Book #1 of 2026: Star Wars: Master of Evil by Adam Christopher This is a solid but basically unspectacular Star Wars novel, unfortunately saddled with a misleading title, publisher’s summary, and cover art. It’s only a Darth Vader story in that he’s around for a lot of the plot, but he gets just a handful …
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TV #1 of 2026: Stranger Things, season 5 A satisfactory-enough conclusion, although not one that ever lives up to the early years of this show, when it felt more like an intimate character-driven horror thriller meets Amblin adventure and not a Marvel-ified action blockbuster. In fact, I’d say this final season is about on par …
Book #202 of 2025: The Bride Wore Black Leather by Simon R. Green (Nightside #12) And so the Nightside series comes to an end, more or less. (There’s still a collection of short stories in the setting, which I’ll be rereading next, and a few crossovers with some of author Simon R. Green’s other works …
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Book #201 of 2025: Superboy: A Celebration of 75 Years by various This 2020 anthology commemorates three-quarters of a century of the titular junior superhero via a selection of comic book issues from across that span. In fact, it turns out that four different Kryptonians have each worn the mantle of Superboy at one point …
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Book #197 of 2025: The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann An interesting nonfiction account of a 1740s maritime disaster, in which the British vessel HMS Wager was shipwrecked in the South Pacific, near modern Chile. The incident occurred during the so-called “War of Jenkins’ Ear” conflict with Spain — …
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Book #196 of 2025: Doctor Who: Transit by Ben Aaronovitch (Virgin New Adventures #10) This cyberpunk / cosmic horror mashup is big on worldbuilding texture but light on plot and character work. The worst thing about it, though, stems from its place in the Doctor Who Virgin New Adventures series, as the first installment with …
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Book #195 of 2025: Tailored Realities by Brandon Sanderson [Disclaimer: I am Facebook friends with this author.] This is Brandon Sanderson’s second collection of short fiction, following Arcanum Unbounded in 2016. That earlier volume collected all the writer’s smaller works in his expansive Cosmere setting, while this one contains the opposite: ten tales expressly not …
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Movie #27 of 2025: Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) A fun but muddled legacy sequel, picking up with the titular dudes several decades after their previous adventures. Overall I would say this movie is better than I expected it to be, and easily stronger than Bogus Journey (1991). It just could have benefited …
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Book #193 of 2025: Star Wars: The Last Order by Kwame Mbalia This Star Wars title has definite potential, but it unfortunately doesn’t live up to it in my opinion. The action unfolds across three different timelines, one of which at least should have automatic appeal for any fan — it’s canonically the latest story …
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Book #192 of 2025: The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (The Ripliad #4) Two observations I made earlier in this series continue to prove fruitful in shaping my understanding of Mr. Thomas Ripley: that his adventures can be as ludicrous as those of Dexter Morgan on TV, and that he’s best read as …
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