Book #130 of 2016: Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #4) A weird and kind of unnecessary add-on to the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. I’m generally a fan of supporting characters getting to tell their own stories – that’s what’s given us such classics as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead or …
Author Archives: Joe Kessler
Book Review: Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson
Book #129 of 2016: Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson A scattered but hilarious memoir about living with mental illness – and about how that isn’t inherently a contradiction in terms. Lawson doesn’t shy away from the low moments that her condition has brought her to (or that her husband …
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Book Review: The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Book #128 of 2016: The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen (The Ascendance Trilogy #3) The first novel in this trilogy was definitely the strongest, but this third one resolves the larger story nicely, and it’s always a joy to spend more time with a character like Sage. His ability to think his way out …
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Book Review: The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd
Book #127 of 2016: The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd (The Madman’s Daughter #1) I love the idea of a prequel to The Island of Dr. Moreau, particularly one told from the point of view of his daughter (a new invention – there were basically no female characters in the original novel). And that idea …
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Book Review: The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells
Book #126 of 2016: The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells This novel about a mad scientist and his animal-human hybrids is justifiably a classic, and a clear precursor to modern “biopunk” stories like The Rook or Leviathan. I was also surprised to recognize its influence on Jurassic Park, with its plot of …
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TV Review: Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life
TV #49 of 2016: Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life An absolutely amazing revival (and presumed finale?) to the original show, which went off the air back in 2007. Among the things I love about this new miniseries is that it really feels like ten years have gone by for these characters. So many …
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Book Review: The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Book #125 of 2016: The Magicians by Lev Grossman (The Magicians #1) Thematically, The Magicians is a story about wizards with depression, and about how getting your heart’s desire isn’t always enough to make you happy. That’s a perspective that’s pretty rare in the fantasy genre, and I appreciated author Lev Grossman giving his characters …
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TV Review: Vixen, season 2
TV #47 of 2016: Vixen, season 2 This is still a pretty lightweight entry in the CW Arrowverse, to the point where I’m not even sure if it’s fully canonical or not. (It doesn’t help that each “season” is about 45 minutes long, and it’s hard to remember individual “episodes” when they’re only a few …
Book Review: Armada by Ernest Cline
Book #124 of 2016: Armada by Ernest Cline This follow-up to Ernest Cline’s first novel Ready Player One is (perhaps inevitably) a bit of a let-down, as it is nowhere near as inventive as that other story. Like RPO, Armada is packed full of Cline’s signature nerd culture references, but the plot they’re in service …
Book Review: Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia by Brandon Sanderson
Book #123 of 2016: Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia by Brandon Sanderson (Alcatraz #3) Another fun entry in Brandon Sanderson’s Alcatraz series, again harnessing his love of creative magical systems into something more whimsical than his typical fantasy novels for older readers. In this third book in the series, the politics get murkier and …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 