November 2014 archive

Nov 30 2014

Skin Deep (Simeon Grist #3) by Timothy Hallinan

Was actually pleasantly surprised by this! Picked it up for free way back when I started using the Kindle app and never got around to reading it, so didn’t really expect much when I cracked it open. The beginning didn’t really do anything to dispel doubt (especially since this book was written as the first …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/30/skin-deep-simeon-grist-3-by-timothy-hallinan/

Nov 28 2014

New Worlds, Lost Worlds: The Rule of the Tudors, 1485-1603 by Susan Brigden

A pretty good account of what has to me always seemed like the most exciting and inspiring era of English history. There was a lot more discussion of Irish history than I looked for in a book about Tudor England, and there was almost no discussion at all of the cultural achievements of the Renaissance, …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/28/new-worlds-lost-worlds-the-rule-of-the-tudors-1485-1603-by-susan-brigden/

Nov 27 2014

King Rat by China Miéville

Having read Perdido Street Station first, I’m fascinated to see how some of the themes are present here in nascent form. PSS is by far the superior book, but King Rat is a worthwhile entry to the urban fantasy oeuvre: grimy and bold and honest, if mean. It’s also a great take on the Pied …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/27/king-rat-by-china-mieville/

Nov 26 2014

Véra by Stacy Schiff

Thank God that’s over. I’ve realized that I come from the school of thought that would much rather let an artist’s work speak for itself. Particularly when I admire a product, such as the exquisite Lolita, I find that looking into the way it was made rarely serves to make me appreciate it more. Such …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/26/vera-by-stacy-schiff/

Nov 26 2014

Premature Evaluation: Finding Poland by Matthew Kelly

The first chapters of this book are giving me a case of the Yabbuts. Finding Poland is mostly a family chronicle, concerning Matthew Kelly’s great-grandmother and her two daughters, and how they went from pre-WWII eastern Poland to later life in the United Kingdom. By way of Kazakhstan, Iran and India. To get to why …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/26/premature-evaluation-finding-poland-by-matthew-kelly/

Nov 25 2014

Shards of a Broken Crown by Raymond Feist

The final book in Feist’s Serpentwar Saga, unless there are more that I have overlooked. Like all of Feist’s novels, the story is incredibly tacky yet somehow enjoyable to read. There is a confusing jumble of place names and character names and story arcs, as well as a lot of implied back story that somehow …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/25/shards-of-a-broken-crown-by-raymond-feistthe-final-book-in-feists-serpentwar-saga-unless-there-are-more-that-i-have-overlooked-like-all-of-feists-novels-the-story-is-incredibly-tacky-yet-someh/

Nov 24 2014

Korea: The First War We Lost by Bevin Alexander

The subtitle may raise eyebrows, but the author argues that we defeated the North Koreans and were in turn defeated by the Communist Chinese. The figure of MacArthur looms large in this story, a figure of genius compounded with hubris. The Inchon landing was such an astoundingly successful maneuver that thereafter the Joint Chiefs and …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/24/korea-the-first-war-we-lost-by-bevin-alexander/

Nov 17 2014

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

Ancillary Sword puts author Ann Leckie in a strong position to be the first author since 1991-92 to repeat as winner of the Hugo for best novel, and indeed to be only the second person ever to repeat Hugo/Nebula awards in that category. Which is mainly to say that Ancillary Sword is a terrific book, …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/17/ancillary-sword-by-ann-leckie/

Nov 12 2014

The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss

There are a lot of angry reviews in various places, saying this book is boring, saying that the author should be working on the main trilogy and not messing around with odd novellas, saying it isn’t worth the time, nothing happens, etc. They could not be more completely wrong. This is not a book about …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/12/the-slow-regard-of-silent-things-by-patrick-rothfuss/

Nov 11 2014

The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman

“If you grew up reading Harry Potter, read Lev Grossman’s Magicians trilogy.” That’s certainly how I would sell people on the books. They’re more adult than Potter, but they have structural similarities: Magic works in our world, but it is a secret known only to a few. There are schools that teach the adept how …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/11/the-magicians-land-by-lev-grossman/
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