Reviews on jverkamp.com

The Karate Kid

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Miyagi: Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off.

Oh this movie. It’s a classic, but somehow I’ve never actually seen it. Right now is the second best time though, so here we go!

In a nutshell, it’s a pretty straight forward coming-of-age / underdog sports movie from the 80s. Really. Daniel moves to a new town, gets beat up, meets the girl, gets beat up some more, meets the mysterious mentor figure, learns (but doesn’t realize it), learns (but does), loses the girl, gets her back, and, in the end, wins the day.

Austin Powers in Goldmember

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It took a while (relatively speaking) to get to this one. And, while this one has a lot of great individual scenes, I think it’s the weakest of the series.

This time around, we’re in the 70s, with the introduction of Beyoncé’s Foxxy Cleopatra. I enjoyed her role, especially her introduction, talking (so obviously) through a third party. She seems like she’s having fun and is a good counterpoint to Austin.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Onward in Harry Potter. And still without making it back to the first.

Plotwise, this is one of my favorites. It’s an action packed story with a lot of mystery going on and a twist to the plot that (long ago) I did not see coming–and which actually pulls the last part of the story together very well. Even if, in the broader world Harry Potter lives in doesn’t make any sense.

The Martian

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

He’s stuck out there. He thinks he’s totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man’s psychology?” He turned back to Venkat. “I wonder what he’s thinking right now.”

LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.

With the recent release of the Project Hail Mary movie, I decided to reread the Project Hail Mary book. So of course I also had to re-read The Martian (I’ll watch it at some point too!). But the last time I read it, I wasn’t writing reviews yet… so here we are!

The Last Olympian

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is it! The Last Battle¹. Kronos and his army of titans, monsters, gods, and demigods is about to reach New York City and Mount Olympus. And, because of a rampaging Titan coming across the country, the city is almost entirely undefended.

So it’s up to Percy and the demigods of Camp Half-Blood to save the day!

Oh, did I mention that Percy is about ot turn 16 in this book? And that there’s a certain prophecy all about that?

Despicable Me

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I watched (and reviewed) Despicable Me 2 years ago, in theaters. We watched those movies over and over again for so long when my children were younger. But now, it’s back in favor, so it’s a good time to review it!

Gru, criminal mastermind, has a glorious plan.

Gru: …we are going to steal… pause for effect… THE MOON!

To do that, he needs cookie robots and three little girls to deliver them. And oh, the girls are a delight. Margo, serious and holding everything together. Edith, agent of chaos. And Agnes. Just, cute.

The Demigod Files

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I probably should have skipped this one.

I do like the three short stories well enough.

We get The Bronze Dragon–a game of capture the flag and a new guardian for the camp. Plus we get more of Silena (child of Aphrodite) and Beckendorf (Hephaestus) who are a fun couple.

Then the Sword of Hades–I do enjoy stories with Nico in them. He’s a nicely complicated character. Plus more Thalia! It’s also fun to see Hades and Persephone bickering.

The Princess Bride

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A rewatch for me, but that’s just a fun movie. More than a bit 80s feeling, but it works. I love the characters, especially Andrew the Giant’s Fezzik and Wallace Shawn’s Vizzini. They’re just fun throughout the movie.

And man is this movie quotable.

Even if you haven’t seen, it I’m sure you’ll have heard some of these.

Inigo Montoya: Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

The Battle of the Labyrinth

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Labyrinth. Daedalus. Return of the Minotaur. Oh, this book has a lot going for it.

I love the setting. It’s interesting seeing more of the ways demigods can go–and have gone in the past. Not all demigods are heroes–which we’ve already seen–but they’re not always villains either. And the same with monsters; we’ve already met Tyson. And for that matter, gods and titans.

There are still good guys and bad guys. But everything is starting to get just a bit more complicated, which I appreciate in the series.

The Titan's Curse

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Annabeth is missing and a goddess is in chains! It’s time for a quest!

Only this time, it’s not Percy’s quest.

Oh, and apparently not everyone is fated to survive.

Percy is growing up–ever nearer to that fated 16th birthday. So of course, he’s got more than just demigod problems.

“Love conquers all," Aphrodite promised. “Look at Helen and Paris. Did they let anything come between them?”

“Didn’t they start the Trojan War and get thousands of people killed?”

