I enjoyed this foray into the future, though perhaps not as much as Glasshouse, which I loved. Still, this was a very fun story and the conceit of telling it in the second person worked infinitely better than i thought it could. My hat is off to Stross for telling such an entertaining story and I look forward to reading the sequel.

As always, the best part of reading McKillip Is her use of language - sparse, economic and beautiful. The story was intriguing, especially in its ambiguity, and her ability to evoke strange, almost fantastical, worlds speaks to her roots in fantasy.
Then again, I love everything this woman does.

Guy Gavriel Kay is one of those authors whose works are always absolutely brilliant. His research is impeccable, his worlds are painstakingly built up and feel real in a way that few authors can manage.
This is, of course, due to Kay's approach towards fantasy, which involves taking a historical period and turning it into a fantasy world that reflects and refracts history.
The other thing I love about Kay is that, while the setting and story is king in his story, his characters are still compelling and work as the hook on which the story can hang.
Though this was not an easy read, it was a well paced, brilliantly executed one. There aren't many writers whose works hold on to me, long after I finish them, the way that Kay's do.

As is usual for anything by Kay, an extraordinary amount of research has gone into this book and it pays off in the richness of story and detail on every page. Unusually for him, it is not a historical fantasy, set in a land that bears striking resemblance to, without being, a medieval country in our own world.
But as a completely different story, this one works quite well and, though it lacks the breadth of his other masterpieces, makes up for it in it's tight focus on character. A very good read.

First of all, it is worth noting that I will read anything Anne Bishop writes, despite the fact that nothing has achieved the awesomeness that was the original trilogy.
And I read her books for three reasons. 1) Daemon Sadi 2) Lucivar Yaslana 3) Saeten SaDiablio.
Right, now that that's out of the way, you can understand my rating. I enjoyed the mere fact that this another opportunity to read about characters I like. No, not much new has happened in terms of character development (with the exception of Surreal - boy, did she develop, though I'm not sure whether it's in a good way or bad), but the stories were good, especially the middle two.
I'll refrain from talking about the fourth story because it's just one long spoiler alert. Suffice to say that I liked reading it, even if I did suspect there was some character derailment going on and I thought that, had Bishop wanted to, this could easily have had a villain in it and become a longer book.
So, yes, "Shades of Honor" was the best of the four stories, but they're all fine and as far as I can tell, the importance for me was "Yay, more pretty dark-jeweled warlord princes" rather than, you know, meaty content.

I really enjoyed this book and I usually shy away from non-fiction as there's just so much fiction to read. But Sample does a really good job of turning the history and physics of the Higgs Boson into a story, even if it does feel a bit disjointed at times. All the same, fascinating, well written book and a pretty easy read.

A short, lovely, utterly heartrending story that looks at tragedy, loss and the ability to go on through slightly different eyes.
Forman handles a sensitive subject very ably and her ability to create a connection between all her characters and her reader shines through.
Another great recommendation from Robin McKinley's blog.