Ann Leckie continues to be the embodiment of all the good things about CJ Cherryh and Lois McMaster Bujold that we didn't know we needed but would have if we'd thought about it for a second. Her crisp prose style and complicated universe and elegant plots and loveable protagonists are entirely her own, however. With much of the focus on the terrifying and enigmatic alien Presgrs and the treaty which keeps them from casually dismantling ships, stations and people, this one is especially intriguing, and if the Presgr remain as inscrutable as ever, we have a better understanding of what we don't understad by the end, and that's good sci fi.

One of my favourite thriller writers, Ross Thomas delivers a sly, slick, satirical tale around an old union president facing an election against a young challenger and the corruption, machinations, power plays and dirty tricks that unfold, all the while an assassin moves in for the kill. An absolute classic.

Tim Powers, as John Clute memorably puts it, has a knack for expertly punishing his protagonists, and though he has mellowed in recent books, this is peak punishment, a veritable holocaust visited upon the couple caught up in the plague of vampirish lamias latching on to men and women, especially the romantic poets of the era, and giving them unnatural long life while jealously destroying everyone they love. The reader is made to feel every hurt and humilation, but also their strength of character as they struggle against formidable odds to remain themselves. A riveting suprnatural epic.

Not my favourite Laundry-related book. A trip down the ghost roads to a version of the Village from The Prisoner that shouldn't exist, and there follows a magical/historical romp as told by a super-nerd with all the affected emphasis of a super-nerd narrated by someone doing a note-perfect super-nerd imitation and honestly it bashes all the irony that makes reading the Laundry books such fun out of the text when there's so much heavy emphasis and tonal hand-waving going on. There's some mighty clever stuff going on here, to be sure, but sometimes just sit back and let the reader apreciate the cleverness, don't go out of your way to actualise it as a reference/punchline. Still, solidly fun Stross.

Hard to believe this is my first Discworld audio book, I think it's one of those pleasures postponed and holy crap the narrator is Rivers Of London level good, easily. Manages to absolutely embody the characters, the place, the prose, the dialogue and every joke comes through, every wonderful warm emotional beat that only Pratchett could deliver. 

Gurgeh goes to play a game but all is not as it seems. I am tired and everyone has covid again. Blah. Not the book. Book is not blah.

With shades of the George RR Martin book that flopped and whose name escapes me now, except that the band were called The Nazgul, this sharp little foray into small down prog-rock metal dreamers on the road to stardom running into the ancient mythology of The King In Yellow as they and their music are hijacked by a mysterious woman with nasty things in mind. Lots of fun, mixing grungy record-making and creepy horror.

Armageddon Rag!

By no means the first truly great Discworld novel, but by gum the series hit its stride with this one with the immortal creation of Sam Vimes and his City Watch.

This is a very special book for me because my brother got me the hardback for Christmas when I was in college and it was one of the best presents I ever got. Also, it's a great book, solidifying the Watch as a comic masterpiece. 

Terrific, cool, original fantasy A young boy honed to be avengeful assassin grows up and ends up in group therapy with other people who were chosen or special but then abandomed or sidelined or supplanted and became unchosen. There's strange bright doors all over the city, phone calls from his dying mother, a planned visit by his all-powerful father, the recruitment of a revolutionary cadre, a missing shadow and huge and sinister quarantine camps. It's a terrific, extremely well-written novel with fantastic world-building.

Okay, when writing the above review I was dopey as hell, since I'd woken at about five, stuck an earphone in my ear and listened to the last few hours of the book. But actually I kept dozing off while listening, so therefore only actually had a series of auditory impressions picked up as I emerged from and sank back into the dozes. So I hadn't actually finished the book properly at all. I have now done so, and it is one of the best new things I've read in a while, and had me mulling over the difference between what they used to call 'urban fantasy' and what might be termed as a more literary 'social fiction fantasy.' The former, in my own personal and no doubt idiosyncratic definition, consists of psychic detectives and vampire hunters and secret paranormal spy agencies - all good fun - and the latter is about, well, more social stuff, about society, and people and history and class and how they all intermesh, and stuff. You can see I have thought long and deep about this, can't you? Oh well, that's what I was thinking listening to the smooth prose and intelligent exploration of interesting themes with fascinating characters and riveting plot. Superb narrator, too