Malazan Empire: TheRetiredBridgeburner - Viewing Profile - Malazan Empire

From an industry perspective, Mr NAB works for a Microsoft-owned game studio. Their hard rule is that unless it's an AI tool they and only they have trained (so they know exactly what's been inputted and by whom) they don't touch them, because it's virtually impossible to know what's been submitted and who's copyright may have been infringed. And oddly enough, copyright is a big deal in their industry.

Overall favourite new read of the year would be To Kill a Mockingbird, which I'd just somehow never got round to. It broke my heart and I loved it.

Hot on its heels in the classics would be A Tale of Two Cities, my first Dickens and it was beautiful.

Best new book (by an author I'd already read): The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden. I loved her Bear and the Nightingale trilogy and I'd say Ghosts is even better. Very affecting in all the right ways.

Best new book by a new author (to me): Tress of the Emerald Sea. My first Sanderson and I suspect it won't be my last. What a lovely story.

Notable mention to Joe Abercrombie's The First Law books. I finally pushed past all my negative associations with Abercrombie to give The Blade Itself another go and I'm pleased I did. Sand dan Glokta is somehow one of both the best and worst characters I think I've ever read and I loved the dissonance so much.

Non-fiction: I audio-booked it but probably Ask a Historian by Gregg Jenner (he of the You're Dead to Me podcast). It's all questions sent in by the public about history grouped into chapters. Has a similar light and breezy comic tone to the podcast for the most past, but also doesn't shy away when questions provoke darker and sadder points (eg the question "Do you get fed up of the "Atlantis was built by aliens theory" launches a deep dive into the deeply rooted racism behind that theory).

 Macros, on 01 December 2025 - 08:22 PM, said:

Congrats!!

Watched Volume 1 of series 5 over the weekend. I had intended not to binge it originally, but then recalled that the internet is dark and full of spoilers, so what the heck.

I enjoyed it very much. It surprised me in that I don't feel like it's left itself with too much to do (which is what I expected).

Guessed but thoroughly enjoyed nonetheless the return of:



and grinned like an idiot at the end of Episode 4.

Still love how much D&D is a thing throughout.

I look forward to Volume 2 in a few weeks.

EDIT: I was very annoyed with myself spending the entire thing wondering why Dr Kay felt familiar only to find out this morning that of course she does, she's Linda Hamilton!

On the cosy note, I'm currently about halfway through Peter S Beagle's (he of The Last Unicorn fame) A Fine and Private Place. It's lovely.

It's about the residents and community (living and dead) in and around a graveyard. It was his debut novel and it's ridiculous that he wrote this at something like 19. It's very whimsical and you can see the beginnings of the wry observation and slightly off-kilter humour that The Last Unicorn is full of.

My version has a foreword by Neil Gaiman, sadly, but it serves as a reminder that Beagle did everything Gaiman is known for decades before and (in my opinion at least) better - and isn't a problematic monster into the bargain.