Prince of Thorns
by Mark Lawrence (Voyager, 2011)
audiobook read by Joe Jameson (HarperCollins, 2012)
Lawrence’s debut is an impressive piece of genre subversion, casting adolescent antihero Jorg Ancrath against every convention of what is appropriate from a fantasy protagonist, yet still retaining the reader’s backing. Jorg’s conversational sociopathy is particularly well served by Jameson’s audiobook reading.
Doctor Who: The Devil’s Chord
by Russell T Davies; dir. Ben Chessell (BBC, 2024)
Maestro presents as a seriously deranged threat—albeit one that would have hit home harder had (a) Gatwa’s Doctor an established track record (beyond happy-go-running-away), and (b) they not been meekly sacrificed to a larger story arc (plus delirious show-choir song-and-dance routine).
The Kraken Wakes
by John Wyndham (Michael Joseph, 1953)
audiobook read by John Sackville (Audible, 2022)
A literary apocalyptic novel more Wells than Lovecraft (and superior to both). Wyndham’s narrative carries the ring of truth—through myriad details and logistics but also in its portrayal of humanity’s collective flaws. Phyllis Watson plays second fiddle yet outshines her husband.
Doctor Who: Space Babies
by Russell T Davies; dir. Julie Anne Robinson (BBC, 2024)
Part exposition for new watchers, part setup for the rest of the series, but mostly just the only story that Russell T Davies could come up with having pulled the title ‘Space Babies’ from a random text generator. Ebullient but rather forced.
Father Brown, Series 4
(BBC, 2016)
Series Four focusses less on social issues and more on striking humorous sidenotes to Kembleford’s ongoing binge of cosy murders. (Bravo the pineapple byplay in ‘The Sins of the Father’!) A new inspector, even more one-note than his predecessors, detracts a little.
The Truth
by Terry Pratchett (Doubleday, 2000)
audiobook read by Matthew Baynton (Transworld, 2023)
A curious instalment. The satire is atypically direct, and while the characters sprout like humorously shaped vegetables from page to page, their various plot roots shrivel in the shadow of the truth/news as entity unleashed—which may well have been Pratchett’s point.
The Wheel Spins
by Ethel Lina White (Collins Crime Club, 1936)
audiobook read by Candida Gubbins (Soundings, 2023)
Though White exhibits a refined turn of phrase, the mystery element is painfully transparent; thus the reader is forced to endure chapter after fraught chapter of the protagonist merely questioning her own sanity and struggling past a bedevilment of coincidences and conspiracy.
The Dark Tower
dir. Nikolaj Arcel (2017)
The performances can’t be faulted, and Dark Tower intrigues so long as one isn’t already familiar with the source material. Still, most of the worldbuilding remains under the surface, the plot nosediving into improbable gunslinging skills versus edgy villain with motiveless plan.
Temporal Gifts (Shadows of Otherside #8)
by Whitney Hill (Benu Media, 2023)
More of the glorious same. Arden’s best intentions bring nothing but trouble in a world plagued by duplicitous humans, Othersiders and gods. The story moves faster than ever, for once ending not on a cathartic up-note but rather calamity fraught with anticipation.
Tulsa King, Season 1
(Paramount+, 2022-2023)
Short episodes, short season. Tulsa King attempts crime drama plus comedy with dollops of character redemption, but misses on all counts. Stallone looks passably like Robert De Niro… until required to act. (Long speeches and emotional expression—any range—prove especially cringeworthy.)