Book #216 of 2020: Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries #3) This novella is another fun outing with everyone’s favorite heavily-armed cybernetic introvert, but the events feel somewhat less significant for either the protagonist or the ongoing plot than the two previous installments. Even a filler adventure with Murderbot offers the usual delights …
Continue reading “Book Review: Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells”
Book #215 of 2020: Diana and the Island of No Return by Aisha Saeed (Wonder Woman Adventures #1) I suppose I’d recommend this new middle-grade series to tweens who love the Wonder Woman character already and are excited to see more of her childhood, but I haven’t gotten much out of the first volume myself. …
Continue reading “Book Review: Diana and the Island of No Return by Aisha Saeed”
Book #214 of 2020: The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey This 2020 novel is an exquisite piece of mid-century historical fiction, rich in gothic atmosphere and consideration of women’s oppression within the family unit and the larger society. Our two heroines are the daughter of a wealthy household and the museum curator sent …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey”
TV #37 of 2020: The Good Wife, season 6 It was perhaps inevitable that The Good Wife would tumble from its near-perfect fifth year, but this following run is still a major disappointment. I actually don’t mind the first part of the season so much, although it’s very plot-driven compared to the program before, with …
Book #213 of 2020: Kind of a Big Deal by Shannon Hale A one-star rating feels perhaps too harsh for this title, which I didn’t exactly hate reading. But structurally it’s a mess that inelegantly transitions from one lackluster concept into another near the end, lowering my appreciation after I’d already spent most of the …
Continue reading “Book Review: Kind of a Big Deal by Shannon Hale”
Book #212 of 2020: Goddess in the Machine by Lora Beth Johnson (Goddess in the Machine #1) High marks for this new science-fiction novel, which has a few reliable YA tropes but mostly takes its plot in interesting directions that I wouldn’t expect. The biggest twist is right in the premise, with our teenaged heroine …
Continue reading “Book Review: Goddess in the Machine by Lora Beth Johnson”
Book #211 of 2020: The Bright Lands by John Fram There’s a thriving sub-genre of suspense novels about a protagonist returning to their childhood home in the wake of tragedy and uncovering old secrets, and in theory, I like the idea of mashing that together with something like Friday Night Lights. A small town in …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Bright Lands by John Fram”
Book #210 of 2020: Crossings by Alex Landragin This genre-bending novel is a deeply immersive tale of people who can swap souls from body to body, prolonging their existence but not necessarily retaining their waking memories in the process. Spanning multiple centuries, it’s a work of historical fiction as well, incorporating real figures like Charles …
Book #209 of 2020: The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch #3) This 1994 novel opens with detective Harry Bosch on trial for his shooting of an unarmed man four years ago, a civil complaint brought by the widow against the city. (The deceased was a suspected rapist and serial killer, and Bosch mistakenly …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly”
TV #36 of 2020: Star Wars: The Clone Wars, season 2 This cartoon is incrementally improving, but I still don’t love it just yet. I’m most invested when the writing manages to tell me something new about a character or concept from the wider franchise, which is why I perked up around this season’s mini-arc …
Continue reading “TV Review: Star Wars: The Clone Wars, season 2”
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more