Nemesis Games
As with the previous books in the Expanse series, a really fun space opera page turner.
The Book of Other People
Not a bad set of stories. I can't say any one really jumped out at me, but would still call this a good commuter book; lots of them are perfect train or bus ride length, entertaining enough to keep you turning the pages, but not so engrossing that you miss your stop. Favorites would probably be Lethem's 'Perkus Tooth' and Eggers' 'Theo', though both authors have much better stories published elsewhere.
City of Saints and Madmen
Very 'ok' world-building dark fantasy. Though the stories share the common setting, and sometimes refer to the same characters, they feel very uneven, disconnected. The more violent passages I felt were somewhat overdone, bland, and the 'what a twist!' endings just a little too obvious. The appendix is all over the place, 'King Squid, 'The Cage', and 'Learning to Leave the Flesh' the most worthwhile (be sure to check out the Torture Squid entries in the King Squid biblio). I gave this three stars based on the strength of the first two tales 'Dradin, In Love' and '...the Early History of Ambergris', not to mention 'King Squid' in the appendix, but that's just because I'm big into those cephalopods. All said, looking forward to more from this author.
