The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more

Book Review: Renegades by Marissa Meyer

Book #114 of 2018:

Renegades by Marissa Meyer (Renegades #1)

The beginning of this YA superhero novel creaks under the weight of so much exposition, and when author Marissa Meyer does manage to show and not tell, the results generally feel more like standard comic book cliches than anything particularly original. Remembering how I hadn’t cared much for Meyer’s earlier novel Cinder, I came very close to simply quitting this one.

Luckily after the first quarter or so, the book settles into itself and starts living up to its potential. I adore stories about conflicted infiltrators, and the plotline of a villain going undercover as a new recruit in the superhero peacekeeping force, only to grow close to her assigned team and start having second thoughts about her mission, is a great example of the trope done well. The worldbuilding could have been stronger, especially to better ground certain characters’ motivations, but the majority of the novel flows better than I ever thought it would in the early chapters. Unlike Cinder, I’ll actually read the sequels to this book.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps by Andrea Pitzer

Book #113 of 2018:

One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps by Andrea Pitzer

When we think or talk about concentration camps, we often and understandably limit our focus to the atrocities of Nazi Germany, which cannot be overstated. Yet that program did not arise in a vacuum, and in this book, author Andrea Pitzer traces the concept of mass civilian detention from its modern origin in 1896 Cuba over the course of the next century and beyond. As she documents in heartrending detail, nearly every major country on earth has at one point or another engaged in the practice, which continues today with the 100+ foreign nationals the U.S. is still holding without trial in Guantanamo Bay and the estimated 80,000 citizens presently interred by their government in North Korea. With scholarly analysis and personal survivor narratives, Pitzer shows how every such policy of concentration, no matter how well-intentioned, inevitably gives rise to abuse and inhumane conditions. It’s a devastating read that should force an uncomfortable reckoning from anyone who has supported such measures in the past.

★★★★☆

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Movie Review: Ocean’s 8 (2018)

Movie #11 of 2018:

Ocean’s 8 (2018)

Overall this is a fun heist movie, although the pacing lags near the end and some plot holes make it harder to enjoy the clever bits. Still, it’s easily on par with Ocean’s Twelve and Thirteen, and the new cast is great. I don’t know that I need to see this film ever again, but I would be down for a sequel.

★★★☆☆

Book Review: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Book #112 of 2018:

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

I like to revisit this 1953 dystopian classic at least once a decade or so, and I inevitably find it richer and deeper whenever I do. Author Ray Bradbury has packed an incredible amount of ideas into such a slim volume, and although the overall thrust of firemen burning books has become a cultural shorthand for censorship, the original novel offers nuances to reward and challenge a close reader. Upon this reading, Fahrenheit 451 strikes me as less a warning about societal consequences of restrictive attitudes and more a personal exhortation to engage critically with the narratives we receive. It’s a helpful and hopeful message, conveying the author’s firm belief in humanity’s ability to rise from the ashes.

★★★★★

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Book Review: Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Book #111 of 2018:

Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Starbound #3)

I like how every book in this trilogy focuses on a different pair of starcrossed lovers, but I have to admit that I don’t care much for this last couple. They meet when they both happen to break into the same secure facility at the same time, only to later discover they’ve been playing a cat-and-mouse game with their online identities as well. It’s too much coincidence, and the characters are so secretive from one another that I can’t buy their connection on any level beyond teenage hormones.

The story somewhat improves in its back half when the protagonists from the first two novels enter and team up with our new heroes, but their ensuing race to save all of humanity struggles to ground itself in any relatable personal stakes. When you add all that to the dull monologues that occur between every chapter and essentially just recap the events of the series to reveal that an alien intelligence has been guiding everything all along, it all ends up as a rather frustrating reading experience. This is definitely the weakest entry in the trilogy, and only worth reading if you’re truly committed to seeing how the overall plot resolves.

