Things I should have posted a while ago

My infernal machine is dead at the moment, and will be until the charger makes its way back to me. If you tried to call me in the last few days, my apologies. E-mail is the way to go anyhow. :)

Book recommendations

This post is for people who like fantasy, and whose taste in books is at least reasonably close to mine (ie: cmouse, there's nothing for you here. :) ).

I found myself recommending a few books lately, so will try to dump links here, along with reviews if I can find them easily. (My written recommendations tend to boil down to "It's shiny...and stuff!") [Note: on finishing, I found only a few reviews. You'll have to take my word for it...]

In approximate order from the most recent:

The name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss - see review by Scalzi, plus semi-random mini essay by Rothfuss. Frame story not as compelling, but actual content not only fantastic, but has at least 2 1/2 books worth of story in it. Very well written fairly classic fantasy. My only caveat is that this is the first book in a trilogy and the others aren't out yet.

Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear. Dark, rich, somewhat bitter urban fantasy. The somewhat harsh description would be "grown up Mercedes Lackey". Maybe a more accurate one would be that if ever a book were an alcoholic beverage, this one would definitely be a red wine. Don't be put off by my attempt at a description - the book is *very* good. The sequel (Whiskey and Water) is also excellent. I also like the later one in the series (Ink and Steel), though not as much. Elizabeth Bear also writes a lot of science fiction I've never been able to get into.

Likes of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. A heist movie set in a fantasy Venice. Reminds me of lots of things, but not in an explainable way. Very fun.

Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner - there are reviews in the comments at this Scalzi post. Not sure what to say - really not the classic "upper class girl learns to fight with a sword", even though it is, in a way. A bit dark, for lack of a better word. Serious, maybe? Dramatic, in a good way? Something like that. Swordspoint is also good, but I didn't like The Fall of Kings nearly as much.