Okay, so I came to this book from the very excellent Amazon show, and it almost seems unfair to review it now when I’ll always have the comparison in my mind. As source material for the very excellent show, it’s very rich in subject, and I was impressed by Philip K Dick’s ability to get …
Tag: Science Fiction
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2017/04/23/the-man-in-the-high-castle-by-philip-k-dick/
Apr 22 2017
The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
The Caves of Steel is really the first of Asimov’s robot novels, as I, Robot was short stories stitched together by a tiny framework narrative. In the introduction, Asimov relates that the conceit of the novel came out of a conversation with an editor: a science fiction mystery that didn’t use technology to cheat and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2017/04/22/the-caves-of-steel-by-isaac-asimov/
Apr 16 2017
Rules of the Game (Endgame #3) by James Frey & Nils Johnson-Shelton
So I’m not in this book so CLEARLY it is a huge disappointment. Jk, that isn’t why it was disappointing (tho I could have forgiven my omission had the book made up for it otherwise.) It’s hard to go into why the book failed to reach the levels of awesomeness that the first two books …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2017/04/16/rules-of-the-game-endgame-3-by-james-frey-nils-johnson-shelton/
Apr 10 2017
Shadow & Claw (The Book of the New Sun #1-2 ) by Gene Wolfe
At the end, I put down the book and said aloud, “That was a goddamn waste of time.” I get that this is just the first two books in a four (or five, if you’re a completist) book series, but damn, how can you reasonably argue that a reader has to slog through 400+ pages …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2017/04/10/shadow-claw-the-book-of-the-new-sun-1-2-by-gene-wolfe/
Feb 22 2017
An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L’Engle
An Acceptable Time strikes me as unusually autumnal for a young adult novel. Meg, the heroine of A Wrinkle in Time, has moved off-stage in this, the fifth novel of the Time quintet. Her daughter Polly shares the spotlight with her parents (Polly’s grandparents), Alex and Kate Murray, doctors of physics and chemistry, respectively. The …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2017/02/22/an-acceptable-time-by-madeleine-lengle/
Feb 20 2017
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
The sci-fi in this book was complex and thought-provoking but holy shit, everything else about this book was, at best, only marginally irritating, and at worst, deeply disturbing in its casually condescending, constantly self-pitying worldview. So one night the stars go out, and three adolescents who essentially grew up together and never really grow apart …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2017/02/20/spin-by-robert-charles-wilson/
Dec 28 2016
Death’s End (Remembrance Of Earth’s Past #3) by Liu Cixin
To give you a good idea of how enraging this book was, about 75% of the way through, my nerve broke and I started ranting about it in Bookclub chat, because I just couldn’t take it any more. I could overlook the utterly contemptible “she’s a woman, not a warrior” misogyny that permeates the book, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/12/28/deaths-end-remembrance-of-earths-past-3-by-liu-cixin/
Dec 24 2016
Witness In Death (In Death #10) by J. D. Robb
It’s weird, I feel like this should have been a more powerful story for me. All the plot points are there, plus it’s set in The Theatre, so this is exactly the kind of mystery I should love. But there was something about it that was a little too overwrought, IMO. The killer’s little asides, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/12/24/witness-in-death-in-death-10-by-j-d-robb/
Dec 18 2016
Conspiracy In Death (In Death #8) by J. D. Robb
Undoubtedly the weakest of the first nine books. I’m v glad I read this only after the ninth, as I would have strongly suspected the dreaded 8th-book slump and written off the rest of the series (well, excepting for the fact that I’m being paid to review the ninth, so would have read that anyway.) …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/12/18/conspiracy-in-death-in-death-8-by-j-d-robb/
Dec 09 2016
Holiday In Death (In Death #7) by J. D. Robb
Another solid installment to the series. Loved the Christmas murder angle, even if I thought it was obvious, the way it usually is in Law & Order episodes, whodunnit. I also really enjoyed the exploration into Eve’s psyche: it’s nice that she’s kind of a horrible person but is working really hard at not being …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/12/09/holiday-in-death-in-death-7-by-j-d-robb/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire