Book #32 of 2020: Crier’s War by Nina Varela (Crier’s War #1) Nina Varela’s authorial debut has enough going for it that I will happily read the sequel, but this first book has a few issues holding it back from achieving its full potential. The good: a Battlestar Galactica sort of premise in which humanoid …
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Book Review: The Straight Razor Cure by Daniel Polansky
Book #31 of 2020: The Straight Razor Cure by Daniel Polansky (Low Town #1) The misogyny in this urban fantasy debut is so pervasive that it sometimes occludes the racism, ableism, and homophobia that also populate the work. (I lost track of how many times someone’s purported gayness is used as an insult — including …
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TV Review: Better Call Saul, season 2
TV #2 of 2020: Better Call Saul, season 2 My original review from 2016: “The unexpected Breaking Bad spinoff continues to be a fascinating character study, and this season really embraces the aspect of a Shakespearean tragedy that comes from its audience knowing, at least in broad strokes, how the story ends. I’m not sure …
Book Review: Throwback by Peter Lerangis
Book #30 of 2020: Throwback by Peter Lerangis (Throwback #1) I love the character interactions and the depiction of historical New York City in this middle-grade time-travel adventure, but it’s maybe a bit overstuffed with plot. (The hero is nominally trying to save his grandmother from dying on September 11th, but he spends most of …
Book Review: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Book #29 of 2020: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield I’m trying not to compare this 2006 novel to 2017’s The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which also features a famous recluse inviting someone from out of the blue to come write her official biography. But even setting aside that much superior later book, this …
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Book Review: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Book #28 of 2020: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez Justifiably a classic of Latin American literature, this multi-generational novel provides a sprawling look at the central family in a fictional Colombian town as it undergoes periods of settlement, growth, war, encroaching modernity, and ultimately collapse. The storytelling is recursive and elliptical, …
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Book Review: Infinity Son by Adam Silvera
Book #27 of 2020: Infinity Son by Adam Silvera (Infinity Cycle #1) I feel similarly about this YA superhero novel as I do Marissa Meyer’s Renegades trilogy: it’s neat for the genre exploration and representation — which in this case includes a gay Latino protagonist written by a gay Latino author — but somewhat underwhelming …
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Book Review: Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb
Book #26 of 2020: Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb (The Fitz and the Fool #1) When I first read this novel in 2015, I gave it the following lukewarm review: “Ideally, any sequel should justify its own existence. Why are we returning for another chapter of this story? What new developments require plucking these characters …
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Book Review: Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly
Book #25 of 2020: Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly Less a retelling than a continuation, this novel takes the standard version of the Cinderella fairy tale and imagines a possible redemption story for one of her wicked relations. But it really doesn’t work for me, on just about any level. Worst of all are the under-explained …
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Book Review: Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin
Book #24 of 2020: Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin (Serpent & Dove #1) A reader’s enjoyment of this fantasy debut may depend on their fondness for certain fanfiction tropes about nemeses forced to fake a relationship for appearance’s sake. In this case, it’s a church witchfinder and a secret witch, whose dynamic of grudging …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 