Oct 30 2023

Two Graves, Vol. 1: Wish You Were Here by Genevieve Valentine, Ming Doyle & Annie Wu

Hunh, I didn’t even realize this was a volume one until I went to catalog it on my Goodreads.

So this is a weird one for me. Sometimes, after reading a book, I’ll go check out other reviewers’ opinions on the afore-mentioned Goodreads because I feel like I should maybe be having a different reaction to the book than I’m currently experiencing. General consensus is useful for seeing whether I’m reacting from a very specific mental and emotional point or whether the book is just… like that. Two Graves Vol I falls, I’m afraid, into the latter category.

More specifically, it is a very odd book that has confused obfuscation with mystery and suspense. I didn’t understand half of what was going on and why, and the few answers I did finally get in the narrative just felt anticlimactic. As of the time I’m writing this (October 1st; the book’s publication date got pushed back, if you’re seeing this review much later than that,) I’m going through a pretty bad emotional period, where an unexpected betrayal has caused me to constantly question my own judgment. Fortunately, the opinions of other reviewers assured me that I am far from alone in feeling mystified by the choices made in this book.

With that settled, I can actually talk about Two Graves without thinking I’m doing it a disservice by possibly being partial or obtuse. The story is about a young woman named Emilia who’s gone on a road trip with Death. She can’t die, at least not until she carries her mother’s ashes from California to the Atlantic. But she can inflict pain and worse, not just on the wicked whose paths cross hers but also on Death himself. Through all this, the unlikely pair are being tracked by a trio of mysterious Hunters determined to stop them.

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Oct 29 2023

What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

All three Rivers of London novellas that have been published to date — The Furthest Station, The October Man, and now What Abigail Did That Summer — have left me wanting more, which is a fine recommendation for books that are meant as light, if occasionally spooky, entertainment. The stories all take place in and around London, in a world where magic works, but where practitioners are rare, not least because magical practice without training has a tendency to produce irreparable brain damage. The narrator of most of the series is Peter Grant, a young police officer of West African and Caribbean descent, but the summer of this novella’s title was for him Foxglove Summer, so he is off-stage and Aaronovitch gives readers Peter’s ferociously precocious cousin Abigail as the first-person narrator.

What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

Abigail has, in previous books, seen ghosts and thus been let in on the true nature of Peter’s police work. In her early teens, she’s become something of a regular at the Folly, the two-person unit officially responsible for what other police officers sometimes call “weird bollocks.” She is building her own relationship with Thomas Nightingale, the Detective Chief Inspector in charge of the Folly, who is also England’s strongest remaining wizard.

One level of the novella’s mystery is for readers to figure out what Abigail was doing that summer because the first chapter has her in an interview room in the Holmes Road police station navigating questioning with a combination of native intelligence, teen obstreperousness, and the inside knowledge that comes from having a cousin like Peter. It’s not going all that well, “this one’s already giving me the squinty-eyed look that adults always give me after meeting me for more than five minutes.” (p. 3) There are missing children, including someone named Simon; Abigail knows something that the police do not; and she is not telling. What’s going on?

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/29/what-abigail-did-that-summer-by-ben-aaronovitch/

Oct 28 2023

The Destroyer of Worlds by Matt Ruff

Reader, I was invested. Possibly even enthralled. At one point, I thought “Matt Ruff, if you XXXXX, I am throwing this book right out of the train window, and possibly Lovecraft Country too as soon as I get home and put my hands on my copy.” Not because the event would have been cheap or manipulative — it would have been completely in keeping with both the character and the world that Ruff shows; indeed its possibility was foreshadowed in an early chapter — but because I had come to like the character enough that if this particular horror had come to pass, I don’t think I would have been able to finish the book. Like I said, I was invested.

