Tag: Fantasy

What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher

What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher

T. Kingfisher’s third Sworn Soldier novella — following What Moves the Dead and What Feasts at Night — takes Alex Easton and their* batsman Angus to America at the urgent behest of their friend James Denton, a doctor last seen by readers not far from where the House of Usher had fallen. He had returned home, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/02/01/what-stalks-the-deep-by-t-kingfisher/

Two From the Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo

The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo

In the two most recent Singing Hills books — The Brides of High Hill and A Mouthful of Dust — Nghi Vo takes her protagonist, the historian Cleric Chih, to much darker places than in the three previous books of this series that I have read. (Those are, in order, The Empress of Salt and Fortune, When …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/28/two-from-the-singing-hills-cycle-by-nghi-vo/

That’s Dickens with a C and a K, the Well-Known English Author

Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ’Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/24/thats-dickens-with-a-c-and-a-k-the-well-known-english-author-5/

Two Short Reviews for December

Lies, Damned Lies, and History by Jodi Taylor

I like seeing authors trying new things, and seeing Travis Baldree, who writes in a corner of fantasy that sometimes strikes me as authors and readers trying to connect over a menu of tags — “I’ll have a found-family, sapphic, friends-to-lovers tale with a side order of hidden magic, hold the prophecies and the Chosen One, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/21/two-short-reviews-for-december/

Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

Hemlock & Silver is T. Kingfisher’s latest novel, and the sixth of her works that I have read this year. I’ve already bought six more, and I have a list of which of works are being published or re-published in 2026, so I have a lot of Kingfisher to look forward to. I’m looking forward …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/14/hemlock-silver-by-t-kingfisher/

An Unrelated Pair of Books by Emily Tesh and Lois McMaster Bujold

Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold

The thing about The Incandescent by Emily Tesh as a novel about a magic boarding school in England is that it’s told from the adults’ point of view, adults who take their responsibilities seriously, and who have real lives that are separate from what is happening to the students. Boarding-school stories often assign the teachers …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/13/an-unrelated-pair-of-books-by-emily-tesh-and-lois-mcmaster-bujold/

Black Friday: Short Stories From Africa by Cheryl S Ntumy

And now for a little counter-programming… (she says, having already bought a huge stack of gifts online.) Subtitled Fantasy and Science Fiction from a Powerful African Voice (and with a foreword by Eugen Bacon,) this collection definitely functions as both a critique of capitalism and other exploitative systems, as well as a celebration of Ghana …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/28/black-friday-short-stories-from-africa-by-cheryl-s-ntumy/

Sunder, Tome One: Small Beginnings by Pierre-Alexandre Comtois, Mark Englert & Buddy Beaudoin

Small beginnings is right, as a humble young monk finds himself plunged into an epic quest over the course of this science fantasy adventure! Zeek has only ever known life at the monastery. For the most part, he enjoys his work of transcribing books, even if he’d much rather be having adventures than copying them …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/25/sunder-tome-one-small-beginnings-by-pierre-alexandre-comtois-mark-englert-buddy-beaudoin/

A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East by Laszlo Krasznahorkai

Mountain to the North Etc by Laszlo Krasznahorkai

A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East by László Krasznahorkai belongs to the branch of literature that’s more “do unusual things with words” than “tell a story.” I picked it up on a recent trip to Frankfurt because Krasznahorkai won the 2025 Nobel …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/22/a-mountain-to-the-north-a-lake-to-the-south-paths-to-the-west-a-river-to-the-east-by-laszlo-krasznahorkai/

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

The problem with telling a story, of course, is that you already know that I’m telling you about something significant that happened. It’s not as if we sat down together and you said, “Alex, tell me a tale where you had a pleasant trip to your homeland and the worst menace you faced was the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/16/what-feasts-at-night-by-t-kingfisher/