The Sea of Monsters

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we’re related for better or for worse…and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.

After the events of The Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson is starting to settle into his world of gods and monsters. So of course, things have to get complicated.

This time around, we get a new friend (Tyson, a 6'3" seventh grader who’s a bit slower and absolutely obsessed with Percy), a new quest (the borders of Camp Half-Blood are failing!), and a whole new adventure: The Sea of Monsters.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Harry Potter films have some problems¹, but they came out just at the right time to be a large part of my growing up. I’ve seen them all and, while I think the books are better in a lot of ways, the movies have a lot of charm. Especially the first few.

They’re just done in such a magical way, really capturing the fantastic feel of the world. It makes you wish you could just hop right in and explore the world, Hogwarts castle especially.

El Principito

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

El Principito. En español. ¿Por qué? ¡Por qué no!

En serio, porque estoy aprendiendo español. Un libro fácil es bueno para aprender.

Pero El Principito es un libro raro.

Es un libro sobre serpientes. Y planetas. Y flores.

Y volcanes.

Y baobabs.

Como dije. Un libro raro.

Pero lo disfruté. [[TODO:El Ojo del Mundo||La próxima vez]], debería leer un libro en inglés y luego en español.

Voy!

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Wed, 13 May 2026 23:00:00 +0000

Where Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery was a delightful, raunchy, vulgar parody of spy flicks and the 90s, The Spy Who Shagged Me turns everything up a notch–for better and for worse.

It all starts out where the previous movie ended. Austin and Vanessa married and on their honeymoon. Except, surprise! Fembot. Which makes absolutely no sense. But I do appreciate that we get Heather Graham’s Felicity Shagwell out of it!

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

Wed, 13 May 2026 20:00:00 +0000

Austin Powers: Allow myself to introduce… myself.

Austin Powers. A riff on 60’s culture and especially the genre of spy movies (James Bond especially) absolutely loaded with a particularly rauncy, vulgar sort of humor.

Vanessa Kensington: Mr. Powers, my job is to acclimatize you to the nineties. You know, a lot’s changed since 1967.
Austin Powers: No doubt, love, but as long as people are still having promiscuous sex with many anonymous partners without protection while at the same time experimenting with mind-expanding drugs in a consequence-free environment, I’ll be sound as a pound!

The Lightning Thief

Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What if the Greek gods (and the rest of that mythology) were not only real… but still around?

“Is it? What’s the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they’ve changed their habits in the last few millennia?”

Oh. And what if they all¹ had a bunch of half-human children. Demigods as it were. Because that’s just what the Greek gods did/do.

Doctor Who: Season 6

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Man. I forgot how good this season is. Eleven with Rory and Amy. The Silence. It opens with the Doctor dying–and just gets so much crazier from there. It’s one of the best season-long plots (in my opinion) with a lot of solid episodes along the way.

A Christmas Carol - Skipping through time, with a cloudy sky full of flying fish. Delightful.

The Doctor: [Pointing to frozen Abigail Pettigrew] Who’s she?
Kazran Sardick: Nobody important.
The Doctor: Nobody important? Blimey, that’s amazing. You know that in nine hundred years of time and space and I’ve never met anybody who wasn’t important before.

The Book That Held Her Heart

Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Information is like water—without it you won’t live long, too much and you’ll drown. And there’s a difference between truth and information. Even correct information is not the same as truth—truth does not mislead—correct information bereft of context can be more dangerous than a lie.

Another book that I feel like I reviewed but somehow seem to have lost it.

Overall, I really liked how this series started. It’s such a cool idea, an eternal Library spanning through time–and even between worlds. And the story of two very different people, more different than they even imagined.

The Liberation

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

“They’re turning on us!” cried one of the sailors, voicing a panic that threatened to sweep through all the humans on board.
“Jesus fucking wept, you cowards,” said Berenice. “Try not to splash the rest of us when you piss your pants, you dickless shitbags.”

The finale.

I feel like I reviewed this book already, but seem to have lost it (or never wrote it in the first place).

Still. It’s always good to finish a series.

Predator

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Well, I’m just about to Alien vs. Predator, so… I guess I should catch the Predator movies, along with Alien!

Much like Alien, this is a movie that came out a bit before my time, so I’ve never actually seen it. And just like Alien (Aliens even more so), I was kind of amazed at how many lines I’ve quoted any number of times came from this movie…

Dutch: If it bleeds, we can kill it.

The Book That Broke the World

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn was a crazy, solid introduction to the world: we have a giant timeless library built into a mountain range, cities built up and around it throughout time and by more than just humanity, and you have a sort of timey whimey mess of a conflict running through everything.

The Book That Broke the World sort of turns that up to 11.

I already told you: we choose sides with our gut. The words are to make us feel better afterwards.

Alien³

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ripley: You’ve been in my life so long, I can’t remember anything else.

At the end of Aliens, Ripley, Newt, and Hicks managed to survive a second Alien attack–this time with a lot more violence and space marines–only for Newt and Hicks to die off screen, replaced by body doubles in Alien³.

Not even kidding.

Other than, I actually did enjoy this movie. It messes a bit with cannon, making the Alien a bit less a force of nature, which I’m not sure if I cared for. Unfortunately, that does mean that it feels like you could have replaced the Alien with a number of different movie monsters and it would have worked just as well.

Ghost Talkers

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Take a world where ghosts are very much real and, along with mediums and spiritualists, can have an impact on the world around them. Run that forward to World War I, where British soldiers have been compelled to, after they die, report back in one last time:

“The Germans were flanking us at Delville Wood when I died.”

Quite a first sentence that.

So when our main character gets report from a ghost close to heart heart–and not only that, reporting that he was murdered–well, of course we kick off a story that’s one part war story, one part murder mystery, and one part supernatural adventure.

The Winter of the Witch

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Bear and the Nightingale. The Girl in the Tower. The Winter of the Witch. Quite a trilogy.

From a dark Russian fairytale world, full of the spirits of the woods, old gods, and the incoming church up through a more political fantasy, deep into the cities of Russia where spirits hold least sway. And now, it all comes to a climax, with ever more battles between summer and winter, between the old and the new, and between all of Russia and her foes.

Project Hail Mary (Movie)

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I really loved Project Hail Mary (the book) and I’d heard good things so far about Project Hail Mary (the movie), so I figured… let’s give it a chance and actually go see it while it’s still in theaters!

Rocky: Amaze. Amaze. Amaze.

I’m so glad I did.

As a movie, you do lose out on some of the real depth of ‘SCIENCE!’ that this story really had as a novel. Some things are left out, others glossed over. But for the most part, there’s still a great feeling of positivity in the face of adversity–of being able to just think your way out of any problem and I just love that.

Rocky: Words of encouragement.
Ryland Grace: That’s not how we say it!
Rocky: Words of great encouragement!

Now. If you haven’t read the book, seen the movie, or even seen the trailers for it, I would say stop reading this and go watch it now. I’m going to spoil a bit–although no more than they already did in the trailers¹².

Doctor Who: Season 5

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Eleven! And the Ponds!

Man, I don’t even known which doctor is my favorite. Each has their strengths. But if I had to pick one (I haven’t seen 13-15 yet), it would probably have to be Eleven. He’s just such a mix of chaos, fun, and an absolute confidence in himself.

Say what you will, but he starts the season running an alien spaceship off of Earth with nothing but his reputation and ends it with literally the entire universe at stake.

Mad Men: Season 1

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Mad Men is probably not a show I ever would have chosen by myself. It’s highly rated and got a cost full of people I recognize… but on the other hand, there’s a complete lack of aliens/magic/what have you. Still, I’ve liked other non-speculative fiction TV shows before… so what about this one?

Well, first, what does Mad Men have?

You have smoking (so much smoking):

Don: Except they aren’t.
Mr. Garner: That’s your slogan? “You’re going to die anyway. Die with us”?
Pete: Actually, it’s a fairly well-established psychological principle that society has a death wish, and if we could just tap into that, the market potential is–
Mr. Garner: What the hell are you talking about? Are you insane? I’m not selling rifles here, I’m in the tobacco business! We’re selling America! The Indians gave it to us, for shit’s sake!

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

“One thing’s for sure, I’m not in kansas anymore.” It was a phrase in half the languages he knew and one that had led to a saying almost as ancient: “We don’t even know what kansas is anymore.”

