One of the possibly apocryphal stories told about Terry Pratchett being knighted for services to literature is that he said his service was “presumably not trying to write any.” He knew better, of course, and kept right on writing literature as long as he could. Pyramids is the seventh Discworld book, and at this point …
Category: Fantasy
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/04/29/pyramids-by-terry-pratchett-2/
Apr 27 2015
The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate by Ted Chiang
This novelette won the Hugo in 2007. I picked it up as a standalone e-book that was part of the Humble Bundle mentioned here, and it’s the first work I’ve read by Ted Chiang. It won’t be the last! The story as a whole is broken into several parts, which nest and braid together in …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/04/27/the-merchant-and-the-alchemists-gate-by-ted-chiang/
Apr 26 2015
Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
As probably one of the slowest readers in this group, I, perhaps, shouldn’t have chosen a book that was almost 600 pages long. With the heavy academic reading I do for work, and the last two books I read being emotionally hard and challenging, I just wanted something fun to read. Mistborn filled that role …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/04/26/mistborn-the-final-empire-by-brandon-sanderson/
Apr 20 2015
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
The witches from Equal Rites return in Wyrd Sisters, and it is clear that by this stage of the Discworld series, Pratchett has really begun to hit his stride. From the title page, where he says that Wyrd Sisters is “Starring Three Witches, also kings, daggers, crowns, storms, dwarfs, cats, ghosts, spectres, apes, bandits, demons, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/04/20/wyrd-sisters-by-terry-pratchett/
Mar 20 2015
Inside Job by Connie Willis
I had almost forgotten how charming Connie Willis’ writing can be. I started reading her in the mid-1990s with Bellwether, which is another one of those books I have to be careful about picking up because I will have a very difficult time putting it down again, no matter what else I am supposed to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/03/20/inside-job-by-connie-willis/
Mar 17 2015
Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
The beginning of Sourcery is very good, and the end is very good, and I am trying to think of why the middle didn’t work for me as well as Equal Rites and Mort, the two Discworld books that immediately precede it in order of publication. Equal Rites showed some of the magical power that …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/03/17/sourcery-by-terry-pratchett/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/03/15/bridge-of-birds-by-barry-hughart/
Mar 09 2015
Valour & Vanity by Mary Robinette Kowal
Valour and Vanity by Mary Robinette Kowal is the fourth of her Glamourist Histories series, following Shades of Milk & Honey, Glamour in Glass, and Without a Summer. The series crosses Regency romances with alternate (but not terribly alternate) history and a dash of domestic magic that may yet admit of industrial applications. The teaser …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/03/09/valour-vanity-by-mary-robinette-kowal/
Mar 07 2015
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
Equal Rites, the third Discworld novel, makes a big leap in quality from the second. Terry Pratchett leaves the characters who were at the hub of the first two novels and sets off to tell a completely independent tale. Having spent the second book concocting a tale of danger to the whole Disc and then …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/03/07/equal-rites-by-terry-pratchett/
Mar 05 2015
Render by Elizabeth C Mock
Not as good as the first in the series, but still above average. Once again, the magic theory was compelling, and I love Ms Mock’s overall plotting and world-building. The characters are flawed and believable, but… as with the first book, the overall writing is horrendous. Grammar and spelling are secondary, and what is it …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/03/05/render-by-elizabeth-c-mock/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire