TV #10 of 2024: Seinfeld, season 5 This season of Seinfeld doesn’t have a major arc like the meta show-within-a-show factor of the previous year, but it’s nevertheless a strong run of episodes made distinctive by the development of George moving back in with his parents, which allows for new kinds of story premises and …
Author Archives: Joe Kessler
Book Review: Terec and the Wild by Victoria Goddard
Book #48 of 2024: Terec and the Wild by Victoria Goddard For most people within the boundaries of Astandalas, the magic that flows out of their ruler to knit the empire together is either unnoticed or experienced like a gentle balm. A select few with their own strong powers chafe against it, however, and for …
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Book Review: The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson
Book #47 of 2024: The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson [Disclaimer: I am Facebook friends with this author.] I’ve read most of author Brandon Sanderson’s published writing, and this Hugo Award-winning fantasy novella from 2012 remains my absolute favorite, a title I’ve returned to and reread on multiple occasions (both as a standalone feature and …
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Book Review: Doctor Who: The Giggle by James Goss
Book #46 of 2024: Doctor Who: The Giggle by James Goss This. THIS is what I’ve been hoping for from these recent Doctor Who novelizations, a winking adaptation that elevates its source material into something even madder and ever more brilliant. Don’t get me wrong: this James Goss novel obviously owes its existence to the …
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Book Review: Book of War by John Peel
Book #45 of 2024: Book of War by John Peel (Diadem: Worlds of Magic #7) The Diadem series had its ups and downs, but when it ended its initial six-book run with Scholastic in 1998, there weren’t really any major lingering plot threads that made its continuation seem likely or at all necessary from a …
Book Review: Dark Heir by C. S. Pacat
Book #44 of 2024: Dark Heir by C. S. Pacat (Dark Rise #2) I loved the twist at the end of the first Dark Rise novel, but felt like the majority of the book leading up to it was too slow-paced and generic for my tastes (shadowy riders chasing a young farmboy from his home …
Book Review: The Forest Demands Its Due by Kosoko Jackson
Book #43 of 2024: The Forest Demands Its Due by Kosoko Jackson I was initially drawn in by the protagonist of this work, a troubled gay Black teen struggling to settle into his new Vermont boarding school when the forest just outside its grounds keeps whispering at him. Unfortunately, the novel that follows doesn’t really …
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Book Review: Aurelius (to be called) Magnus by Victoria Goddard
Book #42 of 2024: Aurelius (to be called) Magnus by Victoria Goddard From what I’ve read so far, the majority of author Victoria Goddard’s Nine Worlds saga takes place in and around the time of Artorin Damara, the hundredth and final Emperor of Astandalas. This prequel novella, by contrast, is set many centuries prior, and …
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Book Review: Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie
Book #41 of 2024: Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie Author Agatha Christie’s 80th book, published on the occasion of her 80th birthday in 1970, is one of only four of her novels that have never been adapted for television or film. I’ve already read two of the others, Death Comes as the End and …
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Book Review: Alien Terror by Chris Archer
Book #40 of 2024: Alien Terror by Chris Archer (Mindwarp #1) Another old middle-grade reread for me. As a series launcher, this title has potential, although it remains mostly setup for the future at this point. When wimpy kid Ethan turns 13, he gains super-strength and expert fighting skills during times of stress, but is …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 