Book #126 of 2024: Phoenix by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #5) I’m perhaps a bit biased, as this was the first Vlad Taltos book that I ever picked up back in the day, but I do think it’s a big step forward from the previous volumes and possibly a series-best entry. In typical bouncing timeline …
Tag Archives: reread
Book Review: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
Book #121 of 2024: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King One of Stephen King’s regular preoccupations as a horror author seems to be the idea of a person getting stuck in confined circumstances just off the track from their ordinary life. This 1999 novel, in which a nine-year-old girl winds up separated …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King”
Book Review: Shape-Shifter by Chris Archer
Book #117 of 2024: Shape-Shifter by Chris Archer (Mindwarp #5) A fun twist for this middle-grade 90s sci-fi series. For four books now, we’ve been hearing backstory about how Todd Aldridge mysteriously vanished on his thirteenth birthday, and watching as a succession of his classmates have both gained access to special powers and quickly had …
Continue reading “Book Review: Shape-Shifter by Chris Archer”
Book Review: Taltos by Steven Brust
Book #115 of 2024: Taltos by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #4) We’ve once again jumped around in the timeline for this fourth Vlad Taltos installment, though as usual, the context clues make it pretty easy to place the adventure in its proper spot within the protagonist’s personal lifespan. In this case, it’s his earliest outing …
Book Review: Second Sight by Chris Archer
Book #106 of 2024: Second Sight by Chris Archer (Mindwarp #4) This fourth Mindwarp novel follows the same general structure as the first three: another kid in this fictional Wisconsin town turns thirteen, discovers they have special powers, and then quickly has to use them to avoid falling into the clutches of a shapeshifting alien …
Continue reading “Book Review: Second Sight by Chris Archer”
Book Review: Teckla by Steven Brust
Book #104 of 2024: Teckla by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #3) Another crisis with antihero Vladimir Taltos, sorcerer-assassin and crime boss of his local fantasy city. This third adventure takes place soon after book one (the second volume being a prequel), and offers probably the most straightforward plot yet: the protagonist’s wife has gotten involved …
Book Review: Yendi by Steven Brust
Book #93 of 2024: Yendi by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #2) Published in 1984, this second Vlad Taltos novel is a prequel that’s lighter on the worldbuilding lore, taking us back to earlier in that assassin / crime boss’s career when the antihero was running a smaller territory and hadn’t yet married. In fact, he …
Book Review: Jhereg by Steven Brust
Book #82 of 2024: Jhereg by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #1) Pretty decent for an authorial debut, though it’s heavier on infodumping exposition than it needs to be, especially with the protagonist repeatedly learning something that he probably should have already known as a denizen of this particular fantasy world. (On the other hand, the …
Book Review: Alien Scream by Chris Archer
Book #75 of 2024: Alien Scream by Chris Archer (Mindwarp #3) Easily the best entry so far in my reread of this 90s middle-grade sci-fi series. The formula is pretty firmly established by this point — a kid in the small Wisconsin town turns 13, develops strange powers, and winds up getting attacked by a …
Continue reading “Book Review: Alien Scream by Chris Archer”
Book Review: The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard
Book #72 of 2024: The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard (Lays of the Hearth-Fire #1) This is currently my very favorite book, which I’ve now read twice in as many years. What follows is an updated version of my original review: The Hands of the Emperor is a wonderful warm hug of a …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard”
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 