Alix E Harrow can definitely be hit or miss for me. This, fortunately, was such a hit that I actually exclaimed “yes!” when I realized it was the first of a series. Zinnia Gray is no traditional princess. But she has been cursed, more or less, with a genetic disease known as Generalized Roseville Malady, …
Tag: Fantasy
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/18/a-spindle-splintered-fractured-fables-1-by-alix-e-harrow/
Jul 14 2022
Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard
I’m at the point in my reading life with Aliette de Bodard where I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not her, it’s me. Ms de Bodard is widely acclaimed, and I just don’t get it. Yes, I have loved every single one of the premises of the stories I’ve read of hers, with possibly …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/14/fireheart-tiger-by-aliette-de-bodard-2/
Jul 10 2022
A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
“Sleeping Beauty is pretty much the worst fairy tale, an way you slice it” says Zinnia Gray, first-person narrator of A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow. She adds, “Only dying girls like Sleeping Beauty.” (p. 2) And there’s the first catch, because Zinnia Gray is dying, victim of a rare genetic defect, most of …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/10/a-spindle-splintered-by-alix-e-harrow/
Jul 08 2022
Die, Vol. 4: Bleed by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans & Clayton Cowles
I’ve had time to think about it, and tho this final installment of the RPG-nerd series made me cry, it also made me kind of mad, and this is why: there’s a bizarrely “time to put away childish things” overtone to the ending that really irritated me. Kieron Gillen was trying to tread a fine …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/08/die-vol-4-bleed-by-kieron-gillen-stephanie-hans-clayton-cowles/
Jul 07 2022
Asterix Omnibus #7 by Rene Goscinny & Albert Uderzo
ably translated from the French by Joe Johnson. This omnnibus collects brand new translations of three full Asterix tales, originally written in the 1970s: Asterix And The Soothsayer, Asterix In Corsica, and Asterix And Caesar’s Gifts. Perhaps most interestingly, it also includes an afterword by Alexander Simmons, writer and founder of Kids’ ComicCon, who addresses …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/07/asterix-omnibus-7-by-rene-goscinny-albert-uderzo/
Jul 06 2022
Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I think Doug liked this one a lot more than I did. Lynesse Fourth Daughter is a princess who still believes in the old chivalric tales of courage and oaths. When the lands adjoining her mother’s Lanessite Empire are overrun by what the refugees refer to as demons, she chafes at the prevailing wisdom that …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/06/elder-race-by-adrian-tchaikovsky-2/
Jul 02 2022
Swords Against Wizardry by Fritz Leiber
Further into the adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Fritz Leiber tends toward longer stories. Swords Against Wizardry is mainly two tales, “Stardock” and “The Lords of Quarmall.” The other two in the volume, “In the Witch’s Tent” and “The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar” are little more than stage directions setting up the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/02/swords-against-wizardry-by-fritz-leiber/
Jun 30 2022
Ralph Azham Vol 1: Black Are The Stars by Lewis Trondheim
with colors by Brigitte Findakly and translations from the original French by Kim Thompson and Joe Johnson. I’m not sure what I expected when I cracked open this volume of anthropomorphic animals living in the countryside. From quite early on you see that our title character Ralph Azham is a bit of a loser, the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/30/ralph-azham-vol-1-black-are-the-stars-by-lewis-trondheim/
Jun 27 2022
Die, Vol. 3: The Great Game by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans & Clayton Cowles
Tho I’m a ginormous fangirl of both this series and its creative team, I must say that I’m glad that this installment was passed over for the Hugo nomination (for purely temporal reasons) because things definitely start to fuzz out of cohesion here. So! Our intrepid heroes were originally, literally sucked into the twenty-sided world …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/27/die-vol-3-the-great-game-by-kieron-gillen-stephanie-hans-clayton-cowles/
Jun 23 2022
The Last Session Vol. 1: Roll for Initiative by Jasmine Walls, Dozerdraws & Micah Myers
So on the one hand, I love any book with an inclusive portrayal of role-players and depictions of how out of game dynamics can affect in-game performance. On the other, yikes, these people need to play something that isn’t Dungeons & Dra– I mean, Dice & Deathtraps. I guess it’s unfair of me to stereotype …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/23/the-last-session-vol-1-roll-for-initiative-by-jasmine-walls-dozerdraws-micah-myers/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire