Book #38 of 2023: Shōgun by James Clavell (Asian Saga #1) I went into this 1975 bestseller somewhat skeptically, both for its length at 1152 pages and for its potential Orientalism, being a white British writer’s take on feudal Japan circa the early 17th century. And it is firmly a work of historical fiction, albeit …
Author Archives: Joe Kessler
Book Review: The Redemption of Althalus by David and Leigh Eddings
Book #37 of 2023: The Redemption of Althalus by David and Leigh Eddings A good fantasy novel but ultimately not a great one. I still like it in parts, just not nearly as much as I did in high school, and I suspect that this will probably be the last time I ever reread the …
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Book Review: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Book #36 of 2023: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi Kaiju are giant monsters like Godzilla, the subject of a thriving genre of fiction in Japan and elsewhere over the latter half of the twentieth century and beyond. The premise of this story posits that such creatures exist in a parallel world, accessible via …
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TV Review: Classic Doctor Who, season 5
TV #8 of 2023: Classic Doctor Who, season 5 I guess I have to concede, based on the average ratings I give its seven component serials below, that this season of old Doctor Who is still narrowly more good than great overall. But it’s easily my favorite of this rewatch yet, with some fun minor …
Book Review: Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Book #35 of 2023: Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. I went through a brief Heinlein phase in high school, and I suspect that if I had read this book back then, I probably would have liked it better. (Even today, I’ll note that I prefer it over Slaughterhouse-Five, the only other Vonnegut work that …
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Book Review: Sabriel by Garth Nix
Book #34 of 2023: Sabriel by Garth Nix (The Old Kingdom #1) A thoroughly excellent modern fantasy classic, published in 1995 but just as enjoyable now upon my umpteenth reread. (I can’t remember when I first encountered it, but I do recall thinking in amazement that it was like a written version of the Diablo …
Book Review: Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie
Book #33 of 2023: Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie A rather silly beginning, in which we learn that the stranger who could have corroborated an accused murderer’s alibi was hit by a truck, developed a case of short-term amnesia, and promptly departed for a two-year polar expedition, thus missing the publicity about the trial …
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Book Review: Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
Book #32 of 2023: Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn A frustratingly three-star read. The premise is fine, but it’s one I’ve seen too many times before: an assassin’s employers for some reason decide they’ve become expendable, try unsuccessfully to kill them off, and then find themselves on the receiving end of the …
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Book Review: A Sliver of Darkness by C. J. Tudor
Book #31 of 2023: A Sliver of Darkness by C. J. Tudor This is a pretty consistently solid collection of horror (or horror-adjacent) short stories, many revolving around some type of dystopian apocalypse and its aftermath. Oftentimes I find such ensembles to vary dramatically in quality across their contents, but here I think I’d give …
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Movie Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Movie #3 of 2023: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) It looks like I’m out of step with the critical consensus on this one, based on the early reviews, but whatever: I really liked the latest piece in Marvel’s increasingly complex cinematic universe! Maybe I’m just riding the high of being back in a movie …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 