Book #100 of 2019: Golden Fool by Robin Hobb (The Tawny Man #2) This second Tawny Man novel is as slow-paced as the rest of author Robin Hobb’s wider Elderlings saga, but it benefits tremendously by situating its hero back at his old home of Buckkeep with a variety of interesting people to bounce off …
Tag Archives: reread
Book Review: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Book #92 of 2019: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy #2) This sequel is less laugh-out-loud funny than the original Hitchhiker’s novel, which makes it harder to look past the looseness of the plot (or the few snobby digs at the working class). There …
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Book Review: Fool’s Errand by Robin Hobb
Book #91 of 2019: Fool’s Errand by Robin Hobb (The Tawny Man #1) As expected for the seventh entry in her larger Elderlings saga, the world of Robin Hobb’s first Tawny Man novel feels quite well-developed and lived-in at this point. And it’s a real thrill to revisit the surviving characters from her initial Farseer …
Book Review: The Man Who Risked His Partner by Stephen R. Donaldson
Book #87 of 2019: The Man Who Risked His Partner by Stephen R. Donaldson (The Man Who #2) Stephen R. Donaldson is primarily a fantasist, and his The Man Who detective series borrows heavily from that toolkit. I wouldn’t necessarily call it worldbuilding, but the setting of these books feels ever-so-slightly heightened and off-kilter from …
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Book Review: Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
Book #83 of 2019: Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles #1) I gave up on Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles at some point, and I don’t know if I’ll ever resume and finish the series, which seemed to get lost in its own convoluted mythology along the way. But having enjoyed the …
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Book Review: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Book #73 of 2019: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy #1) It’s probably been half a lifetime since I’ve last read this classic sci-fi series, and I’m delighted to find that the first book is just as fantastic as I remember. The dry British absurdities coupled …
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Book Review: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Book #43 of 2019: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel I love this book just as much as I remember, and upon this reading I’m particularly struck by the quiet tone of the work. It’s all too easy for a writer of this sort of world-ending saga to lean on the action and the …
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Book Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
Book #249 of 2018: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter #7) And so my Harry Potter reread comes to an end with what I consider the weakest volume of the series (not counting oddities like the Cursed Child screenplay or the flimsy textbook tie-ins). The major problem in this …
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Book Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling
Book #236 of 2018: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter #6) I love plenty of individual moments in this penultimate Harry Potter book, but if I’m being truly objective, its flashback-heavy narrative arc is a bit of a step down for the series. As usual author J. K. Rowling …
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Book Review: The Man Who Killed His Brother by Stephen R. Donaldson
Book #228 of 2018: The Man Who Killed His Brother by Stephen R. Donaldson (The Man Who #1) Author Stephen R. Donaldson is best known for his fantasy sagas like The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, but his character work and intense internal struggles resonate more than the epic quests and magical worldbuilding, and …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 