Book #304 of 2021: One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #23) There’s an ingenious if improbable solution to this 1940 mystery (also published as The Patriotic Murders and An Overdose of Death), in which a dentist and his patient are each found dead hours after an appointment — the former of …
Continue reading “Book Review: One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie”
Book #303 of 2021: Opal by Maggie Stiefvater I’ve heard author Maggie Stiefvater refer to this Raven Cycle sequel as a novella, but at 38 pages, it’s probably scraping the lower limit of what could fairly be given that designation. It’s really more of a quick interlude in the lives of her heroes Ronan Lynch …
TV #80 of 2021: Leverage: Redemption, season 1.5 If I had realized that this revival’s first season wasn’t ending after eight episodes, I probably would have waited until this second batch came out three months later to write up a review. As is, I don’t have much to say that I didn’t last time: it’s …
Continue reading “TV Review: Leverage: Redemption, season 1.5”
Book #302 of 2021: The Unbroken by C. L. Clark (Magic of the Lost #1) [I read and reviewed this title at a Patreon donor’s request. Want to nominate your own books for me to read and review (or otherwise support my writing)? Sign up for a small monthly donation today at https://patreon.com/lesserjoke !] This …
TV #79 of 2021: Scandal, season 3 This series is becoming ever more of a soap opera, such that when Fitz replaces his treacherous VP with a running mate he says is the one man he trusts, it’s almost inevitable that that new fellow will end up in a love triangle with him and the …
Book #301 of 2021: The Pretender by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #23) This Animorphs title feels built around a single scene near the end, when our current narrator sits down to hear a piece of news about his family that most readers likely already learned in The Andalite Chronicles, published the previous year. He is …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Pretender by K. A. Applegate”
Book #300 of 2021: The Verdigris Pawn by Alysa Wishingrad A solid children’s fantasy adventure. I think the metaphor of the chess-like board game that recurs throughout would have been stronger with a clearer explanation of its rules, and I wish the protagonists had a greater sense of personal agency, rather than seeming fated to …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Verdigris Pawn by Alysa Wishingrad”
Book #299 of 2021: Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian An entertaining if not particularly deep airport thriller. I enjoy the college setting of this story, since that’s a rarity in fiction overall and especially this genre, but the plot has its share of weaknesses and the characters are a squirrelly and amoral lot. …
Continue reading “Book Review: Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian”
Book #298 of 2021: Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder Powerful and uncompromisingly uncomfortable as the title suggests, this debut novel depicts an exhausted and infuriated young mother who is either having a psychotic break or legitimately experiencing herself turning into some sort of canine-human hybrid. Her body hair is growing coarse, her teeth are sharpening, she’s …
Book #297 of 2021: The Fabulous Riverboat by Philip José Farmer (Riverworld #2) It’s two decades later in the Riverworld, that strange place where everyone from earth’s history woke up restored to their 25-year-old bodies, which have not gotten any older in the meantime. (The children have likewise stopped aging after catching up to the …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Fabulous Riverboat by Philip José Farmer”
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more