Aug 27 2020
I’m really starting to question whether I should accept Netgalley invites for YA Fantasy from now on. The murder mysteries they’ve invited me to read have all been solid but too much of the YA has been middling to terrible. And yes, that includes Alex London’s Black Wings Beating, which at least has the advantages …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/08/27/black-wings-beating-skybound-1-by-alex-london/
Aug 26 2020
I’ve probably already nattered on obnoxiously about the fact that I inhaled every published book in Dame Agatha Christie’s oeuvre the year I was thirteen, but that was a seminal event in my life, solidifying my reading habits and eventual, oddly specialized, career path. Two years ago, I was given the opportunity to review the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/08/26/the-monogram-murders-new-hercule-poirot-mysteries-1-by-sophie-hannah/
Aug 25 2020
What a stunningly awful book. I picked it up thinking I’d enjoy the thought experiment: what if George Washington had accepted the title of King after wresting American independence away from Britain? According to Katharine McGee, this would have dampened the global thirst for revolution, accelerated the abolition of slavery, and paved the way for …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/08/25/american-royals-american-royals-1-by-katharine-mcgee/
Aug 21 2020
I feel kinda bad about shitting on this book, in large part because so many people seemed to lurve it while I spent most of my time going “for real?” while I was reading it. Because, while the concept was interesting and I know Sabaa Tahir means well — ngl, I was genuinely moved to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/08/21/an-ember-in-the-ashes-an-ember-in-the-ashes-1-by-sabaa-tahir/
Aug 20 2020
It’s been so long since I’ve read a traditional British police procedural that starting this book was just like slipping into a nice hot bath. I mean, I’ve read my fair share of British crime novels with DCI protagonists in the years since I first picked up my dad’s copy of Martha Grimes’ Jerusalem Inn, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/08/20/the-nidderdale-murders-yorkshire-murder-mysteries-5-by-j-r-ellis/
Aug 18 2020
This has been a pretty amazing year for me in terms of discovering five star reads, and this was definitely my latest and probably most personally beloved. So here’s the thing. When I read a book with Muslim rep, I have a habit of asking “if this was a book about believing Christians, how comfortable …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/08/18/all-american-muslim-girl-by-nadine-jolie-courtney/
Aug 17 2020
There’s going to be a bit of rambling before my review actually begins, so I apologize for that now. I went out to my Sharing Library the other day to replenish the contents, which had been looking a little low recently. Imagine my surprise when I found it stuffed to the gills with children’s books, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/08/17/vaders-little-princess-star-wars-darth-vader-and-kids-by-jeffrey-brown/
Aug 13 2020
My opinion of this book is pretty much equally divided: it is 50% atrocious and 50% adorable. Essentially, Naomi and Nicholas have been together for almost two years and engaged for almost a year of that. It’s November and their wedding is in January but invitations haven’t been sent yet. Naomi is having a million …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/08/13/you-deserve-each-other-by-sarah-hogle/
Aug 12 2020
With a book titled Dark Age in a futuristic series that consciously bases itself on Roman history, you know the contents are going to be pretty grim. Our hero from the start, Darrow of Lykos, is fighting a losing campaign on Mercury against the treacherous Gold-elevating Society led by the depraved Atalantia au Grimmus. His …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/08/12/dark-age-red-rising-saga-5-by-pierce-brown/
Aug 07 2020
In contemporary popular literature which takes as its default Christianity as the dominant belief system, there are two main kinds of believer: the kind who want prayers answered and the kind who want to complain bitterly about how God could possibly let such-and-such happen. The two main protagonists of The Cabin At The End Of …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/08/07/the-cabin-at-the-end-of-the-world-by-paul-tremblay/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire