Happy New Year! This is the twelth post of my series of monthly review posts for 2024. Other entries in the series:

Wrap-up

What a year it's been at work, with the promotion and switch of department, to the Bank being sold. You may have noticed that following the Pick'em app series, and aside from these monthly reviews, my blogging has fallen off a cliff. This is primarily due to the huge volume of learning and development I've had to invest in myself to grow into the new role. I'm thankful and appreciative that my colleagues have commended me on 'hitting the ground running' in the new role. Although there's still a lot that I want to do (I mean, look, we're actively rebuilding our AWS Platform), it is important to take stock of what has already been achieved. It's fair to say that I'm exhausted though. My role has me working closely with developers, architects and senior leadership across multiple technologies in multiple areas of the business. It is exciting and dynamic.

We've been in the new house just over a year now, although it feels like longer. All house moves involve some sort of compromise, in this case it was the location. We're a little further away from the Primary School than we wanted, although this is admittedly a very time-limited thing. Another thing with house moves - there's always a thing that comes up unexpectedly, no matter how observant you are during viewings or how extensive your surveys. We've had to invest in sorting out the heating. I've had to patch some gaps where things have been fitted poorly. I'll need to make further improvements next year on the windows. What's been really enjoyable though is working out in the back garden. There are currently eighty (yes!) bags of gravel that I extracted, which we then replaced with wildflower seeds. It was an experiment, let's just see what happens. It turned out lovely! Poppies, cosmos, borages, cornflowers - and insects! The bees absolutely loved it. The additional bit of colour in the garden really brought the space to life. We've had a wide variety of birds visit us: robins, jackdaws, chaffinch, starlings, and a sparrowhawk. There is eerie silence when the sparrowhawk flies overhead. My wife and I have got better and learning the different varieties of birdsong. This month we trimmed everything back ready for the next spring, so it is going to be interesting to see what the next cycle looks like.

Books

Having some time off work has given me the opportunity to get my head down and catch up on some reading. It seems like I normally manage between 3-5 books a month. According to The Storygraph I've read 60 books this year. In addition to the books I've documented over the year I've also read the first nine editions of The Sandman on Kindle Unlimited, but given all the allegations and whatnot I chose not to amplify that reading choice. Here's this month's haul:

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

A Willy-Wonka-like story set on Clock Island, the home of an esteemed and now reclusive children's author and the central setting of his book series. Four characters, all connected to this author in some way or another, journey to the island with the intent to win the prize - the exclusive copy of the latest book in the series. The main character, Lucy, travels to the island so that she can win the prize and use the earnings to adopt an orphaned child from her class.

This book was okay - the 'challenges' weren't particularly interesting. Lucy's motivations kept the story moving, although the love interest angle with the book series' illustrator (and resident dogsbody) was rather predictable and somewhat tacked-on. The four competitor's relationship with Jack Masterson was rather strange, with a paternalistic parasocial nature.

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Wow, The Ministry of Time achieves something remarkable - a novel take on time travel! The premise is that time travel was discovered by the UK Government, who, as expected, keep it under lock and key through bureaucracy. The main character works at the Ministry and her role is to assist with the integration of a Victorian-era military Commander, who was plucked from his time stream close to the point of death. Strange things happen with those who fail to integrate, as their 'time' and 'place' become muddled.

Through the eyes of the two main characters, the novel explores topics such as identity, colonialism and changing cultures. The love angle is again, somewhat predictable. At the book's midpoint, it evolves into a spy thriller, with agents from the future trying to change the timeline. It's where things become considerably more interesting, but it's also where the book falls flat. It's trying to do too much in too little space. I enjoyed this book and found the end twist interesting. It had more potential though.

Echo by Tracy Clark

The third in the Detective Harriet Foster series, picking up almost immediately where the previous book left off. Harriet is being pursued by an ex-cop with some kind of family history. The main plot follows the rich-and-entitled, as the son of an incredibly privileged businessman is ceremonially murdered at a frat party.

Clark ups the pace considerably compared to the previous two in this series, the protagonists don't have room to breathe as they interchange working the main plot with interruptions and side-quests related to the series antagonist. Some of the major threads are wrapped up in an interesting way that shows good character growth. I enjoyed this considerably more than its predecessors and I'm looking forward to seeing where this series goes next.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

Elsewhere provides a novel perspective on the concept of reincarnation. The recently deceased travel to Elsewhere, a reality that is orthogonal to the living world. Here, they age backwards, before returning to Earth as babies to be reborn. The novel centers on Liz, who died at fifteen after being hit by a taxi. She travels to Elsewhere and has to learn to accept her situation.

In its own way, this novel is beautiful. Liz struggles to cope with her situation, spending her time obsessively observing her parents and friends through the observation deck. She becomes depressive, petulant and manipulative and eventually decides to attempt to make contact with Earth (albeit with noble intentions). This is where she begins her journey to acceptance, with a love interest, and then a love triangle.

Elsewhere is a young adult novel and delicately handles the themes of death, depression, acceptance, and moving onwards. I highly recommend this!

The Sad Ghost Club Volume Four by Lize Meddings

This is the fourth graphic novel in the Sad Ghost Club series, in which the club founders organise a group camping outing in response to an anonymous comment made by a member. The group spend time agonizing and arguing over whether this is the right response.

It's a short volume and, disappointingly, a little boring.

Games

Ballionaire

In similar style to Balatro (which I'm still very much into), Ballionaire applies the rogue-like gambling concept to Pachinko. You're given a monetary target and 'triggers' to place on the board. As balls drop and 'bonk' the placed triggers, they can earn money and/or produce interesting effects. The goal is to build combinations of triggers that work in synergy. It's a great deal of fun.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy

As a blast of nostalgia I picked up the Spyro remastered collection - this is the first three PlayStation 1 Spyro games but modern. Back in the day I only ever played a demo of Spyro 1, so I have found it nice to revisit these games.

So far I've only played the first two to completion - I'll pick up Year of the Dragon in the new year.

The worlds are expansive, giving you lots of space to run around at full speed. The gem-collecting was never tiresome, even if there were a few hard to find ones! I enjoyed the timed flying levels most, where you have a series of items to flame without landing in water. I also loved finding secrets in the main worlds, leading to new levels. These are early 3D platformers but really encapsulate what makes this genre fun. It's no surprise these games are held in such high regard.