And here I thought I’d broken my streak of being grumpy with the science in speculative fiction novels! Granted, my last read, Oliver K Langmead’s terrific Birds Of Paradise, never pretended at being scientific, to its credit. But here I am reviewing another novel with half-baked scientific ideas that could have just been hand-waved entirely …
March 2021 archive
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/03/31/down-world-by-rebecca-phelps/
Mar 30 2021
Birds Of Paradise by Oliver K. Langmead
A gorgeous, almost dream-like meditation on dissociation, love, belonging and grief, punctuated by flashes of violence and pain, Birds Of Paradise follows the first man, Adam, as he’s making his way through modern life. When a Hollywood security gig goes awry, he’s hustled out of the country by Rook, who along with several other of …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/03/30/birds-of-paradise-by-oliver-k-langmead/
Mar 29 2021
Greek Mythology: The Gods, Goddesses, And Heroes Handbook by Liv Albert with illustrations by Sara Richard
Gosh, this is just such a beautiful book. The cover is both gorgeous to look at and lovely to touch, and the interior illustrations exceptionally good-looking. Kudos to Sara Richard for her terrific illustrative work here, depicting the old stories in flowing lines that blend the best of Arts Deco and Nouveau for a fresh, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/03/29/greek-mythology-the-gods-goddesses-and-heroes-handbook-by-liv-albert-with-illustrations-by-sara-richard/
Mar 28 2021
Georgia: In the Mountains of Poetry by Peter Nasmyth
In his preface to this, fourth, edition of Georgia: In the Mountains of Poetry, Peter Nasmyth writes that he has seen the book migrate from the Travel section of bookstores over into History. Likewise Nasmyth has transformed from a footloose twentysomething seeker, happening to stop in Moscow on his way from India back to England, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/03/28/georgia-in-the-mountains-of-poetry-by-peter-nasmyth/
Mar 27 2021
The Unbroken (Magic of the Lost #1) by C.L. Clark
The Unbroken starts out extremely promisingly, telling the tale of Touraine, the young Qazali who was taken from her home as a kid and raised in the Balladairean empire as a member of the colonial forces, meant to be the first troops sent back to quell any uprisings in their land of birth. And here …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/03/27/the-unbroken-magic-of-the-lost-1-by-c-l-clark/
Mar 25 2021
Shadows of the Short Days by Alexander Dan Vilhjalmsson
Hrimland, an alternate Iceland, sighs under its exploitation by Kalmar, a Nordic union that in history lasted from 1397 to 1523 but extends into the unspecified present of Shadows of the Short Days. Garún feels that exploitation more keenly than most; half human and half huldufólk, she’s an outcast among the oppressed. Worse, she left …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/03/25/shadows-of-the-short-days-by-alexander-dan-vilhjalmsson-2/
Mar 25 2021
Deathless Divide (Dread Nation #2) by Justina Ireland
Thank God for Katherine! I was pretty fond of her in the first novel of the series too, and am so, so glad she gets entire viewpoint chapters in this novel, alternating with Jane’s. Deathless Divide begins with the girls fleeing Summerland and trying to figure out, with their small band of survivors, where to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/03/25/deathless-divide-dread-nation-2-by-justina-ireland/
Mar 24 2021
The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
More than any other book I can think of Wolf Hall impressed upon me the number of people constantly present in a pre-modern household of any size. The first book of Hilary Mantel’s trilogy about the life of Thomas Cromwell, it teems with people coming in and out the main character’s presence, from its unforgettable …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/03/24/the-mirror-and-the-light-by-hilary-mantel/
Mar 22 2021
Namesake (Fable #2) by Adrienne Young
Deeeeeep sigh. So I was sent this book without having read the first one, and when I went to read Fable to get myself up to speed, I was Not Impressed. That was a book that romanticized immature people making irrational choices. This sequel has the dubious virtue of being utterly consistent with its predecessor. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/03/22/namesake-fable-2-by-adrienne-young/
Mar 21 2021
Die Olympiasiegerin by Herbert Achternbusch
There’s a scene in “Before Sunrise” where the young couple encounters two Austrian guys who tell the visitors about a play they are putting on, an eye-rolling bit of Continental pretension. Man with tie: This is a play we’re both in, and we would like to invite you. Céline: You’re actors? Man with tie: No, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/03/21/die-olympiasiegerin-by-herbert-achternbusch/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire