My last 5 books: One good thing in a sea of meh

1. Frostbitna, av Lena Ollmark. Det är fem år sen jag läste förra delen av Firnbarnen och den här har antagligen suttit i min bokhylla lika länge. Jag gillar skarpt hur kusliga alla böckerna är och flera gånger blev den här delen så pass kuslig att jag satt med rysningar. Jag kommer aldrig se nattfjärilar på samma sätt igen. Frostbitna utforskar ursprunget till ondskan och barnen (speciellt Natta) tar reda på vad som hände för att lärarinnan skulle hamna där hon hamnade. Jag uppskattar hur författaren skriver barnen. De är tolv år gamla och hon gör det så tydligt att de står med ena foten i tonåren och den andra kvar i barndomen. De vill så gärna bli tagna på allvar av de vuxna i sin närhet och inte bli sedda som "bara barn", samtidigt som de kräver stöd av sina äldre. Barnen beskriver den nya läraren Viktor som så mycket äldre än dem, men samtidigt som mycket yngre än de andra lärarna, vilket får mig att tro att Viktor inte ens är trettio år än och hans beteende genom hela boken är något som jag verkligen kan relatera till. Natta försöker desperat upprätthålla sin image som den duktiga, Teddy försöker desperat att bli sedd som en person utöver det vanliga, och Leo försöker desperat att bryta från sin ligistimage. De är barn halvvägs ur barndomen och författaren beskriver de så väl. Teddys suck och stön över att de vuxna inte förstår är något som jag fortfarande kan relatera till. Under bokens gång får läsaren "höra" diverse olika spökhistorier och de hänger alla ihop med ondskan. Jag läste den här boken mitt i natten med minusgrader utomhus och jag rekommenderar starkt att alla gör likadant. 

2. The Shape of Water, by Guillermo del Toro & Daniel Kraus. Four years ago I saw the trailer for the movie and thought it looked cool so decided to pick up the book. I still haven't seen the movie. Not sure I want to now. As much as I love the creature and his childish amazement throughout the book, it doesn't take away from the fact that this book is entirely predictable and full of terrible people. Strickland is the worst, but it isn't his fault. It's obvious that he suffers from several layers of severe untreated PTSD that's slowly making him lose his mind completely. Reading about Lainie made me worried her stupidity was catching. She's a sheltered housewife yearning for independence. I can get behind that. But not when her sheltered-ness leaves both innocence and naiveté behind and just rushes forward to dumb. Not sure if she's a result of her times or if she's just *that* dumb. Zelda mostly makes me sad. She has settled throughout her entire life and she can't seem to stop. I really wanted to like Elisa, her being the protagonist and all, but everything about her was predictable and that predictability made it so that she had no personality. She liked shoes. Preposterous shoes. The ending? Saw that coming from a mile away.

3. Pottungen, av Anna Laestadius Larsson. Det är flera år sen jag läste Barnbruden, men varje del i den här serien är tillräckligt fristående för att det inte ska vara några problem. Den här andra delen i trilogin berättar om händelserna efter Gustav IIIs död. Gustav III hade gjort sig själv enväldig, och efter honom följde en rad av lynniga kungar, och som vanligt är Sophie och Charlotta mitt i smeten utan att kunna  påverka någonting. När jag var klar med boken kändes det som om ingenting alls hade hänt under hela boken. Ingenting hände, men på ett intressant sätt. Om Barnbruden var uppkallad efter Charlotta och hade henne i fokus, så var Pottungen uppkallad efter Johanna och hade henne i fokus. Och jag kan inte bry mig mindre om Johanna. Eller Nils. Filip gör mig bara irriterad. Vad är poängen med den lilla familjen alls? Boken var lättläst och gick relativt fort att ta sig igenom. Men det var dödfödd läsning. 

