Book Review: The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander

Book #173 of 2018: The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (The Chronicles of Prydain #1) Somehow I missed out on this series when I was growing up, which is a shame, since this first novel has turned out to be an excellent classic of children’s fantasy literature. The tone is somewhere between J. R. …

Book Review: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Book #172 of 2018: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next #1) This story is fairly bursting with ideas — from time-travel to dodo clones to secret agents and criminals jumping in and out of novels like Jane Eyre — but it’s all a bit chaotic, and a lot of the apparent comedy doesn’t …

Book Review: Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce

Book #171 of 2018: Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce (Daughter of the Lioness #1) At this point in her wider Tortall series, author Tamora Pierce can easily spin a great story… when she can manage to get out of the way of her own worst impulses. And for the most part here, she does. This …

Book Review: Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston

Book #170 of 2018: Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston This book is interesting from a historical point of view: although unpublished until 2018, it was written in the early 20th century and based on author Zora Neale Hurston’s interviews with the last known survivor of the last known …

TV Review: Sharp Objects

TV #39 of 2018: Sharp Objects This miniseries adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s debut novel is subtle and understated, to the point where I wonder if I would have been lost without having read the book first. But I do think the show tells its story more effectively than the source material, with beautiful cinematography and …

TV Review: Marvel’s Luke Cage, season 2

TV #38 of 2018: Marvel’s Luke Cage, season 2 I think this season is about on par with the last one, which I similarly liked but didn’t love. The plot is at least more cohesive this time around, but the message is a little muddled and there are still some elements that kind of go …

Book Review: Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay

Book #169 of 2018: Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay This memoir from Roxane Gay is a powerful and emotional read about what it’s like for the author to go through the world and take up space as a medically-obese black woman. She is uncompromising and unflinching about her own trauma: from …

Book Review: The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

Book #168 of 2018: The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty (The Daevabad Trilogy #1) This fantasy novel goes far on the strength of its worldbuilding, which depicts a gorgeous Middle Eastern setting inspired by Islamic folklore that’s markedly different from the Eurocentric genre norm. While I sometimes had trouble keeping track of all the …

Book Review: Operation Mincemeat: The True Spy Story That Changed the Course of World War II by Ben Macintyre

Book #167 of 2018: Operation Mincemeat: The True Spy Story That Changed the Course of World War II by Ben Macintyre As made famous in the fictionalized movie The Man Who Never Was, the Allied intelligence mission Operation Mincemeat was an audacious undertaking: the secret planting of a corpse dressed as a British officer and …

Book Review: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Book #166 of 2018: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (The Folk of the Air #1) Although I like the protagonist and some of the other female characters, I’m pretty lukewarm on this book as a whole. The plot has long periods of inaction and a few moments that seem to come out of nowhere, …

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