2023 was a year of change for me, what with a move from working at my local library to a larger, further-away one, but I surprised myself by eventually realizing that I’ve enjoyed the switch. There are younger families and more children there, and far less elderly folk who consider you a repository for their endless complaining (of course, there’s also more swaggering little shits who roll their eyes at you when you point out that a library is not a good venue for their shouting/wrestling/posturing matches).
Working full-time means less time for writing, as you can see by the stats in the right-hand column of the page. This is the lowest number of posts I’ve written in any year since starting this blog in 2014, so thanks to all of you who have kept reading and commenting over the last decade. I write this blog mainly for my own enjoyment, but it’s always gratifying to get comments and feedback.
This was also the year I met my nephew for the first time, and even as I write this, my sister is in hospital giving birth to her second child, my niece. Or at least, she’s trying to. The baby isn’t particularly interested in joining us any time soon, so my sister has been put into induced labour – and that’s still not working, so keep her struggle in your thoughts as you peruse this list of my personal recommendations for 2023.
I ended up reading a lot of children’s books this year, partly because it’s my job and partly because they take less time to get through than the massive fantasy doorstoppers that never reach an actual conclusion. I also ploughed through my Slavic Fantasy reading list, which is still an ongoing project, though I’ve only got eight more books to go. I’ll be very relived once all that’s under my belt.
For the second year in a row I didn’t get the chance to write up any meta, probably because my episode reviews for the third season of His Dark Materials and the second season of Legend of the Seeker took up a lot of free time. Xena Warrior Princess, not so much, as I wrote out those reviews for a message board years ago... but it’s been so long since I watched the episodes that I no longer recall the context of a lot of what I’ve written. Which means a rewatch is in order, which takes up even more time.
I did manage an in-depth look at the prematurely cancelled second season of Shadow and Bone, and two more playthroughs for games in the King’s Quest series: Romancing the Throne and To Heir is Human. Hopefully I’ll get to The Perils of Rosella during my break, which is a big deal in computer gaming history.
Below are the books, films and television shows I enjoyed most this year, and it’s interesting to compare this to my lists of 2021 and 2022 in order to see what medium I favoured. It was an incredible year for children’s graphic novels (books like Wingbearer, Cat’s Cradle and Lightfall are only omitted because they’re not completed yet) but not so much for television (probably because I spent a lot of time watching enjoyable but hardly must-see long runners such as Spooks and Sailor Moon).
By the time you’ve read through it, hopefully another little member of the human race will have joined us in the world.
Brownstone’s Mythical Collection by Joe Todd-Stanton
Last year I read the first three books in this collection; this year I read the final two. Not picture books, but not exactly graphic novels either, these are stacked on the “sophisticated fiction” shelves in the children’s section at our library. This means they’re reasonably lengthy and mature stories with full-page illustrations.
Narrated by an elderly member of the Brownstone family, each book introduces us to a child who becomes renowned while still in their youth for the work they contribute towards the Brownstone legacy: collecting relics and treasures from world mythologies – and learning a few life-lessons along the way. Arthur and the Golden Rope (Norse), Marcy and the Riddle of the Sphinx (Egyptian), Kai and the Monkey King (Chinese), Leo and the Gorgon’s Curse (Greek) and Luna and the Treasure of Tlaloc (Aztec) comprise the series in its entirety, and each one is filled with Joe Todd-Stanton’s gorgeously coloured and detailed illustrations.
Once Upon a Hillside by Angela McAllister and Chiara Fedele
There is a great premise behind this one: a single hillside in Dorset, England is used as a setting for seven short stories that take place between 4000 BCE and the modern day. Each one focuses on one or more children that live within the societal context of their time, whether it’s twins in the Roman Era, an apprentice healer in the Middle Ages, or a lonely young girl in Victorian times. The illustrations are bright and vibrant, and I especially loved the detail of each child finding an object that (unbeknownst to them) had once belonged to their predecessor.
Salt Magic by Hope Larson and Rebecca Mock
As stated, this year was an absolute goldmine for children’s graphic novels. Salt Magic was one of my favourites, which is best described as a rural American fairy tale with a light dusting of folk horror. Clearly it had my name written all over it.
