Category: Young Adult

Bad Machinery Vol I: The Case Of The Team Spirit by John Allison

For Christmas, Jay bought me a physical copy of Bad Machinery’s first two volumes and ZOMG, I didn’t even know how much I wanted these till I had them! Oni Press has done an amazing job of translating the web comic to an oversized, glossy paperback that is luxe to the touch and weighty in …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/26/bad-machinery-vol-i-the-case-of-the-team-spirit-by-john-allison/

Horseman (The Hollow #1) by Christopher Golden and Ford Lytle Gilmore

Interesting take on the Sleepy Hollow/Headless Horseman mythology that was undermined by serious plot holes and obvious plot devices. The book is written in a very cinematic manner, and clearly serves as the lead-in to a series, but I spent way too much time being annoyed with Aimee and then with the writers for so …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/20/horseman-the-hollow-1-by-christopher-golden-and-ford-lytle-gilmore/

Watership Down by Richard Adams

I’m deeply troubled by the thought that my young adolescent self was not as hard-hearted as I’ve always believed. See, I first read Watership Down while either 11 or 12, on a family vacation, and I remember bawling my eyes out at some point near the end, thereby casting a pall on the rest of …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/17/watership-down-by-richard-adams/

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

One of the nice things about not being in a book’s target audience is being able to stand back a bit more and see what the author is up to, what’s happening structurally within a book or series, to generally chew on it a bit more. The House of Hades reaches its main intended audience …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/15/the-house-of-hades-by-rick-riordan/

Aphrodite The Beauty (Goddess Girls Book 3) by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams

Quick, cute read that is a tween-friendly adaptation of Greek mythology. Had I encountered these books at that age, I would have much preferred them to the pettiness of the actual myths. Not for purists, obviously, but not a terrible way to introduce children to the Greek myths either.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/09/aphrodite-the-beauty-goddess-girls-book-3-by-joan-holub-and-suzanne-williams/

Endgame: The Calling by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton

For a puzzle book, this is actually well-written. I sure as heck wasn’t expecting the death toll at the end (or even near the beginning: if I were a member of that particular bloodline, I’d be pissed,) but the authors certainly seem to be of the “kill your darlings” school of writing, which leads to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/01/endgame-the-calling-by-james-frey-and-nils-johnson-shelton/

The Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness

Now this is how young adult science fiction should be written! The three books in this trilogy are The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, and Monsters of Men. They were wonderful. These books addressed wide-ranging topics from terrorism and tyranny to morality and how difficult love can be, all while …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/30/the-chaos-walking-trilogy-by-patrick-ness/

The Powerless Series Omnibus (Books 1-3) by Jason Letts

A friend once gave me some good advice: life is too short to read bad books. She’s right. The three books in this trilogy are The Synthesis, The Shadowing, and The Stasis. I got halfway through the second chapter of the first book and began wondering if I had the fortitude to continue through all …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/30/the-powerless-series-omnibus-books-1-3-by-jason-letts/