The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more

TV Review: Orphan Black, season 5

TV #41 of 2018:

Orphan Black, season 5

I’ve always felt an odd dichotomy with Orphan Black, in that the main appeal for me as a viewer is Tatiana Maslany’s amazing acting range at embodying all these different characters, but the main focus of the writers often seems to be on their labyrinthine plots of shady corporate conspiracies. This final season continues to lean pretty heavily on the latter, but at least the finale itself pulls back a bit to take stock of the “clone club” and their loved ones in more of a slice-of-life style of storytelling. Moments like that do a lot to help my frustrations with the conspiracy stuff, but I’d ultimately love it if this show had been way less plot-heavy all along. Maslany remains a revelation – even after 50 episodes I sometimes forget that she’s the one playing all those different roles – and I hope her career gives her better material from here on out.

This season: ★★★☆☆

Overall series: ★★★☆☆

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

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Book Review: The Big Book of Swashbuckling Adventure: Classic Tales of Dashing Heroes, Dastardly Villains, and Daring Escapes edited by Lawrence Ellsworth

Book #176 of 2018:

The Big Book of Swashbuckling Adventure: Classic Tales of Dashing Heroes, Dastardly Villains, and Daring Escapes edited by Lawrence Ellsworth

This book collects some older adventure stories about pirates, musketeers, and so on, many of which had been out of print for decades before the collection was published in 2014. The quality varies dramatically from story to story, and I find that I tend to like best those which are actually just excerpts from longer works, like Rafael Sabatini’s serialized Captain Blood: His Odyssey or Johnston McCulley’s original Zorro novel. I’d recommend that interested readers check out one of those, rather than chance the mixed bag that is this collection as a whole.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: The Faceless Ones by Derek Landy

Book #175 of 2018:

The Faceless Ones by Derek Landy (Skulduggery Pleasant #3)

I’ve been waiting for this Irish children’s urban fantasy series to really grab my attention, but at this point I think I’m ready to call it quits. (It doesn’t help that this third novel is the last one that my library has available as an audiobook — so although there’s another 8 books and counting still to go, they really don’t seem worth my effort.)

On three separate occasions in this latest adventure, the heroes have a run-in with the villains solely because both teams happen to arrive somewhere at the same time. That sort of sloppy storytelling isn’t a dealbreaker per se, but it’s emblematic of the problems in the series and how little they’ve improved as it’s gone on. I thought the first two novels showed promise, but I’m not exactly grieving that this is where my library collection runs out.

★★☆☆☆

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Book Review: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

Book #174 of 2018:

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter #2)

The first Harry Potter book was a tremendous debut, but this sequel surpasses it on just about every level. The plot, the characters, and the setting are all delivered far more confidently this time around, and author J. K. Rowling is already deepening her narrative abilities so that the story never feels like just a repeat of the last adventure. This novel offers plenty of interesting new additions to the series canon, and some valuable setup for the later books is neatly integrated into the present storyline with great skill.

Rowling has also perfected the art of doling out subtle clues to her yearlong mysteries, such that a first-time reader will likely miss them — or at least, mistake their importance for mere flavoring — but anyone spotting them on a reread can’t help but smile. In my opinion that’s an underrated quality of Rowling’s style, but one that truly stands out in the children’s fantasy genre and comes into its own with this second Harry Potter book.

What also stands out on a reread is how this sequel gently tweaks some of the clumsier and sillier details of the first book, resulting in a more mature tone that will carry on through the rest of the series. It’s still appropriate for the children in Rowling’s primary audience — although this is a story that will only get darker as its characters continue to age over the books ahead — but from here on out the issues facing Harry and his friends feel just a little more grounded and believable. It’s a welcome improvement to what was already a great start.

★★★★★

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Book Review: The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander

Book #173 of 2018:

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (The Chronicles of Prydain #1)

Somehow I missed out on this series when I was growing up, which is a shame, since this first novel has turned out to be an excellent classic of children’s fantasy literature. The tone is somewhere between J. R. R Tolkien and Patricia A. McKillip, but definitely leaning more towards the former in terms of offering readers an immediately-accessible world. It’s a short book that packs in great characters and a fun adventure, and author Lloyd Alexander’s love for Welsh folklore really shines through. I may be coming at these books late, but I’m really looking forward to reading the rest of them!

★★★★☆

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Book Review: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Book #172 of 2018:

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next #1)

This story is fairly bursting with ideas — from time-travel to dodo clones to secret agents and criminals jumping in and out of novels like Jane Eyre — but it’s all a bit chaotic, and a lot of the apparent comedy doesn’t really land for me. (See also: the villain’s explicit lack of any motivation, the occasional sexist treatment of the heroine, etc.) I also would have liked more clarity on which of the differences from our reality are supposed to be the result of chronological meddling, and which are just author Jasper Fforde having some surreal fun with his worldbuilding. Still, for all my nitpicking, I have to admit that this is an imaginative work with a great deal of potential. I’m hoping the series settles more into itself with the sequels.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce

Book #171 of 2018:

Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce (Daughter of the Lioness #1)

At this point in her wider Tortall series, author Tamora Pierce can easily spin a great story… when she can manage to get out of the way of her own worst impulses. And for the most part here, she does. This new duology marks Pierce’s most direct engagement with themes of slavery and racism, and if it’s still a bit problematic — new heroine Aly is quite conspicuously a white woman whose enslavement is framed as a shocking contrast to that of the dark-skinned folks all around her — it’s still a gripping tale of spycraft with some nice morals behind it. This is Pierce at the top of her game, and I’m glad I didn’t give up on Tortall after some earlier stumbles.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston

Book #170 of 2018:

Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston

This book is interesting from a historical point of view: although unpublished until 2018, it was written in the early 20th century and based on author Zora Neale Hurston’s interviews with the last known survivor of the last known slave ship to America. A consummate folklorist, Hurston mostly steps back from the narrative, allowing Cudjo Lewis to speak in his own words and dialect about his memories of Africa, his time in slavery, and the early stages of Jim Crow.

It’s beyond great that this long-forgotten voice is finally finding an audience, but the resulting book is unfortunately a bit sparse. It’s a slim volume to begin with, and if you strip away the various introductions and appendices (some by Hurston herself and others added upon its modern publication), barely half of the pages are left for Lewis’s own story. As a unique perspective that can be read in a single sitting the book is still worth seeking out, but it’s ultimately unsurprising that Hurston couldn’t find a publisher in her own time.

★★★☆☆

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TV Review: Sharp Objects

TV #39 of 2018:

Sharp Objects

This miniseries adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s debut novel is subtle and understated, to the point where I wonder if I would have been lost without having read the book first. But I do think the show tells its story more effectively than the source material, with beautiful cinematography and powerhouse acting from Amy Adams and the rest of the cast. (The only sore point is Chris Messina, who is nowhere near a strong enough actor to differentiate his character from the gruff doctor he played on The Mindy Project.) It’s a wicked little piece of television, but I’m really glad that HBO is letting it end after just one season, rather than trying to come up with a way to continue the story past the end of the book.

★★★★☆

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TV Review: Marvel’s Luke Cage, season 2

TV #38 of 2018:

Marvel’s Luke Cage, season 2

I think this season is about on par with the last one, which I similarly liked but didn’t love. The plot is at least more cohesive this time around, but the message is a little muddled and there are still some elements that kind of go nowhere. And it’s really a problem on a character level, where Shades is the only figure who really has anything like a consistent and compelling arc across the season. I know that the creative team can do better than this, but I’m still waiting for this show to really be as great as it so obviously could be.

★★★☆☆

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