Monday Media on Tuesday: 02/03/26

[owlmoose]

Ghostlight by Suzanne Palmer : The fourth and final book in The Finder Chronicles is a satisfying stopping point, but I dearly hope there is more some day. Thoughts with spoilers: The massive status quo change, with Fergus being left behind on Solo and the loss of his Aasig powers, could be considered a sensible place to wrap it up, but I wish we could see him getting home, being reunited with his loved ones, and shifting into whatever adventure comes next now that he's a free man in many respects.

Silver & Lead by Seanan McGuire: Somehow I let the new October Daye book get by me last fall, so right after finishing Ghostlight, I picked it up and read it in a day. It picks up four months after the last big story; I hesitate to call it a calmer story, because there is no such thing as a calm Toby Daye story, but in comparison to what came right before it does seem like a bit of a break (although with a warning for child endangerment). Spoilers for the book and series. Only in an October Daye story could I say that nearly killing the protagonist from lead poisoning, with uncertainty of whether her unborn baby will survive, feels less high stakes than the previous few books -- mostly because I do know that Toby is a protagonist and killing her is off the table, and though McGuire may twist the knife in other ways, I thought it extremely likely that this baby would be born and survive, just based on her vibes as a storyteller.

Saving Throw: I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the Save Data Team streaming channel here before. I discovered them some years ago through their Ace Attorney with an Actual Lawyer series (they're currently working on Investigations 2, which is the only game in the series I've never played, so it's been fun to discover it along with them), and I've been watching much of their content ever since. But one series I hadn't been following was Saving Throw, which is their D&D actual play podcast. I kept telling myself that I would catch up someday, and I decided "someday" had finally arrived. I've actually been listening to the audio-only podcast version, which makes it much easier to listening while doing other things; I'm now up to Arc 4 (Episode 30) and enjoying it immensely. Chris, the DM, is an excellent storyteller who's created an interesting post-apocalyptic world, and he expertly wrangles a team of five screw-ups who've just graduated at the bottom of their class from an adventurers academy. The stakes start out apparently small, but before long the group is thrown into the deep end of politics and legends, and it's fun to watch them navigate that as well as their interpersonal relationships. The DM and players all know each other really well, and that trust and respect shows in the way they play, even when they're giving each other a hard time. The series is still going -- looks like they just wrapped up Arc 7 -- and I'm looking forward to catching up.