This first annual in the recent crossover Star Trek comic series adds even more crossover to the mix, with a holographic mishap that leads the crew of the USS Theseus to encounter characters and ships from almost every corner of the Star Trek universe. A really fun book that revels in being packed full of easter eggs; this pleasing integrates elements of newer Star Trek series with old, making them feel like they’ve always been a part of the wider universe. Along the way it lets us get to know the new cast from the comic better, with especially delightful moments for the Andorian Lily and her ancestor Hoshi Sato. Check out my full review on my book review blog.

A pop-up comic! A pop-up Star Wars comic even. Those facts alone make this a delightful book to me, and it was actually a pretty good little story too. Set after The Empire Strikes Back, this book follows Boba Fett as he faces various obstacles while trying to deliver Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt. The pop-ups bring all the problems Fett faces to life, with clever design that doesn’t just feel a novelty, but actually enhances the storytelling. A very pleasing fusion of comic book and pop-up book formats! Check out my full review on my book review blog.

This five-issue comics miniseries looks at the social implications of current technology and media, reframing reality as sci-fi and fantasy fables. While a little repetitive thematically, the artwork and storytelling style offered a lot of variety from issue to issue. My favourites of the five included framing the pervasiveness of screen technology as an alien invasion, and a story that shows the modern world as the day-dreams of ancient people. Otherwise a bit hit and miss, and rather preachy, but pleasingly thought-provoking and observant. Check out my full review on my book review blog.

This excellent book, by Victoria Bateman, examines the imposition of modesty upon women. Looking at contemporary and historical examples in many different cultures and contexts, it reveals how modesty keeps being used as a tool to control women, and lays out the dangers of the myriad forms of oppression that results in. From the most harrowing abuses of women, through to social and economic inequalities, and slut shaming, it explores in careful detail how the culture of modesty does nothing but disadvantage and harm women and society at large. A must read. Check out my full review on my book review blog.

This cracking book by Una McCormack fills in the missing year from Discovery's season three time-jump, when Michael Burnham arrived in the 32nd century a year before the USS Discovery and crew. It does a great job filling in the events of Burnham's year of learning, as well as the backstory of the fall of the Federation. It also lets us get to know Book and Sahil really well, and most importantly shows us how Burnham became the more chilled version of herself of later Discovery seasons. A must-read for fans of the series! Check out my full review on my book review blog.

This second story arc in the Yoda maxiseries sees Yoda encouraging a younger Dooku to take some time to join him in teaching padawans. Together they navigate the difficulties arising out of one of the students having a negative vision of the future, with each of the Jedi masters taking a different interpretation and offering different guidance to the students. A solid and enjoyable story in a little-explored era of Star Wars, which felt like it built nicely on the characters and the mythology. Check out my full review on my book review blog. 

This five-issue run of comics sees the continuation of Darth Vader’s interactions with Padmé’s old handmaidens; in particular Sabé, who seeks to redeem him, and in doing so gets sucked into his darkness, even being vetted by the Emperor. Other Clone Wars era elements play into the story which is fun, as is much of the sneaking and conspiring Sabé and the other handmaidens undertake to go about their missions. But the whole setup of them interacting with Vader isn’t among my favourite plots, and so while it’s a good enough story, it’s not one I was hugely into. Check out my full review on my book review blog.

This ten-issue run of my favourite Star Wars comic series featuring my favourite Star Wars character delivered in so many ways! Two things defined the arc; the relationship between Aphra and the Spark Eternal that inhabits her body; and the efforts of all her friends and former lovers to try and rescue her. Both delivered emotional impact, some great character development, fun expansion of the ancient Star Wars world, and some spectacular, and sometimes pretty wild, visuals. Among the best story arcs in a series that is always great! Check out my full review on my book review blog.

A completely charming manga about everyday life in a struggling Japanese dinosaur sanctuary (in a world where dinosaurs have become commonplace attractions). The book features beautiful renderings of dinosaurs, and both the images and story draw from real dinosaur science to bring the animals to life so vividly. Refreshingly not depicting them as monsters, but real living beings with individual personalities and histories, this is such a joyful view of life working with and adoring dinosaurs. It's also wonderfully atmospheric, making you feel like you're right there in this quiet little dinosaur haven. One of my favourite books for some time. Check out my full review on my book review blog.

This first six-issue arc kicks off a new Star Trek crossover comic series, and the start of a wider effort to build a bigger world of Star Trek comics. With such big ambitions, the story features no less than an attempt to kill off all the “gods” of the Star Trek universe. What consistories a god in the story is a little odd in my view, but basically various forms of super-aliens. This allows for some interesting exploration of unusual aliens and ancient history in the Star Trek universe. Lots of familiar and new characters join us on an intriguing new ship, and the series consistently delivers clever ways to tie characters together and pleasing Star Trek problem-solving. A solid and enjoyable start to a bigger story to come. Check out my full review on my book review blog.

This eight-part comic series is gloriously imaginative and visually playful, telling the story of what happens when every person on Earth gets a personal genie with one wish. Each issue covers a longer span of time, from the chaotic wishes of whim in the first eight minutes of issue one, to a world changed utterly by the final eight centuries in the last chapter. While full of outrageous ideas and imagery, intriguing rules of magic, and sometimes mischievous genies, what really ties the whole series together is the love of the three groups of characters that drives their journeys through the changing and chaotic world. A really clever, witty, and engrossing series from start to finish. Check out my full review on my book review blog.

