Book: Tress of the Emerald Sea, Brandon Sanderson

Tress is proof that we don't need big. A wonderful story that is as dense as it is breezy, this, for me, was the perfect antidote to the sheer exhaustion from binging everything published in the Cosmere to date.

It's as dense as it was whimsical, as pacey as it was deep, and as funny as it was significant. As a Cosmere story it moved the world on tremendously, it didn't hold back and was generous in all that it gave.

Technically it was a wonderful book too, albeit with a bit of laboured characterisation. Everything was so smooth, so fluid, that it was a distinct pleasure to read.

Definitely recommended and a hope for the Cosmere going forward. Speaking of which, seeing as I've finally caught up with the lore it'll be a while before I return to this particular universe.

Film: John Wick: Chapter 4

More of the same doesn't have to be a bad thing, especially with the tuned and concise film-making presented to us by John Wick. Some might say that Chapters 2 and 3 started getting bloated, but I thought they were okay at the time.

It's only coming to Chapter 4 that you can begin to see the trajectory of the franchise over the decade or so that it's been with us. It's now middle ages, a bit pudgy around the middle and get confused sometimes. It's still good, somewhat mature... but also not as quick as it used to be.

What is good is great, but it's way too long with obvious cuts that could have been made. Some characters and arcs seem wholly superfluous in fact. One can hope that this is the peak of escalation that results in such fat, but I'd be happy to take the termination of the series as an alternative. Some things just get ruined in the chase for bigger and better, and JW is way too good to go down that road.