Book #136 of 2022: The Sacrifice by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #52) The last story with Ax as its sole narrator is also the strongest one yet. The plot is deceptively simple: together with the rest of their small resistance force, the Animorphs propose, debate, and ultimately carry out a bombing assault on the local …
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Movie #14 of 2022: Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) Another Marvel feature that’s solidly entertaining in the moment but pretty disposable in the long-term franchise view. Leaning heavily on the space-rocker tone set by director Taika Waititi’s earlier Thor: Ragnarok, this sequel slides into the status of second-best Thor movie more or less by default. …
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Book #135 of 2022: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia This loose retelling of the 1896 classic The Island of Doctor Moreau relocates its action to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, a setting that #ownvoices author Silvia Moreno-Garcia paints as vividly as she has in previous releases like Mexican Gothic, now against the backdrop of …
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TV #43 of 2022: What We Do in the Shadows, season 4 Probably the strongest run of this supernatural comedy yet, with clear arcs for just about every major character except the Guide. Colin Robinson has been replaced by a rapidly-growing junior version of himself — a concept allowing fresh new jokes for his different …
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Book #134 of 2022: The Night Shift by Alex Finlay An excellently twisty thriller in the Gillian Flynn fashion that’s kept me guessing throughout, with plenty of plausible culprits and a compelling group of protagonists striving to uncover the truth behind two identically horrific murder scenes, fifteen years apart (although the action mostly takes place …
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Book #133 of 2022: The River Has Teeth by Erica Waters A dark and powerful YA rural fantasy novel, complete with witchcraft, murders, monsters, a sapphic love story across small-town Georgia class divisions, and major southern gothic vibes. Our two teen protagonists are the sister of a wealthy missing girl and the daughter of a …
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TV #42 of 2022: Classic Doctor Who, season 3 Airing from 1965 to 1966, original Doctor William Hartnell’s last full year in the role marks a turbulent time for Doctor Who both off-screen and on-, as is perhaps best exemplified by the sheer volume of companion turnover: starting the season with Vicki and Steven and …
Book #132 of 2022: Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister This time-travel novel honestly struck me as a little gimmicky at first, and I’m not sure we ever do get to know the heroine’s son well enough for his actions in the opening chapter to make complete sense. But I found myself getting more …
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Book #131 of 2022: They Do It with Mirrors by Agatha Christie (Miss Marple #6) In this novel, also published under the title Murder with Mirrors, the elderly Miss Jane Marple goes to visit a childhood friend whose sister reports feeling vaguely worried about her situation, in part because the woman’s latest husband has turned …
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Book #130 of 2022: The Absolute by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #51) Another thrillingly propulsive installment of the ongoing Animorphs endgame. Since the Yeerks gained the alien cube that bestows morphing powers at the end of the previous story, this one immediately feels like no other volume before it in the saga. Though the team’s …
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