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 #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 …
Book #198 of 2022: When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb My shorthand pitch for this debut novel would probably be something like “Good Omens meets The Golem and the Jinni“: a tale of the early twentieth century, richly steeped in #ownvoices Jewish elements, in which a friendly angel and demon who …
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Book #193 of 2022: The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson (Wax and Wayne #4 / Mistborn #7) [Disclaimer: I am Facebook friends with this author.] Despite retaining its fantasy wild west trappings, the remainder of “Mistborn Era 2” has never lived up to the sheer entertainment value of The Alloy of Law for me, and …
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Book #190 of 2022: Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott It’s apparent early on that there are two opposing threads in this story, and while I hoped they would eventually align and synergize, the narrative never really gets there for me. The stronger element is the #ownvoices presentation of Russian Jewish history, specifically concerning the pogroms of …
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Book #189 of 2022: The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin (Earthsea #3) The Earthsea Cycle was originally presented as a trilogy, published from 1968 to 1972, and in that context, I think this concluding novel is a bit of a disappointment. It’s heavy on mysticism but light on plot or detailed worldbuilding, and …
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Book #187 of 2022: The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard (Lays of the Hearth-Fire #1) A wonderful warm hug of a novel, and probably my top read of the year. It’s rare for a 900-page fantasy tome to feel so cozy, let alone to forgo any significant romance or acts of violence throughout …
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Book #186 of 2022: Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk Like most novellas, this fantasy story feels like it probably could have been improved by developing its plots, themes, and worldbuilding at greater length, but in the short space allotted, it gets by just fine on pure premise and tone. It’s …
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Book #185 of 2022: Seasparrow by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm #5) The loose Graceling series moves at unusual rhythms, both on the macro level of an ostensibly-cohesive ongoing saga and on the micro level within its individual books. These stories regularly zig where the rest of the fantasy genre tends to zag, and while the …
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Book #184 of 2022: Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse (Between Earth and Sky #2) Black Sun was one of my top reads of 2020, an adult fantasy debut set in a refreshingly diverse world inspired by pre-Columbian indigenous civilizations. Any sequel would likely struggle to match it, and sure enough, this bridge title in the …
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