"The March North" - Graydon Saunders
This was an truly excellent book, very different from the normal run of stuff. The setting is sort of post apocalyptic but magic based rather than nuclear or the like - basically it's not all that hard for powerful sorcerers to make themselves immortal, and the book is set after tens of thousands of years of them fighting each other - the world is kind of a shithole filled with leftover deadly bioweapons. It's about a regional militia that goes on a routine scouting mission and encounter... complications. The first sign that something might be going on is when of two of the most ancient and terrifyingly powerful sorcerers in the world show up with orders to join the militia as low ranked non-coms.
It doesn't really read like much else out there - most similar to the black company I guess. It's not an easy read - it doesn't spend much time explaining things, and people talk like actual people instead of dialogue, which makes conversations difficult to follow.
"The Shepherd's Crown" - Terry Pratchett
Tiffany Aching steps up a leadership role. This was only 'ok', which was a bit sad.
"Zero Sum Game" - S L Huang
This was another great read, kind of a weird premise, the main character is a combat mathematician ;p It's pretty much full on action, and a decent plot. Early on the main character's actions and thoughts felt kind of off, like an implausible inability to realize she is doing something unusual, but as you go through the book that turns out to be intentional.
"The Aeronaut's Windlass" - Jim Butcher
Start of a new series for Butcher. This started kind of slow, but picked up a lot of momentum for a great finish. Really liked this one. It's sort of steam punk'ish in feel, although the source of most weaponry, transportation, etc is electricity. Political intrigue, swashbuckling and engineering make an interesting combo.
"Jumper" - Steven Gould
This was a hell of a lot better than the movie that was made of it. Kind of glad I hadn't read it before I saw it, it would have annoyed me.
"Demon Road" - Derek Landy
Start of a new series now that Skulduggery Pleasant is finished. Not set in the same world, not real connection. It was good, but not up to the Skulduggery Pleasant standard. My attempt at amateur psychoanalysis is that Landy's ongoing 'fuck you' reaction to having his books get kicked out of school libraries is going a bit too far ;p
