@Mirage, the passage and indeed the hole trilogy is astoundingly good, and as I said in my city of mirrors review I was quite amazed being as I was not expecting something so deep from what is essentially a zombocalypse story, ---- or vampocalypse or whatever the virals might be. I'm trying to persuade my lady to read it, and she probably will since she ís good about recommendations, but she isn't generally a fan of post appocalyptic stuff and actively dislikes zombie fiction, though she did enjoy Steven King's The Stand, which Cronin has often been compared to though imho they're rather different stories.
One thing I particularly admire in Cronin's writing is that as Grryf said, he writes some truly decent characters. it often amazes me how hard it is for authors to write someone who is just a good person, not a cardboard cutout hero who is crushed by duty or guilt, just someone who is a decent person trying to do the right thing, the sort of person who would lend you your bus fair home if you forgot your wallet 
.
It's ironic, writing realistically nice is so difficult. rowling can do it, Cronin can do it, but it's quite amazing that so few other writers can.
@Chris, those sound interesting. I've not yet found an urban fantasy series I thought amazing. Jim Butcher's dresden books are fun, but irritate me a little too much with repeating tropes, sexism, dresden's winjing, the fact nobody is a normal human or can stay one, the fact Dresden keeps acquiring random powers etc.
Even Tad williams urban fantasy Bobby Dollar series I didn't find got my interest, too many cliches and random chases despite a unique premise, I enjoyed happy hour in Hell but that more for william's rather weerd take on Hell than anything else, and since most of the book was set in hell rather than on earth it probably doesn't qualify as urban fantasy anyway.
My lady has recommended me seanon mcguire, both her october day series about a fay detective living on earth, and her stand alone sparrow hill road about a ghost trying to find out why she died, and I really want to read those since Urban fantasy as a genre has a lot of potential but everything I've seen has been far too superficial and cliche ridden, indeed some of my complaints have been similar to my complaints of super hero fiction and since urban fantasy and super heroes are related it's probably why.
then again, I do enjoy the buffy the vampire slayer tv series so hay maybe I'll find something I like in the genre.
@Grryf, I'll let you know on Dragon's milk, I do intend to write a review, indeed my lady and I finished startide rising yesterday and I'm halfway through a review for that one.
I haven't heard of racing in the rain, who is it by? but my lady has recommended me A dog's purpose and a dog's journey, both of which I have on my victor stream now and will definitely read in the future, (though as I have probably about 150 books on my victor stream ranging from the masters of roam series to Big finishe's audio drama version of Dracula that's probably not saying much ).
Glad you liked the winter king, the series doesn't actually slump, though you will be surprised where some characters end up.
I do agree Cornwell has some things he likes to write, like the main character being a soldier who ends up with a woman he's comfortable with rather than his youthful crush, and there always being both a good authority figure in charge (colonel lawford and hogan in the Sharpe books, Arthur in the Warlord books), as well as a grizled sergeant type character who's the main character's best friend and usually an over bearing arse in charge who is an antagonist. these get a bit much when repeated too often in too many books to the same character, eg, I didn't mind Sharpe's womanizing when it was one or two women but when he's running into astonishingly beautiful nice ladies in each book? (the later ones get rather bad for this), ditto with him running into random battles or antagonistic arses who often just turn out to be shallowly evil (the guy in sharpe's trafalgar was pretty bad for this again).
Then again, I liked the warlord series because they're a very tightly plotted and quick story, and you don't have those patterns repeating to the main character multiple times (I love the way Durval stays true to and adores his wife), indeed like many authors Cornwell seems in a good place when he can write a story with a beginning, middle and definite end, rather than one that just bimbles on endlessly book after book after book repeating the same tropes.
I don't recall dothrees being that bad Grryf, though it did irritate me when he'd begin one book without clearly having listened to his narration for a previous one, the way Denaeris changed from sounding like a young girl in books 1-3 to having this strangely harsh voice that made her sound like an old hag in books 4 and 5 (and a weerd almost irish brogue), was very disconcerting.
Still, I don't know if dothrees will be reading the rest of the Songs of ice and fire books. In World of ice and fire he occasionally stopped and was replaced by someone else who did footnotes and things, while someone else read Knight of the seven kingdoms, the compilation of the dunc and egg novellas set 100 years or so before the series about prince Egon the fourth.
Btw, world of ice and fire is actually a nice read if your into the series, though probably a bit much if not, albeit that it's in many ways the most depressing book of the lot "and then there was this awesome king whom everyone liked and who was a great ruler, ---- who left the throne to his son who caused a horrible war with lots of people dying and amazing amounts of gorey destruction!"
Oh, and btw if you think the Rains of castamea is disturbing now, you should read the full story of what tywin did to house rain, ---- yeeeeeech! and I thought Tywin couldn't get any worse! .
I shudder every time I hear it.
Wow, that was a long reply, but I love discussing books, as you might have gathered.
With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)