Vonceil is delighted when her adored older brother Elber comes back from the war; less so when he proposes to the girl he left behind. Then a glamourous woman in white stops at the farm, making it abundantly clear that she and Elber have a history together. When he refuses her advances, she curses all the water on the land to run with salt. Naturally, it’s up to Vonceil to uncover precisely what’s going on.
Rebecca Mock supplies the gorgeous illustrations, which perfectly captures the post-WWI Southwest: prairies, ranches, ghost towns, dugouts, moonshine distilleries – all within the context of Hope Larson’s old-world fairy tale. Loved it.
Treasure in the Lake by Jason Pamment
For this one, think Tom’s Midnight Garden merged with a Studio Ghibli film. Sam and Iris are two friends who follow a dried-up riverbed to a village that (up until now) has been totally submerged by the water. As they explore, they get separated, and only the reader is aware that each one’s adventure is unfolding in a completely different time-period.
As in all the best time-slip adventures, there are a number of clues for the reader to piece together – though the advantage of a graphic novel is that they’re all visual clues, strewn throughout the illustrations. And as with the other books on this list, said illustrations are gorgeous, with a rich colour palette: ambrosial glowing yellows for the flashbacks, and luminously deep blues and greens for the submerged village.
The Daughters of Ys by M.T. Anderson and Jo Rioux
All you really need to know is that after finishing this book, I immediately ordered my own copy. Sometimes a story comes along which is so relevant to one’s very specific interests that you can’t help but feel it was designed for you personally. The Daughters of Ys has it all: a pair of complex female characters with an equally complex relationship with each other. A retelling of an ancient myth that recontextualizes some of its obscure plot-points, and fleshes out the motivations of the main characters. A juicy ethical dilemma that has no easy answers. Absolutely stunning artwork that’s highly reminiscent of my beloved Cartoon Saloon films (though with much more gore and nudity). It has everything I love in a story.
Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
I’m cheating a little, as I re-read Crooked Kingdom in January, but there’s a reason these books have been so mimicked within YA circles since their publication. Yes, there’s the pithy banter and the traumatic backstories that are so popular with this target audience, but Bardugo’s real innovation was in building upon the more standard fantasy fare of her first Shadow and Bone trilogy to deliver a story, world and array of characters that are strikingly different from what this genre usually provides.
No Chosen One hero, no Dark Lord, no fight between the forces of good and evil – our protagonists are a gang of thieves and outcasts who are commissioned to save not the world but the economy by rescuing a scientist from a near-impenetrable prison complex; a scientist who has formulated a drug that will enhance Grisha abilities to near god-like power.
The stakes are nothing like those that usually dominate fantasy stories, including Bardugo’s own previous trilogy, and the heist that makes up the crux of the first book is surely one of the most satisfying examples of its kind in the genre. Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Nina, Matthias, Wylan – they’re an unforgettable sextet of characters, and screw you Netflix for not letting their story play out in full.
Deathless by Catherynne Valente
This book has come in for a bit of controversy in recent years, from turning Koschei the Deathless into a YA-esque love interest (he isn’t), to presenting the Siege of Leningrad as the result of wider supernatural forces at work (a bit dodgy), to accusations of cultural appropriation due to the fact Valente is not Russian herself (the debate that keeps on chugging).
I’m not entirely sure how to grapple with any of that; I can only say that my interest in Deathless lies in how it explores the cyclic nature of fairy tales and storytelling. Marya Morevna lives in the ever-changing landscape of post-revolution Russia, and yet the elements of the fairy tales she’s grown up with remain as stable and rhythmic as they’ve ever been: three sisters, three suitors, a dark forest, a beastly husband, an old hag, an array of kidnapped princesses...
To quote: “That's how you get deathless, volchitsa. Walk the same tale over and over, until you wear a groove in the world, until even if you vanished, the tale would keep turning, keep playing, like a phonograph, and you'd have to get up again, even with a bullet through your eye, to play your part and say your lines...
You will always fall in love, and it will always be like having your throat cut, just that fast. You will always run away with her. You will always lose her. You will always be a fool. You will always be dead, in a city of ice, snow falling into your ear. You have already done all of this and will do it again.”
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
I’m giving this one the honour of the best book I read this year, as like The Daughters of Ys, it is perfectly calibrated in order to cater to my very specific personal tastes. A retold fairy tale, an intricate puzzle-box plot, an array of strong and sympathetic heroines, and gorgeous prose that further elevates the story into something that’s genuinely thought-provoking.
