Tag: Novella

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

I always really, really want to like Cassandra Khaw’s work more than I do. Ngl, this desire is due in large part to the Malaysian connection, which is enforced in spades by the fact that the entire cast of this book is Malaysian as well! Our five friends — after a fashion — converge on …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/01/11/nothing-but-blackened-teeth-by-cassandra-khaw/

A Psalm For The Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Ayfkm with this Eat, Pray, Love but make it sci-fi bullshit?! I saved the Becky Chambers novella for last on my Hugo nominations reading slate because I deeply love her full-length novels, even tho I was not a fan of her last novella, To Be Taught, If Fortunate. I found that effort too serious, too …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/27/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built-by-becky-chambers-2/

Across The Green Grass Fields (Wayward Children #6) by Seanan McGuire

with Rovina Cai’s amazing illustrations. One thing I love about the books in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series is how they’re all so readable. Even if I don’t like her protagonists or think characters are being daft or soapboxy, her pacing is usually so well done that I’m never bored with what’s happening, and keep …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/21/across-the-green-grass-fields-wayward-children-6-by-seanan-mcguire/

A Spindle Splintered (Fractured Fables #1) by Alix E. Harrow

Alix E Harrow can definitely be hit or miss for me. This, fortunately, was such a hit that I actually exclaimed “yes!” when I realized it was the first of a series. Zinnia Gray is no traditional princess. But she has been cursed, more or less, with a genetic disease known as Generalized Roseville Malady, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/18/a-spindle-splintered-fractured-fables-1-by-alix-e-harrow/

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

I’m at the point in my reading life with Aliette de Bodard where I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not her, it’s me. Ms de Bodard is widely acclaimed, and I just don’t get it. Yes, I have loved every single one of the premises of the stories I’ve read of hers, with possibly …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/14/fireheart-tiger-by-aliette-de-bodard-2/

A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

A Spindle Splintered by Alix M. Harrow

“Sleeping Beauty is pretty much the worst fairy tale, an way you slice it” says Zinnia Gray, first-person narrator of A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow. She adds, “Only dying girls like Sleeping Beauty.” (p. 2) And there’s the first catch, because Zinnia Gray is dying, victim of a rare genetic defect, most of …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/10/a-spindle-splintered-by-alix-e-harrow/

Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I think Doug liked this one a lot more than I did. Lynesse Fourth Daughter is a princess who still believes in the old chivalric tales of courage and oaths. When the lands adjoining her mother’s Lanessite Empire are overrun by what the refugees refer to as demons, she chafes at the prevailing wisdom that …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/06/elder-race-by-adrian-tchaikovsky-2/

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Becky Chambers dedicates A Psalm for the Wild-Built to “anybody who could use a break,” and the novella is, on the whole, very restful. It’s not without conflict, but it is a break from the grim, from the horrible, and it shows people trying to be their best selves. That’s not easy, and one person’s …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/03/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built-by-becky-chambers/

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

Across the Green Grass Fields is the first of Seanan McGuire‘s Wayward Children series that I have read that’s entirely waywardness, and I liked it that way. There’s no mention of Eleanor West’s Home, nor do any of the characters from the previous five novellas in the series appear. I didn’t miss them at all, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/21/across-the-green-grass-fields-by-seanan-mcguire/

The Past Is Red by Catherynne M. Valente

This is one of those books that I can appreciate, even if I don’t like it. And there’s a lot to like here, so maybe it’s just a me thing. I just… I feel like Cat Valente has a lot to process in terms of abuse and marriage, and that her issues spill out way …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/20/the-past-is-red-by-catherynne-m-valente/