This short story collection features very short stories previously published in the Star Trek Explorer magazine, spanning many corners of the Star Trek universe. Some nice illustrations along with a great variety of neat little stories from some top Trek authors makes this a nice collection of fiction snacks! Check out my full review on my book review blog.

This charming picture book is about a child finding their own style and freedom of expression, helped along by a wonderfully positive and supporting family. The whole book is a brilliant role model for positivity in finding your own way to be you, and a nice bit of deconstruction of gender norms and expectations. The main character's journey can be an allegory for many different ways people find themselves, and indeed one I found quite relatable! Check out my full review on my book review blog.

The final chapter in a trilogy of Star Wars comic miniseries and crossover events, this was a big bombastic tale of conspiracy, peppered with melancholy for the inevitable failure to defeat the Sith prior to the events of Return of the Jedi. While this is built upon a lot of prior crossovers, a neat framing story makes it work well as a standalone too, and recontextualises the story as more of a win for the heroes than they might perceive. Lots of Emperor action in full Sith mode made this particularly fun to read and see on the page. Check out my full review on my book review blog.

This four-issue arc saw our Rebel heroes trapped for a little while in a pocket dimension. A fun little side-quest which I enjoyed more than I anticipated, thanks to the quirky adventure, humour, some fun visuals and good action, and most of all, great character moments and development for Lando, Holdo, and Luke.  Check out my full review on my book review blog.

The first comics series based on Star Trek's newest TV series, Strange New Worlds. This is a follow-up to the first season cliff-hanger ending, this four-issue series gave us some nice world-building backstory that revealed a lot about the enigmatic Illyrian species, as well as the well-known Vulcans. Spock and Captain Pike enjoy time in the focus, but all the main characters get some input into a story that lived the energy and character of the TV series. An enjoyable entry that did a good job expanding the Star Trek universe while bridging the two TV seasons. Check out my full review on my book review blog.

A one-shot comic, the titular A.R.C. is the Animal Rights Collective, a group of anti-poaching vigilantes. Set in southern Africa in a tale spanning multiple nations, the scope of this story feels bigger than this single issue could contain. But it still managed to champion protecting the natural world, and shines a spotlight on the very real brutality of the trade in exotic animal parts, including a nuanced look at who the victims are in that trade, highlighting things like child soldiers and poverty that drives people to desperate and terrible acts. A lot of those terrible acts are depicted in what is a much more violent comic than my usual tastes. But I did enjoy someone using this format of storytelling to highlight a real issue, and having the motivation in-story for characters to actually care about protecting nature in a way we normally only see in heroic acts to save people and nations. Check out my full review on my book review blog.

The first story-arc in the Yoda comic maxiseries. In which Yoda visits a tropical paradise to stop warring neighbours warring, and takes his sweet time about it! The theme of this arc is trust and patience, and Yoda certainly does his best to test both qualities, by staying on the planet for several years, and then not returning for several decades. This reveals maybe the other message of the story; that Yoda’s determination to make everything a teaching moment, while ultimately playing out for the better here, maybe could averted decades of strife if he’s been a bit more direct! A potentially interesting environmental element to the story seems just barely touched upon, something I’d have enjoyed more of. An interesting enough if not super-satisfying start to the series. Check out my full review on my book review blog.

A curious dystopia by one of the pioneers of sci-fi, H.G. Wells. Full of intriguingly remarkable foresight at how the future might play out, including highly prescient ideas on urbanism, energy, transport, inequalities and the systems of exploitation that go with them. A book full of vision and commentary that applies equally for its Victorian origins, the world of today, and the future it envisions. An engaging read, sadly let down by an uncomfortable climax built on notions on race that haven't stood the test of time. Check out my full review on my book review blog.

This collection of short stories are all set around the events of the original Star Wars movie, A New Hope. Forty stories in all, some told in quite quirky ways, expand on the events of the film, or merely see them play out in the background of other goings-on. For my part, I found the stories that featured familiar Star Wars characters that weren't A New Hope fun, not least of all my very favourite Star Wars character Doctor Aphra (from the comics). Exploring what it means to become one with the force (ie a force ghost) gave some great new insight into how the Star Wars universe works. While most movingly two tragic stories of motherhood really added some emotional weight to the collection. Built on obvious nostalgia for a much-loved film, this book delivered a very satisfying new layer to a story many of us know so very well. Check out my full review on my book review blog.

This political and cultural history by Maya Goodfellow outlines the UK’s attitude and policy in regard to immigration. It does so via numerous case studies of decades of increasingly cruel immigration policies, and demonstrates how the current hateful Conservative government politics are built on the back of numerous governments reaching to immigration as a political weapon. Something they are able to do thanks to our failure as a nation to understand the reality of race and immigration or our colonial history. A great overview of the history, politics and cultural background of the subject. Check out my full review on my book review blog.

The first book I finished in 2023 was the final book in the Star Trek: Coda trilogy, Oblivion's Gate, by David Mack. This was an insanely huge Star Trek crossover that served as the finale for two-decades of Star Trek novels stories, which were shunted into an alternate timeline thanks to the newest Star Trek TV series establishing a new "prime" timeline. As the end of a whole bunch of long-running interconnected series it was a sorrowful farewell, especially as it was such a conclusive end to that particular narrative. But it also had some really exciting highs, including being a sequel of sorts to my favourite Star Trek movie, First Contact, and returning to the novel's rather utopian version of the mirror universe. Check out my full review on my book review blog.