Imagine a room. A single colossal room, jam packed with shelves. And on those shelves, books, thousands and millions of books.

Now imagine that that’s only one such room, miles to a side. And there are doors to other rooms, also full of books. Uncountably many such rooms behind uncountably many doors. And there are even more. Doors to nowhere. Doors to an ‘in between’.

The Rising

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

As had become his custom in recent mornings, Hugo Longchamp, captain of the guard of Marseilles-in-the-West, climbed the tallest tower in New France to await the end of the world. Doom had proved slow to arrive. The captain was getting impatient.

A rising war. And not just between the Dutch and the French…

Jax is on his own, fleeing free and northward. Berenice is on her own, causing chaos (both on purpose and inadvertently) behind enemy lines.

Recursion

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

There are so few things in our existence we can count on to give us the sense of permanence, of the ground beneath our feet. People fail us. Our bodies fail us. We fail ourselves. He’s experienced all of that. But what do you cling to, moment to moment, if memories can simply change. What, then, is real? And if the answer is nothing, where does that leave us?

False Memory Syndrome–a mysterious medical condition where you are absolutely sure you have memories of another life lived.

The Queen's Gambit

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A novel about chess, set in the 1960s? How good could that even be?

Turns out: fairly good.

Although (and this isn’t that common for me) I did enjoy the TV show more.

It’s an entire world of just 64 squares. I feel safe in it. I can control it; I can dominate it. And it’s predictable. So, if I get hurt, I only have myself to blame.

In a nutshell, we follow orphan Beth Harmon as she discovers chess–but also drugs–gets adopted, really gets into chess, wins a bunch of games, loses a few, faces addition and loss, and ends up playing the best in the world.

The Warded Man

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

“We are what we choose to be, girl,’ she said. ‘Let others determine your worth, and you’ve already lost, because no one wants people worth more than themselves.”

The setting and world building in this book remind me strongly of The Runelords / The Wheel of Time / Brandon Sanderson’s works, which is already a solid win so far as I’m concerned.

Basically, we have a world where ‘demons’ form out of thin air (more or less) at night, free to terrorize anyone left outside without a circle of wards around them. It’s literally ‘what if the monsters in the night were real’. From there, we have a world that finally fought back against the demons, managed to drive them off, and had a golden age… only to forget. And fall once again–making this world feel post apocalyptic, humanity on the brink of losing for good. But even then, people will fight to survive.

This Inevitable Ruin

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Oh man. Faction Wars.

We’ve spent several books referring to this or actually planning it… and now, we’re finally here! The one where powers in the universe come to the Dungeon planet and lead armies of their own as a larger than life sort of war game.

Except this time, it’s no game. This time, they can die just as easily as the crawlers can.

This time, it’s war.

Oh, and this time the crawlers have an army all their own–with some unexpected allies.

The Girl in the Tower

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Every time you take one path, you must live with the memory of the other: of a life left unchosen. Decide as seems best, one course or the other; each way will have its bitter with its sweet.

The sequel to The Bear and the Nightingale. While the first mostly took place in the edge of the Russian wilderness, this one travels far and wide. To towns being raided to Moscow itself. And all the while, we have Visilisa, refusing to choose either life in a convent or married. One thing leads to another, she disguises herself as a boy–as one does–and things escalate from their.

A Desolation Called Peace

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

“… That could have gone much worse,” said Three Sea-grass, when she could. She straightened up. Wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. And didn’t try to get away from Mahit’s touch, not at all. “Look, Mahit-nobody died, not even slightly.”

Well that’s a fascinating change of pace.

In A Memory Called Empire, we pretty much stayed in the heart of Teixcalaan. A single planet, mostly a single City. We had all sorts of politics and worldbuilding and hints of what else was out there, but for the moment, it felt like a fairly contained story within that larger world.

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The impossible was never out of reach. Especially if it made for good television.

Or… the one with the trading card game.

Down another level (or two) and we have a whole new way to mess with Carl and Donut. This time around, we have ‘memory ghosts’ of the world that was, a war storyline between seals and crabs, all sorts of chaos with gods and demons, and …

Shi Maria.

The Bedlam Bride.

Gaze upon her fifth eye and be driven mad.

What could possibly go wrong?

Lost: Season 6

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

And that’s when things really went off the rails.

