Book #88 of 2025: Revolution by John Peel (2099 #4) This middle-grade sci-fi series stalls out a bit here, though I’m hoping the final two volumes are able to recapture the original momentum and fun. (It’s been a quarter-century since my last read, so none of this is particularly clear in my memory.) The subplot …
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Book Review: Never Flinch by Stephen King
Book #87 of 2025: Never Flinch by Stephen King (Holly Gibney #4) In the afterword to this new novel, author Stephen King acknowledges that it was difficult to write before saying that he’s “happy enough” with the final version. That’s largely how I feel as a reader, too. This is pretty far from the writer …
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TV Review: Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld, season 1
TV #27 of 2025: Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld, season 1 “This is solid but unremarkable Star Wars for the most part, and although it isn’t the worst of the franchise, it never comes close to justifying its existence.” That’s what I said in my review of last year’s Tales of the Empire cartoon …
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Book Review: Doctor Who: Cat’s Cradle: Time’s Crucible by Marc Platt
Book #86 of 2025: Doctor Who: Cat’s Cradle: Time’s Crucible by Marc Platt (Virgin New Adventures #5) The first four books in this sequel series to Classic Doctor Who formed a loose quartet, and this next one purportedly starts a new trilogy. It’s pretty standalone, however, and ultimately one of those stories that I think …
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TV Review: Reservation Dogs, season 1
TV #26 of 2025: Reservation Dogs, season 1 A fresh and very funny slice-of-life dramedy about a group of teenage friends in the Muscogee Nation of rural Oklahoma. This program feels like a revelation with its magical realist touches and nearly all Indigenous talent both on and off the screen, and the humor resultantly carries …
Book Review: Nightshade by Michael Connelly
Book #85 of 2025: Nightshade by Michael Connelly (Detective Stilwell #1) This 2025 release is the start of a new series for author Michael Connelly, although there are a few subtle indications throughout that it’s set in the same continuity as his long-running Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer titles. I’d be shocked if there aren’t crossover …
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Book Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Book #84 of 2025: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games #3) The first two volumes in this trilogy shared a roughly similar structure: half a book of buildup to the latest deadly arena match, and then the heroine’s desperate bid for survival within it. This closing entry operates along the same general principles, except …
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Book Review: Woodworking by Emily St. James
Book #83 of 2025: Woodworking by Emily St. James I’ve been following this author’s work as a cultural critic for years, since well before she came out as transgender and changed her name to Emily St. James. That means I’ve already read several of her own personal accounts of her gender dysphoria, realization, and steps …
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TV Review: Black Mirror, season 7
TV #25 of 2025: Black Mirror, season 7 Another strong collection of the sci-fi anthology series, somehow still chugging along after all this time. (The first season came out all the way back in 2011!) As usual, some episodes are better than others, but 7×3 Hotel Reverie is the only one that doesn’t work for …
Book Review: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Book #82 of 2025: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones Unintentionally a great companion piece to the movie Sinners (2025), another historical vampire story centered on a marginalized racial group to come out in recent months. This one is less concerned with vampirism as a metaphor for whiteness as a predatory force, but …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 