TV #16 of 2023: The Mandalorian, season 3 A very uneven installment, and one that probably seems even weaker for being the first live-action Star Wars property to follow the franchise-high achievements of Andor’s debut year. While not awful, this is certainly the worst (or more generously, the most inconsistent) the Mando show has ever …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Book Review: I Know Who You Are: How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever by Barbara Rae-Venter
Book #58 of 2023: I Know Who You Are: How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever by Barbara Rae-Venter Author Barbara Rae-Venter is a retired patent lawyer who in recent years has found a new career in the burgeoning field of genetic genealogical research, and specifically its …
Book Review: Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick
Book #57 of 2023: Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick A journalist in the late 21st century visits a secluded island where he instantly feels a sense of mutual romantic attraction and familiarity with a local woman. In the next section of the text, set decades earlier, there are two other people there who share their names, …
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Book Review: Abhorsen by Garth Nix
Book #56 of 2023: Abhorsen by Garth Nix (The Old Kingdom #3) This 2003 sequel is a thrilling end to the fantasy coming-of-age tale begun in 2001’s Lirael. (Although described upon release as the conclusion to the Abhorsen / Old Kingdom trilogy, these two volumes are really pretty separate from the original 1995 title Sabriel …
Book Review: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and a Selection of Entrées by Agatha Christie
Book #55 of 2023: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and a Selection of Entrées by Agatha Christie The criteria for inclusion in author Agatha Christie’s short story collections is often somewhat haphazard, and in the case of this 1960 publication, it turns out that I’ve read four of the six entries elsewhere already (or …
Book Review: The Killing God by Stephen R. Donaldson
Book #54 of 2023: The Killing God by Stephen R. Donaldson (The Great God’s War #3) If book 1 of this fantasy trilogy offered an allegorical fable, and the sequel delivered a stream of complicating intrigues amid some thankfully deepened worldbuilding, this closing volume brings everything together for an action-packed finale as the threatened war …
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TV Review: Six Feet Under, season 3
TV #15 of 2023: Six Feet Under, season 3 This HBO drama about a family who run an independent funeral home has been steadily growing on me, but even in this third season I still don’t think the series is consistently strong enough to deserve a rating higher than three-out-of-five stars. The first episode of …
Book Review: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson
Book #53 of 2023: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson [Disclaimer: I am Facebook friends with this author.] This is the second of author Brandon Sanderson’s four “Secret Project” novels, which he wrote over the pandemic lockdowns of 2020-2021 in the time he’d normally spend traveling and making public appearances …
Book Review: League of Liars by Astrid Scholte
Book #52 of 2023: League of Liars by Astrid Scholte (The League of Liars #1) I was intrigued by the notion of a YA fantasy legal thriller, but the result here is severely underwhelming at every turn. Take the minimal worldbuilding, for starters. This is nominally set on a different plane than ours, with magic …
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Book Review: The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
Book #51 of 2023: The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi Based on the lush prose, the flowery title, and the other pieces I’ve read by author Roshani Chokshi, I was expecting this novel to fit squarely in the fantasy genre, but to my surprise, it’s relatively rooted in reality instead. Although …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 