I just finished "The Gate of Gods" by Martha Wells, the final book in a trilogy. Not bad, but far from her best work. Wells is known for single-volume genre fantasies that avoid epic fantasy tropes (no elves, dwarves, dragons or wizards with long gray beards). The best introduction to her work would be "Death of the Necromancer" but fans of "Elantris" might also be interested in her "Wheel of the Infinite," which features a somewhat similar plot element (I can't say what, it would spoil things for you).
I too have enjoyed most of Brusts' Taltos books (and most of his other works), but I didn't much care for the Bartimaeus books, or at least the last one (I have reviews of it and "Death of the Necromancer" up at Amazon if you're curious). Too many plot problems. I read "The Prestige" back when it came out, about 10 years ago. I remember thinking that it was fairly good, but I can actually imagine it being a better movie than book. That's rare, but it's a fairly compact, character-driven story.
I'm also currently reading "Designing Interactions," a non-fiction book by Bill Moggridge. Next in my fiction queue is Italo Calvino's "The Nonexistent Knight and The Cloven Viscount." Then it'll be time for something light again!
MattD