December 2025 archive

Sunset At Zero Point by Simon Stålenhag

Being a dyed-in-the-wool nerd, I first learned of Simon Stålenhag from the role-playing game adaptation of his first book, Tales From The Loop (still haven’t played it tho, as is tradition.) I also haven’t had a chance to watch the TV version despite having a crush on Rebecca Ferguson, and will likely never choose to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/10/sunset-at-zero-point-by-simon-stalenhag/

A Spy Inside The Castle by M. B. Courtenay (EXCERPT)

We have a terrific excerpt for you today, dear readers, from a debut novelist who isn’t afraid to explore the bleeding edge of espionage! Long-time readers will know that I’m a sucker for a mythological retelling, especially in a new and unexpected genre. M B Courtenay’s A Spy Inside The Castle riffs off the myth …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/09/a-spy-inside-the-castle-by-m-b-courtenay-excerpt/

Ghost Boys: The Graphic Novel by Jewell Parker Rhodes & Setor Fiadzigbey

adapted from the bestselling novel of the same name. I love that this powerful middle grade story was adapted to the graphic novel format because that feels so much more accessible to a wider variety of readers, not only to kids with short attention spans but also to adults with less time on our hands …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/08/ghost-boys-the-graphic-novel-by-jewell-parker-rhodes-setor-fiadzigbey/

How To Free A Jinn by Raidah Shah Idil (Guest Post)

Hello, readers! Today, I’m super thrilled to be able to bring you a guest post from debut author Raidah Shah Idil, whose middle grade novel How To Free A Jinn was only recently published this past November. Like myself, Pn Raidah is a member of the Malay diaspora. In her guest post, she talks about …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/05/how-to-free-a-jinn-by-raidah-shah-idil-guest-post/

Murder Runs In The Family by Tamara Berry

Honestly, every new Tamara Berry book is a treat, and I’m so glad I could finally get to this one! I’ve read all of her other mystery novels save one, and it was so disappointing to learn that her publishers aren’t picking up more of either of her prior series, both of which are excellently …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/04/murder-runs-in-the-family-by-tamara-berry/

The Glass Pyramid by Jeanne Walker Harvey & Khoa Le

subtitled A Story of the Louvre Museum and Architect I.M. Pei. I had no idea that the glass pyramid of the Louvre was only built in 1989! For some reason, I thought it was far more modern, tho perhaps I just wasn’t paying much attention at the time. After all, I’d visited the Louvre a …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/03/the-glass-pyramid-by-jeanne-walker-harvey-khoa-le/

House of Day, House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk

the cover of House of Day, House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk has a wobbly bird-like shape in black against a light background

A new edition of Olga Tokarczuk’s 1998 novel, House of Day, House of Night is out today from Riverhead Books! Translated from Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, House of Day, House of Night offers a series of vignettes that slowly grow the reader’s sense of a town with traumatic history. Olga Tokarczuk is squarely in the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/02/house-of-day-house-of-night-by-olga-tokarczuk/

Heartcore by Štěpánka Jislová

translated from the original Czech by Martha Kuhlman. Part of the problem with preferring to go in blind to books after I initially say yes to them (usually months and months ago) as a professional book critic is that I’m sometimes blindsided by topics that I didn’t think a book would cover to the extent …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/01/heartcore-by-stepanka-jislova/