TV Review: Jane the Virgin, season 2

TV #1 of 2017:

Jane the Virgin, season 2

Still a fun show with great – nearly all Hispanic! – performers, but perhaps a tad more predictable in its sophomore year. (Luckily this is definitely a show where the twists are still enjoyable even when you see them coming.) The Mutter and Derek storyline(s) kind of dragged, and I’ve all but lost track of how Jane’s graduate program is supposed to work, but these are pretty minor quibbles. Really, the worst thing you can say about this season is that it wasn’t as good as the one before – but that’s a pretty high bar, since the first season of Jane the Virgin was one of the most confident series premieres I’ve ever seen.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit

Book #2 of 2017:

The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit

I tried to keep an open mind while reading this novel, because I knew it was published in a very different era. And it is interesting as a historical artifact, offering a glimpse not only of 1907 Britain, but also of the state of children’s fantasy literature in the years before Narnia. (Indeed, it’s hard to read this adventure of four English schoolchildren discovering an invisibility ring and not wonder how it may have influenced both Lewis and his friend Tolkien.)

But it’s just not a very good story, and one character or another is always being either awful – like smearing himself with oil and pretending to be an Indian swami – or utterly moronic – like using a magic wish to turn herself into a statue. The Enchanted Castle shows off children fantasy literature’s roots, but it mostly just provides relief that the genre has grown up since then.

★★☆☆☆

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Book Review: Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens by Brandon Sanderson

Book #1 of 2017:

Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens by Brandon Sanderson (Alcatraz #4)

Like Harry Potter, this series gets darker and more mature as the books progress. Even though the protagonist in this case is still a thirteen-year-old boy, he’s grown up a lot just by going through the events of these novels. Author Brandon Sanderson also uses the series progression to dig more deeply into the mechanics of this world’s magic – it’s as amusing as ever that Alcatraz’s 8-year-old cousin being bad at math means she can keep the war effort supplied with grenades simply by miscounting the arsenal, but Sanderson is really interested in exploring why and how that works. It’s a level of magical introspection that the Harry Potter books never delivered, but one that will come as no surprise to a reader of Sanderson’s novels for older audiences.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Book #152 of 2016:

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Science-fiction is generally concerned with exploring the unknown: potential future technologies, or alien lifeforms, or anything else that could perhaps be possible. And there’s some of that in this collection of stories from Ted Chiang, but the strongest entries are more fantastical in nature, as in his version of the Tower of Babel myth that presents a biblical cosmology as fact and shows men building a brick structure up past the stars. Like Philip Pullman, Chiang paints vivid alternate realities for his fictional sciences, and the results blur the line between sci-fi and fantasy. For although he spins beautiful dreams like the best fantasists, Chiang’s work remains focused on the big questions that define science-fiction.

★★★★☆

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TV Review: The West Wing, season 4

TV #51 of 2016:

The West Wing, season 4

After a rocky adjustment post-9/11 in the previous season, this year The West Wing is back to its usual level of quality. I’m also amazed, even on this millionth rewatch, at the audacity of Aaron Sorkin to end his last season that way and leave such a mess for the next showrunner. The show is very different after Sorkin’s departure, and I’m not looking forward to the slump that follows before the election plots kick back into gear for the series endgame.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: Goldenhand by Garth Nix

Book #151 of 2016:

Goldenhand by Garth Nix (The Old Kingdom #5)

A triumphant return to the Old Kingdom, finally resolving the fate of the lost Abhorsen, Clariel (whose early life is described in the prequel which bears her name, and which should definitely be read prior to this book). So many old favorites are back for this story, but author Garth Nix continues to deepen the worldbuilding of the series and introduce compelling new characters as well. I wish that the central villain had more of a presence throughout the novel, but otherwise Goldenhand is an absolute delight. And it feels less like an epilogue than the earlier novel Abhorsen did, so hopefully there will be further Old Kingdom stories coming out from Nix in the years to come. Goldenhand demonstrates decisively that the setting still has plenty of tales left to tell.

★★★★☆

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TV Review: Orange Is the New Black, season 4

TV #50 of 2017:

Orange Is the New Black, season 4

Still a powerhouse this many seasons in, with an ever-deepening roster of characters and flashbacks. It’s hard to really discuss the arc of season 4 without spoilers, but it was a powerful indictment of the corporate prison system, with inefficiencies and unchecked (if not outright encouraged) abuses of power that were frankly terrifying to watch. The season ends just as a boiling point has been reached, and I honestly don’t know where the story can go from here.

★★★★★

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Book Review: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Book #150 of 2016:

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

A heartbreaking novel that kept making me want to run home and hug my wife and my dog as tight as I can. This story of a family from the perspective of their dog is terrifically written, but only really recommended if you don’t mind a good cry or two.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie

Book #149 of 2016:

The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie (Superintendent Battle #1)

More a comedy of errors than a true murder mystery, Agatha Christie’s The Secret of Chimneys relied a bit too heavily on coincidence for my liking. (It was also the first Christie book that I was able solve before the end, although I’m not sure whether that’s more to do with this particular novel or my growing familiarity with her style.) Still, this was a fine caper with plenty of droll British humor.

★★★☆☆

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Movie Review: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Movie #24 of 2016:

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

My favorite sort of prequel, that slots neatly into the existing continuity without the need for retconning AND enhances the viewer’s appreciation of certain elements in the original material. Rogue One is a little clunky, especially towards the beginning, but it’s still a phenomenal addition to the Star Wars canon. I’m looking forward to watching this movie back-to-back with the original Episode IV: A New Hope the next time I tackle the series.

★★★★☆

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