The Destroyer of Worlds by Matt Ruff

The Destroyer of Worlds is a sequel to Lovecraft Country, bringing back most of the earlier book’s characters, and develops others more fully. Where Lovecraft Country was a collection of linked stories that were complete in themselves but formed a larger narrative, The Destroyer of Worlds is a conventional novel, with short chapters that move among the points of view and threaded plots of the cast of characters. The ensemble of protagonists are Black friends and relatives from the South Side of Chicago. After a pre–Civil War prologue, the main story opens with Montrose Turner and his grown son Atticus traveling south to visit the site of the plantation their ancestor escaped from to mark the centennial of that momentous family event. George Berry, Montrose’s half-brother and publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide, Ruff’s fictional counterpart to The Negro Motorist Green Book, “begged off at the last minute.” (p. 13) Meanwhile, George’s wife Hippolyta and their son Horace plus Hippolyta’s friend Letitia Dandridge are on a trip of their own, driving out to Las Vegas, partly on business for the Guide, partly on a secret errand that ties back to events in Lovecraft Country.

Both sets of travelers get more than they bargained for. While there are supernatural terrors in the setting of Lovecraft Country and The Destroyer of Worlds, for Black people in 1957 America the powers that enforce white supremacy are every bit as frightening and often more immediate. Both sets of travelers have run-ins with local law enforcement. Atticus and Montrose spend a little too long observing a North Carolina chain gang, and one of the nearby police officers turns out to be a rural sheriff who appeared in Lovecraft Country. That situation goes downhill fast, and soon guns are blazing. Hippolyta, Horace and Letitia get pulled over at the Nevada border for a surprising reason that shows not every white officer is bad every time, but of course they could be, and there’s no way for a Black person to know in advance whether an encounter with the law might destroy their own world.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/28/the-destroyer-of-worlds-by-matt-ruff/

Oct 26 2023

Magical History Tour Vol 13 – Marie Curie: A Life In Science by Fabrice Erre & Sylvain Savoie

I continue to be impressed by the breadth, depth and humanity Fabrice Erre and Sylvain Savoie show in their long-running series on famous historical figures and events.

This thirteenth volume of the children’s illustrated series focuses on Marie Skłodowska Curie, who did so much and fought so hard to be able to help people and, along the way, get the recognition she so rightfully deserved. I, like so many others, know that she battled the sexism that sought to deprive her of an education, opportunities and career in order to become a Nobel-prize-winning scientist twice over. I know that her research into radioactivity and celebrated discovery of radium eventually led to her death by leukemia. But there was so much more that I didn’t know about this fascinating, complicated, heroic woman before reading Mssrs Erre & Savoia’s excellent biography, and so much I’m grateful to have been able to learn from the best and most accessible history series on the market today.

Framed as a conversation between level-headed, knowledgeable teenager Annie and her much more impulsive younger brother Nico, the book begins with the latter complaining that there’s nothing left to discover in all the world. Annie, ofc, points out that we cannot know what we do not know, which leads to a discussion of science and, specifically, Marie Curie.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/26/magical-history-tour-vol-13-marie-curie-a-life-in-science-by-fabrice-erre-sylvain-savoie/

Oct 25 2023

The Düngeonmeister Goblin Quest Coloring Book by Jef Aldrich, Jon Taylor & Zachary Bacus

Follow Along with―and Color―This All-New RPG Fantasy Adventure! (as the tagline goes)

So this is something of a departure from your usual book of role-playing adventure. Most modules/campaign books are just stuffed with stats and info to help the Dungeon Master (or Dungeon Meister, in this case. We’ll just use the standard DM from here on in to reference that) lead their party on a grand tale of derring-do. This adventure-coloring-book is much lighter on detail but gives players way more agency in randomly determining what happens next in the story — if that isn’t a contradiction in terms — often by choosing what to color.

The book also claims that you don’t need a DM to play but I genuinely cannot think of a role-playing system where that would actually succeed. Maybe a solo system like Ironsworn? It’s likely a failure of my imagination that I can’t come up with any alternatives for larger groups. That, however, does lead me to the next selling point of this volume: how it’s set up to be system agnostic. While the default is clearly Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, this adventure is easily adaptable to any high fantasy campaign. The book itself starts you off with four characters: a stalwart dragonborn fighter, a sly halfling rogue, a solemn human paladin and a comical tiefling warlock. They are all named but none have stats, so you have freedom in building their specialties. The book also adds villains and helpers as you go along, again with names and no stats.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/25/the-dungeonmeister-goblin-quest-coloring-book-by-jef-aldrich-jon-taylor-zachary-bacus/

Oct 24 2023

Sacrifices For Kingdoms by Patricia D’Arcy Laughlin (EXCERPT)

Read an excerpt from Sacrifices For Kingdoms, a debut contemporary romance/women’s fiction novel featuring Elizabeth, a sophisticated activist and philanthropist from Trinidad, and Michael, a socially conscious European prince, who are irresistibly drawn to one another. As their love deepens, they must navigate dangerous secrets, political intrigue, and the struggle to reconcile their opposing loyalties.

Elizabeth is a charismatic public speaker, advocating for equality with her provocative speeches on topics like “God Has No Gender.” Her activism draws the wrath of religious extremists, putting her safety at risk. Tragedy strikes when an assassin’s bullet hits its mark, leading to shocking revelations and the division of loyalties.

We were graciously given permission to let you take a look inside, with a passage from Chapter 2!

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CHAPTER 2
An Audacious Prince

They were about to slip away from the crowd when Elizabeth caught a glimpse of the group who had befriended her earlier. “I forgot to say goodbye to those lovely young people.”

The prince looked in the direction in which she was looking and said, “Ah, the twins and their friends. I’ll tell them you had to leave in a hurry later.”

“You know them?”

He grinned, “I should hope so. I’ve spent 18 long years helping them grow up. They’re my sister and brother.”

Elizabeth couldn’t hide her surprised look—she hadn’t recognized them, all grown up now. She smiled at him as she said, “This day has certainly been full of surprises.”

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/24/sacrifices-for-kingdoms-by-patricia-darcy-laughlin-excerpt/

Oct 23 2023

Mariko Between Worlds by Matthew Erman & Liana Kangas

with colors by Rebecca Nalty and lettering by Micah Myers.

First off, this is not a rom-com. As a fan of modern romances, I think it’s important that media with that label actually have the Happily Ever After (or For Now) ending, and this graphic novel certainly doesn’t. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t say anything about an ending that even hints at being a spoiler, but calling this a rom-com (as the official descriptions do!) feels like false advertising.

While Mariko Between Worlds may not be a rom-com, it is definitely a coming-of-age story. Our title protagonist has put her life on hold while she dates her boyfriend Rem. Rem has recently gotten what seems like a cushy job on the Moon Of Plenty. Unfortunately, the government has rejected her application to join him, effectively ending their six-year relationship.

Rem, a perpetual optimist, thinks that this means they have one last perfect day to spend together before he has to move away. The more responsible Mariko urges him to get his affairs in order before they embark on a hedonistic exploration of the Mall of Portals on the Plane of Games, where they live. But this last hurrah raises the question in Mariko’s mind of exactly why she’s held on to Rem for so long, even as an opportunity for her to earn the coveted visa appears, if she’ll only do an illicit favor for a shadowy figure.

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Oct 20 2023

Let The Dead Bury The Dead by Allison Epstein (EXCERPT)

Hi, readers! As we head into the weekend, let me gift you with an excerpt from Allison Epstein’s latest novel, Let The Dead Bury The Dead.

The war is over – it’s 1812 and Russian forces have defeated Napoleon. Sasha, a self-made captain of the Imperial Army, is finally coming home to his lover, the wayward Grand Duke Felix in Saint Petersburg. Sasha’s been dreaming of this moment but before he even makes it to Felix’s doorstep, their reunion is interrupted by a mysterious woman lying in the snow, Sofia. Maybe it’s all the folk tales Sasha grew up on, but he begins to suspect Sofia may not be…human. This twisted tale unfolds in Allison Epstein’s latest novel, LET THE DEAD BURY THE DEAD (Doubleday, Fiction; October 17, 2023).