Truly, there are so many elegant turns-of-phrase in this book that often I’d just sit back and ponder them for a while. Such as when one of its central characters is offered anything she likes from a demon, we’re told:
“There was no temptation in it. Mirnatius had saved me from that forever. I don’t think I could ever have wanted anything enough to take it from his hands, with a demon smiling out of his hollowed-out face at me. I tried to imagine something that would make me do it: a child whose face I had not yet seen dying in my arms; war about to devour Lithvas whole, the hordes on the horizon and my own terrible death coming. Not even then, perhaps. Those things had an end. I shook my head. ‘No. Only leave us all alone, me and mine. I want nothing else of you. Go.’”
Casablanca (1942)
Look, this isn’t considered the greatest film of all time for no reason. Just watch it already.
The Company of Wolves (1984)
What the hell was in the drinking water when it came to making fantasy movies in the eighties? Because damn, we got some awesome stuff. This October I revisited Neil Jordan’s The Company of Wolves, based on a short story in The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, which utilizes dream sequences, embedded narratives, psychic visions, and stuff that is just plain weird to tell its tale. Roughly held together by the experiences of a prepubescent girl living in a medieval forest village, it scrabbles deep into a quagmire of symbolism, surrealism, fairy tale motifs, practical effects and eighties-fantasy ambiance, and drags you along for the ride.
I can’t promise you’ll enjoy it, but I can promise you’ve never seen anything like it.
The NeverEnding Story (1984)
Quite possibly the definitive film of my youth, and one of the rare examples of a childhood staple still retaining its power and wonderment over forty years later. My first experience with what I suppose we could call “meta-fiction”, I’m still engrossed by the dual storylines that make up the film, that gradually become more and more intertwined as the film goes on: sad and unpopular Bastian hiding away in the school attic to read a stolen book called “The NeverEnding Story,” and the tale within that book, about a young warrior called Atreyu trying to find a cure for the fantasy realm he lives in and its Empress – which appears to have something to do with the mysterious Nothing swallowing up the land.
The special effects still hold up, as does the soundtrack and the myriad of character actors in small but unforgettable roles. But the whole thing is carried by the performances of its three main child actors, who are just phenomenal as Bastian, Atreyu and the Childlike Empress.
Original author Michael Ende notoriously hated this film for (among other things) only adapting the first-third of his story – but to me, that’s what makes it such a perfect introduction to the book. Watch this, and then enjoy the rest of the story on the page.
Legend: Director’s Cut (1985)
This has been a cult favourite of mine for decades, but it wasn’t until this year that I finally watched the 2002 Director’s Cut, which added approximately twenty minutes worth of new footage: not whole new scenes, but rather a scattering of little snippets and extra lines of dialogue that filled out the runtime and deepened the experience.
Because watching this movie is quite an experience. It’s like a fever-dream of elaborate soundstages, unicorns that sound like dolphins, Tim Curry as a giant red devil, little people as goblins, seasonal myths and dark fairy tales churned in a blender, and copious amounts of glitter. Much like The Company of Wolves, it’s hard to believe it’s even real, as nothing like it would ever be made today.
Coraline (2009)
A stone-cold classic, and a perfect companion piece to Salt Magic (see above) since each one works with the same fairy tale premise: a powerful witch wants something she can’t have, and only a tenacious child can stop her. Laika’s stop-motion artistry is at its best here, with luminescent colours and fluid movements that bring Neil Gaiman’s dark fairy tale to life, from its yellow-parka-wearing heroine to its terrifying metal-clawed, button-eyed antagonist.
At its plasticene heart is one of the world’s most ancient lessons: gifts from the fey always come with a price, so be careful what you wish for.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
The movie industry is currently being destroyed by sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots, legacyquels and other examples of regurgitating old IPs... and yet once in a blue moon lightning will strike and deliver a film that proves the exception to the rule. There was nothing about a sequel to 2011’s original Puss in Boots movie, which was itself a spin-off to the Shrek films, that seemed promising, and yet The Last Wish is a complete delight from start to finish.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
This one defies any attempt to summarize its storyline in a cogent manner, so suffice to say it involves a tax audit, the multiverse, a laundromat, butt-plugs, sausage fingers, a raccoon that prepares food by sitting on people’s heads and pulling their hair, evil doppelgangers, and a middle-aged Asian-American heroine played by Michelle Yeoh who is special on account of her being completely ordinary. As the title suggests, it’s a movie about everything. Just watch it.
