All the Birds in the Sky

Science vs. Magic! Two nerds befriend each other in school, one a latent witch, and the other a developing technological genius. But life separates them and they grow up apart, each fully developing their power and training it as much as possible. Then, naturally, science and magic go to war and they find themselves on opposing sides, which could end everything.

All the Birds in the Sky is the first of Charlie Jane Anders' stories I've read (I used to be a devoted reader of io9.com, so I've like her writing for a long time). It's cleverly done, and is a really well realized world of magic and science (though the science feels rather magical throughout). Well worth a read.

Nemesis Games

This latest installment in the Expanse series takes a different turn, with the previously inseparable crew of the Rocinante each going their separate ways to deal with issues from their past. It's a good change, adding much needed depth to the characters. A lot of backstory for each character is added, and all of them (except the obnoxiously good and noble and fair Holden) have a lot of their seedy background revealed to the reader as they each try to resolve some unresolved aspect of their past.

But, being the Expanse series, this puts each of them into exactly the most critical part of the solar system so they can be key players in the next big round of ramping-up-the-epicness (which seems to kind of happen every second novel in the series). I can't say pretty much anything without spoilering the book, but this was a refreshing improvement to the series, and much more enjoyable than the previous book, and it sets the stage for even vaster epicness coming up while staying true to the series' basic premise that the four main characters have to be present when anything important happens in the universe.