4. Räfvhonan, av Anna Laestadius Larsson. Sista boken och tydligt uppkallad efter Sophie som står i fokus. Sophie är en sån som gärna gnäller men som inte like gärna försöker göra någonting åt problemet. Charlotta försöker göra något åt problemet och blir skrattad rakt upp i ansiktet. Trevligt, Axel. Den här boken berättar om startskottet för den svenska omvälvningen från ståndssamhället till arbetarsamhället. Det är tydligt att den gustavianska adeln fruktade att det skulle gå lika illa för dem som för den franska adeln bara dryga trettio år tidigare under den franska revolutionen, och visst blir det farligt för dem. Speciellt för Axel men han gjorde sig själv till en vandrande måltavla genom att vara en ständig påminnelse om franska revolutionen och därmed en ständig påminnelse att folket kan ställa sig över överheten. Författaren har ändrat slutet på Axels historia och flikat in Nils där. Men det var väl ett ganska påtvingat slut för Nils för att räta ut historien. Räfvhonan var bättre än Pottungen, och den innehöll mer action, men samtidigt kändes hela läsupplevelsen väldigt... meh. 

5. The Orange is the New Black, by Piper Kerman. I only picked this up because I loved the TV show. But compared to the show the book was very mediocre. I enjoyed reading it, but it was nowhere near the level of the show. The book was pretty impersonal and it was clear that Kerman tried to describe it all in as general a manner as she could manage, which meant that a lot of the people, places and happenings lacked personality and character. Time and time again she repeats how lucky she was/is and it gets pretty repetitive. This is by no means the common experience of a prison and she makes a tremendous effort to point that out. Everything is from her perspective (and understandably so) but she is a clear outsider in this world and so her perspective isn't a reliable description of prison life. This book is just too smooth for the places and people it deals with, and it's flat. 

Doctor Who S12

We were both very disappointed in series 11 and so it took us way too long to get around to series 12. I had heard good things about series 12 though, so I was cautiously optimistic. 

Already the first episode promised a much better season than series 11 and it felt good to be excited about Doctor Who again.

I still miss Capaldi from time to time, but it happened more than once through the course of series 12 that I was sat thinking "13, your 10 is showing" and I loved it. 

My only gripe is that Jack didn't get to see the Doctor even after all that. 

Loved the new incarnation of the Master, but Cybermen? Again? Wasn't that Missy's deal? (First Capaldi season). Although the Lone Cyberman was really cool. 

Favourite episodes this series are probably the historical ones Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror and The Haunting of Villa Diodati. I also really enjoyed Praxeus (although it got a little preachy) and Spyfall was a great two-parter. 

I feel like The Timeless Children kinda sorta gave the Doctor over to godhood and I didn't like that. It was too much. The Doctor is supposedly an unassuming wandering rebel among his/her own people. So why add an origin story like that?

Anyway, series 12 was great and now I'm really excited about series 13 and the specials leading up to regeneration :3

The End of the F***ing World

This show was my pick. I seemingly really enjoy shows about troubled teenagers and this was no exception. I thought it would be quirky and funny, but it turned out really deep and meaningful (as well as quirky and funny).

Alyssa is a bitch, but she knows. 

James is odd, but he knows.

And somehow they work.

The first season tells the story of how they run away and get up to all sorts of shit that gets the police involved.

The second season deals with the aftermath of what happened in season one.

Both seasons are really good, although (as always) the first one is better.

Lost in Space S03

We had waited and waited for this season. The last one. The climax. The resolution. And just with the previous two seasons every episode was so good. Every episode feels like a movie and the quality is just staggering.

I loved finding out the truth about SAR and Scarecrow and Robot. Loved seeing the kids figure everything out while the adults struggled with fear and paranoia and what-ifs. 

And Will has come such a long way. From the hesitant, sensitive little kid to a literal hero trying to save humanity in space while also trying not to sacrifice himself, but absolutely not ruling it out and is up to the task, should it happen. I'm just so proud of him. 

And that ending is just the best possible ending to the entire show. When the whole thing was over I just felt happy and content. This was so good and it was perfect. 

This show is completely worth every minute. Watch it.

Dealing with backlog: The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing - Final Cut

I played the first and second Van Helsing games in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The first game was probably one of the first games I ever bought on Steam. Then the third installment completely fell off my radar and I discovered this Final Cut several years later. Final Cut is a compilation of the three installments with a few things added and some other things removed to spice it up for returning players.

So this is a Diablo-esque action RPG in a gothic noir setting and I'm all for it. You know every monster and legend and weird science in the gothic stories of the 19th century (and the early 20th century)? You'll get to immerse yourself in a world full of them; fight most of them and help some of them. There are mad scientists and steampunk-y cyborgs and legends come to life. The humour is sarcastic and witty and the game is full of references to pop culture. I love everything about this. 

As for the classes you can be a gun-toting hunter or a sword-wielding knight or sorcerer (scientific sorcerer) or summoner. I played this as the classic gunner and based my own build on poison damage with ice as back-up in case of poison resistance. With a bit of summoning on the side.

As for the story it's a simple monster slaying story with the gothic noir twist I love. You are Van Helsing, son of the legendary Van Helsing. Your father was sent a message asking for assistance from the country of Borgovia, but since he doesn't take cases anymore you get to go off on this adventure, and with you is Lady Katarina - a ghost bound to serve the Van Helsing family. 

In the first installment you fight the mad scientist Fulmigati and his minions created by weird science. Alongside them are several different kinds of mythical creatures and if you pay attention you get to pull the Excalibur out of the stone, you get to fight the murderous rabbit from Monty Python's Holy Grail (this rabbit show up in every installment), and a whole lot of other things.

In the second installment you create the Resistance and fight General Harker and his cyborg minions. You have an unusual ally throughout this part. The Resistance offers war table missions, which I'm all for. If you pay attention you can find Gandalf, and Sherlock Holmes' home among other things.

In the third installment you fight Koschei the Deathless and this part binds all of them together beautifully. This installment takes you through the Underworld and you also find out Katarina's backstory. Here you can, among other things, find out the truth about Hansel and Gretel.

After I had finished the mainstory of the Final Cut I went back and played the third Van Helsing game separately. There's also a game called Deathtrap that's based on the Van Helsing game but only the Tower Defense parts of it. So Deathtrap is simply a Tower Defense game in the same style and universe as the Van Helsing games. 

I started to write this review when I felt done with the Final Cut, but having written this... I kind of want to go back and play through the whole thing again. This gothic-noir action-RPG with tower defense elements is one of my absolute favourites. 

My last 5 books: Fantasy, comics and some real-life advice

1. Rule of Wolves, by Leigh Bardugo. This book is just... I can't even... Wow. I love Nikolai. I love Aleksander and I adore Kaz Brekker and they're all in this together and I can barely contain my joy. I've never liked Zoya (although the author makes it clear time and again that she does) but in this book Zoya kind of grows on me. I never enjoyed Nina's POV in Six of Crows but in King of Scars and especially in Rule of Wolves she really grows on me and she has gone from being one of those character POV that I just had to get through, to being one of my favourites. Shu Han becomes an actual place in this novel and stops being a mythical land. I had so much fun reading this book and I really didn't want to put it down ever. There were so many instances when the real battle started that I thought that Nikolai wouldn't make it, we were getting close to the end of the book (and duology) after all... I was just sat there... "If Nikolai dies, I'mma riot." The ending was just perfect. Redemption for the Darkling. Nikolai gets to keep the throne without being on the throne. My lovely, relatable Hanne gets to live her best trans-life in the best way possible and Nina gets to be the queen she deserves to be. We've come a long way from the Little Palace, haven't we? I can't wait for the next Grisha-book. 

