Tag: Science Fiction

Interstellar Megachef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

Interstellar Megachef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

Interstellar Megachef was another 450-page book that I thought held a 250-page story. Often when I have that feeling about a book, I consider what I think should be cut but I usually draw a blank and offer the slightly lame explanation that if I knew where and how to trim novels, I would be …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/08/interstellar-megachef-by-lavanya-lakshminarayan/

A Palace Near The Wind by Ai Jiang

One of these days, I’ll like a piece by Ai Jiang, but today is not that day. I’m just so baffled by her writing, and in a way that doesn’t even make me want to lay the blame at her feet necessarily. This is actually one of the few, perhaps only, times that I’ve questioned …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/10/09/a-palace-near-the-wind-by-ai-jiang/

The Holy Roller: Volume One by Andy Samberg, Rick Remender, Joe Trohman, Roland Boschi & Moreno Dinisio

Yes, it is absolutely ludicrous to have a vigilante whose main weapon is a bowling ball, but he’s out there fighting neo-Nazis and we 100% need more of that nowadays! And it isn’t just some cut-and-dried good guy vs generic white nationalists story either. There’s a lot of nuance in this book, as well as …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/10/06/the-holy-roller-volume-one-by-andy-samberg-rick-remender-joe-trohman-roland-boschi-moreno-dinisio/

The Martian Contingency by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Martian Contingency by Mary Robinette Kowal

The fourth, and presumably final, Lady Astronauts of Mars novel begins with an echo of the opening of the first. “Do you remember where you were when the stars came out? I was with my husband, on Mars.” (p. 14) It’s 1970, and there hasn’t been a clear night sky on Earth since early March …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/09/13/the-martian-contingency-by-mary-robinette-kowal/

Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold

Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold

In Cetaganda Miles Vorkosigan, who is all of 22 years old, is sent to represent his home world of Barrayar at the funeral of the Cetagandan Dowager Empress. Accompanying him is his cousin Ivan Vorpatril, who is not much older. Cetaganda possesses a sprawling empire, by the terms of the Vorkosigan series, “eight developed planets …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/09/07/cetaganda-by-lois-mcmaster-bujold/

A Drop Of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett

How serendipitous that I could finally dive into this right as the preceding book in the Shadow Of The Leviathan series (also an Ana And Din mystery) deservedly won the 2025 Hugo for Best Novel! I’d venture to say that A Drop of Corruption is even better than The Tainted Cup, and not just because …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/09/04/a-drop-of-corruption-by-robert-jackson-bennett/

Translation State by Ann Leckie

Translation State by Ann Leckie

I never did finish writing my review of Ancillary Mercy, the final book of Ann Leckie‘s Imperial Raadch trilogy, but here is part of its beginning: Presger Translator Zeiat may be my favorite character in science fiction from 2015. I’ll have to think about it a little while more to be sure, but she is …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/09/01/translation-state-by-ann-leckie/

Salvagia by Tim Chawaga (EXCERPT)

Hello, readers! Today we have an excerpt from a thrilling work of speculative fiction that falls under the cli(mate change)-fi heading, as a near-future scavenger finds herself embroiled in the murder of a powerful corporate figure. Triss Mackey is flying just under the radar, exploiting a government loophole that lets her live quietly aboard her …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/12/salvagia-by-tim-chawaga-excerpt/

Psychopomp by Maria Dong

I fell head over heels in love with Maria Dong’s genre-bending debut Liar, Dreamer, Thief, so when Ms Dong herself reached out asking if I’d like a copy of her follow-up novel, the more sci-fi Psychopomp, I was absolutely gasping to say yes. Psychopomp has lots of the same themes that LDT did, tho set …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/06/psychopomp-by-maria-dong/

Star Trek: Lower Decks ― Warp Your Own Way by Ryan North & Chris Fenoglio

As a bad Trekker with little time for TV, I have yet to watch a single episode of Lower Decks, tho it was certainly top of list for me even before I read this astonishing book. I figured that this graphic novel would be a great introduction to the series but was thoroughly unprepared for …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/07/28/star-trek-lower-decks-%e2%80%95-warp-your-own-way-by-ryan-north-chris-fenoglio/