Book #188 of 2017: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison There’s a little Game of Thrones in this standalone fantasy story of an honorable figure coming to court and facing palace intrigue, but it more closely resembles Assassin’s Apprentice in centering its narrative around an abused and friendless child whose station prevents others from getting …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison”
Book #187 of 2017: Rumpole of the Bailey by John Mortimer (Rumpole of the Bailey #1) The aging barrister Horace Rumpole was originally created as a television character, but his writer John Mortimer soon adapted those stories for the literary medium, resulting first in this collection of short stories that presents some of Rumpole’s most …
Continue reading “Book Review: Rumpole of the Bailey by John Mortimer”
Book #186 of 2017: The Last Adventure of Constance Verity by A. Lee Martinez (Constance Verity #1) Constance Verity is fated to live a life of pulpy adventure, always saving the world from robots and ninjas and alien overlords, and it’s a lot of fun to see author A. Lee Martinez throw out all sorts …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Last Adventure of Constance Verity by A. Lee Martinez”
Book #185 of 2017: The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett This was a fun hardboiled detective story, and one that I ultimately liked better than the author’s more famous work, The Maltese Falcon. That’s largely due to Nick and Nora Charles, a retired Pinkerton and his wife who are reluctantly dragged into the unfolding investigation …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett”
Book #184 of 2017: Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (Enchanted Forest Chronicles #1) This was a fun fairy tale of a princess who runs away to live in a cave with a dragon to avoid an arranged marriage. As expected, it’s full of girl power for younger readers, although it’s a bit jarring …
Continue reading “Book Review: Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede”
Book #183 of 2017: Henry IV, Part 1 by William Shakespeare The plot of this Shakespearean history is a trifle thin, detailing only a sliver of England’s War of the Roses, but we’re mostly here for the humor, which offers more laughs than some of the bard’s actual comedies. The most famous bits involve Prince …
Continue reading “Book Review: Henry IV, Part 1 by William Shakespeare”
Book #182 of 2017: The Science of Game of Thrones: From the Genetics of Royal Incest to the Chemistry of Death by Molten Gold – Sifting Fact from Fantasy in the Seven Kingdoms by Helen Keen A fun little pop science book with a ridiculously long title, offering nuggets of learning all vaguely related to …
Movie #15 of 2017: The Room (2003) Honestly, what is there left to even say about this awful movie at this point? No matter what you’ve heard, I guarantee you, the reality is even worse than that. It’s such an entertaining trainwreck to watch, though. Fun personal fact: I watched this movie for the first …
Book #181 of 2017: The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey The setup to this book resembles Never Let Me Go, which similarly puts children in a bizarre setting with evasive caretakers who encourage them to accept everything as normal. But whereas that novel frustrated me by dragging out its reveal for almost …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey”
Book #180 of 2017: Perelandra by C. S. Lewis (The Space Trilogy #2) This was a much more overtly religious book than Out of the Silent Planet, but I liked how the core of the story was essentially just a human arguing with a demon in the Venusian Garden of Eden. Lewis is skilled at …
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more