I'm reading Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. Currently reading the 3rd book out of four. Finished Nail Gaiman's Graveyard Book a couple of weeks ago, that was pretty good.

As expected, I found another chic-lit in my book shelf - Kinsella's Do You Remember Me? It has the usual pretty but awkward protagonist, the hot stud of a boyfriend, the dream clothing and accessories etc.

Pretty good read so far. Kinsella doesn't really ever stray from her formula's but this book may see our heroine actually ditching the 'hot guy' for the 'dark mystery man', which in Kinsellaverse is definitely going to be a first.

I'm now reading Deadhouse Gates. Thanks for recommending the series Snowcrash, I'm enjoying it.

It's... I won't say it's worth it. The middle books got very draggy, but the beginning of the series, and especially the end (the 3 books that Sanderson wrote) are masterpieces.

I just finished Sanderson's Steelheart over the past two days. It's considered a young adults book, but it's very well written. I enjoy most of Sanderson's books, and his planned epic, the Stormlight Archives, looks to be amazing, but it is his shorter reads that really come through as 'unputdownable' to me. Alloy of Law I read in 2 days as well.

Now about a quarter through Republic of Thieves. Scott Lynch is right up there with Rothfuss and Sanderson as the torchbearer of modern fantasy. Too bad everyone is stuck on Game of Thrones. No disrespect for Mr. Martin, and I personally love the series, but it's been hyped to kingdom come and then some. Thanks, HBO!

Don't get me wrong. George Martin has done a great deal to bring fantasy back to the forefront of fiction. He is a capable writer, and his ability to tell a good story is top notch. I enjoyed the first three books of aSoIaF greatly, and reread them multiple times while waiting for the forth book. His old short stories were amazing, as were books like Fevre Dream and Dying of the Light.

A Feast for Crows, however, was frankly, disappointing. Martin seems to have lost his sense of pacing. Instead of keeping everything tight and moving the story forward, he meanders with subplots, minor characters, and doesn't seem to know how to advance his story to the next point. He is an 'exploratory' sort of writer; he probably has a few milestones he aims to hit, but otherwise he has no concrete idea on how to get there. The fact that he took so long to write book four and five is an indication of this; more than once, he has admitted to throwing out huge chunks of work because it simply went nowhere.

My worry is that the aSoIaF series will become yet another WoT. No one, not even the biggest fans, will call the middle part of WoT good books. They were boring as hell and felt pointless. I'm hoping for something more like the Malazan books, with tightly paced plotlines, events galore, and enough 'what the hell just happened?' moments to keep me turning the pages.