive case studies of how Vatican II, the pill,
and changing social values affected adherents
B+ Small World 1984 Novel/Humour
Second of the clever and funny Rummidge Uni series
B+ Nice Work 1988 Novel
Industry meets academia:
inevitable Lodge humour, lecture and adultery
B+ Paradise News 1991 Novel
Funny, touching, insightful,
morally & thematically flawed
B+ Therapy 1995 Novel
Standard Lodge: insight, humour, alternative forms, incorporated lecture (Kierkegaard), adulterous resolution
A- Home Truths 1999 Novella
Assured, fluid, clever, insightful, entertaining – Lodge enjoying his strengths
B+ Thinks 2001 Novel
Standard Lodge, but less substance and more cheap stylistic and prurient tricks
B+ Deaf Sentence 2008 Novel
Honest, articulate, fluid, and (refreshingly) not that seedy
B+ The Call of the Wild (and other stories) 1903 Action
Robust, Conan-style, over the top mythical dog stories
B For the Patriarch 1981 Short Stories
Greek Australian perspective
B+ The Lurker at the Threshold 1968 Short Stories/Horror/SF
Original. Not ‘boo!’ horror, but creeping suspicion that there’s something much bigger than humanity out there
B The Bourne Identity 1980 Action
Classic thriller. Amnesiac gradually realises he’s a super-spy
C Second Skin 1995 Action
OK standard action novel with absurd philosophical pretensions