May 30 2023
The hallmark of a great graphic novel is that even in the wordless panels, you can still hear precisely what’s going on. There’s a big, climactic battle scene near the end of this book that’s entirely devoid of the written word, yet I could hear every single thing that was happening and to loud, orchestral …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/05/30/avas-demon-book-one-reborn-by-michelle-fus/
May 21 2023
In contrast to Doreen, I do not feel perfectly suited to review Black Water Sister. I’m basically none of the things that the protagonist is, starting with Malaysian and ending with haunted by my maternal grandmother’s ghost. (To be clear, Doreen is not haunted by her grandmother’s ghost either. As far as I know.) None …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/05/21/black-water-sister-by-zen-cho-2/
May 12 2023
A Women In Horror Poetry Collection, Volume I Usually when I read poetry, I read in great big chunks, especially when reading a collection from one of my favorite poets. Even larger anthologies from different writers go by quickly, or at least in big thematic pieces. So I was a little surprised, but not in …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/05/12/under-her-skin-edited-by-lindy-ryan-toni-miller/
Mar 22 2023
This is a strange, arresting book that one hundred percent works better as a novel(la) than as the lyric game it purports to be. Ostensibly a collection of spells and games created and played by two young girls living within recent memory, the short descriptions take common childhood games of the West and give them …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/03/22/lilancholy-by-john-battle/
Feb 10 2023
Oh man, I absolutely loved this bananas sequel to River Of Ashes! A large part of this is probably due to the fact that we don’t have to live in the viewpoint of a psychopath, as we did in this novel’s precursor, but instead experience events from the perspectives of people struggling to come to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/10/river-of-wrath-st-benedict-2-by-alexandrea-weis-lucas-astor/
Feb 09 2023
First, I have to say that I’m really glad that this is being marketed as horror and not Young Adult, despite the main cast all being teenagers. There’s quite a bit of graphic stuff in here that probably isn’t suitable for the fade-to-black nature of the YA genre, and the last thing anyone needs is …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/02/09/river-of-ashes-st-benedict-1-by-alexandrea-weis-and-lucas-astor/
Jan 11 2023
I always really, really want to like Cassandra Khaw’s work more than I do. Ngl, this desire is due in large part to the Malaysian connection, which is enforced in spades by the fact that the entire cast of this book is Malaysian as well! Our five friends — after a fashion — converge on …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/01/11/nothing-but-blackened-teeth-by-cassandra-khaw/
Nov 20 2022
A country and a century, told through what happened to a family, narrated by a member of that family’s next-to-youngest generation, dedicated to a member of the youngest generation who is trying to both escape and understand the legacy she is bearing. In The Eighth Life (For Brilka), Nino Haratischvili brings her native Georgia to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/11/20/the-eighth-life-by-nino-haratischvili/
Nov 10 2022
I love the idea of this anthology that collects works from 26 different women worldwide, all on the theme of the mythical Baba Yaga. It’s a really rich subject open to different, intriguing interpretations. For those of you unfamiliar with the myth, our subject is the old wise woman of Slavic lore, who lives in …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/11/10/into-the-forest-tales-of-the-baba-yaga-edited-by-lindy-ryan/
Oct 23 2022
Seldom does a book’s title fit so perfectly, so terribly as Inhuman Land by Jozef Czapski (pron. “Chop-ski”). He was born into an aristocratic Polish family in Prague, at a time when that city was ruled from Vienna as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Czapski grew up near Minsk, in present-day Belarus; he finished his …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/10/23/inhuman-land-by-jozef-czapski/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire