ChäoS;HEAd
by Toshiki Inoue; dir. Takaaki Ishiyama (2013)
12-part anime adaptation. Chaos;Head captures the disturbing essence of a shut-in’s societal withdrawal and delusions, yet alienates viewers by heaping on too many layers of unreality (especially as protagonist Takumi Nishijo remains a wet dishmop with zero personality beyond jejune inner monologuing).
Arne Dahl: Many Waters
dir. Tova Magnusson (SVT, 2012 / BBC, 2013)
[subtitled] [originally “De största vatten”]
![TV poster: “Arne Dahl: Many Waters” dir. Tova Magnusson (SVT, 2012 / BBC, 2013) [subtitled] [originally “De största vatten”]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Arne-Dahl_Many-Waters.png)
Disappointing as a self-contained story. Kerstin Holm (Malin Mases Arvidsson) is left by herself to silently emote while the rest of A-group dabble in their own personal problems and the plot threads grow increasingly tangled… leaving the original murder more than half-unexplained!
Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, Volume One
by CRC Payne; ill. Starbite (DC Comics, 2023)
Slice-of-life vignettes featuring Batman and his various children living together at Wayne Manor. Very low-key humour, leaning less into high-powered escalation and more towards superhero teens living regular lives. Clear art, polaroid storytelling. Bat-Cow and Alfred the cat share a nice moment.
The Closest Thing to Crazy: My Life of Musical Adventures
by Mike Batt (Bonnier, 2024); audiobook read by Mike Batt (Nine Eight Books, 2024)
An engaging account of Batt’s long career in the volatile world of songwriting, performance and music production. Whereas many autobiographies skew heavily towards the early years and then drop into a perfunctory void, Batt provides even coverage most of the way through.
Where He Can’t Find You
by Darcy Coates (Sourcebooks Fire, 2023)
audiobook read by Reba Buhr (Black Owl Books, 2023)
Dark yet not too gruelling. The protagonists might sound ever-so-slightly young in the audiobook reading, but their personalities emerge strongly and the characterisation is unusually convincing for YA. Reba Buhr’s narration employs an open, honest immediacy in carrying off the speculative horror.
Once Upon a Time in London
dir. Simon Rumley (2019)
Thematically sound overall but the relationships are murky and the shifting dynamics blur into an endless reel of dog-eat-dog gangster violence. While of more interest than the leads, the female characters are less well documented historically and thus, lamentably, have been relegated.
42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams
ed. Kevin Jon Davies (Unbound, 2023)
An unwieldy coffee-table book better suited to selective delving than cover-to-cover consumption. Lesser-known Adams projects are skimmed over, yet the dogged facsimilation of original documents both gobbles up space (especially when paired with typewritten transcripts thereof) and results in some eye-straining arrangements.
Flux
by Jinwoo Chong (Melville House, 2023)
audiobook read by David Lee Huynh (Tantor, 2023)
Suitably twisty in its time travel motifs and displaced narrative perspectives. The human element and the TV show’s formative influence are well integrated. Still, there’s a sense of Chong writing himself artfully into a corner and passing it off as a dénouement.
Arne Dahl: To the Top of the Mountain
dir. Jörgen Bergmark (SVT, 2012 / BBC, 2013) [subtitled]
[originally “Upp till toppen av berget”]
![Miniseries poster: “Arne Dahl: To the Top of the Mountain” dir. Jörgen Bergmark (SVT, 2012 / BBC, 2013) [subtitled] [originally “Upp till toppen av berget”]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Arne-Dahl_To-the-Top-of-the-Mountain.png)
The middle story of Arne Dahl’s first season shifts the focus to second-generation Chilean Swede Jorge Chaves, resulting in a more up-tempo narrative. A-group’s personal lives are better integrated into the investigation, which links a car bombing to a deep-buried paedophilia ring.
Doctor Who: Mind of the Hodiac
by Russell T Davies & Scott Handcock (Big Finish, 2022)
This two-parter is rather too long for what it offers, though the female-centric plot is welcome and Colin Baker is once again a delight. Davies and Handcock capture the Sixth Doctor’s personality, yet (as usual) have him largely superfluous to the resolution.