Jul 10 2020
This may be the most original fantasy novel I’ve read so far this year! I genuinely can’t believe this is billed as a children’s book when it’s so rich and layered and honestly deeply interrogative of personal and political relationships and choices. It’s so much more thoughtful and nuanced than at least 75% of the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/07/10/deeplight-by-frances-hardinge/
Jul 07 2020
A fast, funny, incredibly relevant look at teenagers and voting in today’s America. Marva Sheridan is the kind of responsible straight-A student whose entire life revolves around how she can make a difference. She’s super-focused and organized, to the point where her parents wish she would let loose and just be an irresponsible teenager every …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/07/07/the-voting-booth-by-brandy-colbert/
Jul 06 2020
Look at that gorgeous cover. I want to do up a room of my house with that sort of wallpaper. And yes, I’m digressing because I want to say something nice about this book before I say something(s) that will likely sound churlish. This is not, by any means, a bad book, but it is …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/07/06/the-ten-thousand-doors-of-january-by-alix-e-harrow/
Jul 02 2020
This novel ends on a cliffhanger and I desperately want to know what happens next! Catfishing On CatNet, despite the unwieldy title and weirdly muddy cover, is a cute, deft YA sci-fi thriller set in a near future where CatNet is a sort of social connection site whose members are broken out into groups called …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/07/02/catfishing-on-catnet-catnet-1-by-naomi-kritzer/
Mar 29 2020
This is the end of the series and what a strange and terrific end it is for the triplet queens of Fennbirn, doomed to fight each other to the death for a crown that not all of them will want. As this final entry opens, Arsinoe is attempting to bring Jules back to sanity, only …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/03/29/five-dark-fates-three-dark-crowns-4-by-kendare-blake/
Mar 23 2020
I unreservedly loved the first half of this book. I’ve had a problem recently with books claiming to represent the various of my identities and doing a pretty shitty job of it, so it was something of a relief to see how meticulous Natasha Ngan and the team behind Girls Of Paper And Fire were …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/03/23/girls-of-paper-and-fire-girls-of-paper-and-fire-1-by-natasha-ngan/
Mar 05 2020
Great concept, abysmal execution. I love, love, love the idea of teenage lesbian witches coming of age but there were two huge problems I had with this book that seriously interfered with my enjoyment of the story. A brief on said story, before I go about lamenting where it could have done so much better: …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/03/05/these-witches-dont-burn-these-witches-dont-burn-1-by-isabel-sterling/
Mar 03 2020
As a teenager who never really “fit in” but who got along just fine with my peers because I was happy with myself and didn’t really care about what other people thought, my number one favorite kind of novel was about protagonists who didn’t fit in and didn’t really care either. You know how rare …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/03/03/every-reason-we-shouldnt-every-reason-we-shouldnt-1-by-sara-fujimura/
Jan 28 2020
Man, I dig a morally ambiguous lead character as much as the next person (V. E. Schwab’s Villains series, the badass coven of Hannah Capin’s upcoming Foul Is Fair) but this was waaaaay not that. Aina Solis is an orphan whose parents were killed for practicing their pacifist religion in Kosin, the titular Diamond City. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/01/28/diamond-city-diamond-city-1-by-francesca-flores/
Nov 11 2019
Wow, this was probably my most disappointing read this year so far. After reading L. L. McKinney’s really terrific short story in the Wonderland anthology, I felt compelled to look her up, and found the listing for this novel in my library’s e-collection. I nearly swooned at the awesome cover, and the description (Buffy meets …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/11/11/a-blade-so-black-the-nightmare-verse-1-by-l-l-mckinney/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire