Book #1 of 2016: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger So much better than I was expecting it to be. I remember seeing a trailer for the movie adaptation way back in the day, which made me think this story was going to be really Nicholas Sparks-y. And it was, to some degree, but …
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TV #1 of 2016: The Legend of Korra, season 2 Honestly, what even was that? I’ve never been a huge fan of this particular franchise, but this season represents a new low for me. It’s just such a mess on pretty much every level: plotting, character arcs, worldbuilding, you name it. And for Korra and …
Book #88 of 2015: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin I may have been too old when I first came at this book, because the whole affair left me supremely unsatisfied. Kids might be caught up in the adventure of the premise and enjoy watching the characters hunt for clues, but I felt as though …
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Book #87 of 2015: Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce (Song of the Lioness #1-4) I read this fantasy quartet bound as a single hardback edition, only realizing later that the different sections of the story were actually separate books. For that reason — and because I’m piecing together this review from scattered notes …
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Book #86 of 2015: The King’s Justice by Stephen R. Donaldson I wasn’t super blown away by either of the two (unrelated) novellas in this book, but even middle-of-the-road Stephen R. Donaldson is still worth the read. And there are echoes of many of the stories I love from his collection Reave the Just and …
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TV #53 of 2015: Doctor Who, season 9 I know a lot of people have cooled on Doctor Who lately — or perhaps just on showrunner Steven Moffat — but the season that just ended was seriously the best one since Matt Smith’s first in 2010, and free of a lot of those twisty Moffatisms …
TV #56 of 2015: The Legend of Korra, season 1 I already like this Avatar sequel far better than I ever did the parent show, but it’s a little disappointing how neatly everything gets wrapped up at the end of this first season. I know they weren’t sure if they would get renewed or not, …
Book #80 of 2015: Doc by Mary Doria Russell (Doc Holliday #1) Historical fiction is usually not my thing, but I enjoyed this novelized account of Doc Holliday’s life before the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Maybe it helps that I didn’t really know anything about Holliday or his friend Wyatt Earp going into …
Book #78 of 2015: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn #5) I have mixed feelings about this Mistborn novel. For backstory: author Brandon Sanderson originally wrote a high fantasy trilogy in this setting, and plans to someday write another series where the technology has progressed to modern levels. He then added a standalone novel, …
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Movie #23 of 2015: The Martian (2015) This was so good! I really wanted to read the book first, and I still plan to get to that at some point, but I’m #10 on the library waiting list and I decided the movie was worth catching in theaters. And I’m so glad, because the visuals …
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