Reviews for January 2026
By Alan Dove
Last year’s reading pace shows no signs of abating, and in January I happened to pick some great books from my long list. The three award-winning novels I read were all excellent, in completely different ways, and the nonfiction book that accompanied me through most of my January workouts was a solid piece of reporting with only a few minor flaws. Laura and I also finished the third co-operative game in a fun series.
Clarke, S., Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: This book has been on my list for a long time, and in January I finally got around to reading it. At nearly 800 pages in the hardcover edition, it’s an intimidating doorstop, an impression that its quasi-19th century writing style doesn’t diminish. If you’ve put off reading it for those reasons, the best reassurance I can offer is that you’ll know whether it’s for you within the first hundred pages. And for me, at least, it was well worth the time and effort.
Set in an alternate version of the early 1800s, the story follows the prickly Mr. Norrell and the gregarious Jonathan Strange, two men attempting to restore English magic. In this world, an enigmatic figure known as the Raven King ruled half of England for 300 years in the Middle Ages, using powerful magic and alliances with the fae to secure his epic reign. After his death, though, magic faded from the land and the roads to the fairy kingdom disappeared. Now, in the midst of the Napoleonic wars, Norrell and Strange are trying to rediscover what was lost. There are far too many threads to the book’s immense plot to summarize more than that, except to say that if you stick it out, you’re in for an amazing experience. Combine the wit of Austen with the worldbuilding scope of Tolkien, and add the historical research of Follett, and you’ll be in the ballpark, but the literary depth and craft on display here go above and beyond any of them. A monumental accomplishment.
Scalzi, J., Old Man’s War: After that lengthy visit to old England, I activated the skip drive for a hop to one of John Scalzi’s universes. I’ve enjoyed some of his more recent books immensely, and figured it was time to check out his 2005 debut. It didn’t disappoint.
On the day John Perry turned 75, he visited his wife’s grave, then enlisted in the army. Not the regular army, for which he was far too old, but the Colonial Defense Force, an interstellar military whose job is to protect and expand human outposts on other planets. They recruit people who’ve already lived full lives, and those who sign up are never allowed to return to Earth. Other than that, nobody knows much about the CDF. As it turns out, it’s far stranger than Perry or anyone else supposed. Scalzi’s excellent prose propelled me through an adventure that mixed hard sci-fi, sharp social observation, hard-hitting emotional beats, and wry humor. His sly Robert A. Heinlein references were also fun to catch.
This is the first book in an ongoing series, but the ending came together well enough to let it stand on its own. While I don’t feel compelled to launch right into the next volume, I’ll probably revisit this story world again.
Not book related, but I think this newel post decoration looks pretty sharp.
Diaz, H., Trust: Sophie gave me this Pulitzer prize-winning novel for Christmas. I’m often a bit leery of books that have won major literary awards, because they make me feel bad if I don’t like them. I needn’t have worried. Picking it up from my end table one Sunday morning, I found myself pulled right into Bonds, a novel-within-a-novel that makes up the first part of the book. From there, I saw the sequellae of that novel’s 1938 publication, as it drew the ire of powerful financier Andrew Bevel. There was a draft of Bevel’s memoirs, then a complete memoir giving the perspective of the ghostwriter he’d hired, and finally an excerpt of the diary of Mildred Bevel, Andrew’s late wife.
Building the story from four fictional texts was a clever idea, but clever ideas will only take you so far. What brought everything together was Diaz’s extraordinary ability to craft each of these works in distinctive styles that fit their fictional authors perfectly. He also structured the reveals in a way that not only kept me reading, but also built up a web of interpretations that only crystallized in the final pages. It’s a story of wealth and power, and the ability of both to distort reality. It’s also a fantastic page-turner that I devoured in a day.
Renner, R., Gator Country: Nonfiction. This was my gym read for January, and it was perfect for that. Renner, a journalist and native Floridian, dug into the story of a controversial undercover wildlife poaching investigation called “Operation Alligator Thief.” Through perseverance and a bit of luck, she eventually managed to interview the undercover officer at the center of the case, Jeff Babauta, as well as an assortment of characters native to the Everglades.
Weaving together a 21st century investigation into alligator poaching, and the 20th century legends of a poacher and folk hero named Peg Brown, Renner does an excellent job capturing the nuances and gray areas of wildlife law enforcement. Her descriptions of the marshy environments of Florida are often quite good, but occasionally her prose veers toward the purple end of the spectrum, and she’s subject to intermittent bouts of thesauritis. I noted one spot where she managed to cram “oneiric,” “psychopomp,” “syncretic,” and “chthonic” into a single passage, for example. Yes, those are all nifty words, but like hot sauce, pouring them on too heavily can ruin the dish. Despite those occasional snags, I enjoyed my journey through the ‘glades with this book, and also learned a lot about Old Florida culture.
Eleven Puzzles, Parallel Experiment: Game (iOS, Android, Steam). I mentioned the prequels to this game a couple of months ago, and Laura and I finally finished the third installment of the series. Following the same formula as the earlier games, we once again join detectives “Old Dog” and Ally, who are still trying to apprehend their nemesis, the Cryptic Killer. The comic book art style, cleverly designed puzzles, and cooperative gameplay kept us going for several enjoyable hours, and we both look forward to future games from this developer.
If you didn’t see my earlier review, the gist is that these are cooperative puzzle games, requiring two players with working internet connections plus an open communication channel, ideally by being in the same room or at least on the phone together. Neither player has complete information about the game, so they have to communicate to progress. It’s a fun gimmick, and in this case it’s also well-executed.
There were some odd quirks, such as Ally’s bizarre quasi-Irish accent, and a few of the puzzles were more frustrating than fun, but overall it was a great way to spend some time together.