Sofia’s presence drives an instant wedge between the reunited lovers. Sasha sees a cunning and dangerous witch, while Felix is charmed and taken by her political suggestions. Under her spell, Felix and Sofia separate from Sasha to join a dissident group of organizers, the Koalitsiya. They’re brewing up the largest strike the city has ever seen and Sasha is tasked with tracking the man he loves. Sofia’s power grows and tensions rise as the future of Russia could be forever changed.

Inspired by the Decembrist Revolt, Epstein creates a rich world full of revolutionaries, fairy tales and love in this reimagined history. Her irreverent and infectious sense of humor jumps through the thrilling and fast-paced story as she transports readers to dark and surreal Imperial Russia. Read on for an excerpt from the very first chapter:

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/20/let-the-dead-bury-the-dead-by-allison-epstein-excerpt/

Oct 19 2023

Looking Up by Stephan Pastis

Oh nooooo, this book gutted me at a time when I am already feeling down, ow, not okay! The biggest bummer is that I can’t tell you why because that would give away the tremendous plot, and frankly everyone of any age deserves to experience that for themselves.

So here’s the story I can tell you. Saint is a lonely young girl who doesn’t have a lot of friends because she is, objectively, an oddball. She’s that kid at parties who rescues pinatas and refuses to pin a tail on a donkey, no matter how fake, and won’t slice into a cake with a gnome on it because she protects everything with a face. She collects toy knights and has a life partner in the form of a painted turtle. Her relationship with her mother is contentious because, according to her, Mom never keeps promises. She’s really hoping, tho, that Mom will actually honor one to take her to her favorite toy store in a week.

But when that toy store is sold and demolished before Saint gets a chance to go again, her disappointment turns into action. She’s tired of all these gentrifiers coming into her town and buying up properties and getting rid of all the stores and people she knows and loves, and darned if she isn’t going to do something about it! With the help of the round-faced boy across the street, Daniel “Chance” McGibbons, she embarks on a plan to drive away change and save what’s left of her hometown.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/19/looking-up-by-stephan-pastis/

Oct 18 2023

Heart Attack by Shawn Kittelsen, Eric Zawadzki & Mike Spicer

In comparison to most of the graphic novels for grown-ups I’ve read recently, this felt quite long, but I think there’s a good reason for that. The original, published in 2020, only collected the first six issues of the series. This follow-up contains those and six more chapters that round out, at least for now, the story of Jill, Charlie and the (awesome) Free Betties.

Several decades in the future, gene therapy to prevent pandemic deaths accidentally brought into being children known as Variants. Their altered DNA gave them usually very small-time superpowers. Jill Kearney is an influencer/anchor on the Austin-based Freebodies HQ News, and has a tactile telekinesis (and no, I don’t fully understand what that is, either. Like she can move things with her mind that she could ordinarily move with her hands? Not sure, tbh.) Charlie North has hands that go hot. Both are perfect examples of the vast majority of Variants: possessed of an unusual but honestly quite limited extrasensory ability.

But when Jill and Charlie touch, something inexplicable happens. Their powers amplify, turning them into the Powers of Mass Destruction that Texas Governor Ann Pritchard warned of and won election on in a fear-mongering landslide. Because, people being people, the very existence of Variants terrifies the average voter, leading to a new strata of entirely legal discrimination against the mostly harmless. The Freebodies movement is a necessary reaction against the government and social oppression of Variants, with their founder and CEO Sefton Smith promoting nonviolent resistance against the fascism encroaching on their existence.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/18/heart-attack-by-shawn-kittelsen-eric-zawadzki-mike-spicer/