Mar 14 2022
It’s impossible to be involved in indie tabletop gaming circles these days and remain ignorant of Jay Dragon’s bestselling pastoral fantasy game Wanderhome, which was recently nominated for a Nebula Award. Unusually for a 100+ page tabletop roleplaying game, it has zero combat rules or stats, and almost actively discourages that kind of physical conflict. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/03/14/wanderhome-by-jay-dragon/
Feb 20 2022
Jazzmen dropping dead in circumstances that are unusual even by their standards. Incontrovertible, if circumstantial, evidence of a real-life vagina dentata. These two sets of mysteries set the stage for the events of Moon Over Soho, events that will show readers more about Constable Peter Grant, much more about his mentor in magical policing Detective …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/20/moon-over-soho-by-ben-aaronovitch-2/
Jan 24 2022
Fritz Leiber gave the name “swords and sorcery” to the genre that his heroes, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, did so much to define. Both elements are plentiful in the third collection of their tales Swords in the Mist, which was first published in 1968. Four stories comprise the bulk of the volume. “Adept’s Gambit,” …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/01/24/swords-in-the-mist-by-fritz-leiber/
Jan 12 2022
This was a very interesting tale of four squabbling royal siblings who must come together to save their country, marred by some weird instances of under-writing. It’s certainly a page turner in the back half, and who doesn’t love a non-generic fantasy setting? Inspired by Indian mythology, with a distinct matrilineal bent, this is an …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/01/12/the-ivory-key-the-ivory-key-duology-1-by-akshaya-raman/
Jan 10 2022
Oh, man, the punctuation in that title sets my teeth on edge. It also bothers me that it’s part of a series but there’s no numbering for said series which, as of writing, consists of a novel and two short story collections. I suppose it doesn’t matter if the books are read out of order, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/01/10/cinder-the-fireplace-boy-and-other-gayly-grimm-tales-rewoven-tales-by-ana-mardoll/
Dec 31 2021
In Lent, Jo Walton takes the life of Girolamo Savonarola both seriously and literally. Not only his life, the whole framework in which he lived that life: God, demons, Purgatory, the Rule of St. Benedict, the Dominican Order to which Savonarola was dedicated, his desire to create a new Jerusalem in Italy, and ever so …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/31/lent-by-jo-walton/
Dec 24 2021
Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ’Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/24/thats-dickens-with-a-c-and-a-k-the-well-known-english-author/
Dec 23 2021
Oh, wow, I do hope this is the start of a series, because Meaghan McIsaac makes some truly great narrative and world-building choices here! Imagine a realm where the kingdoms are devoted to the animal constellations that we readers more or less already know, with the Bear House ruling supreme over them all. The leaders …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/23/the-bear-house-by-meaghan-mcisaac/
Dec 16 2021
First, a small pat on the back to myself for slowly but surely catching up on my reading backlog. Second, a huge pat on the back to everyone involved with Rick Riordan Presents, an imprint that showcases fantastic middle-grade fiction based on world mythologies. The representation is gloriously diverse and fascinatingly educational. I love mythology …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/16/the-cursed-carnival-and-other-calamities-new-stories-about-mythic-heroes-compiled-by-rick-riordan/
Dec 10 2021
This delightful adventure follows four young friends (or three young friends and one pesky younger sister, according to at least one of our foursome) as they’re drawn into the strange and wonderful realm of Cardboardia, there to serve as heroes or villains, depending on whom you ask. If you ask our four protagonists, ofc, they’ll …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/10/cardboardia-vol-1-the-other-side-of-the-box-by-richard-fairgray-and-lucy-campagnolo/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire