Sometimes it’s nice to be squarely in the middle of the target audience. Although I am not sure whether anyone would have said ex ante that the audience for a police procedural set in an alternate history Russia with fantasy and science fiction elements was much more than just me. But Peter Higgins went and …
Category: Science Fiction
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/19/wolfhound-century-by-peter-higgins/
Jan 11 2015
Symbiont (Parasitology Book 2) by Mira Grant
Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire) seems a little bit like Midas to me. So far everything she’s written – whether it’s urban fantasy, superhero, apocalypse, or something else – has hit the mark and become gold. Symbiont, the second book in her Parasitology series, keeps up the excellent writing and the interesting plot. In some …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/11/symbiont-parasitology-book-2-by-mira-grant/
Jan 05 2015
The Peripheral by William Gibson
I adore William Gibson with a slightly unhealthy fierceness, akin to obsession. His Neuromancer was my first introduction to cyberpunk of any sort, and I knew I had found my tribe, or at least part of it. To read Neuromancer in 1984, before everyone had a desktop computer and AOL, was a complete nerdgasm for …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/05/the-peripheral-by-william-gibson/
Jan 04 2015
The Book of Strange New Things: A Novel by Michel Faber
I admit that I was prepared to not like this book. It concerns a Christian pastor being sent to the first inhabitable planet found by humankind so that he can minister to the alien species already living there, but I quickly discovered that that was an extremely simplistic view of the story. What I had …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/04/the-book-of-strange-new-things-a-novel-by-michel-faber/
Jan 02 2015
Never Deal With a Dragon / Choose Your Enemies Carefully / Find Your Own Truth by Robert N. Charrette
For my first review for the Frumious Consortium, I’d like to start with a bang, a triple play. Three books at once, all part of a trilogy inscribed in the same universe, all by the same author, and all uncommonly uniform enough in style and execution as to try and pass a single review as …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/02/never-deal-with-a-dragon-choose-your-enemies-carefully-find-your-own-truth-robert-n-charrette/
Jan 02 2015
Cold Days by Jim Butcher
One of the biggest issues with a SF/F series is in the area of character development and growth. While mysteries require no change to the characters themselves, a series has the difficult balancing act of maintaining accessibility for first time readers, while simultaneously rewarding fans with meaningful growth and character development. One of the tipping …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/02/cold-days-by-jim-butcher/
Dec 31 2014
Fear Agent Vol VI: Out Of Step by Rick Remender
Pretty sure it’s been too long between me reading this volume and the ones that preceded it, as I found the sci-fi confusing, though compelling. The only really false note for me was the internal personality struggle between Heath and his evil clone, but that was likely more an issue of pacing than plot. Otherwise …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/31/fear-agent-vol-vi-out-of-step-by-rick-remender/
Dec 30 2014
Pariah Vol II by Aron Warner, Philip Gelatt and Brett Weldele
Entertaining take on dystopian (YA) fiction. I really liked how the emotions are balanced with the tech, even as I freely admit that I hated the ending of the first issue and am desperately hoping that Hal manages to break free later. Clever and promising, but still definitely in the build stage of the overarching …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/30/pariah-vol-ii-by-aron-warner-philip-gelatt-and-brett-weldele/
Dec 23 2014
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
This book seriously freaked me out. It is a reminder, as only a science fiction novel can be, of what a tenuous thing subjective reality is. I have never done acid, but based on the testimony of others I would say that this book resembles an acid trip in that it is both mind-altering and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/23/the-lathe-of-heaven-by-ursula-k-le-guin/
Nov 17 2014
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
Ancillary Sword puts author Ann Leckie in a strong position to be the first author since 1991-92 to repeat as winner of the Hugo for best novel, and indeed to be only the second person ever to repeat Hugo/Nebula awards in that category. Which is mainly to say that Ancillary Sword is a terrific book, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/17/ancillary-sword-by-ann-leckie/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire