This is a daunting book to read, and not because of its length or its subject matter or, even, commitment to violence and vulgarity, but because it isn’t written like a book. The tale of Red Wolf (or Tracker, as he prefers to be called) is an oral history told, for the most part, by …
Category: Fantasy
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/03/08/black-leopard-red-wolf-the-dark-star-trilogy-1-by-marlon-james/
Mar 02 2019
Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha #1) by Tomi Adeyemi
There are lots of really great things about this book. The world-building is A++, with an excellent, well-described magic system and a very rich fantasy setting that is gloriously and unapologetically Afrocentric. The plot skips along briskly, and the depictions of rage and righteous anger are both compelling and wholly convincing. I liked that there …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/03/02/children-of-blood-and-bone-legacy-of-orisha-1-by-tomi-adeyemi/
Feb 11 2019
Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells
Martha Wells has recently received a lot of attention for her Murderbot novellas (Doreen’s reviews of the first three are here, here, and here), but she has been publishing fantasy and science fiction novels since the early 1990s, snagging a Nebula nomination for The Death of the Necromancer in 1998. Wheel of the Infinite, her …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/02/11/wheel-of-the-infinite-by-martha-wells/
Feb 10 2019
The Labyrinth Index by Charles Stross
I suppose The Labyrinth Index marks the time in the Laundryverse when horror overtakes humor, and the combining apocalypses leave the characters nothing to do but get on with it in the face of diminishing hope for the human race, but honestly it makes the book a bit of a slog. The Laundry is, or …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/02/10/the-labyrinth-index-by-charles-stross/
Feb 04 2019
The Tower of the Swallow by Andrzej Sapkowski
The Tower of the Swallow is what happens when an author wrestles with the middle-book problem, and loses. Nothing happens, or rather, a great deal happens but none of it matters a dickie-bird until the last 30 pages or so (out of 400), at which time Ciri, the child of destiny, definitively escapes the several …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/02/04/the-tower-of-the-swallow-by-andrzej-sapkowski/
Jan 19 2019
Hero at the Fall (Rebel of the Sands #3) by Alwyn Hamilton
If you’d told me after I read Rebel Of The Sands that this series would go on to be one of the best fantasy series I’ve ever enjoyed, I would probably have laughed in your face. The first book was pretty rough in terms of storytelling but had so much promise. The second book made …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/01/19/hero-at-the-fall-rebel-of-the-sands-3-by-alwyn-hamilton/
Jan 16 2019
Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix (Rise of the Empress #2) by Julie C. Dao
Wow, that was fucking terrible. I mean, I’d been warned that this book would not be as brilliant as its predecessor Forest Of A Thousand Lanterns, a book so good that I put it in my Top 10 of 2018, but a lot of the (valid) criticism is that the main character, Jade, is extremely …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/01/16/kingdom-of-the-blazing-phoenix-rise-of-the-empress-2-by-julie-c-dao/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/01/08/white-stag-permafrost-1-by-kara-barbieri/
Jan 04 2019
The Devourers by Indra Das
So there are some books where you finish them and you’re all “Well, I guess that wasn’t for me” such as, in my most recent experience prior to this, Marlon James’ A Brief History Of Seven Killings (and have you heard, he’s coming out with a fantasy novel! Despite my tepid response to prior book, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/01/04/the-devourers-by-indra-das/
Dec 31 2018
Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive #3) by Brandon Sanderson
I mean… I knew this was going to be insane but I didn’t know how much. I cried at least twice, over several different characters, and I laughed out loud so many more times. On its own, it’s just a rip-roaring good time, well-written, great action sequences, terrific plot twists, incredibly well-thought out universe (and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2018/12/31/oathbringer-the-stormlight-archive-3-by-brandon-sanderson/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
Emily Lauer
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire