We survived another one! Another year done, with highs and lows for everyone.
Our curators look back at their 2024 in speculative fiction, by evaluating their resolutions for the year and highlighting their favourite media/reviews of the past twelve months.
How successful were you in fulfilling your 2024 resolutions? And, when it comes to speculative fiction, what were your favourites, disappointments and surprises this year?
2024 resolutions
Judging by my resolutions for the year alone, 2024 was a bad one – I am only one for three!
I resolved to learn to paint with an airbrush. I did paint a handful of miniatures with my airbrush, but the truth is that the type of mini painting that I enjoy and the type of minis that I paint don’t lend themselves particularly well for the airbrush – the MESBG minis that are my favourites are very small and I tend to paint them one by one instead of in batches. I have bought a second hand Mûmak recently, though, so the airbrush will surely come in handy there…
I also promised myself to read a Warhammer-novel. I started on Gilead’s Blood by Dan Abnett, mostly because it was the first novel in a collection that Lotte found for me at the thrift store. I’m not done yet, but… so far its not great. I’ll upload a review if I finish it, but I a seriously considering just putting it down. Perhaps I should have resolved to read a good Warhammer novel…
And finally: I did actually finish a story! It’s one that I’ve been working on for years – it turns out it’s about novella length. To actually finish it is really satisfying and also motivating – perhaps I’ll get some serious work done on the follow-up (probably going to be a prequel? Am I writing these in the right order?) in 2025!
favourite
Going by my star ratings, my favourite media of 2024 are Denis Villeneuve’s second Dune movie and Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist – two quite different stories that I liked for quite different reasons.
If I had to pick one, I think I’d have to go with The Alchemist – for some reason that little book struck a note with me and I would heartily recommend it to everyone who needs an uplifting message in their life. It’s all a little just-so, of course, a fairy tale constructed to support the message, but I really liked the vibe and Jeremy Irons did a great job reading it.
The Alchemist is from the eighties and not from 2024, though, so if that takes precedent than Villeneuve’s awesome movie with its stunning visuals is a worthy pick – I think I saw it in cinema three or four times and loved it more and more each time.
I’m almost disappointed that Ted Chiang’s Exhalation didn’t win this year, because a couple of the stories in that collection are top-tier as well.
Biggest Surprise
I think my biggest surprise is probably the Singing Hills Cycle – it was not on my radar at all, but I blasted through all five published novellas this summer and I’m still craving more. Especially Mammoths at the Gates was one of my favourite reads this year. I think Nghi Vo does an amazing job with the structure of each of the novellas and I loved how she transitioned the focus of the Cycle from the story inside the frame to the frame narrative itself. Reading those novellas actually helped motivate me to finally finish that story of my own (not that I would want to suggest in any way that it is near as good as what Vo is putting to paper), which is, I think, I great indicator of how captivating that series is.
Biggest Disappointment
For my biggest disappointment, I’m going to go with Children of Dune. I already knew the series was going to go downhill pretty steeply, but I honestly did not expect the drop off in quality from Dune Messiah, which I still really liked, to Children of Dune. I went into it at length in my review, but I just think that Herbert’s style becomes so dense that sometimes you’re wondering what you’re really reading for pages on end.
I was really hoping for a good capstone to that initial trilogy but it turns out the decline has already set in. It actually put me off reading God Emperor of Dune, which I was planning to read as well – I’m a little scared of what that will bring now. Perhaps I’ll work up the courage next year, we’ll see!
2024 resolutions
- Dragon Age: Dreadwolf – BioWare
Yikes. Even looking at the fact that we still referred to it as “Dragon Age: Dreadwolf” makes it seem like we wrote these resolutions YEARS in the past. I suppose on a positive note I could say that I didn’t play Dreadwolf, so it could still be a really good game, just one that wasn’t released this year. Dragon Age: The Veilguard, however, absolutely didn’t even come near my expectations of the next DA game. On the plus side, I did succeed in this resolution! And we really can’t say that for the rest of them.
- Get back to doing art, specifically fantasy-themed
I barely drew anything this year. This foolishly won’t stop me from putting this resolution straight back on my list for 2025.
