Jun 06 2024
And we’re back! After the registration debacle in Chengdu last year — never mind all the subsequent scandals — it was a relief to be able to sign up quickly and easily for Glasgow and get my voting packet for the 2024 Hugo Awards. I begin my coverage, as always, with the Best Short Story …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/06/06/hugo-awards-2024-best-short-story-nominees/
Apr 24 2024
Contrary to the title, this book actually is something quite special. Callie Benson has always felt like something of an outcast, even in a world where humans and non-humans more or less co-exist (tho in large part due to the fact that most humans don’t actually believe that non-humans like Callie and her dad are …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/04/24/nothing-special-vol-one-through-the-elder-woods-by-katie-cook/
Apr 14 2024
“What kind of a life do you lead where you find yourself building a dog of bones?” (p. 2) Marra asks herself, though of course she knows. It’s the readers who want to know how she has come to this distinctly creepy, slightly mad pass. And she’s come to it wearing a cloak of owlcloth …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/04/14/nettle-and-bone-by-t-kingfisher/
Mar 31 2024
“And they all lived happily ever after.” That wasn’t quite the ending of Cornelia Funke’s epic Tintenherz (Inkheart) trilogy — some 2000 pages of action in and between the author’s world and the world within the books, complete with characters who can cross the borders and others who can write the stories from within — but …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/03/31/die-farbe-der-rache-by-cornelia-funke/
Mar 30 2024
Legends & Lattes showed the end of the adventuring career of Viv, an orc barbarian who decided she had had enough of treasure hunts and dungeon crawls. Bookshops & Bonedust shows how her first adventure very nearly became her last, and how the times in between quests can be every bit as important as the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/03/30/bookshops-bonedust-by-travis-baldree/
Mar 23 2024
“Does what it says on the tin” is a lovely Britishism for a lovely British book because The Sinister Booksellers of Bath keeps the promises that it makes. It’s a direct sequel to The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, picking up a few months after the end of that story. Merlin and Susan are still together, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/03/23/the-sinister-booksellers-of-bath-by-garth-nix/
Mar 19 2024
Hahaha, omg, Linnea is a much better person than I am, I would never want to speak to Cobalt again after what happens mid-way in this book! But before we get there, this graphic novel — with strong overtones of both Hayao Miyazaki and Pokemon properties — tells the tale of Cobalt Cogg, a young …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/03/19/the-inventor-vol-1-the-dangerous-discovery-by-lars-henrik-eriksen/
Mar 11 2024
A Wave Blue World goes from strength to strength with this, their latest comics anthology focusing on women, blades and sapphic love. As with any anthology, there’s a broad range of subject and subjective quality, meant to appeal to all tastes while still revolving around the central theme. More importantly, Sharp Wit And The Company …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/03/11/sharp-wit-and-the-company-of-women-edited-by-michele-abounader/
Mar 05 2024
This is one of those delightful graphic novels that plonks you into the action in media res, then skillfully unfolds a ton of world-building around you. Aimed at a middle grade audience, this is a terrific way to introduce that plot device to young readers, while immersing them in a wholly original fantasy world. Cactus …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/03/05/cactus-kid-and-the-battle-for-star-rock-mountain-by-emmanuel-guerrero/
Feb 22 2024
I have so little time to read lengthy books for pleasure nowadays, so it should give you an idea of exactly how much I rate A. G. Slatter that I absolutely dropped everything to be able to cover her latest novel here. I’m still over a week late with it (because so many books! So …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/02/22/the-briar-book-of-the-dead-by-a-g-slatter/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire