Book #195 of 2020: Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America by Sarah Kendzior Moderately informative about the pre-2016 Donald Trump, but significantly hampered by author Sarah Kendzior constantly begging the question on his corruption and guilt rather than presenting neutral facts and building a convincing argument towards …
Author Archives: Joe Kessler
Book Review: Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio
Book #194 of 2020: Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio (The Sun Eater #1) This feudal space opera reads like a sci-fi version of The Kingkiller Chronicle, in which a dreaded figure of whispered legend recounts his humble beginnings (including a lengthy sojourn reduced to a street urchin — the parallels are at times so …
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Book Review: File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents by Lemony Snicket
Book #193 of 2020: File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents by Lemony Snicket (All the Wrong Questions #2.5) This is a fun little diversion, albeit one wholly unnecessary to the series in which it takes place. The book is structured like an Encyclopedia Brown title, with short mysteries solved by the protagonist but not explained until …
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TV Review: The Good Wife, season 5
TV #33 of 2020: The Good Wife, season 5 Although it peters out slightly at the very end, this is overall an electrifying year of television, boldly delivering on character and plot arcs that have been in motion since practically the pilot. The Good Wife has been plenty strong to begin with, but the momentum …
Book Review: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
Book #192 of 2020: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones There’s a real visceral horror to this new 2020 release, in which a group of adult friends are revisited by a supernatural manifestation from their youth. I was expecting the book to be structured something like Stephen King’s It, but it plays out …
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TV Review: Shameless, season 9
TV #32 of 2020: Shameless, season 9 My biggest issue with late-stage Shameless is that it has largely fallen out of touch with its own history. Sometimes that manifests as overt plot holes for observant viewers: How does Frank have a .27 BAC when his donated liver purportedly limits him to one drink a day? …
Book Review: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown
Book #191 of 2020: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown (A Song of Wraiths and Ruin #1) Although I have questions about some of the character motivations, this is a strong debut novel from author Roseanne A. Brown, with interesting fantasy worldbuilding drawn from #ownvoices West African folklore, an all-black cast, …
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Book Review: Willow Moss and the Lost Day by Dominique Valente
Book #190 of 2020: Willow Moss and the Lost Day by Dominique Valente (Starfell #1) A whimsical yet somewhat generic children’s fantasy novel. I’d still maybe recommend it to kids or their parents who are tired of rereading classics like The Enchanted Forest Chronicles and The Two Princesses of Bamarre, but there’s not really much …
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Book Review: Doctor Who: Rose by Russell T. Davies
Book #189 of 2020: Doctor Who: Rose by Russell T. Davies This novelization of Doctor Who’s first Ninth Doctor episode from 2005 is made more interesting by the fact that it wasn’t written until 2018, and author / former showrunner Russell T. Davies has approached the project less as a strict retelling and more as …
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Book Review: Lord Foul’s Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson
Book #188 of 2020: Lord Foul’s Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever #1) On the surface, this 1977 novel is a Narnia-style portal fantasy, in which a person from our reality travels to another and gets caught up in an epic quest. The lush worldbuilding is as intricate and …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 