Tag: Fantasy

Hugo Awards 2021: Best Novelette Nominees

There was an incredibly strong field in this category this year! I’m going to go ahead and review these from my least favorite to the one I hope will win, starting with Aliette de Bodard’s The Inaccessibility Of Heaven. In all honesty, her overuse of the em dash is a pet peeve of mine: it’s …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/10/28/hugo-awards-2021-best-novelette-nominees/

Monstress Vol. 5: Warchild by Marjorie M. Liu & Sana Takeda

To be perfectly honest, when I saw this series was nominated for the Best Graphic Story Hugo again, I sighed, girded my loins and decided to plunge in so as to get this over with quickly. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that all the things I disliked about the first four volumes were …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/10/22/monstress-vol-5-warchild-by-marjorie-m-liu-sana-takeda/

Hugo Awards 2021: Best Short Story Nominees

There was a wealth of authors I very much enjoy reading in this slate, and new-to-me authors I was pleased to make acquaintance of! On reflection, I don’t feel that this year’s list was as good as last year’s, tho was still solidly entertaining. As with last year, I’ll go over each (mostly) alphabetically. A …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/10/21/hugo-awards-2021-best-short-story-nominees/

Salt Magic by Hope Larson & Rebecca Mock

This stunningly original graphic novel tells a tale of life in Oklahoma after the Great War, when a young soldier returning from Europe triggers a curse, leaving his younger sister to find a way to save their family farm. Vonceil Taggart is the youngest of five children growing up on a farming homestead ten miles …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/10/20/salt-magic-by-hope-larson-rebecca-mock/

Piranesi Redux

On April 21, 1990, the second through sixth places on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart of pop music were occupied by “Don’t Wanna Fall in Love” by Jane Child, “All Around the World” by Lisa Stansfield, “I Wanna be Rich” by Calloway, “I’ll be Your Everything” by Tommy Page, and “Here and Now” by Luther Vandross. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/10/09/piranesi-redux/

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

I nearly noped out of Black Sun about a quarter of the way through, thinking that if I wanted to read about teachers abusing a child in supposed service to a greater cause then I would go back and read The Fifth Season and its sequels, but I don’t. I had given Black Sun a …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/10/08/black-sun-by-rebecca-roanhorse/

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Piranesi is a scientist, working to understand the world around him. That world may seem odd, or circumscribed, to readers, but Piranesi does not question it. It is the world, after all; the House. He does not inquire into its origins, nor try to understand its supports. Instead, he maps it. The House has Halls …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/10/01/piranesi-by-susanna-clarke/

Pahua And The Soul Stealer by Lori M. Lee

Ever since her father left and her mom moved her and her younger brother Matt away from the larger Hmong American community to live in small town Wisconsin, Pahua Moua has felt like the weirdo outsider. It isn’t just that she’s the only Asian person in her class. Her single mom has to work long …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/09/29/pahua-and-the-soul-stealer-by-lori-m-lee/

Gutter Mage by J.S. Kelley

I want to sit J S Kelley down, look into their eyes and assure them that the world desperately needs a Gutter Mage series. Okay, so maybe by “the world” I mean “I” but this book was just so much fantastic fun! Crossing an original fantasy concept with a hardboiled mystery with distinct Western elements, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/09/23/gutter-mage-by-j-s-kelley/

Iyanu: Child Of Wonder Volume 1 by Roye Okupe & Godwin Akpan

The second title in the YouNeek YouNiverse is just as gorgeous as its predecessor, the first volume of Malika: Warrior Queen, if not more so. The digital art is rendered with a colorful airiness reminiscent of manga but with decidedly African influences. And the use of color throughout is simply mind-blowing: Godwin Akpan is so …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/09/21/iyanu-child-of-wonder-volume-1-by-roye-okupe-godwin-akpan/