Movie #4 of 2020: Frozen II (2019) This film has some interesting themes of responsible environmental stewardship and accountability for indigenous oppression (to the extent possible in a family-friendly production)… but boy could it have benefited from a few more drafts of its script. So many plot beats and character arcs make no sense at …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Book Review: The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
Book #65 of 2020: The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter (The Burning #1) Ignore the generic title (and the fact that the book barely contains any dragons at all) — this is an incredible series and authorial debut, originally self-published in 2017 before gaining critical buzz and being acquired by Orbit for wider release. …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter”
TV Review: Better Call Saul, season 3
TV #7 of 2020: Better Call Saul, season 3 My original review from 2018: “At this point, I’m almost ready to declare Better Call Saul the superior program to its parent show Breaking Bad. (It helps that there doesn’t seem to be the same toxic fandom around it, with people mistaking a critique of harmful …
Book Review: Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
Book #64 of 2020: Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny (The Chronicles of Amber #1) This 1970 series debut is a bit of a ride, but I’ve definitely enjoyed it. Opening on an earthly amnesiac gives the story both grounding and a distinctive flavor, and the fantasy worldbuilding is interesting once it does start …
Continue reading “Book Review: Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny”
TV Review: Veronica Mars, season 4
TV #6 of 2020: Veronica Mars, season 4 Even setting aside the issue of whether another Veronica Mars revival was in any way necessary, this latest effort feels severely under-baked. Certain elements like the Mexican hitmen barely fit into the established Neptune universe at all, pivotal character moments come off as unearned, and the big …
Book Review: Highfire by Eoin Colfer
Book #63 of 2020: Highfire by Eoin Colfer This is a very weird story about the world’s last dragon — really more like a tall, strong humanoid reptile — living in the swamps of Louisiana. It’s very heavy on dialect and other local color, and with its madcap plot of drug dealers and corrupt cops …
Book Review: A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab
Book #62 of 2020: A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab (Shades of Magic #1) This fantasy novel improves as it goes along, but it’s literally over a quarter of the way through before there’s anything that could remotely be called a plot. I’m also not happy that the only significant female character …
Continue reading “Book Review: A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab”
TV Review: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, season 3
TV #5 of 2020: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, season 3 I still really enjoy the 50s set dressing, Jewish representation, and Amy Sherman-Palladino banter to this series, but I’ve been gradually losing patience with the overarching storyline and the tedious subplots around people like Sophie or Joel. If the writers could figure out what they …
Continue reading “TV Review: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, season 3”
Book Review: The Man Who Fought Alone by Stephen R. Donaldson
Book #61 of 2020: The Man Who Fought Alone by Stephen R. Donaldson (The Man Who #4) From 1980 to 1990, author Stephen R. Donaldson veered away from his usual sci-fi and fantasy genres to pen a loose trilogy of detective novels under the pseudonym Reed Stephens (reportedly the publisher’s decision, not his). In 2001 …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Man Who Fought Alone by Stephen R. Donaldson”
Book Review: The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller
Book #60 of 2020: The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller This standalone fantasy novel has some definite issues with worldbuilding (like the generic medieval setting that then randomly has a semi-automatic handgun in one scene) and character motivation (like the protagonist who wants to seduce, marry, and kill the king for basically no reason). …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller”
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 