Our Favourite Media of December 2022

[helloladies]

Each month, we look back over the media we loved in the previous month, from books to film to video games and more.

Anna

Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo — This the third novella in Vo’s Singing Hills series all of which feature the wandering Chih and their bird like companion Almost Brilliant. In this one they travel with skilled martial artists, which as a wuxia fan I was very excited about. And Riverlands did not disappoint! I loved it! The layered stories from different points of view were great. Also the fight scenes in this feel swooshy like all my favorite wuxia dramas!

Across a Field of Starlight by Blue Delliquanti — In December I read a lot YA and MG graphic novels, and was really impressed by all the great things happening there. This was one the best of the awesome things I read. It’s a science fiction story about two non-binary teens, one of whom is caught up in a war and the other of whom lives in a creative community that is trying to stay away from the war. It’s a story about friendship and kindness with beautiful art.


Séance Tea Party by Reimena Yee — this was another great graphic novel. This is about a girl who is scared to grow up and lose the magic of childhood and her ghost friend. It’s a bit sad because the ghost died as child, but its such a lovely story. And the art was perfect for telling a story about childhood and magic.

Susan

Seasonal depression is a swine, so I've been playing a lot of small, peaceful video games for the dopamine.

A Building Full of Cats and A Castle Full of Cats — Hidden object games where your goal is to go around and find all of the cats! And in the case of A Castle Full of Cats, explore a point and click adventure style mansion while you do it! Both games are fairly peaceful, both have very silly art and it's fun to get in the weeds to find the tiniest creatures. ... Listen, part of the fun here is realising how stylised and gremlin-y the cat doodles can get while still registering as cats, because after a certain point I was just going "Ah yes, a blob with eyes! Clearly a cat."

Sudocats — I've been convinced for ages that I'd find sudoku easier if it didn't involve numbers, and finally I could test that theory! Don't know if it would be the same for everyone else, but for me? Definitely a thousand times easier! Cute kitties and solving puzzles, basically the dream.

A Little To The Left — It's a game entirely about organising things. Stack boxes, sort things by height or colour, fit things into very precise spaces, generally bring order out of chaos... It's incredibly satisfying, excellent for self-soothing. I will say that it's mostly textless, so some of the levels I could not figure out what it wanted me to do, let alone how to finish the level. The game does let you just skip any level that you're stuck on, no questions asked, but those levels were frustrating.