TV #41 of 2015: Avatar: The Last Airbender, season 1 I know this is close to sacrilege in certain circles, but I’m pretty thoroughly underwhelmed by this acclaimed cartoon series so far. It’s very… adequate? I guess it feels kind of like the show ReBoot to me: above average children’s entertainment with some occasional cool …
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Book #62 of 2015: Fire by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm #2) Just like its predecessor in this series, I have mixed feelings about Fire. There’s a lot it does right, including foregrounding gender discrimination issues in an organic way throughout the plot. But there’s so much falling action, with a good 20% of the book …
Movie #22 of 2015: Ant-Man (2015) This was every bit the disappointment I was afraid it would be based on set rumors, but I am just too much of a completionist to not see it. On the plus side, it does have cool effects, some decent humor, and not an entirely white cast. But on …
Book #60 of 2015: Horns by Joe Hill This book about a man who wakes up with demon horns and the ability to make people tell him their deepest secrets and desires can’t decide what sort of story it wants to be telling. There are a few different ones at play here, from a detective …
Book #59 of 2015: Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb (The Fitz and the Fool #1) Ideally, any sequel should justify its own existence. Why are we returning for another chapter of this story? What new developments require plucking these characters and their world out of the happily-ever-after stasis that we last left them in? Of …
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Book #58 of 2015: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler An unflinching and unsettling look at the horrors of slavery, as seen through the eyes of a modern-day black woman suddenly transported back to antebellum America. Dana cannot control the strange forces that send her back in time, nor can she avoid getting caught up in …
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Book #57 of 2015: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel Following in the tradition of George R. Stewart’s Earth Abides and Stephen King’s The Stand, Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven spins a tale of our modern society collapsing and rebuilding itself in the wake of a calamitous plague that kills off much of …
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Book #56 of 2015: Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm #1) This is a book that really grew on me as it went along, especially as its feminist themes became clear. Cashore has a lot to say about the major and minor oppressions that women can face in a male-dominated society, as well as the …
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TV #28 of 2015: Louie, season 5 This latest run of Louie is far from Louis C.K.’s best work, but it’s also not bad enough yet for me to stop watching if the series ends up coming back for another round. If nothing else, I’m pretty invested in Jane and Lily’s development at this point, …
Movie #17 of 2015: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) [review originally posted 5/25/15] This is such a good movie on every level, from character to worldbuilding to plot to sheer pulse-pounding spectacle. I still have the film score roaring through my head, and I might need to go back and see it again in 3D. …
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