David Woodger

This second book in the trilogy was just as much fun as the first and also a Hugo winner. Really enjoy the interconnected skills (indistinguishable from magic) that many of the characters have. The world is fascinating. And the alien semi-human characters are delightfully odd and intriguing. I also enjoy how the author does not spell everything out for the reader. You can piece together things on your own. It adds to the fun. Moving on directly to the third book in the trilogy.

Read it the first time eight years ago. Watching the HBO series got me interested all over again. So.

I first heard of this book from my Swedish step-father-in-law. I had asked him who his current favorite author was last August. Stieg Larsson's three books are very popular in Sweden. His second book is due to be published in U.S. this summer. Shortly after handing in the three manuscripts for his mysteries, he died.

This was a very cool mystery about a disgraced journalist hired to investigate the disappearance of a young girl in the late sixties. The characters are all fully-realized, interesting individuals and story takes several interesting twists and turns. Curiously, the book's title in Sweden was Man Som Hatar Kvinnor which translates as The Man Who Hates Women. I like the English title better. Recommended for mystery-lovers.

(There are a few Swedish words that are left in the text, but you'd guess their meaning from the context. Fröken is one example. It means Miss. And it may help to know that the suffix gatan means street.)

This book was found as a finished manuscript after the death of the author. Like just about everything I've read by him, the narrative hums along at a fast clip and deserves to be called a page-turner. Set in 1665, this is a straightforward pirate adventure tale complete with sea battles, treachery, treasure, swordfights, and even an encounter with a kraken! Great for a quick read but not otherwise memorable.

Third in the Song of Ice and Fire series. And the second time I read it (first time was in 2006). Some big deaths in this one and some serious changes of fortune for Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, Tyrion Lannister, and Jaime Lannister. Why did Tyrion say what he did to his brother at the end of this one? And that final surprise... whoa.