BOOK REVIEW: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School is the latest installment of books in the Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney. Anybody who follows my reviews (and why would you do that?) would know that I considered the last book in the series to be his masterpiece. It follows, then, that this book couldn’t possibly live up to that standard. And it doesn’t. The book sees Our Hero, Greg Heffley, going on an overnight environmental school trip. Of course, not much goes right, and hilarity ensues…whether you’re a child or adult. But the threads of the story never quite gel as well as they have in the past. Still a great addition to the series, though. Four Stars.

BOOK REVIEW: Have you ever watched a friend play a video game? Have you ever watched a friend play a really bad sequel to a previously enjoyed video game? That’s what reading Armada by Ernest Cline feels like. It seems like the author is having way more fun that we are slogging through a plot that feels like it was conceived through an act of desperation. His first book, Ready Player One, was a wonderful book that took place in the world of video games. But this one, about alien invasion from visitors that were previously in a video game–but turn out to be very real–is drawn out and uninteresting. Read the first chapter; it’s the best part. Then put the book down, or risk wishing that everybody would just die already–no extra lives, please!–so the book could be over. Two Stars.

BOOK REVIEW: If you’re in the mood for a slow, comfy historical murder mystery that takes 600 pages to unfold and seems to meander its way through the daily life of London in the 1500s, then Lamentation by C.J. Sansom is for you. It’s the latest mystery in the Matthew Shardlake series, and I started reading it when it first came out in the UK in 2014. Here we are at the end of 2015, and I just finished it. Yes, it took me that long. And no, it’s not because it’s a bad book. It’s just a slow paced book, and I’m not a slow paced guy. A manuscript written by Henry VIII’s last queen, which may be viewed as heretical, has gone missing. And as the body count piles up, it’s up to Matthew Shardlake to find out where it’s gone. You’ll never see the end coming…even if you take over a year to read it. A great book in a great series, but just a tad slow for me. Four Stars.