Altered Carbon, Season 2
(Netflix, 2020)
Season 2 offers a stronger story, better integrated within an already well-realised cyberpunk dystopia. Beneath the action and intrigue, runs a thematic core whereby disparate characters parse love and existence in the context of eternity. Quality performances, with Chris Conner a standout.
Betrayers
by Bill Pronzini (Forge, 2010)
audiobook read by Nick Sullivan (Bolinda, 2017)
The cases themselves are relatively slight, split without overlap between Tamara, Bill, and Jake Runyon. As ever, though, San Francisco emerges as its own gritty, gloomy, sordid kind of character, where life is a struggle and even the non-criminals mostly prove unpleasant.
Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
dir. Cathy Yan (2020)
Colourful, anarchic, rebellious and empowered, ‘Birds of Prey’ proves a real step-up from most DC superhero films. The action scenes are entertaining (rather than belaboured), Yan’s direction is punchy, and writer Christina Hodson turns in a screenplay befitting of Harley Quinn’s character.
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
by V.E. Schwab (Tor, 2025)
audiobook read by Julia Whelan, Katie Leung & Marisa Calin (Macmillan, 2025)
This feminist vampire take should be compelling, but loses its power somewhat as the spirit of repressed uprising rots away to reveal a downbeat metaphor for toxic self-centredness. While a lengthy perspective is justified, Schwab’s characterisation of Sabine is belaboured and disproportional.
The Time Traveller’s Almanac: Mazes & Traps
ed. Ann & Jeff VanderMeer (Head of Zeus, 2014)
audiobook read by Jeff Harding, Andrew Wincott & Antonia Beamish (W F Howes, 2014)
Name authors are prioritised over quality of story (though all receive perfunctory, unpolished biographies). There are some nice ideas poorly executed, some truly tedious offerings, and only a few standouts: Adrian Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Mouse Ran Down’ and Eric Frank Russell’s ‘The Waitabits’.
Doctor Who: The Snowmen
by Steven Moffat; dir. Saul Metzstein (BBC, 2012)
Moffat finds just the right way to realise the ‘retired Doctor’ scenario first proposed by Douglas Adams. While the snowmen/Great Intelligence plot proves a little perfunctory, this beautifully acted Christmas special sails along on characterisation and humour (while teasing another Clara introduction).
Paradox
(BBC, 2009)
Watchable enough pseudo-SF police thriller but with one pointlessly enigmatic lead character, interpersonal dramas erupting from nowhere, moral dilemmas explored at a stilted, primary school level, and all three detectives painfully ineffectual (verging on imbecilic) in their attempts to pre-empt future disasters.
Vera, Series 11
(ITV, 2021-2023)
Six feature-length murder investigations, which mostly adhere to logic rather than contrivance, though equally tend to land upon the only person not at any point under suspicion. Partly through scripting, partly through Kenny Doughty’s portrayal, DS Healy comes across as remarkably dim-witted.
The Listeners
by Maggie Stiefvater (Viking, 2025)
audiobook read by Erin Bennett (Penguin Audio, 2025)
A case of biggest strength, biggest weakness. Stiefvater’s historical setting is superbly realised and yet limits the story’s speculative potential. (Not that the story needs its fantasy element. The characters already shine, but one cannot help anticipating more from the much-talked-of sweetwater.)
Star Wars: Yoda’s Secret War
by James Aaron; ill. Salvador Larroca (Marvel, 2017)
Accomplished character art and murky-yet-distinct backdrops, straightforward narrative. The world Yoda journeys to has SF potential but the conflicts are nebulous (particularly once the living force mountain becomes involved) and the perfunctory resolution/reversal fails to make whatever point Aaron was aiming for.