2. The Lives of Saints, by Leigh Bardugo. A little anthology of fairy tales. This is the Istorii Sankt'ya from Shadow and Bone. I kind of expected more, but at the same time it's exactly what I expected. Mostly it's a bunch of tales about how much humanity sucks and how we always manage to make the choice that will end up being the worst for us. Most of the stories were only two pages long and this book is a great example of how you can say a lot with few words. My favourite stories were Sankt Nikolai, Sankt Vladimir, Sankta Yeryin, Sankt Lukin, Sankta Magda, Sankt Dimitri, and The Starless Saint. Absolute favourite would probably be Sankt Dimitri because of the pure preposterousness of that ending. The only one of these stories that made me chuckle. Definitely recommend if you're a fan of the Grishaverse, but only if you have read the rest of the books up until Rule of Wolves because the last story in this book could be considered a spoiler. 

3. The Wisdom of Crowds, by Joe Abercrombie. I did not see that coming. But my boy Glokta is still my boy. Not so much boy anymore, though, but don't you dare kill him! How to talk about this book without spoiling everything? There's so much death and one, specifically, felt like a gut-punch. Honestly, after the events of this book I wish Orso had gone through with the execution at the end of The Trouble with Peace. It would've saved him so much trouble. Already before Savine pointed it out herself I noticed how she had ended up married to her father in a way. But Leo is a washed out, diminished version of the gloriousness that is Sand dan Glokta. What this book does, and does brilliantly, is pointing out that the people, the masses, don't really know what they want. They clamour for freedom, but once they get it they need someone to hold their hand and tell them what to do. People as an entity need their leaders and their government, people as individuals need their freedom and differentiating the two is a delicate balance - which Orso and Pike and Judge and so many more all find out. The irony of the title is that crowds don't have any wisdom. This book is full of references to the original trilogy and now I feel like I need to re-read it. It has been like ten years after all... I need to rediscover the origins of Old Sticks. I need to re-experience the sarcasm of young Inquisitor Glokta. The trilogy of this new generation has been a wild brilliant ride and it will take me weeks to get over this.

4. Very Good Lives, by J.K. Rowling. This short little book is just the commencement speech Rowling gave to Harvard's graduating class of 2008. I finished it in something like 15-20 minutes. It's very short and half of it is pictures. But what struck me in this (and what always strikes me in anything non-fiction she does) is how eloquent she is. She knows precisely which words to use and if words is a superpower, she definitely has it. And she makes a very good point throughout this whole speech, without being the boring adult who tries to tell a group of fresh graduates that she knows better, she tells them to live their best lives and not be afraid to fail. Reach for the stars and don't be afraid to fall. A lot of adults will tell you what you can't do, that some things are meant to remain as dreams and not reality, but how can you know without trying? One part of this speech struck a very personal chord with me: "I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself and what those closest to me expected of me. I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was write novels. However, my parents, [...] took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension. So they hoped that I would take a vocational degree." This is only 80 pages (and half of it pictures) but it still managed to make me smile and chuckle and even brought a tear to my eye at one point. If you want to truly discover Rowling's masterful way with words - this is it. I would very much like a collection of essays and non-fiction writing from Rowling in the future. 

5. The Sandman vol 7: Brief Lives, by Neil Gaiman. It has been way too long since I read the previous Sandman volume. Years and years ago, but in true Gaiman spirit the story is simple enough to be easily remembered but intriguing enough to never get old and still intricate and complicated enough to generate so so many questions. Layers. The master of layers. I love Delirium in this. Everything she says is like talking to a small child; you know all the words but they don't fit together in your mundane adult mind the way they do for a child. And in this volume in every interaction between Dream and Delirium Dream is a perfect personification of how I feel interacting with children. They are colourful and whimsical and quirky and I'm mellow darkness. The end to Orpheus's story was fitting. Delirium and Dream set out to find Destruction, but in the end, what Dream discovers on their journey is that even if they are Endless they aren't static and change is inevitable. Dream and Death remain my favourites, but Delirium was an absolute delight (pun absolutely intended) in this volume and Desire was just *chef's kiss* Barnabas's claim that dogs don't make fools of themselves made me chuckle all the while remembering how the old family dog used to trip over her own feet while trying to catch a thrown stick before it hit the ground. I had a great time with this volume. 

