Recently finished Josiah Bancroft's
The Arm of the Sphinx — the second installment in his The Books of Babel series. It was OK. I think I'm probably supposed to be more enamored with the setting/trappings than I am. Still ... this was a much better paced book than the first, in my opinion. But there was a little too much "clever" diddling with POVs for my taste. Made things feel a little disjointed to me.
I think part of my issue with these books is a lack of "focus," as well. I wanted more Charley and Willy Wonka. I'm less interested in the motivations/back-stories of Violet, Augustus or the Oompa-Loompas (I'm not claiming there's any
real comparisons to be made between these books and Charley and The Chocolate Factory; I just used it as an example).
Still, I'm amused enough to want to find out what happens next. I only hope it doesn't get dragged out for too many more books, though. I couldn't help but notice that the tease for the next book described it as "continuing" the story rather than "completing" it. I hope that's an oversight.
I'm now starting
The Liberation — the third AND FINAL installment of Ian Tregillis' "The Alchemy Wars" series. I have high hopes for this one; as I loved the previous two.