TV Review: Bosch, season 4

TV #21 of 2018:

Bosch, season 4

Of all the shows I watch, Bosch is usually the one I have the least feels about. The first season was a little hokey, and after that it’s generally been this quietly competent urban crime drama that I mostly watch so that I can talk about it with my dad. This season was a major step up, though, with resonant character arcs, clever twists, and really satisfying detective work. (The focus on a major case of police corruption also helps the show from slipping into its ‘copaganda’ mode.) Heck, I’m even feeling tempted to read some of the source books, which I’ve never really been interested in before. I don’t know if this season will end up as a one-off fluke or as a genuine shift for the show, but for now, Bosch is firing on all cylinders.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce

Book #91 of 2018:

Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce (Protector of the Small #4)

A solid but kind of unremarkable Tortall adventure. The Protector of the Small series is generally marketed as a quartet, but it honestly feels more like a cohesive trilogy followed by this somewhat vestigial afterthought. I’m not trying to be too negative here, because there isn’t anything particularly bad about this novel, and it even offers the sort of dramatic stakes that I’ve often found wanting in its predecessors. But the major plot arcs and themes of this series come to a natural conclusion at the end of the third book, and it never quite feels as though this final volume is motivated by anything new to say about its main character or any lingering narrative concerns. At this point in author Tamora Pierce’s larger ongoing Tortall series, I need more than just paint-by-numbers sword and sorcery.

This book: ★★★☆☆

Overall series: ★★★☆☆

Book ranking: 3 > 2 > 1 > 4

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TV Review: Orange Is the New Black, season 5

TV #20 of 2018:

Orange Is the New Black, season 5

The latest chapter of Netflix’s flagship dramedy is somewhat experimental, spending the entire season on what turns out to be a three-day prison riot. For the most part, the experiment works: it shakes up the show’s usual storytelling rhythms and offers one of the most coherent pictures yet of the sprawling cast connected in a single ecosystem. Creating a no man’s land where the inmates are literally running the asylum also allows for some glorious funhouse mirror takes on the usual status quo. On the downside the plot doesn’t always move as quickly as I’d like, nor does every character get the sort of arc that the longer periods of time in earlier seasons have enabled. I’m really glad that the whole show isn’t structured this way, but as a one-off break from convention, this season was neat.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: Warcross by Marie Lu

Book #90 of 2018:

Warcross by Marie Lu (Warcross #1)

There’s a lot of Ready Player One in the DNA of this sci-fi adventure about a poor teenage orphan who becomes a sudden celebrity after finding something strange in a wildly popular VR game. But instead of an intentional easter egg, Emika Chen discovers a programming vulnerability, and is promptly hired by the game’s reclusive billionaire developer to find the hacker that’s been targeting his systems. In the process she is placed in the upcoming esports championship and (of course) starts developing feelings for her handsome patron.

The plot that follows is good sweet fun, although the action scenes could have been better described — the titular game seems sort of like Harry Potter‘s Quidditch crossed with the battle room from Ender’s Game, but author Marie Lu never quite gets around to sharing all the rules with us, which sometimes makes it hard to visualize just what’s going on. But the cast of characters is great and diverse, and the ending delivers a terrific setup for the forthcoming sequel. I liked this book a lot, and I’m really excited to see where the story goes from here.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: Authority by Jeff VanderMeer

Book #89 of 2018:

Authority by Jeff VanderMeer (Southern Reach #2)

I liked but didn’t love Jeff VanderMeer’s novel Annihilation, and I was hopeful that this sequel, set outside the mysterious Area X that clouds everyone’s thinking, would offer a more straightforward story. Unfortunately, it does not. Instead there’s the same creeping horror and hypnosis-fueled confusion, just transplanted to an office setting where the deadly threat is a little less immediate. Readers who loved the atmosphere in Annihilation and/or are determined to learn the answers to Area X’s mysteries will probably enjoy this follow-up, but I have to admit that I got even less out of it than I did the first book. I’m still not particularly interested in what’s going on in this trilogy, so I don’t think I’ll bother reading the final volume to see how (if?) it all wraps up.

★★☆☆☆

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Book Review: This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Book #88 of 2018:

This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Starbound #2)

The first novel in the Starbound series took a while to draw me in, but this sequel improves upon its predecessor by offering two new central characters whose starcrossed Romeo and Juliet plot of soldiers on opposite sides of a war is compelling right from the start. I especially appreciate that the heroine is a dark-skinned woman with a Chinese mother, since people from minority backgrounds seldom get to see themselves as the romantic leads in genre fiction. The worldbuilding is also more complete, and although I still have questions about the larger society where the series is set, this particular planet feels fleshed-out and lived-in.

Granted, I could have done without the flashback-y dream sequences that occur in between every single chapter, which feel extraneous even after they’re finally explained in the last tenth of the book. And I would have liked a closer tie to the previous story, since this one is more than half over before being firmly cemented as a sequel. But if you like the sci-fi romance of These Broken Stars, this follow-up is well worth the read.

★★★★☆

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TV Review: Archer: Dreamland

TV #19 of 2018:

Archer: Dreamland

I don’t usually care for extended dream sequences or retcons, because writers playing fast and loose with what’s been previously established makes it harder for me to invest in the new status quo. But with that being said, I think the reboot at the start of this eighth season of Archer was a good call. The continuity is entirely reset and the characters themselves are a little scrambled, and although I miss what had been built up over the previous seasons, the shakeup definitely keeps the show from growing stale. (Plus there are enough new jokes to keep me from missing all the callbacks too badly.) This won’t go down as my favorite Archer season, but it’s effective on its own terms and would be a good place for new viewers to jump in.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: Star Wars: Beware the Power of the Dark Side! by Tom Angleberger

Book #87 of 2018:

Star Wars: Beware the Power of the Dark Side! by Tom Angleberger

A fun junior novelization of the third movie from the original Star Wars trilogy. Stylistically it’s the least daring of the books in this semi-series, but it’s still a capable retelling of the film’s story with a few cool added moments. (A late heart-to-heart conversation between Princess Leia and Rebel leader Mon Mothma is particularly moving.) Author Tom Angleberger adopts a jaunty, conversational tone that’s a good fit for a children’s novel, aptly recapturing the magic of Return of the Jedi for a whole new medium.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

Book #86 of 2018:

Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (Enchanted Forest Chronicles #4)

More or less a return to form after the disappointing third book in this children’s fantasy series. I wish this final volume hadn’t skipped forward 17 years after the last book’s cliffhanger, but the new story is fun enough and many favorite characters pop in for a cameo. I still might just stick with the first two books in a future reread of the series, though.

This book: ★★★☆☆

Overall series: ★★★☆☆

Book ranking: 2 > 1 > 4 > 3

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Book Review: The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss

Book #85 of 2018:

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss

This 1812 children’s classic of a shipwrecked family is understandably old-fashioned, but it’s still a fun read. Although the action is incredibly episodic with almost no ongoing plot or sense of real danger, the characters’ plucky optimism makes it easy to root for them as they set up their new island home. It’s a welcome change from their dreary namesake Robinson Crusoe, and a nice picture of a family that sometimes bickers but always pulls together.

[With that being said, modern readers, especially those looking to share the story with young children, should be aware of some mild racism and colonial attitudes in this text. The island has no other human life, but the castaways occasionally discuss “Negroes” and “savages” in disparaging terms. These moments are unfortunately typical for the time of publication, but can be jarring amid the general pleasantness of the story.]

★★★☆☆

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