The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more

Book Review: Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

Book #13 of 2020:

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

This standalone fantasy novel is a neat feminist retelling of Snow White, especially for how it transforms the evil stepmother / innocent child relationship into a more nuanced interpersonal dynamic. And although the romantic element of the text is fairly understated, having the heroine’s love interest be a close female friend is another refreshing change. (Not the queen figure, just to clarify. There is some potential incestuous subtext to the story that I was worried about, but it thankfully never manifests as anything beyond gross paternal entitlement.)

The worldbuilding is no more complex than a fairy tale needs to be, but I like the hints of regional complexity to the kingdom alongside all the interesting character work. This book won’t top Forest of a Thousand Lanterns for my favorite version of the familiar poisoned-princess narrative, but it’s an impressive debut from author Melissa Bashardoust.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

Book #12 of 2020:

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

It took me a little while to get on-board with this memoir’s disjointed style, but the quality of Carmen Maria Machado’s prose is well worth the effort. Although the work remains fragmentary, each successive glimpse at the author’s relationship with her abusive ex-girlfriend is more heartbreakingly terrifying than the last, and her talent for conveying her raw emotion, confusion, and processing of trauma is simply astonishing. I also appreciate the reflections on queer history and heteronormative assumptions about abuse that obscure its incidence in same-sex couples, as well as Machado’s attempts to find parallels to her experiences in folklore and popular media. This is a difficult read both in content and in structure, but a powerful one nonetheless.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: Fireborne by Rosaria Munda

Book #11 of 2020:

Fireborne by Rosaria Munda (The Aurelian Cycle #1)

Way less bloodthirsty than I would expect for a novel advertised as ‘Game of Thrones meets Red Rising.’ I also have issues with the two protagonists, each of whom is a pretty reactive character with no clear motivation. The premise of the story is that an eight-year-old prince survived the revolution that killed the rest of his family and has grown up under an assumed identity — which should suggest either a slow revenge narrative a la The Count of Monte Cristo (or, yes, Red Rising) or a tale of divided loyalties. But seventeen-year-old Lee never feels particularly conflicted at all in his dedication to the new regime, which is a supremely odd writing choice.

I also just couldn’t get past the fact that his royal name was Leo — only one letter off! — and that numerous people comment on how much he looks like his late father Leon. Some who knew him as a child even recognize him on sight. So how are we supposed to believe that he has spent almost a decade incognito rising through the elite ranks of his nation’s dragon-riders?

The dragons are interesting, though. I like how they pair-bond with their humans, and how emotions leaking over from one into the other can be either a boon or a danger in combat. The setting has potential, even if an off-hand reference to roller coasters makes me very confused about the technology level here. I’ll probably continue on with the series in hopes of improvement, but this was a rocky debut.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: Who Could That Be at This Hour? by Lemony Snicket

Book #10 of 2020:

Who Could That Be at This Hour? by Lemony Snicket (All the Wrong Questions #1)

This first A Series of Unfortunate Events prequel reads much like its parent series, with sly observational humor and a delightfully morose atmosphere alongside oblique hints at mysteries that will likely never be solved. That’s somewhat frustrating, especially as the original novels left plenty of unexplained backstory that could be filled in by a proper look at the teenage escapades of fictional narrator Lemony Snicket. Instead, this volume spins off a whole new batch of vague allusions to larger plots, without any characters as engaging as the Baudelaire orphans taking up their ‘unfortunate’ mantle. It’s possible that circumstances get better from here, but that’s one thing Snicket the author has taught us never to expect.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: Star Wars: Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray

Book #9 of 2020:

Star Wars: Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray

The plot is a bit of a mess, but this story offers an interesting look at the teenage Obi-Wan Kenobi and his early dynamic with Master Qui-Gon Jin, eight years before their on-screen introduction in Episode I: The Phantom Menace. It also includes flashbacks to Qui-Gon’s time as an apprentice under Count Dooku, which presumably complement author Cavan Scott’s book Dooku: Jedi Lost, published that same month in 2019. Collectively, these two novels are the earliest yet in Disney’s new canon for Star Wars tie-in media.

