Velocity Weapon

I don't read a lot of hard sci-fi, but this was passed on to me by a friend who was decluttering the bookshelves - female author, intriguing premise, very much character-focused - so I thought, why not?

Megan O'Keefe builds a masterful narrative, interwoven between three different locations, focusing on three different characters. Sanda wakes up from cryo-sleep after a space battle, on an enemy ship, run by a rogue AI. Back on her home planet, her brother Biran battles opposition in the upper echelons of the government while trying to find out what happened to Sanda. In a far-off system, Jules takes part in a drug heist that has far-reaching consequences.

I never wanted to skip sections to get back to other narratives, all the characters were engaging and sympathetic, the politics and inter-relationships were complex and well-drawn, there wasn't too much techno-babble to put me off - all in all, a very entertaining read, with a lot of heart and a lot of tension. I did see the halfway point twist coming, but not any of the others in the second half!

A Walk With Yiayia

This is a cute, very short (60-minute) computer game about a young man taking his grandmother for a walk around the block. It's about connecting with family, reflecting on past mistakes, building confidence, being kind to yourself and others, and finding lost balls and cats! It was quite emotional in places, very sweet and quite satisfying - though I suspect I might have missed a few things along the way, as it felt hard to explore past the road without risking Yiayia falling over!

And then there was a lengthy (relative to the rest of the game), incredibly hard and really annoying skill-based bit, with platform jumping (using arrow keys on a laptop) that nearly ruined the whole thing. But I got through it and the end was nice.