Allt För Sverige S10

This show has been one of my guilty pleasures for the past eight years. For people who don't know (and I can't find any information on whether this show is actually broadcast in the US - although I feel like it should be) this is a Swedish reality show based on ten Swedish-Americans coming to Sweden to find their Swedish roots and the big prize at the end of the competition is a family reunion with the Swedish side of their family. It's great to watch the Americans find out about their history. It's also a lot of fun to watch their reactions to things that I find thoroughly normal but that they find super strange. 

They usually film it during early summer. Around June mostly. and then broadcast it during the autumn scheduling. But in 2020 the show was cancelled completely due to covid. And in 2021 they had to postpone it and so this season was filmed in August and the broadcasting ended just yesterday. 

Before this season started broadcasting it was announced as the last ever season of this show. Made me sad. But with the state of the world, I guess it's understandable. The world is a very different place now compared to when the show started in 2011. 

But then I read a post from the host's Instagram where he states he hopes for another season. So maybe it's not completely dead and gone? Fingers crossed for more.

Ju-On Origins

This show was my choice. I've had a weird fascination with Ju-On a.k.a The Grudge since I was 14 and saw the first American version movie for the first time. And Kayako has haunted me ever since. Since then I've seen every Japanese version I could get my hands on, as well as both the American versions. I haven't seen the one from 2020 yet. So when I saw this show in my/our recommended I decided I wanted to see it. 

It's only six episodes long and every episode is only 30 minutes. It could easily be completed in a day. The storytelling is pretty confusing to begin with. The story is told in the wrong order. But I had all the wrinkles straightened out by the end. Except one that I don't think they answered... What happened to the child? 

This show was a trip. It showcased the inherent evil in man, as well as the desire to do right. There was glimpses through temporal windows and a temporal effect where the future happened simultaneously as the past. 

The story begins in 1988 and finishes in 1997 and it really stuck with me. The storytelling is pretty slow and it focuses largely on building suspense. Throughout the show each episode gives you a new thread, a new piece of the puzzle, and they don't clearly explain how they fit together - it's up to the viewer to connect the dots. And that kind of storytelling isn't for everybody. 

The only thing I didn't enjoy about this show was the corpse reveal at the end. 

The Witcher S02

This second season was leagues better than the first season for the sole reason that it was all in the right order. And this is where I realise that I never made a post for the first season. 

I know already before going in on season one that it would be all out of order. The Last Wish is still the only Witcher book I've read and I recognised quite a bit from the first season of the show from both that book and the games. 

This second season however is where we get a proper chronology, a proper chain of events, and we get some sort of background info on The Wild Hunt. Which is cool coming from only having played the games basically. 

The way things are going in the show I assume we'll be introcuded to the Scoia'tael in the next season? Does that mean Zoltan will show up? 

I need more chemistry between Geralt and Triss.

This season is going to take some time to digest. So good :3

Game completed: Vampire's Fall Origins

I picked this game up on a whim from a sale and mostly just because it said vampire in the title. 

But this is a port of a mobile game and the graphics make that clear. The gameplay is pretty simple, but there's a lot of content anyway. 

There are several bosses in the game; some are static and never leave their lairs so you can go to them and fight them; some are roaming and you basically just have to hope they'll turn up and that when they do you're strong enough to beat them. Dodging and Blocking are RNG mechanics, but you can raise the percentages with the help of equipment and levelling. When I felt finished with the game my percentage was around 50% for each, which is pretty high. The fighting reminds me of old-style JRPGs and is turn-based. You can't use potions mid-fight, but you have one healing ability (which I came to rely heavily on).

