Book #148 of 2024: Orca by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #7) This 1996 fantasy novel finds its reformed antihero still in fugitive drifter mode, on the run from his former employers rather than working for them as an assassin-for-hire and district crime boss. It’s about a year after the events of book #6 Athyra, and …
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Book Review: The Pairing by by Casey McQuiston
Book #147 of 2024: The Pairing by by Casey McQuiston Four years ago, childhood-best-friends-turned-adult-sweethearts Kit (he/him) and Theo (they/she, as we eventually learn) broke up on the eve of a three-week romantic food and wine tour across Europe. With the voucher about to expire, Theo decides to finally go on the vacation solo, only to …
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TV Review: Archer’s Goon, season 1
TV #42 of 2024: Archer’s Goon, season 1 I won’t lie and say that it’s great television, but for anyone who loves the 1984 Diana Wynne Jones children’s fantasy novel, this six-part 1992 adaptation is a neat way to revisit the story. If anything, it’s faithful to a fault: hardly adding any new material to …
Book Review: Love-in-a-Mist by Victoria Goddard
Book #146 of 2024: Love-in-a-Mist by Victoria Goddard (Greenwing & Dart #5) After several false starts, I’m delighted to report that this series has finally reached the level I had expected from the other titles in author Victoria Goddard’s wider Nine Worlds saga. Every previous Greenwing & Dart installment carried clear potential and a share …
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TV Review: The Umbrella Academy, season 1
TV #41 of 2024: The Umbrella Academy, season 1 This urban fantasy (I guess?) comic book adaptation has some interesting and/or entertaining characters, but it falters significantly throughout its first year in developing a compelling and coherent plot to actually showcase them for us. The stakes are a big issue here; once one person establishes …
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Book Review: Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead by Elle Cosimano
Book #145 of 2024: Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead by Elle Cosimano (Finlay Donovan #2) I’m still not totally hooked on this comedy-thriller series about a Northern Virginia suburban writer who gets mistaken for a hitwoman and caught up in some increasingly-convoluted organized crime, but I think this sequel does a nice job of continuing …
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Book Review: The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan
Book #144 of 2024: The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan (The Mirror Realm Cycle #1) A lovely fantasy debut, with major vibes of other tales I’ve adored from that genre like Strange the Dreamer or Spinning Silver. Like the latter, this is an #ownvoices Jewish novel, peppered with mentions of ketubahs and genizahs and more …
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Book Review: Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White
Book #143 of 2024: Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White YA horror / thriller author Andrew Joseph White’s third novel is unfortunately the first one that doesn’t wholly work for me, although I appreciate the continued #ownvoices trans and autistic representation. The strongest thing about this story, in fact, is the confidence in its characterization, …
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Book Review: Doctor Who: Space Babies by Alison Rumfitt
Book #142 of 2024: Doctor Who: Space Babies by Alison Rumfitt An okay novelization of an okay episode of Doctor Who. Unlike certain previous efforts in the same vein, this book doesn’t really provide many details or character insights beyond what’s already present on the screen, although it does amusingly add back in the early …
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Book Review: The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
Book #141 of 2024: The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman As a genre, Arthuriana tends to be at its finest — with Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King remaining the absolute gold standard for me — when pitched as a tragedy, inviting us to invest in the glimmering dream of Camelot so that its …
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