The last season (and especially the last episode) of Lost are somewhat controversial–and for a good reason.

There are some really fascinating ideas in this one, don’t get me wrong. Really fleshing out the mythology of the island (for better and for worse), dealing (ish) with the consequences of time travel and changing the timeline, and then finally trying to wrap up five seasons of throwing whatever crazy ideas they had even sort of neatly.

I’d think you might be able to guess what I think about how they did. 😄

A Memory Called Empire

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This book is dedicated to anyone who has ever fallen in love with a culture that was devouring their own.

So basically: an empire of Space Aztecs with funny Number Thing names and a proclivity towards politics and poetry (and especially political poetry)–

The Empire, the world. One and the same. And if they were not yet so: make them so, for this is the right and correct will of the stars.

–and a new Ambassador who should have memories of her maybe murdered predecessor to help her out… and doesn’t.

Our memory is a more perfect world than the universe; it gives life back to those who no longer exist.

Things, of course, get messy.

The Butcher's Masquerade

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

He just keeps going. More chaos, more levels, more caring for this absolutely ridiculous setup and what is going to end up to happen to Carl and Princess Donut and all their friends/enemies/fans/decapitated sex doll heads.

Aaaaaah!

Lost: Season 5

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What lies in the shadow of the statue?

Season 5 is where it really started to get obvious that the writers of the first few seasons did not have a plan for where all of this was going to go. It manages to hold together relatively well–and we do get a few answers, mixed in with all those questions–but man, there are a few moments which just don’t line up with what we already thought we knew.

I suppose that’s what you get any time a show introduces time travel .

The Bear and the Nightingale

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

“All my life,” she said, “I have been told ‘go’ and ‘come.’ I am told how I will live, and I am told how I must die. I must be a man’s servant and a mare for his pleasure, or I must hide myself behind walls and surrender my flesh to a cold, silent god. I would walk into the jaws of hell itself, if it were a path of my own choosing. I would rather die tomorrow in the forest than live a hundred years of the life appointed me. Please. Please let me help you.”

The Bear and the Nightingale.

Basically, what happens if you take a Russian fairy tale and expand it to the full length of a novel while still managing to keep both the whimsical magical aspects… and all the dark bits as well.

Brian's Hunt

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Basically, this is Brian’s Return part 2. Where he actually finishes the trip he set off on–and somehow by far the most tragic of the five books. It’s a major tonal shift and there isn’t really any time to recover from it before the book is over.

I get it, nature is rough sometimes. People die. But these books always had the sense of ’no matter how bad it gets, you know (because it’s a book), nothing truly terrible will happen to Brian’. If that sounds great to you, consider skipping this book.

Other than that, we have the first hint of Brian as teenage boy with teenage boy thoughts–but there just isn’t time to get into it.

And we have more hunting–again, little enough time to get into it.

Honestly, you can stop after book 1 or 3, in my opinion. So it goes.

If there ever happened to be a sixth book, I’d be interested to see the story finished, but apparently (on looking it up), Gary Paulsen passed away in 2021. Such is life. I do wonder about his other works though.

Onward!

The Gate of the Feral Gods

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ever since that first monkey looked up into the sky and saw something twinkling up there, you meat puppets have tried to force twenty pounds of existential meaning into a ten pound sack of chaos.

Holy crap things just keep escalating.

We have another single level this time. Bubbles in space, each populated by a subset of crawlers that can’t (initially) interact, and each of which separated into air/earth/water/underground sections with their own puzzles.

Of course by the end Carl has done an excellent job of not being broken (more or less), saved people, killed even more people, and managed to summon and/or fight entirely too many (feral) gods.

“You know what, Carl? I’ve decided something,” Donut said, finally speaking. She released Mongo, who squawked and started investigating this strange, new world. “Yeah, Donut?” “I think they’re right about you. I think you’re crazy. Like, not a little weird crazy. Not guy who eats cereal without milk crazy. But crazy, crazy. Straitjacket crazy.” I took the cat into my lap, and then I pulled her to my chest. She purred heavily into my ear.

Man that ending hits hard.

And now… based on the afterward, we’re really going to have some complications next book.

I’m looking forward to it!

