I may have to give these new Hobb books a try. But I'll be honest... her Soldier's Son Trilogy left such a sour taste in my mouth that I won't be in any hurry. I thought such a turd of a main character would have to eventually improve as the series progressed -- but nope... he stayed a turd right up until the end. Loved her short story contribution to GRRM's Warriors anthology, though.
I'm currently in the middle of David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series. It gets off to a slow start, but book three was fantastic. Time will tell if it can hold my interest for eight books. I wanted to read the series before they re-release it in its expanded (Yep, expanding an eight book series) format. Fascinating stuff.
