New Foundland The Long Haul (2021)

Neal Stephenson's dialog and some plotting shine in this fantasy story Radio Play. I don't like swords and sorcery fantasy but this dramatic audio presentation is fun. 4/5 Stars.

Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold (2003)

This high fantasy book, second in a series, deserves all the prizes it won (Hugo, Nebula, Locus). I enjoyed the story, the characters, and the consistent but mysterious magic system. 4/5 Stars.

Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard by Lawrence M. Schoen (2015)

I think David Brin pointed me to this book as an illustration of other authors who picked up David's idea of uplift.  Uplift is when an advanced species (patron) genetically modifies a pre-sapient species (client) to elevate the new species to full sapience. In this book, the author has an area of our galaxy filled with uplifted earth species. The magic system and themes in the book are a little inconsistent and the physics is terrible.  But the story is interesting and the writing is good.  3/5 Stars. I enjoyed it but won't read any others.

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (2022)

Nebula award winner 2023, well-written, clever fantasy. I don't like fantasy, though. 3/5 Stars.

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jiminez (2022)

I did not like this story or the interesting surreal setting. The writing is good but the plot, characters, magic system, etc. were terrible, 1/5 Stars.

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (2023)

I usually don't like swords & sorcery (high) fantasy because the magic systems are usually arbitrary.  This book is unbelievably brutal; everyone except the main character is trying to kill lots of other people.  There are lots of silly, political secrets for which everyone will kill to protect. And the explicit over-the-top erotica is also odd.  The whole book is like an overdose of 15 year olds' hormones, driving out all rational thought as everyone just wants to fight and f*&k.  The mystery is quite good, as is the writing and I enjoyed the characters, world-building, and story. 3/5 Stars.

Death and Faxes (Audio) by Brandon Sanderson

Not good, 2/5 Stars.

Eifelheim by Michael Flynn

The characters, settings, and writing craft are fantastic but I am disappointed by the plot, character arcs, and story.  3/5 Stars.

Babel by R. F. Kuang

The Nebula Award nominees for 2022 were recently announced; Babel  looked intriguing; my ranking algorithm pushed it high up on my queue.  The magic system is interesting, but the system is arbitrary and clashes too much with physics so I would categorize the book as fantasy, not sci-fi. The linguistic roots & translation subtleties are fun but also clash with linguistic research (Adger, Chomsky, Pinker), so they were also disappointing.  However the story and characters are fun and the writing is immersive. So I did enjoy the book. 4/5 Stars.

Voodoo Warfare by Nick Cole

Slow start but fun story, with great one-liners and dialog, 4/5 Stars.

Dinosaur Summer by Greg Bear

Lots of 1947 swashbuckling adventures along with Indios dream mythology.  Well-crafted and fun, I did not like any of the characters, though; 3/5 Stars.