The Woman King (2022)
It’s been ages since I’ve watched a proper historical epic, and this ended up scratching an itch I didn’t even know I had. Set in the West African kingdom of Dahomey in 1823, it stars Viola Davies as General Nanisca of the Agojie, an army of warrior women who defend their land and king from outside hostility, and Thuso Mbedu as Nawi, a new recruit to their ranks.
The filmmakers know that the key to a good epic is to parallel the grand, operatic backdrop with a more intimate, deeply personal struggle. Here it’s the antagonistic bond that forms between Nanisca and Nawi, who butt heads frequently even as threats from the Oyo Empire and the Portuguese slave-traders intensify – and of course, they have to work together if they’re to be triumphant.
But this simplistic description belies the deeper connection that these women share, and once it’s discovered, it captures the underlying theme of the film in its entirety: that hardship and happiness are inextricably linked. It’s a difficult truth to accept, but that one can emerge from the other (and visa-versa) is the very crux of Nanisca and Nawi’s dual journeys.
Nimona (2023)
It was a long and winding road to this film’s release, with due credit given to Annapurna Pictures for completing the unfinished project after Blue Sky’s closure. Based loosely on the graphic novel by N.D. Stevenson, its titular character is a shapeshifting loner who doesn’t easily (or willingly) fit into any particular box. She eagerly teams up with a fugitive knight called Sir Ballister, who has just been framed for the murder of his queen, mistakenly believing that he’s a villain in need of a sidekick.
It's a story about identity and prejudice, lies and truth, self-perception and the assumptions of others – and of course, the dangers of all these things. I love the setting, which is a futuristic-medieval city (somehow, that fusion works) and the surprisingly twisty plot, which caught me off-guard a couple of times. Mostly though, it’s about Nimona in all her messy, complex, exuberant glory.
M3gan (2023)
Camp, glorious camp. Don’t be fooled by the surprisingly serious opening, in which a little girl is orphaned in a car accident and forced to move in with her profoundly disinterested roboticist aunt. By the time said aunt realizes that she can outsource parenting duties to her state-of-the-art girlbot android called M3gan, we are just a side-step away from a full-blown black comedy. I’ve no doubt you’ve already seen the famous dance scene:
This is a film with no narrative surprises whatsoever, from the nuisance dog to the fate of a bully to the way M3gan recalibrates her programming to murderous extremes, but is a complete blast from start to finish.
Interview with the Vampire: Season 1 (2022)
The best adaptations aren’t the ones that neatly transpose the written words onto the screen, but the ones that delve into the source material, interrogate it, deconstruct it, and then rebuild it into something that is familiar but also fresh and innovative. That’s precisely what AMC’s Interview with the Vampire did with Anne Rice’s famous novel, which had already been give the slavishly faithful book-to-screen treatment in 1994.
Whether it’s Race Lifting Louis and Claudia into Black characters and exploring the implications of that, or framing the titular interview as the second time that Louis has sat down to a tête-à-tête with Daniel Molloy, or even expanding upon certain characters like Louis’s brother Paul, the whole project is engrossing and intriguing and thought-provoking; taking the narrative beats of Anne Rice’s story and reshaping them for a new audience.
Disenchantment: Season 1 – 5 (2018 – 2023)
I’ll admit it, this is mostly here because I’m still stunned it managed to last as long as it did. The adventures of Princess Bean and her cohorts always seemed to be dangling on the precipice of cancellation, and yet she managed to snag all five seasons needed to tell her story to completion and swim off into the sunset with her mermaid girlfriend. Good for her!
Bean was really the main drawcard to watching Disenchantment: messy, outspoken, directionless, and deeply loyal to her friends. From her shock of white hair to her big buck teeth, it was impossible not to get invested in her story.
***
Since first typing up this post, my sister’s daughter has indeed made her grand entrance into the world. Rowan Fisher has arrived on Planet Earth (I love that we share the same initials) and I highly recommend her.
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