Raven

The pacing of the series was rather sedate at times. I know everything doesn't - and shouldn't - be fast spaceships and action sequences, but they did just seem to wander from one situation to the next a lot of the time. Really, the whole series felt like a protracted pilot episode. Hopefully the next series will be a bit tighter, and the cameos from past cast members a little less indulgent.

Old Red Eyes is Back - The Beautiful South

I expected to be reading more, with things the way they are, but I am only just about to finish my first book in over a month - and that's not a reflection on the book, which overall I have enjoyed!

Still miss Miles Jupp hosting this.

Unfortunately. (My faith in Star Wars has been partially restored by The Mandalorian, however.)

I was just coming here to say the same thing. It is very good, for anyone who has not read it!

Brian

So you like Terry Pratchett then?! Can't say I blame you; a top chap! Oh, and welcome, by the way!

Having seen the complete series now, I must confess to having conflicting feelings about it (some of it worked for me, some of it didn't). Patrick Stewart was good, but with age Picard seems to have lost the authority and respect he commanded in The Next Generation and I'm struggling to work out why. I think I need to watch it through again, knowing now how it all plays out.

Fellowship of the Ring is 99p on Kindle today (The Two Towers is £1.99 as well).

^ It definitely has a western/gunslinger vibe to it.

Good, isn't it?

Or bumblebee...

Not overheard, but a conversation I had with a colleague this morning: Me: Oh, Eddie Large has died... Colleague: Who's he? Me: He was one half of Little and Large in the 80s Colleague: Oh, right. Which one was he? Me: ...

Amazon have a load of free Kindle books at the moment. There are a number of their classic imprints (Great Expectations, Robinson Crusoe etc.) but also a lot of children's books for desperate parents.

Wow, I just had a spectacular miss-read of that first sentence!

7 so far, which is about par for where I want to be at this time of the year.

I believe that is the plan, although I'll admit I haven't heard much about it recently. I believe Aaronovitch is doing a Q&A on Twitter tomorrow night, might be something in that.

The first six books in CJ Samson's Shardlake series are 99p each on Kindle today.

Alien: Covenant Not seen this before, but it was on Film 4 last night and in these days of Coronavirus when you are looking for a diversion... Can easily be summarised as a poor remake of Aliens. On the plus side, I do quite like Katherine Waterston, so it wasn't all bad.

There is supposed to be a novella from his point of view in the works (two more to come before that, though). The latest graphic novel, Action at a Distance, was told from his point of view.

Interesting idea! We know some of them already, but there are some colourful characters that we don't know so much about.

I think most people are familiar with "likes" these days, and it's not as though new members seem to be sticking around anyway. The way I look at it is that it is a way of acknowledging a post without typing up a full reply, where maybe one isn't actually required anyway.

Overall, and especially after the last book, this one feels like a gentle reset, with a lot of new characters and ideas being added to the universe that I suspect Aaronovitch will be making use of in later novels. I really enjoyed it. It was different from most of the previous ones and - unlike October Man - the first person narrative didn't feel like it was a Peter clone telling the story.