Reread Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. Highly recommended, it has most everything I like about cyberpunk in a modern day real world setting. Without losing the Gibson world-building, world-building as a collage of interesting ideas and perspectives on things.

When I first read it, I thought this was his best book, right up until the end of chapter 37, I disliked chapters 38+ about as much as the epilogue of HP: Deathly Hallows. (And with similar belief that the book would be far better with those pages removed.)

Since then I've re-read the Bridge Trilogy, and read the sequels to Pattern Recognition. And this time I didn't find the ending frustration at all. Maybe because I could see the shape of things to come, or because I had different expectations.

The metaphor that struck me is that the structure of this book is like a certain kind of origami; much folding and unfolding, leaving you - just before the climax - with a flat sheet of paper covered in creases. Then all of a sudden it crumbles up, or seems to, but in actuality it all comes together in a new and unexpected shape.

Reading through Worm, an original novel posted in serial form over about two years, after Eliezer's fervent recommendation in the HPMOR author's notes. It's a single novel of about 1,750,000 words. And it's brilliant. It's the story of a world with superheroes, with a teenage girl as the viewpoint character. Tropes reminiscent of Miracleman.

This interview with Max Gladstone was linked to on Yvains blog last month and on its strength I picked up the first two books in his craft sequence - Three Parts Dead and Two Serpents Rise Its "magicians are like lawyers/economists" premise and urban fantasy parts are very well done, and there are a decent few jokes that probably only those with some legal training will spot. The plot of the first book is a bit simple (the bad evil guy who we are told on first meeting is bad, turns out to be evil - and also reads like a less impressive Quirrel from HPMOR) however the second in the series has so far avoided the "clear bad guy" in favour of a more nuanced, Princess Mononoke style arrangement (which I hope continues until the end).

Descending order:

• I finished Umineko back in September but only yesterday finished writing a review.
• New Legends (SF anthology; review)

I read and enjoyed The January Dancer. I think the top amazon review is fair; the prose is florid, the pace ponderous, and the characters flat. But the story and universe are very engaging, and the ending came together superbly.

I very much liked The Melancholy of Mechagirl, a short story collection, particularly the last entry; while the treatment of AI is probably too soft for many here, I liked the balance it struck between human-relatable and at the same time quite alien.