Booklog catchup

There's no way I can review all the books I've read since last May. So, I'm just going to list the books I remember, with my thoughts, in no particular order. OK, here goes:

• The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
• Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
Great fantasy by Bujold. Solid worldbuilding, good characters and a neat plot. What more can one ask for?

---

• The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
• The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
• Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
Pratchett continues to expand the Discworld. Some themes are beginning to repeat lately, but its still loads better than most fantasy out there.

---

• Bad News by Donald Westlake
First Dortmunder book I read. Nice caper story, and laugh-out-loud funny at times.

---

• The Sacred Art of Stealing by Christopher Brookmyre
• Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre
• Country of the Blind by Christopher Brookmyre
• Boiling a Frog by Christopher Brookmyre
• Not the End of the World by Christopher Brookmyre
One more book whose title I can't remember, also by Christopher Brookmyre. Yes, I recently discovered Brookmyre, and I'm already a fan.

---

• Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
• Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson
• Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
• House of Chains by Steven Erikson
There's a long story about how I finally got hold of these, but that's for later. At the moment, suffice to say that I like the series so far, and I'm desperately looking for book 5 (Midnight Tides)

---

• The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose
This one is still in progress. Good stuff, but a little heavy if you are not already familiar with the math.

---

• The Wine-dark Sea by Patrick O'Brian
• Blue at the Mizzen by Patrick O'Brian
The only two Aubrey-Maturin books I had not read. Not the best in the series, but still way better than most other books, in any genre.

---

• Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds
Wretched end to a series that started out fine. Really, really disappointed.

---

• Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede
• Magician's Ward by Patricia C. Wrede
Eh. I had read positive reviews of this series, so I had high expectations. Was a bit disappointed. The characters and plot, as well as the worldbuilding, are solid enough, but nothing really grabbed me. I'll see if they improve on re-reading, sometime.

---

• Banner of Souls by Liz Williams
Very good. I liked her Empire of Bones too. I'll be watching for more books by her.

---

Plus several other books whose author info I don't recall right now. I'll log them in a further post.

Reading now : Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle Top of the to-read pile: Ilium by Dan Simmons