Book #140 of 2018: The Power by Naomi Alderman This globe-spanning novel about young women developing deadly electrical powers that ultimately rattle the established world order asks some sharp questions about gender, culture, and violence. It’s one part apocalyptic thriller a la Stephen King’s The Stand, and one part semi-satirical critique of our own patriarchal …
Author Archives: Joe Kessler
Book Review: Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao
Book #139 of 2018: Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao This debut novel about girlhood friends in India who still draw strength from their dreams of one another is a beautiful, evocative story of the cruelty of men and the resilience of women. It reminds me a lot of The Color Purple, especially in its …
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Movie Review: Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Movie #15 of 2018: Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) This movie is fun, although it’s definitely one where the longer you think about it and how it relates to the larger Star Wars canon, the more issues come to mind. I think it’s best when it’s aiming just to be a prequel and not …
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Book Review: Star Wars: Catalyst by James Luceno
Book #138 of 2018: Star Wars: Catalyst by James Luceno This Star Wars novel is neat for fleshing out the backstory between Galen Erso and Orson Krennic (and to a lesser extent Grand Moff Tarkin), but it gets bogged down in a few too many viewpoint characters and far too heavy a focus on Erso’s …
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Book Review: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Book #137 of 2018: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne A fun and imaginative classic of Victorian science-fiction. Author Jules Verne can sometimes get a bit didactic — and I wish he would distinguish more between established scientific fact and his own rampant speculations, many of which are now hilariously dated and …
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Book Review: Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd
Book #136 of 2018: Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd A heartbreaking little novel about a troubled girl who runs away from her foster home, donning a wig and creating a brave new identity for herself as she attempts to travel across England and find her mother in Ireland. With her past trauma gradually …
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Book Review: Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan
Book #135 of 2018: Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan (Takeshi Kovacs #2) This sequel to Altered Carbon is very different from that first book: the genre is more military sci-fi than neo-noir, it’s set on a completely different planet, and the only returning character has been downloaded into a brand-new body. (I really wonder …
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Book Review: The Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H. Wilson
Book #134 of 2018: The Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H. Wilson I’m not usually keen on the steampunk genre, but thankfully the mechanical ‘avtomats’ in this novel are less like clanking robots and more like Anne Rice’s vampires: functionally immortal humanoids whose origins are shrouded in mystery and who live among us in secret. In …
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Book Review: Self-Portrait with Boy by Rachel Lyon
Book #133 of 2018: Self-Portrait with Boy by Rachel Lyon This debut novel from author Rachel Lyon paints a sickeningly captivating picture of a starving artist who accidentally captures her neighbor’s nine-year-old son falling to his death in the background of a photography session. The resulting image of the dying boy is the best art …
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TV Review: iZombie, season 4
TV #31 of 2018: iZombie, season 4 I really admire how iZombie has blown up its own premise in every finale (except this one, oddly) and expanded the scope of its story in every season premiere, but this time the writers have really bitten off more than they could chew. The worldbuilding in this season …
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