The game has a main quest and a multitude of side quests. 60 sidequests in the base game and around 50 in the DLC. The story is that you're a rookie wanting to sign up to fight the Witchmaster and his army. But before you have a chance to properly sign up the Witchmaster attacks the town you're in and kills everyone (except a guy named Sava), and he accidentally turns you into the very first vampire (so named because it happens in the town of Vamp'Ire). Sava either goads you into turning him or forces you to do it, so now you're two. Sava disappears for most of the game and you go off the hunt down the Witchmaster. The story for the base game ends when you find him and that's also when you find out his motivations for doing what he did. It's all kind of sad, really. The only thing left for you to do is what the DLC is all about - hunting down Sava. 

One game mechanic is called Rebirth and it's basically a NG+. It resets all the sidequests (but not the main quest) and all the bosses. You get to keep your levels and experience and gear, but now you can get even better gear that was unavailable before your Rebirth. 

All the bosses in the base game are defeatable without any Rebirth. I did it. But in the DLC there are mazes which is a set of 4-6 bosses in a row, the next always harder than the one before. And they have to be completed in one go. You can't go there and defeat one and then come back and continue with the rest. If you leave before you're done they reset and you have to start over. These aren't just hard without Rebirths - they're pretty darn impossible. I got the best gear possible without any Rebirths and even if I could manage the first one or two bosses in a maze, I could never finish all of them. Because of the sheer increase in difficulty.

However, I decided I was done without defeating the mazes. I had done everything the game had to offer, except that, and I didn't fancy doing all of it all over again just so that I might be able to defeat the mazes, and otherwise have to do it all over again AGAIN. There are six levels of Rebirth...

I enjoyed this game a lot more than I thought I would. The game has a cheeky sense of humour and it has a lot of references to pop culture.

Disenchantment S04

This season was really good. For the first half of it we were laughing pretty much every episode. Then about the halfway point came a couple episodes that were a bit too serious to suit the show. And then we were back to the fun stuff. The seasons ended on a cliffhanger so I really hope there are some more episodes coming. 

In this season we get to see the origins of both Elfo and Dreamland. Bean gets a new brother. Cloyd and Becky get what they deserve. Poor Satan is in way over his head. Steamland makes a surprising comeback. And Oona gets to save the day. Well... Sort of.

I've been around, part 2

I've been thinking a lot about travelling for the past few months. I miss it. A lot. Not travelling because you're not financially able versus not travelling because the world is closed, are two very different things. And before the pandemic hit I was finally getting to a place to be able to afford travelling on a more regular basis. The state of the world put a firm stop on that idea...

At the end of 2012 I made a post about all my previous travels, and I figured that now it's been nine years (and I'm unlikely to travel anywhere this year too so it will be ten years since that post) it's time to update it and add to it, because I have been to a few more places since I made that post.

2013: London. I returned with Toni. First time for him. Third time for me and this time with the purpose to visit the Harry Potter Studio Tour, which was a magical experience. We did a whole bunch of other things as well. 

2015: Murcia/Archena/Cartagena. For my mum's 50th my dad brought the whole family to Spain for a week. It's an area of Spain that he visits frequently due to having business contacts in the region, but for the rest of us it was the first time there. My favourite memory is probably the Roman remains in Cartagena. 

2016: Köln. My first time in this beautiful, brilliant city in Germany. My dad goes every year to one of the big fairs organized in the city and this year his business contact brought me along as a kind of interpreter to help with English and French. I even got to use some Japanese when I got some time to myself and headed off to explore the Asian sector of the fair. Seeing the cathedral in Köln never gets old.

2018 + 2019: Köln. Back again, but these two times as a guest of my dad's. I spent most of my time during these two visits to follow him around and offer some input here and there. An idea or two. Mostly I just enjoy tagging along to the fair because it's a lot of fun. After every successful day at the fair we and the other Swedes usually went out having beers (Kölsch!) and dinner and always at the same handful of places. 

2019: Edinburgh. Went back to Edinburgh with Toni. First time for him. Second time for me. It had been 11 years since my last visit and there was so much nostalgia involved for me. This time I did all the tourist-y stuff properly.

