Doreen Sheridan

Professional book critic, amateur cellist, full-time polymath. Occasional game designer, perpetual game enthusiast. Mom of 3. Arsenal till I die. I like a good story. My other mystery reviews can be found here: https://www.criminalelement.com/author/dvaleris/

Most commented posts

  1. Deathless (Leningrad Diptych #1) by Catherynne M. Valente — 12 comments
  2. A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan #1) by Arkady Martine — 10 comments
  3. Sweet Tea by Piper Huguley — 7 comments
  4. I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley — 6 comments
  5. Busting Vegas by Ben Mezrich — 5 comments

Author's posts

Rogues edited by George R R Martin and Gardner Dozois

A solid collection of stories, some better than others, but none, if I’m being quite honest, really a groundbreaker. My favorites were likely The Inn Of The Seven Blessings by Matthew Hughes (whom I’d never heard of before) and Tawny Petticoats by Michael Swanwick (whose Mongolian Wizard series I adore!) The non-fantastic entries were, I …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/12/05/rogues-edited-by-george-r-r-martin-and-gardner-dozois/

Disclaimer by Renee Knight

About halfway through this book, I hated everyone involved (with the great exception of Catherine,) including, and this is saying something, the author. But I’m glad I gritted my teeth and got to the end, because it was well worth it. In Disclaimer, people are awful to each other because they seek to assuage their …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/11/29/disclaimer-by-renee-knight/

A Brief History Of Seven Killings by Marlon James

I haven’t been so relieved to finish a book in a very long time. Not that it’s badly written, or even that it’s dull, just that it’s so unrelentingly violent and dismal that I could not, in any of my other entertainments, even approach anything destructive (so, goodbye, playing Witcher 3 or watching True Detective …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/11/27/a-brief-history-of-seven-killings-by-marlon-james/

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

I really loved Mindy Kaling on The Office, and quite enjoyed the first season of The Mindy Project. Alas, I stopped watching the latter when the levels of self-absorption stopped being entertaining, so I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy reading this book, especially since excerpts veered over into unfairly judgmental territory. But that, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/11/21/is-everyone-hanging-out-without-me-and-other-concerns-by-mindy-kaling/

Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

It took me two days to finish the last 5%, mostly because damn you, Ingress double ap, but also because I was neither ready for nor okay with the idea of a cliffhanger, which was where I thought the book was going. Instead, it goes one better and, while I still really, really want to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/11/20/foxglove-summer-by-ben-aaronovitch/

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

This was prolly the first book in the series where the case itself felt a little too convoluted (I mean, Isengard, really?) tho I really loved how the overarching series continues to develop with the Faceless Man and argh argh argh the ending! I didn’t expect that to happen and I should have: props to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/11/17/broken-homes-by-ben-aaronovitch/

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

You guys, I wanted to love this book (despite even the vapid recommendation from Gwyneth freaking Paltrow that came with my copy) and there were certain parts where I’m like “yes, I understand that” and “yes, I lived that” but… I think the most egregious example of my problem with it is that I only …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/11/13/my-brilliant-friend-by-elena-ferrante/

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

So you get to the one part in the book (and anyone who’s read it will know what I’m talking about) and you stop, stunned. And you go back and you read the last part over again. And if you’re me, and essentially a British schoolgirl at your core, like Maddy you burst into uncontrollable …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/11/06/code-name-verity-by-elizabeth-wein/

Modern Romance: An Investigation by Aziz Ansari

Honestly, this is just a superlative book on what it’s like to date and be in a relationship in the present day. Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg conduct studies and review data to bring a comprehensive but still accessible (in large part due to Mr Ansari’s humor and personal anecdotes) overview of modern romance. They …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/11/03/modern-romance-an-investigation-by-aziz-ansari/

Poor Doreen by Sally Lloyd-Jones

I was walking through the kids’ section of the Silver Spring library nearly two weeks ago, somewhat haphazardly selecting books for Jms while he was at school, when I came across THIS book. Honestly, the only major character I can think of named Doreen in literature is the crazy ass friend in The Bell Jar, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/11/02/poor-doreen-by-sally-lloyd-jones/