Book #65 of 2026: Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow This 2025 title is an expansion of several essays that activist-journalist Cory Doctorow had previously published on the subject, including the one where he originally coined the word “enshittification.” Although many people have since adopted that …
Tag Archives: four stars
Book Review: The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang
Book #64 of 2026: The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang This fantasy novel starts out strong, gets legitimately great around midway through, but then unfortunately peters out in the end, without really resolving some of the larger plot threads that it introduces (which might be excusable for the launch of a series, but …
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Book Review: Moonwar by Ben Bova
Book #60 of 2026: Moonwar by Ben Bova (Moonbase Saga #2) Author Ben Bova’s novel Moonrise was a somewhat scattered prelude about life in a near-future lunar settlement, but it built nicely to the situation that’s front and center for this sequel: the facility’s leaders declaring their independence from Earth, so as not to be …
Book Review: Doctor Who: Deceit by Peter Darvill-Evans
Book #59 of 2026: Doctor Who: Deceit by Peter Darvill-Evans (Virgin New Adventures #13) One of the better entries that I’ve read in this 90s spinoff series so far, and especially notable for a few fun developments on the side. First, this is the sole VNA novel written by editor Peter Darvill-Evans, and so offers …
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TV Review: Homicide: Life on the Street, season 3
TV #17 of 2026: Homicide: Life on the Street, season 3 At 20 episodes, this is Homicide’s first full-length season, following two with 9 and 4 respectively while it was still an uncertain property on the bubble of cancellation. It’s another strong one, taking advantage of the greater space with more serialized arcs — though …
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Book Review: Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
Book #57 of 2026: Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins (The Underland Chronicles #1) A pitch-perfect middle-grade portal fantasy, in which our eleven-year-old protagonist stumbles into an underground world via the basement laundry room of his New York City apartment building. There he discovers giant talking animals like cockroaches, spiders, and bats, a strange civilization …
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Book Review: The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens – and Ourselves by Arik Kershenbaum
Book #56 of 2026: The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens – and Ourselves by Arik Kershenbaum I’ve really enjoyed this 2020 nonfiction title, in which an evolutionary biologist provides his informed speculations about the potential nature(s) of extraterrestrial life. He does this by describing a wide sample of …
Book Review: Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover
Book #54 of 2026: Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover Novelizations are often dismissed as weak cash-grabs, but in truth the format is — or at least, can be — an art form like any other. Some adaptations are practically invisible, conveying the action from the screen without embellishment, while others struggle …
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Book Review: The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon
Book #51 of 2026: The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon [Disclaimer: I received a free Advance Reader’s Copy of this title from the publisher Atria Books in a Goodreads Giveaway, in exchange for an honest review.] There will be inevitable comparisons of this upcoming novel to The Brave Little Toaster, which author …
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TV Review: Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, season 1
TV #16 of 2026: Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, season 1 I went into this musical dramedy expecting something like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend or Galavant, with catchy original songs functioning to move the plot of every episode along. Instead, it’s more like Glee meets Ally McBeal with a dash of Joan of Arcadia: people singing choreographed cover versions …
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