Book #60 of 2015: Horns by Joe Hill This book about a man who wakes up with demon horns and the ability to make people tell him their deepest secrets and desires can’t decide what sort of story it wants to be telling. There are a few different ones at play here, from a detective …
Tag Archives: fiction
Book Review: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Book #58 of 2015: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler An unflinching and unsettling look at the horrors of slavery, as seen through the eyes of a modern-day black woman suddenly transported back to antebellum America. Dana cannot control the strange forces that send her back in time, nor can she avoid getting caught up in …
Continue reading “Book Review: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler”
Book Review: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Book #57 of 2015: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel Following in the tradition of George R. Stewart’s Earth Abides and Stephen King’s The Stand, Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven spins a tale of our modern society collapsing and rebuilding itself in the wake of a calamitous plague that kills off much of …
Continue reading “Book Review: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel”
Book Review: Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
Book #35 of 2015: Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld I really love this novel, which is the first thing I’ve ever read from author Scott Westerfeld. It utilizes a cool narrative structure with two parallel stories told in alternating chapters, each of which has a pretty awesome female protagonist. One is a first-time Young Adult novelist, …
Continue reading “Book Review: Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld”
Book Review: The Colorado Kid by Stephen King
Book #30 of 2015: The Colorado Kid by Stephen King This short book reminds me somewhat of the author’s earlier From a Buick 8 with its lack of resolution at the end, but I think that aspect is handled a lot better here. Although we don’t really get any answers about the cold case of …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Colorado Kid by Stephen King”
Book Review: Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen
Book #29 of 2015: Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen I know Carl Hiaasen is supposed to be this great comedy writer, and his stuff is mostly set in my home state of Florida, so I should be predisposed to like — or at least relate to — the jokes. But I really didn’t enjoy any …
Book Review: Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
Book Review: Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive #2) This Stormlight Archive sequel is much better and more eventful than the first one, which could seem like just a massive prologue in a lot of ways. (The Way of Kings does have great writing, worldbuilding, and character work, but so very little …
Continue reading “Book Review: Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson”
Book Review: Shade’s Children by Garth Nix
Book #36 of 2020: Shade’s Children by Garth Nix Shade’s Children is really not that similar to The Hunger Games, but they both feature young people being forced to fight for their lives in a dystopian future, and I think anyone who enjoyed the one story would probably like the other as well. (A studio …
Continue reading “Book Review: Shade’s Children by Garth Nix”
Book Review: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Book #33 of 2011: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine I reread this childhood favorite for the first time in years, and was amazed at how good it still was. Its protagonist is clever and headstrong, its villains are fun to despise, and its love story is understated and touching. The main character even has a …
Continue reading “Book Review: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine”
Book Review: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Book #13 of 2011: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski I feel like this is an easy novel to appreciate but a tough one to cherish. Yes, it’s different than anything else I’ve ever read. Yes, it was startlingly original. Yes, parts of it were very well-written, and yes, several of my friends love …
Continue reading “Book Review: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski”
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 