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Friends, let's talk about Ancillary Mercy. I loved it so much I can't even formulate a coherent review of it. I just, the previous two books I enjoyed a great deal, yes, but I was always vaguely dubious about where the huge space opera plots were going to go and whether it would be in a way that was satisfying for the immediate story, the characters and their arcs. Spoilers: she knocked it out of the park, oh my goodness.

Some more specific things I loved:

( spoilers )

I had a very quiet Christmas with friends, and with Shim, and now Boxing Day is as grey and windswept as it ought to be, narratively, and I am quite contented. This is just an initial batch of Yuletide recs, probably there will be more coming, and in no particular order:

The Banishing of Winter (1156 words) by Anonymous
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
My gift! A lovely fairy tale of how the Raven King banished winter for four years from the north of England. Charmingly, it's set in Sefton - which is not the place I grew up; I grew up in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton so named because it's not a real place! But it's named for a village that may have existed on the Sefton coast, once, a long time ago, and here it is.

Soft Offering (1034 words) by Anonymous
Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie
Breq is given a gift by Mercy of Kalr, and it's the sort of gift only a ship can give. Just lovely.

What's Caught is Gone (4382 words) by Anonymous
Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie
A few small scenes of breathing space between the end of Ancillary Sword and whatever comes next. I love this! It's just what it says on the tin, slice-of-life aboard ship, complete with all my favourite running gags from the novel - Kalr Five, and the rose dishes! Bo's rousing choruses of "Oh, tree! Where's my ass?" - and brilliantly, it's from Mercy of Kalr's point of view and evokes how aptly named the ship is: the story is all quiet warmth and kindness, and just, I loved this a lot. Possibly my favourite of all of them so far.

Bzzt (4148 words) by Anonymous
Playthings (Gun Safety PSA)
The canon for this one is a 30-second gun safety PSA. In the true spirit of Yuletide, I am now deeply invested in the internal lives of these people.

The Mystery of the Egyptian Curse (3722 words) by Anonymous
Lynes and Mathey Series - Amy Griswold & Melissa Scott
I am a tiny little bit dubious about the premise of this one - I think given the historical setting, the characters wouldn't take the risk they take, in this story - but given that it is unutterably and ridiculously delightful. Miss Frost is the best detective, the best ally and basically the best everything, just as she ought to be. (Also! "For every David and Jonathan, there was a Naomi and Ruth" - eeeee.)

The Sand In The Bottom Half Of The Hourglass. (2015 words) by Anonymous
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Arabella Strange and Emma Pole are visited by the Raven King. This one made me tear up and I'm not entirely sure why.

The Cartographer Tries to Map a Course (2018 words) by Anonymous
Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
In which Abigail Kamara is grown up, and goes to visit the genius loci of Ettersberg, who has returned - and doesn't take Nightingale, who is too afraid - and too young - to go back. This gives me chills, all the way down into the ground and all the bits of me that love places in fiction. If the one above isn't my favourite of the whole collection, then this one is.

I've read lots more! So probably there's more to come. I also really, really, really liked Cabin Pressure - Shim and I listened to "Zurich" very happily on Christmas Eve while allegedly cleaning up the kitchen, and had to stop cleaning up the kitchen in order to bask in the utter perfection of it. Oh, my show! It was so warm and funny and careful of its characters, and the cast were clearly having a ball, and just - after all these years, it was such a beautiful ending and I love it so much and still.

I've also been enjoying the Radio 4 Good Omens, but don't actually have much to say about it; the characters have lived in my head for so many years that it seems nice, but unremarkable, that they're on the radio.