I've got all of those except the one by Banks so I'll be interested in your thoughts on them.....
At first I thought you were interested in my thoughts on
Use of Weapons, but reading your post you meant the others. Oh well, now I've read them.
Lankhmar and
Thieves House: The first surprised me with its sophistication, and I enjoyed the Lankhmar cityscape as described by Leiber. Really, the ultimate fantasy metropolis where New Crobuzon and Ankh-Morpork fall short. As for the second book, however, I found my interest quickly decreasing. The stories seemed to form a pattern: One of the characters (usually Fafhrd) would for some reason fall under a curse or some other sort of magical manipulation, and the other would rescue him.
Searoad I haven't read yet.
A Wrinkle in Time: I liked this one instantly. Somehow, it never fails: The children's tale stands out as superior in plotting and characterization to the adults' tales. Ms. L'Engle, with her classic novel, joins the ranks of outstandig writers such as Pratchett (Tiffany Aching
Discworld subdivision), Le Guin (
Annals of the Western Shore), Rushdie (
Haroun and the Sea of Stories), Pullman (
His Dark Materials), Lindgren (
Ronia the Robber's Daughter) and Jansson (
The Moomintroll). Being read immediately after Gaiman's
Stardust, the latter resembles hardly more than an average Disney movie.
The Gunslinger: Obviously, Stephen King is not satisfied with making a
good story, he makes it creepy in a way I've never read fantasy before. Looking forward to the next installment in the series.
Shadow and Claw: Like, what's
not to like about a novel that discusses constructivism on page three?
Strange and wonderful in quite an unique way. Also, the only adult fantasy novel I've read (except
Prince of Nothing, of course) that treats love in a plausible way. In other works, it seems to be something that can be put on standby with a flick of a button whenever the main plot needs progression. Not so in Wolfe's book.
...I came to the conclusion that it would be cheaper to order the trilogy separately from Tehanu, since the Earthsea Quartet is a lot more expensive.
Yeah, but on the other hand, you get a
really good cover (my avatar is from the
Tehanu part); one of the few
Earthsea covers where the characters are allowed to retain their real skin colour.
