Book #33 of 2024: Book of Earth by John Peel (Diadem #5) This is by far the best of the original six Diadem novels published by Scholastic from 1997 to 1998 (and perhaps of the entire series, which resumed many years later under Llewellyn). It picks up on the cliffhanger ending of the volume before, …
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Book Review: Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta by James Hannaham
Book #32 of 2024: Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta by James Hannaham After two decades, Carlotta Mercedes has been released on parole from the men’s prison where, under her original name and gender presentation, she was sentenced as an accomplice to her cousin’s armed robbery. (She claims she was just in …
Book Review: Sphere by Michael Crichton
Book #31 of 2024: Sphere by Michael Crichton I went through a big Michael Crichton phase when I was younger, and I had vague memories of this 1987 title being one of my favorites from back then. Revisiting it now, I’m not quite so impressed, although that may have something to do with how the …
Book Review: Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie
Book #30 of 2024: Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #41) This isn’t necessarily the worst Agatha Christie story, but it’s certainly one of her more repugnant ones. Multiple characters are casually racist, ableist, and homophobic, often to the point of spouting eugenic beliefs about certain people’s predisposition to violence, which come alongside their …
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Book Review: The Game of Courts by Victoria Goddard
Book #29 of 2024: The Game of Courts by Victoria Goddard Another interesting little Nine Worlds / Lays of the Hearth-Fire prequel novella that sheds light on a minor character from The Hands of the Emperor — in this case, his Radiancy’s esteemed personal valet Conju an Vilius — but isn’t quite robust enough of …
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Book Review: Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian
Book #28 of 2024: Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian The Weird Western vibes of this adventure novel are delightful, presenting a version of the post-Civil War midwest that’s populated with demons, ghouls, and similar entities, all treated matter-of-factly as threats that an unwary traveler might encounter like any other. I’m less sold on the plot, …
TV Review: True Detective, season 4
TV #8 of 2024: True Detective, season 4 Officially subtitled Night Country, the latest installment of this sporadic anthology series takes place in a remote section of Alaska, during the time of year when it stays dark for weeks on end. Unsurprisingly, that turns out to be a great setting for showcasing the program’s typical …
Book Review: Book of Thunder by John Peel
Book #27 of 2024: Book of Thunder by John Peel (Diadem #4) The third Diadem story wrapped up the major plot arcs that had been driving the action thus far, which means that this next volume has to function as a bit of a proof-of-concept for the saga moving forward. What are these books about, …
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Book Review: King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
Book #26 of 2024: King: A Life by Jonathan Eig This 2023 title is a major new biography of the assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., representing the first such work to be published in over three decades. It draws on extensive interviews with his surviving loved ones and colleagues, as well as …
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TV Review: Animorphs, season 2
TV #7 of 2024: Animorphs, season 2 At just six episodes in length (following 20 the year before), this second season of the late-90s TV adaptation of Animorphs plays out rather like a cheap afterthought. While I ultimately found some of the first run‘s quirks to be mildly endearing, it’s harder to mount a defense …
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