Brian's Return

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Brian sat quietly, taken by a peace he had not known for a long time, and let the canoe drift forward along the lily pads. To his right was the shoreline of a small lake he had flown into an hour earlier. Around him was the lake itself, an almost circular body of water of approximately eighty acres surrounded by northern forest–pine, spruce, popular, and birch–and thick brush.

Brian is back.

Again.

After a couple years, Brian doesn’t seem to be doing overly well adapting back to ‘regular life’. So he ends up going back to the wilderness, this time at least with a few more supplies. It’s another trip on a river (this time with a canoe) with a bunch more hunting and arrow building.

Honestly, it ends before it really starts and I’m not entirely sure what the point of this one is compared to the two. We don’t really get into Brian’s headspace going back. So it goes.

It is amusing that he takes Shakespeare with him this time around though.

Author’s Note

This is the final book about Brian, though someday I may do a nonfiction book about those parts of my life that were like Brian’s.

doubt

Brian's Winter

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:05 +0000

Fall came on with a softness, so that Brian didn’t realize what was in store—a hard-spined north woods winter—until it was nearly too late.He had never thought he would be here this long. After the plane crash that marooned him in the wilderness he had lived day by day for fifty-four days, until he had found the survival pack in the plane. Then another thirty-five days through the northern summer, somehow living the same day-to-day pattern he had started just after the crash.

So basically, ‘what if Brian’ wasn’t rescued at the end of Hatchet (and thus The River also doesn’t happen). He still gets the survival pack from the plane, but no radio for help.

And it goes… about as you’d expect? It’s very cold, but he figures out skins and furs. He does improve on his hunting supplies and learns more nature stuff?

Really, it’s more of the same, which honestly is okay. I liked it more than The River.

The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:03 +0000

“See? She’ll be fine. Evander’s charming with animals, he nad half the birds in the neighborhood following him around by the time he was three. C’mon, you need to hit the wine and cheese table. And maybe skip the cheese.” Moira grabbed her arm and steered her around.

So… basically we have a mundane couple whose daughter is attacked (and thus turned) by a werewolf. Suddenly, they’re thrust into the magical world alongside our own, complete with kindergarten, children’s sports, marriage woes, talent shows, and PTAs.

And just while everyone around is magical in someways, it’s at times humorous and at times entirely too on the nose combination of magic and mundane that really sets this off.

“You cast an invisibility spell?” Steve and his wife exchanged the classic “we’re in for it now” look every pair of parents perfects. “I just did what Daddy does when he’s eating Mommy’s chips,” the boy said guilelessly.

Oh I do love the tone of this book.

Vivian and Daniel exchanged a glance. “Uh,” Daniel said when the silence had become a hair too long, “I don’t actually know what skirmedge is.”

“Well, it’s a little like soccer. There’s a ball, although the ball transforms, and depending on if it’s in sphera or avis form, you can either hit it or catch it, until more than half the team crosses the patriam line—” Steve said, enthusiastically.

“It’s wizard soccer,” Madhuri cut him off as she looked up from her phone.

“Oh, like-”

“Nope, don’t say it,” she warned them.

😄

They were heading for the illusionist’s table, where the kids were getting adorned with butterfly wings that opened and closed, and little spaceships that orbited their shoulders, or copyrighted cartoon character heads overlaid on top of their real ones. To think that at last year’s party for Aria, Vivian had bought a face painting kit and had been proud when she’d turned out a half-decent cheek rainbow.

Magical birthday parties yo.

Oh, and as a side note:

Dec 13 3:38 pM Get your PJs ready! The last Friday before Winter Solstice is Cozy Day. Younger students may even bring a stuffed friend with them! (Note: stuffed friends must be inanimate.) Also, last chance to contribute to the Teachers Appreciation Fund! Last year’s blood donations were accepted in the spirit in which they were given, but we respectfully request that contributions be in a currency this year.)

I love the chapter intros.

It’s just an all around fun book, with enough series parts to really set off the humor and enough fun world building without getting bogged down. I do wish I could stay in this world just a bit longer, but for what it is, it was a great book to start the new year off with.

2025 Year in Reviews

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 23:59:59 +0000

Man, time just keeps on going, doesn’t it?

Last year, I had reviewed 1300 books/170 movies/100 TV shows.

This year? I’m up to 1418 book reviews, 187 movies, and 123 seasons.

