Most recently I've read "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell" by Susanna Clarke and "Rats and Gargoyles" by Mary Gentle.
The first one was an excellent book. It's her first novel and a weighty tome (possibly a bit too weighty, I think there could have been a little more editing done) but none the less it's a fascinating read.
It's set in a parallel 19th Century Britain, one where magic had existed, but had fallen out of use (there are still people who call themselves "magicians", but most are simply gentlemen who read about the subject and write articles without actually *doing* any magic!
). Then along comes Mr Norell of the title who *does* do magic, but seems intent on keeping all the books of magic in his own hands and not sharing them with anyone and, indeed, stopping anyone else from even attempting magic.
There's a lot of background to it, where the north of England used to be ruled by John Uskglass, The Raven King and who also ruled The Faerie Lands and it's detailed and well constructed.
Apart from, as mentioned, it being a little over-written, the writing is very good, there are no major anachronisms that drop you back into the 21st Century and there's some good humorous bits that aren't forced or laboured.
Overall it's a very good fantasy story and well worth a read.
The second book, Rats and Gargoyles, however, is another one of those rare books that I just gave up on because I just *couldn't* keep reading it, which is a shame because I'd previously enjoyed another Mary Gentle story called "Grunts".
But R&G is annoying. It's written in short sentences. The book doesn't flow. It's broken up and jerky. Every time something starts, it stops. What's even more annoying is that when someone starts talking or doing a bit of plot exposition, it's suddenly interrupted by a description of their aching feet or the clothes they're wearing or them scratching their bum that starts to drive you nuts after a while.
It's got a nice Fantasy background and there are some interesting ideas in there, but they're buried under the weight of a rather bad writing style.
Not one I'd recommend.