I love McKinley's older stuff, but didn't much like Spindle's End, and strongly disliked Dragonhaven. I'm a bit 'eh' on Sunshine: I'm bored with vampires.
Forgotten Beasts of Eld is one of my most favorite books of all time. That's by McKinley. The Riddle-Master of Hed series was a disappointment to me when I first read it, but when I read it five years later it was immensely satisfying. I had to grow up to appreciate the ending.
Actually, that's Patricia McKillip, who is by many objective measures a far better writer than McKinley. Their styles aren't very similar: McKillip is far more poetic, and she's never gone back to the fairly-mainstream storytelling she did in the Riddlemaster sequence.
If I had to choose, I'd take McKillip over McKinley, even though I have great fondness for the Damar novels.
Oh, duh, you're reight, the Mc names messed me up. And the cat in my arms is screwng up my typing.
I loved
Sunshine
and wish she'd write another book in that world.
My Dad is now reading Bujold, and has informed me that I Will Be Reading Them Soon. I think he likes them.
I want a book of Sunshine's recipes. I was practically drooling over the descriptions.
I think he likes them.
They do have a broad appeal: they're very character-based, but there is also smart sciencey world-building, tricky politics, and exciting battle sequences. And moral dilemmas.
I admit that I don't like the butter bugs much. And A Civil Campaign hits my embarrassment squick pretty badly; it's far from my favorite.
Really? I enjoyed it a lot. It left me smiling.
I think I'm most fond of the politicking that goes on in the Vor books. You so rarely get good adventure that pays attention to the maneuvering behind the derring do.
The thing about a Civil Campaign was that Miles screwed up in such a Miles way, and then - um spoiler fonting the rest
was forgiven the way we forgive people who screw up when we love them enough and know that the screw up was made partially out of love.
