Book #137 of 2016: Star Wars: Bloodline by Claudia Gray This Star Wars novel fills in some of the plot gaps between The Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, giving us a glimpse of how the First Order and the Resistance came about. There’s lots of galactic politics here, but in general they’re …
Continue reading “Book Review: Star Wars: Bloodline by Claudia Gray”
Book #136 of 2016: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion (Warm Bodies #1) Retelling Romeo and Juliet as a zombie love story – in this case between a human named Julie and a zombie narrator who thinks his name might have started with an R – is a clever idea. But author Isaac Marion doesn’t do …
Book #135 of 2016: To Hold the Bridge by Garth Nix A mixed bag, as short story collections often are. The Old Kingdom novella that starts the book (and gives it its title) is justifiably the main selling point, and “A Handful of Ashes” was another highlight with its tale of magic that was reminiscent …
Continue reading “Book Review: To Hold the Bridge by Garth Nix”
Book #134 of 2016: The Magician King by Lev Grossman (The Magicians #2) Like the previous novel in this series, The Magician King is about wizards with depression, and it’s a good illustration of how that condition can strip away all sense of joy or satisfaction and leave a person completely listless in every situation. …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Magician King by Lev Grossman”
Book #133 of 2016: The Green Mile by Stephen King A well-told story, albeit with one of the most literal and egregious uses of the ‘magical negro’ trope. And it’s neat that Stephen King wrote this as a serial, so that the first chapters were already published before he even knew how the story would …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Green Mile by Stephen King”
Book #132 of 2016: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling This memoir / humor book is mostly funny, but with periodic unwelcome interruptions for the author to indulge in transphobia, antisemitism, body-shaming, and other such charming behaviors – sometimes without even the excuse of a punchline. I still like …
Book #131 of 2016: Version Control by Dexter Palmer Version Control is a slow burn of a novel. Although set in the near future and populated with new technologies like self-driving cars, it’s not until halfway through the book that it really becomes clear science-fiction. That might be frustrating in other stories, but Version Control …
Continue reading “Book Review: Version Control by Dexter Palmer”
Book #130 of 2016: Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #4) A weird and kind of unnecessary add-on to the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. I’m generally a fan of supporting characters getting to tell their own stories – that’s what’s given us such classics as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead or …
Book #129 of 2016: Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson A scattered but hilarious memoir about living with mental illness – and about how that isn’t inherently a contradiction in terms. Lawson doesn’t shy away from the low moments that her condition has brought her to (or that her husband …
Continue reading “Book Review: Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson”
Book #128 of 2016: The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen (The Ascendance Trilogy #3) The first novel in this trilogy was definitely the strongest, but this third one resolves the larger story nicely, and it’s always a joy to spend more time with a character like Sage. His ability to think his way out …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen”
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more