I'm really enjoying The Dragon's Path so far, it's not top 5, but it's bloody good. Yeah the UF covers do have this depressing sameness to them, but in some ways it's not a lot different to a lot of the fantasy covers which feature the ubiquitous hooded man. You know I see that steampunk thing as a challenge. You should try it, it's a lot of fun.

I tell ya what. If this site ever reaches 20 members I'll try a steampunk book.

I'm feeling pretty safe .

Did the other 7 members see that? Come on, invite your friends from elsewhere (I don't have any) to join up so we can all see Chirs read a steampunk book. I will hold you to this, mate. BTW loving The Dragon's Path, it's not top 5, but it's bloody close. George Martin should be nervous because his protege Daniel Abraham is coming at him hard.

You did warn me, Chris. I was thinking about The Dragon's Path on my way home last night and it jumped into my top 5, it actually displaced Dance. Highly unlikely it will change mow, but as it stands it's Martin out, Abraham in.

Martin's out. You waited patiently all those years and he doesn't make your top five for the year? Bummer. Or maybe just a really good year for you .

He was right in there until I read The Dragon's Path, though. So no he doesn't make top 5, but he's still top 10. Overall reading wise I did have a pretty good year, most of what I read I enjoyed, but there were a few duds, for me anyway A Dance with Dragons wasn't one of them. Merry Christmas, mate. I hope Santa brings you some good books.

Happy New Year to all my imaginary online friends!

I'm going to attempt to clear some of my backlog of books this year, so first up will be Kate Elliott's
Crossroads series. Starting Spirit Gate tonight.

A Happy New Year to you, too Chris! Over the Christmas/New Year break I finished Sir Terry Pratchett's 39th Discworld book; Snuff, and while I had a fine time reading it, it just seemed a little lacking for a Discworld book, maybe my expectations were too high after the excellent I Shall Wear Midnight in 2010. I also read S.M Stirlings' Dies the Fire, the first of his Emberverse series and while he was a little too heavy on the Wiccan lifestyle thing it was still a throught provoking read, with an interesting twist on the dystopian theme, so I'll probably get the next one in the series relatively soon. I'm currently reading Ben Aaronovitch's Midnight Riot (also known as Rivers of London), and that's an absolute hoot.
I'm pretty sure I've got the first of the Kate Elliot series on the shelves, it was in the TBR pile, be interested in your thoughts to see whether it's a keeper or not. I can afford to donate it as I picked it up 2nd hand in any case.

Been thinking about giving Midnight Riot a try. Your review might give me the extra nudge I need.

About halfway through Spirit Gate, pretty slow start and a lot wordier than my recent reads. Starting to get in to it now though, so the other two books should get a read at this stage. Having to read it the old fashioned way(physical HB)is a bit of a pain(literally).

It's absolutely worth reading, Chris. Superior UF. I hope to have a proper review up on my blog tonight. I'm reading Magician now, and even right from the start I was reminded of how good Feist was years ago and how new the work was when it first came out. It's kind of refreshing to read some old school epic fantasy from a time when it wasn't looked down upon.