Book #5 of 2023: Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn (Legendborn #2) The plot in the middle of this YA fantasy sequel picks up a little, but the beginning spends too long reiterating the overall premise — a Black teenager from North Carolina finds herself the unlikely inheritor of King Arthur’s magical powers, which she must use …
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TV Review: Bob’s Burgers, season 12
TV #2 of 2023: Bob’s Burgers, season 12 I’m not quite caught up on Bob’s Burgers — there’s the block that’s currently airing, plus the feature film that came out last summer yet to go. But this is the latest full season to be released, which I’m finally through after starting from the pilot and …
TV Review: The Shield, season 4
TV #1 of 2023: The Shield, season 4 This is a rebuilding era of sorts after the shakeup of the previous year, with the Strike Team disbanded and Aceveda finally moving on from the Farmington precinct, albeit for a supervisory political position that keeps him relevant. In the wake of those familiar power structures, we …
Book Review: Other People’s Clothes by Calla Henkel
Book #4 of 2023: Other People’s Clothes by Calla Henkel [Disclaimer: I am Facebook friends with this author.] A darkly twisted tale of two toxically codependent young women studying abroad for art school, drawing on the infamous Amanda Knox scandal as well as debut author Calla Henkel’s own experiences as an American expat in Berlin. …
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Book Review: The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay
Book #3 of 2023: The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay A horror novel with very little horror in it. This reads a bit like one of those Stephen King stories about an older man looking back on his haunted adolescence — Christine crossed with Revival, maybe? — which is a tone that I could theoretically …
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Book Review: Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
Book #2 of 2023: Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson [Disclaimer: I am Facebook friends with this author.] Fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, already one of the more prolific members of his field, realized in the pandemic lockdowns of 2020-2021 that his canceled public appearances and associated travel left him with a lot of …
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Book Review: Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin
Book #1 of 2023: Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin (Earthsea #4) The second book in a row to be marketed as the final volume of Earthsea would ultimately, of course, prove not to be that at all. Author Ursula K. Le Guin just kept discovering new things to say about the fantasy setting and …
Book Review: Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie
Book #200 of 2022: Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #28) This is a fairly standard Agatha Christie mystery, notable mainly for stumping her retired Belgian detective for several weeks, during which time he retreats from the rural crime scene to sulk in frustration at home before an ultimately triumphant return to solve …
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Book Review: The Night-Bird’s Feather by Jenna Katerin Moran
Book #199 of 2022: The Night-Bird’s Feather by Jenna Katerin Moran [I read and reviewed this title at a Patreon donor’s request. Want to nominate your own books for me to read and review (or otherwise support my writing)? Sign up for a small monthly donation at https://patreon.com/lesserjoke today!] I don’t love every part of …
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TV Review: His Dark Materials, season 3
TV #61 of 2022: His Dark Materials, season 3 This adaptation has long struggled to capture and distill the complex themes of Philip Pullman’s classic fantasy trilogy, and this final season faces the additional hurdle of navigating the events of its most complicated volume, The Amber Spyglass. Theoretically, it’s a pretty faithful representation! The series …
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