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_Before They are Hanged_,
_The Blade Itself_, Joe Abercormbie

The best thing about these books is the worldbuilding. The details of
the history are skillfully revealed in the context of the plot, and the
characters are generally flawed and engaging. The main problem is the
lack of, er, culmination in the two books. The first brings the
characters together, and the second sets them on their way. I just wish
that something more was accomplished. I will definitely be picking up
the third, however.

_Emissaries From the Dead: An Andrea Cort Novel_, Adam-Troy Castro

A far-future sf murder mystery set against a not entirely unfamiliar
background of various biological civilizations and a mysterious AI
civilization. Nonetheless, the direction taken is reasonably original
and interesting. The main character is not exactly a likable person, but
is believable and reasonably sympathetic. Worth picking up.

_Small Favor_, Jim Butcher

The umpteenth adventure of Harry Dresden, wizard and increasingly
powerful badass. Butcher has definitely become a much better writer
since starting out, and the book is entertaining. However, I get the
feeling that Harry may soon become just a bit too powerful and
well-connected for the good of the plot. I generally think that this is
a sign that it's time to start wrapping up the series.

_The Alchemist's Code_, Dave Duncan

In other recent works, Duncan seems to have gone rather dark in his
fantasy. This is the sequel to _The Alchemist's Apprentice_, and Duncan
thankfully sticks with his skill at light fantasy. It's far from his
best effort, and I'm not entirely sure the plot really holds his own,
but the setting of Renaissance Venice and the entertaining characters
kept me happily reading.

_Renegade's Magic_, Robin Hobb

This is the third book of the "Soldier Son Trilogy". In the previous
book, I understood the intent of Hobb in portraying the helplessness of
the protagonist, but I can't say I found it enjoyable to read about.
This book continues somewhat in the same vein, but also serves to expand
the setting, showing us more of the Speck culture. Still, the theme
remains that everyone is helpless and they should just give in to the
magic, and everything will be all right. Very odd and unsatisfying.

_Dragonhaven_, Robin McKinley

I loved, loved, loved _Sunshine_. This book is, unfortunately, no
_Sunshine_. It's marketed as a YA book, and it's told in a
not-entirely-believable first person adolescent male voice. I just never
bought into it. The characterization, especially, didn't worked for me.
A disappointment.

_The Outback Stars_, Sandra McDonald

SF from an Aussie perspective? Doesn't mean it's not generic and
unmemorable.

_Sun of Suns_, Karl Schroeder

Like most of Schroeder's works, the plot and characterization doesn't
keep up with the setting. Still, given the dearth of readable sf these
days, worth picking up in pb.

_Grimspace_, Ann Aguirre

Uninteresting and boring.

_Heart of Light_, Sarah A. Hoyt

Age of Exploration with flying carpets. I give it credit for not going
in the expected directions with some of the pairings and for
acknowledging things that are obvious to the reader, but it doesn't
overcome an unexciting plot.

_Empress_, Karen Miller

Miller again gives us a deeply unpleasant main character, but this one
is at least justified in her complete sociopathy in that she is,
apparently, really the chosen vehicle of god's will. The portrayal of a
world where this particular god certainly takes a reasonably active role
in the lives of its subjects is interesting, but also renders much of
the plot necessarily a deux ex machina. There is also a rather jarring
jump near the end where the scale expands somewhat and the characters
age significantly. This is a long book to set up up what might be an
interesting exploration of how divinity might interact with a society,
but it did pique my interest to see where Miller goes with it.

_Thunderer_, Felix Gilman

Was it the "New Weird" that started this trend of setting-based fantasy
(eg, _Mainspring_, _Scar Night_)? Thankfully, the gratuitous gross-out
and general bizareness seems that have been dropped. In this
installment, the setting is a big-ass city which is continually
rearranged and influenced by non-anthropomorphic deities. As is usually
the case with these things, the plot doesn't quite live up to the
setting. I can't say I remember a tremendous amount about the said plot,
really, except that I think I found the ending dissatisfying. I guess
that's not an endorsement.

