TV #52 of 2020: Fargo, season 4 The latest year of this midwestern crime drama is circling an interesting idea of rival families exchanging child hostages a la Game of Thrones, but there’s not much of a plot to latch onto here beyond random violence. The most intriguing element, a 1950s black mafia, isn’t really …
Author Archives: Joe Kessler
Book Review: Soulswift by Megan Bannen
Book #283 of 2020: Soulswift by Megan Bannen Too many little things bug me about this standalone fantasy novel for me to rate it highly, but I think it will find a receptive audience among the YA star-crossed-lovers crowd. The arc of two sworn enemies gradually growing more tender towards one another is well-wrought, and …
Book Review: Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson
Book #282 of 2020: Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive #3.5) This novella was released shortly before the fourth proper Stormlight volume, initially as a Kickstarter exclusive, and I have to admit that I didn’t have great hopes for it despite generally enjoying author Brandon Sanderson’s works. I know plenty of folks will skip …
Continue reading “Book Review: Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson”
TV Review: The Office, season 7
TV #51 of 2020: The Office, season 7 Theoretically I suppose a modern audience could approach this year of The Office not knowing it was Steve Carell’s last, but since it was crafted by the writers and understood by contemporary viewers as such, I think that remains the key lens with which to consider it. …
Book Review: Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong – and What You Really Need to Know by Emily Oster
Book #281 of 2020: Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong – and What You Really Need to Know by Emily Oster I went into this 2013 read with high expectations based on author Emily Oster’s later parenting text Cribsheet, but unfortunately, I haven’t found this one nearly so helpful (although as the …
Book Review: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Book #280 of 2020: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn (Legendborn #1) A wicked smart fantasy from debut author Tracy Deonn, as much about the experience of a black girl entering college (or any other traditionally white and patriarchal space) as it is about the demon-hunting order of Arthurian knights she ends up joining there. The plot …
TV Review: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 1
TV #50 of 2020: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 1 My standard rating for a season of Star Trek has been three-out-of-five stars, reflecting a franchise sensibility that can land as either clichéd or solidly unremarkable as often as it hits genuinely effective heights. Imagine my surprise, then, at how strong this first year …
Continue reading “TV Review: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 1”
Book Review: Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny
Book #279 of 2020: Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny (The Chronicles of Amber #3) I appreciate that this third Amber volume makes time to revisit a few open questions from the first novel, and it’s as fun as ever to see the squabbling family of reality-hopping sorcerers and their swashbuckling antics. On the …
Continue reading “Book Review: Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny”
Book Review: The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic That Shaped Our History by Molly Caldwell Crosby
Book #278 of 2020: The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic That Shaped Our History by Molly Caldwell Crosby Informative but not necessarily interesting, this 2006 volume is mostly about Dr. Walter Reed and his associates in late-19th-century Cuba as they attempt to determine once and for all how the infectious …
Book Review: The Captive Kingdom by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Book #277 of 2020: The Captive Kingdom by Jennifer A. Nielsen (Ascendance #4) I was intrigued by the news that author Jennifer A. Nielsen would be returning to the world of her middle-grade fantasy Ascendance trilogy, but this next volume never quite manages to justify itself, especially given the backstory retcon twist midway through. The …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Captive Kingdom by Jennifer A. Nielsen”
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 