Jeeze.

Overall this year:

Read 84 books
Watched 16 seasons of TV
Watched 16 movies
Played 251 different games a total of 1807 times – 91 of them new to me
Played 38 games on steam (25 new) with 475 new achievements!

Doctor Who: 2008 Specials

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The 2008-2010 specials!

We have:

The Next Doctor

Where the Doctor meets… the Doctor?!

Jackson Lake: There she is. My transport through time and space. The TARDIS!
The Doctor: You’ve got a balloon.
Jackson Lake: TARDIS. T - A - R - D - I - S. It stands for Tethered Aerial Release Developed in Style! Do you see?
The Doctor: Well, I do now. I like it. Good TARDIS.

And you know? Dervla Kirwan as Miss Hartigan gets a bit of flack, but if you ignore for a moment the history of the Cybermen , she’s quite the fun row. Plus, an absolutely giant robot in old fashioned london down. What’s not to love?

Planet of the Dead

The Doctor, sent through a portal to a desert planet, where he has to depend on a temporary companion in jewel thief Lady Christina to get back home.

Christina: It’s Christina Da Souza. To be precise it’s Lady Christina Da Souza.
The Doctor: Oh, that’s handy because I’m a lord.
Christina: Seriously, lord of where?
The Doctor: It’s quite a big estate.

It’s yet another case (Voyage of the Damned was another one) where a companion for a special would have been fascinating to keep around. So it goes though.

The Waters of Mars

Fixed points in time don’t really make sense for the Doctor. Especially given how it turns out in the end. But still, a giant marsbase and soggy zombies? What’s not to love?

And it’s yet another one of those episodes that digs just into how broken and–at some level–insane the Doctor is, after all those years and triumphs. And failures.

Adelaide: But you said we die. For the future. For the human race!
The Doctor: Yes, because there are laws. There are laws of time. Once upon a time there were people in charge of those laws but they died. They all died. Do you know who that leaves? Me! It’s taken me all these years to realize that the laws of time are mine and they will obey me!

Quite the set up for…

The End of Time (Parts One and Two)

Tennats finale is coming…

The Doctor: Even if I change it still feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away… and I’m dead.

But on the way, we have Wilfred Mott as the Doctor’s companion? Yes please.

The Doctor: I’m going to die.
Wilfred Mott: Well, so am I one day.
The Doctor: Don’t you dare!
Wilfred Mott: Alright, I’ll try not to.

And add to that, the Master (back from he dead) and perhaps… something even worse.

Oh that’s an intense pair of episodes. Even if it’s more than a touch overdone at times (as all of ennats finales seem to be).

But this time around, we get a victory lap of sorts.

And so Ten ends.

The Doctor: I don’t want to go.

On to Eleven!

The River

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Derek shook his head. “Not exactly. Bill and Erik are instructors, but I’m a psychologist. We work with people who may need to survive in bad situations—you know, like downed pilots, astronauts, soldiers. How to live off the land and get out safely.”

“What do you want with me?

”Derek smiled. “You can probably guess. . . .”

Brian shook his head.

“Well, to make it short, we want you to do it again.”

And so it went!

That’s pretty much the idea. Brian is adjusting well enough, but still dreams of the wilderness. And now he has a chance to go back, so of course he does!

This time, with another along (ish), knives instead of a hatchet, and to a different lake.

Of course, things have to go wrong… And this time Brian finds himself needing to make a raft and go down the titular River to get help.

It’s an interesting enough story, but I feel like there wasn’t quite as much there are in Hatchet? I’m curious what the rest have in store.

Hatchet

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Patience, he thought. So much of this was patience - waiting, and thinking and doing things right. So much of all this, so much of all living was patience and thinking.

This is a book about patience.

He had to keep thinking of them because if he forgot them and did not think of them they might forget about him. And he had to keep hoping.

And hope.

And hunger.

And fire.

And survival.

It’s a quick read–and it’s probably been 20 years since I last read it, so I figured I would give it another chance.

It’s not a bad book. It feels visceral at times, really making you aware of Brian. And knowing that–because it’s that sort of book–he has to survive at the end, you always have hope. Even if some of those situations are so ridiculous.

Worth a read.

And now, apparently, there are 4 sequels? How in the world are they going to do that?