It's been a hectic week, so I'm late with posting on three books I finished on Monday / Tuesday. Conrad's Fate won my unread sf poll at the end of last year, so I expected to enjoy it and indeed I did; typical Diana Wynne Jones setting of the Chrestomanci nested worlds (this time with the interesting wrinkle that the English Channel never happened) with peculiar family secrets, ancient stately homes that are not even slightly what they seem, and a central character who comes to realise that his place in the world is what he makes of it rather than what other people tell him it should be. It's not perhaps as subversive or heartfelt as some of her other work but it's still very good.