This book: ★★☆☆☆

Overall series: ★★★☆☆

Book ranking: 2 > 1 > 3

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Movie Review: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Movie #10 of 2018:

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

I missed this Marvel movie in theaters, in part because I didn’t see a whole lot of people talking about it. (And, honestly, because my fatigue over Spider-Man reboots had finally reached Batman levels.) As much as I liked Spidey in Captain America: Civil War and as happy as I am that the webslinger is finally in the Marvel Cinematic Universe continuity, I considered this movie as mostly a box to check off before seeing Avengers: Infinity War.

But the joke’s on me, because it turns out to be super delightful! I feel like nobody had told me how funny this movie is, but I was laughing the whole way through. It’s a gentler, less snarky sort of humor than the normal Iron Man / GotG sarcasm that the MCU often displays, and in full service to the characters. The plot is probably my favorite of any Spider-Man movie yet, and the seemingly effortless diversity in casting should be what more studios aim for.

★★★★☆

TV Review: The Mindy Project, season 6

TV #30 of 2018:

The Mindy Project, season 6

I know I’ve been complaining about this show’s inconsistent characterization and plotting for its entire run, but this abbreviated final season somehow makes those issues even worse. Everyone feels two-dimensional, there’s no emotional core to any of the story developments, and Hulu’s budget has apparently required some rather egregious product placement all throughout. Even for a show that has never been my favorite, it’s downright painful to see it reduced to such a shell of itself.

This season: ★☆☆☆☆

Overall series: ★★☆☆☆

Season ranking: 3 > 2 > 5 > 4 > 1 > 6

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Book Review: Star Wars: Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp

Book #110 of 2018:

Star Wars: Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp

Set five years after Revenge of the Sith in the new Disney canon, this Star Wars novel is a propulsive rush as the early rebel movement attempts to assassinate Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine and then pursues them across the hostile Twi’lek homeworld. Its status as a prequel deflates a little of the dramatic tension, since we know that the title characters are going to survive, but author Paul S. Kemp still manages to tell a gripping story that shows Vader at his most capable and deadly. It seems like there are some fun connections to the Clone Wars and Rebels TV shows here as well, although nothing that would confuse a reader like me who hasn’t seen those yet.

★★★★☆

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Movie Review: Avatar (2009)

Movie #9 of 2018:

Avatar (2009)

I haven’t seen this movie since its original theatrical run almost a decade ago, and in my memory it had been only a decent story mostly buoyed by its special effects – which I figured would surely seem dated at this point and less impressive on a TV than on a 3D film-screen anyway. I mostly put it on just because my wife and I are visiting Walt Disney World for our anniversary next month, and I wanted a refresher on the IP before exploring the new Pandora section at Animal Kingdom.

So perhaps my expectations were artificially low going into this rewatch of the film, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up liking it. Yes, the plot copies heavily from stories like FernGully or Disney’s Pocahontas, and there’s some problematic Mighty Whitey and Noble Savage tropes going on, but the story, the characters, and the worldbuilding are all really well-developed. The beginning of the film especially has a very tight script that quickly establishes who these people are and explains all of the sci-fi issues necessary to dive into their world.

And the visuals hold up well too! In general I’m always going to care more about a character-driven storyline than how pretty it looks, but this movie really is so pretty and so alien. You can tell how much James Cameron labored over the whole project, and I only hope that the long time that’s now elapsed before the sequel(s) is due to that same level of care. I actually do want to see more films in this series now, which is not something I probably would have said yesterday.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

Book #109 of 2018:

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

I really like the immigrant family at the heart of this novel, whose experiences are drawn with a rich specificity from Cameroonian author Imbolo Mbue’s real life. As the title suggests, theirs is a typical American Dream narrative, and I hope it reaches those readers who may sometimes have a hard time seeing this country from an outside perspective. I would have liked more from the plot, however, and maybe a little less time spent with the rich white characters who treat their employees as therapists for all their gilded angst.

★★★☆☆

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