Yeah, Miriamele is a little unbearable. I think Binabik makes up for her, though. (Miriamele manages to become tolerable by the end of the books, I thought, when she finally shows a little gumption.)
Otherland is pretty awesome, but I don't like it quite as well. Mostly because the big reveal just didn't work for me at all. Shan't say anything else for fear of spoilers. The characters are pretty fun and some of the set pieces are just awesome. If you liked the epic fantasy part of MS&T, can I recommend Tailchaser's Song? It's earlier in his career and shows it in parts, but it's one of the better fantasy novels I've ever read, in my opinion. It was a huge favorite when I was growing up.
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For me, I finally got to read the third book of what was formerly the ludicrously-named "Monster Blood Tattoo" trilogy. (Ludicrous because even within the books the word for a tattoo made of caustic monster blood is "cruorpunxis," which would have been an awesome name for a series.) Anyway, it's been rebranded more appropriately as the "Foundling" trilogy and consists of Foundling, Lamplighter, and Factotum. Basically, I endorse these books on several levels, both for the sheer depth and complexity of their world-building and their entertaining approach to language and vocabulary (often going back to Latinate roots or archaic usages and developing words along different paths), as well as for having complex and likable characters. The two biggest faults the books have are being a little too talky and a little too bland. To clarify, the author periodically wants so badly to show off the (impressive) level of detail he's created that he drops into history-book lecture mode and ceases to be interesting to people who aren't already fascinated with the specific details of fashion and couture throughout the middle ages and Renaissance. As for blandness, well, Rossamund is the main character and, while he's no Bella Swan, he does have a tendency to stand and watch events unfold for just that little bit too long before taking action. I think the idea was that since we are hard-locked into Rossamund's point of view, it would be inappropriate to describe an awesome action scene that he can't watch, and so whenever one of the other characters has to do something cool, Rossamund goes into sleep mode and just kind of drools vaguely for two or three minutes before recalling that he's a protagonist and starts doing stuff again. As I said, he's not completely passive, but it happens once or twice in every book, enough that I would notice and mutter, "Uh, Ross, you, uh, gonna start moving anytime soon?"
Overall, these books are solid and highly entertaining reading, particularly if you're a word-nerd or a fan of Tolkien-esque history fabrication.