_A Dark Sacrifice_, Madeline Howard

I really liked Madeline Howard back when she was named Teresa Edgerton.
These books (this is the sequel to _The Hidden Stars_) don't have the
same magical sense as those earlier novels (perhaps because I'm older
when reading them), but I still like 'em.

_Magic Burns_, Ilona Andrews

For some reason, this sequel to _Magic Bites_ may put this series after
Patricia Briggs's stuff in my ranking of recent urban fantasy. Perhaps
I'm just a sucker for a protagonist with a mysterious past, but I like
the setting, and the dribbles of that mysterious past seem like they
will lead somewhere interesting (hopefully somewhat sooner than in the
Harry Dresden series). In the meantime, the mysteries of the books make
pleasant light reading which is the best one can hope for out of this
genre, I think.

_Fire Study_, Maria V. Snyder

This series, starting with the amicable _Poison Study_ and forgettable
_Magic Study_ seems to have moved to large trim paperback in the romance
section of the bookstore. This book was an improvement on _Magic Study_,
but there's just not much here -- the bad people are bad, the good
people are good, and there's not much else going on. Whatever attracted
me to _Poison Study_ has not stayed with this series.

_The Misenchanted Sword_, Lawrence Watt-Evans

The old Ethshar books are getting reissued in paperback with reasonably
attractive covers. I like a lot of Watt-Evans's recent stuff, but this
novel never really came together for me. Watt-Evans has a tendency to
write books wherein the protagonist is presented with an intellectual
puzzle that must be solved. In the better books like _Dragon Venom_ and
sequels, this is surrounded with an interesting setting and some sort of
emotional investment. In his poorer books like _The Spriggan Mirror_,
there is little more than the intellectual exercise. This book has an
interesting setting, but it felt a bit like a fix-up of short stories
exploring the consequences of the "misenchantment". What it lacked was
emotion, in particular towards the end of the book. Still, Watt-Evans is
a decent craftsman in writing, and I'll stick with the reissues in
paperback to see how things go.

_Poison Sleep_, T. A. Pratt

Apparently the wizards in Felport are orders of magnitude less prickish
than those in San Francisco. I resent that. Even with the unpleasantness
of everyone involved toned down significantly, I can't say I found much
to enjoy in this sequel to _Blood Engines_. I probably won't be picking
up the next one if there is one.

_Across the Face of the World_,
_In the Earth Abides the Flame_,
_The Right Hand of God_, Russell Kirkpatrick

The author to this series has a degree in geography which one can see by
the degree of care that went into the maps of the world (more are
available on his website). Unfortunately, the novel manages to convey
almost no sense of distance and little sense of the world. There is
almost nothing in these novels that hasn't been already been done and
done better. They served their purpose on a long trip, but I can't say
I'd recommend them.

_The Dragons of Babel_, Michael Swanwick

I don't know what to say about this one. I think I should have liked it.
It might be that I just read it too quickly. I do think I'd like it if I
gave it another read. But I just didn't quite get it. The first time you
read something like

Puck's body, when they dug it up, looked like nothing so much as
an enormous black root, twisted and formless. Chanting all the while,
the women unwrapped the linen swaddling and washed him down with
cow's urine. They dug out the life-clay that clogged his openings.
They placed the finger-bone of a bat beneath his tongue. An egg was
broken by his nose and the white slurped down by one medicine woman
and the yellow by another.
Finally, they injected him with five cc. of dextroamphetamine
sulfate.

it's pretty awesome. After a while, though, it starts to feel a bit
gimmicky. Still, this is no _Jack Faust_ (an awful book). Out of respect
for Swanwick, I'll give it an incomplete. For me. When I have more time
and brainpower to invest, I'll give it the reading it I hope it deserves.
.

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