[MSJ]

Another book coming out this year, which will probably be a prioritized read: The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

I remember seeing The Goblin Emperor/King(?) a few years ago, but not knowing if it was worth the grab. Did you like it?

[Wilshire]

Goblin Emperor consistently gets good reviews and has been on my TBR list for quite some time.

[The P]

I liked it a lot.  It is very much a "fantasy of manners."  The prose is really good.  I found the plot of a genuine/naïve/good person thrust into a position of power and having to deal with cutthroat politicking to be amusing and enjoyable.
He's also a half breed, which adds another amusing layer.

[Wilshire]

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (1)

Brilliant. This book is as fun to read as it is confusing. There's a myriad of timelines, past and present, a narrator who is mad and terribly unreliable. Shifts in POV writing - First, Second, Third, maybe others but I lack the ability to identify them. Tremendous fun, horribly opaque, and a bizarre ending that holds true to form. Tamysn Muir is for me one of the most satisfying authors I've read recently. Though, that's probably a shame for her because I apparently enjoy commercially unsuccessful things with limited mass appeal.

The Locked Tomb series is a resounding must read. I can't wait for more from Muir.

[The P]

The Grand Design by John Marco (2)

Parts of this were pretty good, but I could barely stand any of the chapters featuring the main character.  The writing is serviceable, but rarely if ever rises above that level. It has the bones of a good story.  The count is interesting.  The alchemist/scientist could have been, as with the girl experiment, but Marco just uses them as a plot device without fleshing out the most interesting parts.  I was disappointed that the first book barely touched on the religion of Nar, so was excited to learn more in this one.  Even more disappointed that it is basically just a generic Catholic stand-in.  There are some potentially interesting differences mentioned in passing, but seemed mainly just there for the author to say, "see it's not really Catholicism."

I might read the final volume, but I am in no hurry.

[The P]

Legend by David Gemmell

Man, what a great book.  I'm not sure why I never read it before.  Maybe when I heard about it I turned up my nose at it being 80s heroic fantasy.  Shame on me, if so.  It is maybe a little dated, but not much.  The world-building is slight, but for the most part it's a very focused setting, so the far details don't matter much.  I expected the main hero to be the drive, of course, the legend, but it seemed like nearly every character had a gut-wrenching heroic moment.  Gemmell achieves a lot in a relatively short book.  Plenty of poignant lines about being a man and doing the right thing, etc.  Teenage me would have called it his favorite book perhaps, adult me still likes it an awful lot.

[Wilshire]

Yeah Legend is a fantastic read. I read it within the last few years and was very impressed. Like you said, for a small book it packs a punch. I particularly liked the various aspects of grieving/death that it discusses throughout - what a book!

The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen (2)
It was OK. An interesting magic system wrapped around a less imaginitive cast society with some quasi interesting worldbuilding, wrapped around generic fantasy. I was given the sequel as a gift, but since the books are relatively short I thought I'd just read both. The writing was good, its just that the story is just terribly generic. I still plan on reading the sequel, but I dont expect it to be redeemable enough to upgrade this  series from "pretty good but miss-able" to "must read".