Book #6 of 2020: Dark Age by Pierce Brown (Red Rising #5) Although I don’t much care for the endless combat scenes in this latest Red Rising sequel, the project grows on me as it goes along, and it’s definitely worth picking up for anyone still invested in the future of this sci-fi saga. I …
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Book Review: The Book Jumper by Mechthild Gläser
Book #5 of 2020: The Book Jumper by Mechthild Gläser I appreciate that this novel about people who can enter novels is more emotionally grounded than the zany Thursday Next series of that same premise, but I have too many lingering questions about the rules of its magic and the motivation behind certain events to …
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Book Review: Loki: Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzi Lee
Book #4 of 2020: Loki: Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzi Lee A fun YA take on Marvel’s Norse-inspired Loki figure, informed by but not especially beholden to his characterization in previous stories. I didn’t spot anything in this novel that’s out of line with the established canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even though it …
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Book Review: Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
Book #3 of 2020: Trust Exercise by Susan Choi This National Book Award winner is a very literary novel, with an experimental perspective shift midway-through reminiscent of similar recent works like Fates and Furies or Fleishman Is in Trouble. All are stories that I appreciate but don’t really love — for although I enjoy the …
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Book Review: The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis
Book #2 of 2020: The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis (The Good Luck Girls #1) I’d like to see more worldbuilding details and more distinctions between two of the supporting characters, but overall this is a rip-roaring YA fantasy western with a mainly female and POC cast. Five teen girls run away from …
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Book Review: The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
Book #1 of 2020: The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #4) Overall this is another fun Percy Jackson adventure, but there are a few issues that are bugging me about the series at large. Four volumes in, it still feels like author Rick Riordan is retelling ancient Greek …
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Book Review: The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie
Book #250 of 2019: The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie I like this Agatha Christie novel (also published as The Murder at Hazelmoor) for its plucky heroine and atmospheric wintry setting, but it’s perhaps not the best read for someone seeking a rewarding puzzle. Although I generally don’t mind when I can’t figure out the …
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Book Review: The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Book #249 of 2019: The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton I think I was younger than its 14-year-old hero myself the last time that I read this novel, but it holds up pretty well from an adult perspective. Ponyboy is the quintessential good kid caught up in a bad situation, and the slim volume is …
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Book Review: The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
Book #248 of 2019: The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley Another novel that hooks me on its premise but somewhat loses me in the execution. I love the idea of teleporting soldiers coming unstuck along their personal timelines, experiencing their combat missions all out of order. It’s a genre twist on the jumbled chronologies in …
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Book Review: Star Wars: Force Collector by Kevin Shinick
Book #247 of 2019: Star Wars: Force Collector by Kevin Shinick Theoretically, there could be a decent story told about a Force-sensitive youth retracing the path of the earlier Star Wars movies and setting up the sequel trilogy. But this attempt unfortunately misses the mark for me. The characters are flat and juvenile, the overarching …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 