Shakespeare and I have a love-hate relationship, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Twelfth Night due to its hapless heroine Viola. I’ve even seen the play presented once professionally, in Malaysia. The production was pretty great, and the story overall less ridiculous than some others of the Bard’s (not that that’s saying much, …
Category: Fantasy
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/10/11/twelfth-grade-night-arden-high-1-by-molly-horton-booth-stephanie-kate-strohm-jamie-green/
Sep 25 2022
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
Considering a book of scholarly articles about the history Chinese international relations, I wrote that it was “chock full of implied stories” and looked forward to the day that I could read some of them. Shelley Parker-Chan chose a later inflection point from Chinese history to tell the story of She Who Became the Sun, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/09/25/she-who-became-the-sun-by-shelley-parker-chan/
Sep 23 2022
The Very Genius Notebooks #1: The Chronicles Of Deltovia by Olivia Jaimes
I’m genuinely starting to believe that some of the best under-the-radar writing out there nowadays is coming from middle grade authors. Not that Olivia Jaimes is primarily that (or even her real name.) Having gained acclaim for her reboot of the long-running Nancy comic strip, she’s now published her first middle-grade novel under this name, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/09/23/the-very-genius-notebooks-1-the-chronicles-of-deltovia-by-olivia-jaimes/
Sep 16 2022
Nona the Ninth (The Locked Tomb #3) by Tamsyn Muir
Ugggggh, I love Nona so much. Not Nona the book — and we’ll come to that later — but Nona the character, who is about the sweetest gorram teenager you’ve ever met in your life. Well, technically a teenager: her body is about nineteen years old but she’s only really been alive? resurrected? reborn? for …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/09/16/nona-the-ninth-the-locked-tomb-3-by-tamsyn-muir/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/09/08/hugo-2022-chat/
Sep 04 2022
Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch
I’m only three books into the Rivers of London series, and already they feel like comfort reading. I can feel confident that with each new Peter Grant book I pick up, I will encounter characters I enjoy spending time with — the narrator first and foremost — that they will have adventures and scrapes, that Aaronovitch will …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/09/04/whispers-under-ground-by-ben-aaronovitch/
Aug 19 2022
Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
A few chapters into Light From Uncommon Stars, after it was clear that the violin teacher had made a pact with a demon and was under tight deadline to collect one more soul or else the usual penalties would apply and also that the local landmark donut shop was run by space aliens pretending to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/08/19/light-from-uncommon-stars-by-ryka-aoki-2/
Aug 18 2022
Squirrel Girl: Universe by Tristan Palmgren
Y’all know I’m all in for any Marvel superheroine named Doreen (even if I don’t like squirrels. Shocking, I know, but my brother and I have stories.) Animal-animosity regardless, the best part of the Squirrel Girl titles has always been, for me, how Doreen Green’s positive attitude ensures that she truly is unbeatable. This novel …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/08/18/squirrel-girl-universe-by-tristan-palmgren/
Aug 09 2022
Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
As we sprint towards the deadline for Hugo voting and I, for the second year in a row, concede defeat over being able to read all the books in time, I wanted to make sure that I at least got to cover a book Doug was raving to me about (tho I see he hasn’t …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/08/09/light-from-uncommon-stars-by-ryka-aoki/
Aug 03 2022
Giant Island by Jane Yolen & Doug Keith
Yeesh, how was I convinced that this debuted next month and not this one? But hey, here we are now! And here are Ava and Mason, on what seems to be the incongruously named Giant Island, a small islet that they set out to explore with their dog Cooper while Grandpa goes fishing in the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/08/03/giant-island-by-jane-yolen-doug-keith/