Claudia Gray remains my favorite writer in this continuity, and her insights into the central pair of characters are terrific, especially when exploring how their frustration with one another’s divergent methods gradually gives way to a mutual respect. She also provides further evidence of the corrupt complacency of the galactic government during this era. But the narrative as a whole is somewhat overstuffed with unnecessary POVs, and I feel like I’ve seen this sort of Jedi fact-finding / peace-keeping mission too many times before. This is one to read for the titular protagonists, not for the action around them.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Book #8 of 2020:

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

This Becky Chambers novella offers an interesting look at how earth scientists could explore the cosmos as unintrusively as possible, and it’s refreshing for a genre work to put ethical considerations front and center like that. I also appreciate that the story is suffused with the same warm and empathetic humanism (and casual diversity) that enriches the author’s Wayfarers series. But there’s just too little of a plot or character arc scaffolding the narrative, and too many scenes where nothing really progresses. I think I need more conflict than this, to stop a read tipping over from cozy into soporific.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

Book #7 of 2020:

The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

This novel’s premise of rival factions aiming to change history to suit themselves sounds a little like This Is How You Lose the Time War, but I think I actually prefer its emotional grounding and queer punk aesthetic over that other story’s wild-yet-oblique inventiveness. In one half of this narrative, adult chrononaut Tess fights to extend legal protections for women’s bodily autonomy further back into the past against enemies trying to erase them entirely, while in the other, her teenage self gets caught up in a vindictive murder spree of abusive men. The two parts don’t connect as neatly as I would like, but each is fiercely unapologetic about the rights of marginalized peoples to stand up to the patriarchy in force.

I’m also really captivated by this conception of time travel as a natural process that humans have always been able to accomplish by tapping on certain special rocks, first by hand and later via sophisticated machines. Having ancient cultures be totally aware of — and occasionally visited by — their future descendants is a pretty original idea, and one rich with potential even beyond what’s explored here. Tess’s personal journey wraps up well, but if author Annalee Newitz ever wants to return to this setting, I’d love to read more.

[Content warning for graphic violence and depiction of abortion, sexual assault, incest, emotional abuse, and gaslighting.]

★★★★☆

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Movie Review: Midnight Run (1988)

Movie #2 of 2020:

Midnight Run (1988)

Another old favorite, and one which my family has seen so many times over the years that some of its choicest dialogue has long since entered our regular vernacular. (We even used to have a dog named after one of the characters.) This movie’s comedic rhythms are so much a part of my DNA at this point that I probably can’t view it objectively, but it still makes me laugh out-loud even on the umpteenth viewing.

The prickly bounty hunter and his motormouth quarry form the perfect odd couple for this cross-country buddy comedy, and I love how pretty much everyone gets what they deserve in the end despite all the conflicting motivations driving the narrative. It’s great plotting and characterization, even setting aside all the hilarious (and hilariously profane) humor.

★★★★★

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Movie Review: Hopscotch (1980)

Movie #1 of 2020:

Hopscotch (1980)

This film is an old family favorite, which we rewatched in honor of my grandfather who recently passed away. It’s still fun, although decidedly of its era, with minimal time for its female characters outside of their relationships to men, use of a homophobic slur and affected lisp, and brownface.

All of that aside, this is a very funny story about a lifelong CIA field agent who gets reassigned to desk duty and decides instead to quit and publish his top-secret memoirs, using his spycraft to stay one step ahead of his panicked former colleagues. Walter Matthau is charming, the writing is clever, and a few lines have proven particularly quotable for us over the years. It’s a tad problematic four decades on — and surprisingly profane for such an otherwise all-ages script — but for the most part a lighthearted little gem.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: Dark Age by Pierce Brown

Book #6 of 2020:

Dark Age by Pierce Brown (Red Rising #5)

Although I don’t much care for the endless combat scenes in this latest Red Rising sequel, the project grows on me as it goes along, and it’s definitely worth picking up for anyone still invested in the future of this sci-fi saga. I also appreciate that its plot threads intersect more directly than those of the sprawling previous volume — a few chapters do still feel placed somewhat arbitrarily, but the work as a whole seems far more like one cohesive story. Author Pierce Brown’s audacious imagination is on full display throughout, and he remains a writer in the George R. R. Martin tradition, unafraid to kill off major players and radically reorient our understanding of narrative trajectory.

But Brown also makes this book live up to its title, putting nearly every character through the wringer both physically and emotionally whether they ultimately survive or not. (He may have gone a little overboard on the surprise returns of figures originally thought dead, too.) It’s a well-written novel, but so bleak that it’s seldom an altogether enjoyable read and probably my least favorite of the series thus far.

[Content warning for gore / body horror, torture, sexual assault, incest, and infanticide.]

★★★★☆

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