2020: Edinburgh. Went back as a sort of mini-getaway for myself after a stressful period at work. I had some paid vacation left over and figured why not. Met up with a friend and also followed in Rowling's footsteps and did some writing at the Elephant Café.

I also did go to Copenhagen with Toni back in 2012 on a day-trip, but I can't count that as travelling since I lived 30 minutes away from Copenhagen at the time. 

I miss travelling. I miss airplanes. Before covid hit we talked about Ireland as our next destination. Let's hope it won't be too long now until we get to travel around again :3

Locke & Key S02

When was it that we watched the first season? *scrolling**scrolling**scrolling* March 2020. Alrighty then.

Then it makes total sense why both of us were completely lost and confused through the first half of this season. Why was there no "Previously on..."?!?! It's been two years since the previous season - if any show deserves a "previously on" it's Locke & Key.

Anyway, halfway through we had recalled enough to lose most of the confusion. A lot of this season had us not knowing what was going on. Would Josh be a new bad guy? He definitely had some sus things going on. What was Gabe's end-goal? And omg could we get rid of Eden soon?

The introduction of the memory key was a welcome addition and having Duncan on the team was definitely a good thing. Every single episode after Duncan had his memories restored I kept waiting for the kids to use the key on Nina, because it was heart-breaking to me to watch her know that something was going on, but having no way to know what. So when Bode took the leap I was very happy. Can't wait to see how that turns out.

And I really hope Tyler changes his mind. Can't we just have the whole family know? Please?

Making the new villain a 18th century military officer who's already described as a terrible person, promises to make season 3 very interesting.

Squid Game & Alice in Borderland

Toni decided it was time for Squid Game once we finished Gotham. Everyone has been talking about Squid Game for a while now and as usual we're probably the last ones to the party. 

Squid Game seemed like an adult version of Hunger Games or Battle Royale, which makes sense in how it got so popular, seeing as all the fans who loved Hunger Games and Battle Royale are now adults and throwing themselves at the next similar thing that's also more mature than what they liked as teenagers. 

To me Squid Game was fun and exciting but also very predictable. Nothing really happened that I didn't see coming, less than halfway through the season the writers had pretty much established their formula and after that there were no more surprises. Sure, there were instances of "this would be logical/predictable to follow what happened here - will they do it that way or this way?" but whatever happened would always fit into one of two expected scenarios. 

Gi-hun has the strongest plot armour in the universe. Sae-byeok was my favourite character. Ali was exasperatingly trusting. Sang-woo was a calculating ass but I ended up wanting him to win. Deok-su and Mi-nyeo were so annoying we both actually cheered when they met their end. 

Squid Game was good. So good. But it would've been even better without some of the predictability. Maybe it's better this way? If Squid Game got even more popular it would've broken the Internet.

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After Squid Game I decided on Alice in Borderland. We had discovered this show way before Squid Game, but it was recommended as something to watch to fill the void of Squid Game for fans of that show. I didn't really have a void from Squid Game, but I figured now was the best time to watch Alice in Borderland. Fresh out of one slaughter show and in to another :P

Less than two episodes in and Alice in Borderland already appealed to me more than Squid Game. It was less predictable for one, and even if Arisu has some plot armour he actually does get hurt sometimes. 

The story of Alice in Borderland is a lot more open to possibility and it revolves around the characters' will to survive and to find out what happened. It creates a lot of mystery and the games are very intricate and fun. Fun in the sense that it's fun to try and solve them and figure them out before the characters. Especially that last game had both of us going off in completely separate directions only to discover that we were both wrong. 

Arisu is adorable and I can't not like him. Usagi is the strong, solitary type and I like how grounded she is in the midst of all the crazy. Chishiya is probably my favourite character, but Kuina gives him a run for his money. Niragi was unhinged, but I enjoyed watching him being unhinged. 

Nothing about Alice in Borderland is straight-forward and that makes it absolutely amazing in my book. Squid Game's popularity is making people discover Alice in Borderland and it's so well-deserved. This show is awesome.