- Take some good photos of my Howl’s Moving Castle Sophie cosplay
Yeah, I usually go to our “local” ren faire, which is where I debuted this cosplay last year. I couldn’t take good pictures last year because it rained all day. This year, I ended up not going at all, though I don’t believe the weather was much better… So much for a simple resolution, huh!
favourite
There really wasn’t anything that super stood out to me this year, I’m afraid. I suppose the novel Howl’s Moving Castle was really good? As in, it didn’t blow me away but it was nice to read a good, immersive fantasy story after what felt like ages of disappointing fantasy books.
Biggest Surprise
My biggest surprise is probably that the Farseer book series ended with a trilogy that just didn’t work for me the way the rest of the series had so far. There were definitely things I enjoyed about it, I just expected it to touch me a little more. But I guess I should just be glad to even get to read a completed fantasy book series these days!
Biggest Disappointment
Dragon Age 🙁
2024 resolutions
I managed to complete my first two resolutions quite early in the year: I read Legends & Lattes in January, and I also played Roam around that time. Legends & Lattes was cosy, but on the whole it did not really live up to my expectations. I do remember enjoying Roam, but to be honest I have not played it in a long time now and I remember very little about it. I guess looking back at this resolution is a good reminder to dust it off and give it another go!
While the third resolution (the art challenge with Lotte) did not really end up taking off, I did manage to spend some more time this year drawing. That’s something I definitely hope to bring into the new year.
favourite
Both Prophet Song and The End We Start From rank very highly on my list of favorites of this year. Both are quite dark, dystopic tales, so I don’t know what that says about me. But I am currently rereading another dystopic favourite from recent years: Station Eleven. So apparently I have not tired of the genre yet.
Biggest Surprise
My biggest surprise of the year has to have been The War of the Rohirrim. And by this I don’t mean the quality of the movie, but the fact that it existed at all: somehow I managed to miss all announcements for it, so I was pleasantly surprised when Peter and Jop suddenly asked if I wanted to come along to the cinema.
Biggest Disappointment
It would be easy to say The Rings of Power, but my expectations for it were not that high in the first place so maybe it doesn’t strictly count as a disappointment. Other than that I cannot come up with any major disappointments though, so let’s stick with that answer. While I did not expect it to be good, I also did not expect that I would not even end up finishing the season!
2024 resolutions
2024 was not a bad year when it comes to my resolutions. I got to finally play the next Dragon Age (I have no issues whether its subtitle is Dreadwolf or The Veilguard) and greatly enjoyed it! Furthermore, some days before writing this wrap-up, Peter and I played the first MESBG scenario with my fantasy fellowship. Technically a little too late, but I say it counts.
As for writing and worldbuilding… I’m sort of on a journey of rediscovering these hobbies. Combined with beginning a new master’s programme and a job, I had little time to make great strides in this journey. However, it’s been a slow burn. I have inspiration and plans. For now, that’s enough.
favourite
This is quite ironic after Lotte’s considerations, but Dragon Age: The Veilguard was definitely the highlight of 2024 for me. It was a story of grief, regret and fighting against imposing odds that deeply resonated with me. The same goes for the Rook I created. The echoes of her and her story will stay with me for a while.
Biggest Surprise
This might be Renegade Nell for me. It was a rather impulsive watch for me, but managed to give me much joy.
Honourable shout-out to the modern Planet of the Apes movies. I decided to watch them – just to see what this franchise was about – and actually quite enjoyed them. They had more nuance than I expected.
Biggest Disappointment
Probably Lotte’s skill issue in enjoying Dragon Age: The Veilguard…
I’m jesting, of course. Firstly, I’m not cool enough to successfully use modern slang. Secondly, one’s dislike or enjoyment of media is entirely within their right, and I can at least understand how Veilguard‘s rendition of ‘choice matters’ is a disappointment to some.
Still, it’s a bummer when a story means a lot to you and you can’t properly share this experience with friends because they hated it. However, I suppose this goes both ways…
Otherwise, the second season of Rings of Power. I’m afraid they lost me before the season finished.
That’s us for today, folks! Happy holidays!
