Surface Detail, Culture book #9, by Iain M. Banks
Liked it a bit more than Matter. 4/5
The Hydrogen Sonata, Culture book #10, by Iain M. Banks
A sublime (hah) final novel in the Culture "series". I liked this one a bit more than the previous two, which I gave 4 points, and at some point I have to round up. In a way, this read a lot like Consider Phlebas. Amazing vistas and ideas, fun Minds, lovable techno-babble. Also, it's mostly about the Culture and an equiv-tech civilization, i.e. very high tech throughout, which I prefer over a blend of pseudo-medieval societies with science fiction. 5/5
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Really liked it. 4/5.
Raft, Xeelee Sequence book #1, by Stephen Baxter
Typical Baxter. Fun astronomy / physics theories in story form. 3/5
Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
Liked it generally, but it was a very slow read for me. Reminded me of the movie The Man from Earth, which I recommend watching if you liked Way Station for its "outside look on humanity" theme. 3/5
Orb, Scepter, Throne, Malazan Empire book #4, by Ian C. Esslemont
Really enjoyable, my favorite of the Malazan Empire books so far. 4/5
The Crippled God (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, #10) by Steven Erikson
At last. What a journey. First half was a little slow as usual, second half picked up a lot. It wasn't straight 5-star book for me, maybe 4.5 stars, but I just had to round up for the series as a whole. There's this thing that permeates these books, which I greatly enjoyed: Gravitas. They have a lot of it. 5/5
And, currently being in my fantasy cycle, I'm now reading Guy Gavriel Kay's The Lions Of Al-Rassan, my first from this author. I'm not enjoying it as much as I'd hoped.