Bill Dunbar
As much as I enjoyed Hild, Menewood was even better. Neal Stephenson's blurb for Hild sums up the two books best:
The novel resonates to many of the same chords as Beowulf, the legends of King Arthur, The Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones - to the extent that Hild [and Menewood] begins to feel like the classic on which those books are based.
If I had to recommend one book on life, this would be it. The title is “The Way to Love” but I think “The Path to Freedom” would be more accurate. De Mello explains with perfect clarity how our attachments and beliefs make us miserable, but that the way to escape them is not to renounce them but to become aware of them. Once the awareness sets in, the attachments will fade away. Ignore the bible passages if that's not your thing (it isn't mine); this isn't a religious text. It's a book about finding yourself.
I enjoyed being back with Kell Maresh and Lila Bard, seven (fictional) years after the end of the Shades of Magic trilogy, and I loved the introduction of Tes as a new character with new powers. I should have reread A Conjuring of Light to refresh my memory on the details of how the first trilogy ended (I couldn't remember if Kell was dead or alive), but there was enough background in the new book to catch me up. Now I'm excited for the next one!