Le Guin is an ashtonishingly versatile writer, and this collection of short stories is a good illustration of her wide range. The Compass Rose mixes science fiction with fantasy, alternative history with feminism, and sometimes just knocks you over the head with a good, plain, old-fashioned fairy tale. Some of these stories don't really come within the realm of 'speculative fiction' at all, and I think it's these that show Le Guin's mastery most clearly. Her characters remain well-rounded even without gadgets and sorcery, the language is precise and the tone often delightfully mischievous. However, it's the sheer inventiveness that makes me really like The Compass Rose; Le Guin blasts open calcified ways of storytelling and challenges her reader as well.

Robin Hobb certainly knows how to give her chacters a hard time. Not one of the main characters survives without some life-changing injury or psychological trauma. While this is an effective way of adding depth to the narration, it doesn't make comfortable reading, as every catastrophe inevitably leads to the next, even worse one. On the other hand, Hobb writes enviably lucid and fluent prose, and has all the makings of a master storyteller. Once the reader gets swept up into the swell of the story it's hard to resist its pull. Compared to the Farseer trilogy this book has a major shortcoming, however: its lacks really strong central characters which made the Assassin books a rare achivement in the field of fantasy. Whereas in the Farseers, Hobb had managed to create offbeat characters like the Fool, Ship of Magic is mostly peopled with stereotypes. If the next book of the Liveship trilogy turns up on my doorstep I will probably pick it up and read it. Otherwise I am not all that interested what will happen to the characters during the next 2000 pages or so, and in the meanwhile will look for something more original to read.

A friend of mine recommended this book to me, so my expectations were high. Soon, however, I began to despair of Maguire's style: his narrative moves very fast, leaves a lot (intentionally) untold, and gives very little access to the characters' motivations. We only get inside the Witch's head in the last quarter of the book, which I think is one of the weaknesses of Wicked, as it claims to be an exploration of the main character's relationship with good and evil. There is a lot going on for a book of this length: lots of characters, political, religious and moral speculations, as well as other intriguing themes. None of these were developed even half-way of their potential which I found very disappointing. I think a more thorough knowledge of the Oz books would have helped, as they would perhaps shed some light on details and plot twists that to me were mostly unnecessary and confusing. On the plus side, I enjoyed Maguire's fluent writing and his unusual metaphors. If it hadn't been for these I probably would have put down the book after the first chapter and wouldn't have picked it up again.