Mar 22 2023
This is a strange, arresting book that one hundred percent works better as a novel(la) than as the lyric game it purports to be. Ostensibly a collection of spells and games created and played by two young girls living within recent memory, the short descriptions take common childhood games of the West and give them …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/22/lilancholy-by-john-battle/
Feb 10 2023
Oh man, I absolutely loved this bananas sequel to River Of Ashes! A large part of this is probably due to the fact that we don’t have to live in the viewpoint of a psychopath, as we did in this novel’s precursor, but instead experience events from the perspectives of people struggling to come to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/10/river-of-wrath-st-benedict-2-by-alexandrea-weis-lucas-astor/
Feb 09 2023
First, I have to say that I’m really glad that this is being marketed as horror and not Young Adult, despite the main cast all being teenagers. There’s quite a bit of graphic stuff in here that probably isn’t suitable for the fade-to-black nature of the YA genre, and the last thing anyone needs is …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/09/river-of-ashes-st-benedict-1-by-alexandrea-weis-and-lucas-astor/
Jan 11 2023
I always really, really want to like Cassandra Khaw’s work more than I do. Ngl, this desire is due in large part to the Malaysian connection, which is enforced in spades by the fact that the entire cast of this book is Malaysian as well! Our five friends — after a fashion — converge on …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/01/11/nothing-but-blackened-teeth-by-cassandra-khaw/
Nov 10 2022
I love the idea of this anthology that collects works from 26 different women worldwide, all on the theme of the mythical Baba Yaga. It’s a really rich subject open to different, intriguing interpretations. For those of you unfamiliar with the myth, our subject is the old wise woman of Slavic lore, who lives in …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/11/10/into-the-forest-tales-of-the-baba-yaga-edited-by-lindy-ryan/
Oct 23 2022
Seldom does a book’s title fit so perfectly, so terribly as Inhuman Land by Jozef Czapski (pron. “Chop-ski”). He was born into an aristocratic Polish family in Prague, at a time when that city was ruled from Vienna as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Czapski grew up near Minsk, in present-day Belarus; he finished his …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/10/23/inhuman-land-by-jozef-czapski/
Sep 21 2022
with the loveliest colors by Celi Godfried. This utterly charming collection of cartoon vignettes revolves around a Cryptid Club populated by the mysterious monsters that have haunted folklore since time immemorial. Well, mostly since time immemorial, as there are two much more modern but still quite famous cryptids featured here as well, in the form …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/09/21/cryptid-club-by-sarah-andersen/
Sep 06 2022
Welp, Labor Day is over, so ofc it’s time to turn the consumerist attention to Halloween! (I’m mostly kidding, but also resigned to the world we live in.) Halloween is such a weird holiday, IMO, less so in its origins than in the way it’s evolved over the years as an American (and associated) celebration. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/09/06/trick-or-treat-alistair-gray-by-lindy-ryan-timea-gazdag/
Jul 08 2022
I’ve had time to think about it, and tho this final installment of the RPG-nerd series made me cry, it also made me kind of mad, and this is why: there’s a bizarrely “time to put away childish things” overtone to the ending that really irritated me. Kieron Gillen was trying to tread a fine …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/08/die-vol-4-bleed-by-kieron-gillen-stephanie-hans-clayton-cowles/
Jul 01 2022
I must say, the American title is much better than the painfully generic The Weight Of Loss this novel was saddled with across the pond. Garden Of Earthly Bodies at least hints at the speculative fiction plot contained within these pages. That plot is the story of Marianne, who is grieving the death of her …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/01/garden-of-earthly-bodies-by-sally-oliver/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire