Reading
To round off 2023 I finished Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence re-read the Dead Country, the start of "The Craft Wars", a follow-up trilogy with books two and three to come. I read them in publication order, which is definitely not internal chronology order. There's a lot of discussion of why he did that (including some "Word of God") and a discussion of the best reading order, with internal chronology and publication order not necessarily being the only orders that make sense. I like five of these, and struggled a bit but finished the one I don't particularly like. The new one was a bit odd. It follows on from the final one of the original sequence in detail, picking up one of the main viewpoint characters from the first published book, who also features in many but not all of the others. The previous book set up a world-threatening situation (hinted at previously) and while this one does progress that major plot somewhat, it also features a very narrow plotline with conceptual and plot threads across to many of the other books, but it was a bit too focussed for me and not as enjoyable as some of the others. I'll keep an eye out for the rest of this series when he puts them out, but I may wait for book 3 of the follow-up trilogy before reading 2 and 3.
To start 2024 I started Gladstone's standalone Last Exit but DNF'd on it. A possibly intriguing mix of Lovercraft, Amber and some Howard Waldrop elements in here. It's a much bigger book than his Craft Sequence ones. I enjoyed his Empress of Forever and his previous Lovecraftian short Crispin's Model, but this one did nothing for me. Too much horror for me, I think. I enjoy dark fantasy and shorter Lovecraftian horror can be fine, but this was too much emphasis on the horror making the story too slow, and I just couldn't be bothered to wade through the last 60% of the same to get to the storyline.
i then thoroughly enjoyed, and finished in about three days, Benedict Jacka's start of a new series. I re-read the earlier books and caught up on the last couple of his earlier 12 book Alex Verus series, which I really enjoyed. This new one is again urban fantasy but in a completely different world with a very different magical setup in both mechanics and society. The only problem was that this is a fairly new book, so I've got to wait a year or so for the next one. Recommended if you liked his earlier stuff or like good urban tantasy.
Watching
I binged through two Japanese manga/anime inspired series over the winter break. Yu Yu Hakusho (in Japanese,watched with English subtitles, because my Japanese still isn't good enough to follow properly without) and One Piece. Both fun in very different ways. Caught up on new Dr Who with $DAUGHTER and continuing a slow re-watch of NuWho, up to the middle of Capaldi's final season with Bill Potts. Enjoying the season, but I didn't particularly like the ending for Bill. Twice Upon a Time is good, though so looking forward to that. Mostly liked the special and new Doctor, though the Christmas Special was good for the performances of the new Doctor and new companion, but the story was a bit "meh". Watched/re-watched a bunch of movies such as (all four of) the Chronicles of Riddick, the last Witchhunter and Merry Little Batman, plus a rewatch of one of my all time favourite old movies Arsenic and Old Lace. "Ye Gods, there's another one!!!". Re-watched Dragon Age: Absolution Season 1. Have been hoping for a season 2 of this, but no sign yet, not even a confirmation they'll be making it (or a cancellation notice) and watched through Dragon's Dogma (probably a one-off season since it finishes the story, though they might do more set in that world).
Playing
Gave in and bought the DLC pack for Zelda: BotW and am playing through those elements before doing the final boss battle sequence. Bought a few other games for the Switch because they were deeply discounted (Dragon's Dogma, Portal 1/2) but haven't played them yet. $DAUGHTER is deep in final prep for/taking junior high entrance exams so not doing any coop play with her until Feb after her exams finish.
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