Books - 2025 review
I read a lot of books this year. Probably more than any year of my life? I was really sick and also really home bound.
We also got our library cards working with the Kobo sync which meant I had a constant inflow of new books for free. Honestly, feels fake, I have never read so many library books, not even when I worked at a library, what a deal.
Downside to reading a lot of whatever would be at the library is that a lot of it was pretty mid. While I read 50 books it was actually pretty easy to choose my top 3 because there wasn’t many contenders. Not sure if I’m getting more picky or that I’ve just read some really good stuff over the years and now have a really high bar.
I suspect I’ll still read a few more books this year but I think I’ll just include anything after I push this as a next year contender.
My top 3 of 2025
I often struggle to choose a top 3, but I started doing it so that I could just write reviews for 3 books instead of all the books I read. I had a slow start to this year where I didn’t super love most of the books I read. There were lots of medium and passable books but I’m always hoping to find something that really grabs me and has me reading for 8 hours straight. I can confidently say that this years top 3 were all intriguing right from the start.
Asunder by Kerstin Hall
I don’t even remember how I learned about this book. Someone described it as Abhorsen-like and that was enough for me to take a chance on it. It starts dark and haunted, a little gruesome. The world gets weird quickly, and then continues to get weirder. Demons are real, gods are real, the transport system is spiders? And the main character accidentally fused her soul with that of a stranger. A good deed gone horribly wrong.
This felt refreshingly weird, poetically tragic, and yet the main character keeps pushing on. I really really want the book to get a sequel but by the sounds of the author’s BlueSky account she doesn’t have a publisher for a sequel yet so it could be many years D:
However I don’t feel like it ends on a cliffhanger. Sure some things aren’t resolved but it’s a good pause point where you can be content with what was accomplished so there’s a good chance I’ll be pushing for more people to read the book in hopes that it gets popular enough to get us a sequel.
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
Another new to me author whose book started coming up on recommended reads lists. I was intrigued by the title alone and again was hooked within the first few pages.
A young girl is exiled due to the crimes of her father. Her brother benefits. A scribe rises in position for signing the papers. A ruler continues to rule. Then we jump a decade or so, and it’s time to find a new ruler.
The “political” system was one of the things I found most interesting about this book. I’m always intrigued by books exploring different ways of running countries. Mostly because I’m tired of monarchy stories which are near inescapable in fantasy settings. In Raven Scholar, the ruler is chosen by a competition where a representative of each god gets to compete. They get to rule for a set amount of time before the competition is held and a new ruler, along with new values, takes the chair.
The story takes place during this competition to see who next will run the empire. But also a murder has happened. And oh no, the act of exiling an innocent girl is coming back to haunt multiple people.
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer
The Wall is a dark horse winner in this very important Kylie book race. I read it because my wife wanted me too. I wasn’t super intrigued by the general description of it but she liked it so much I gave it a shot.
A woman needs to survive in an old hunting cabin alone after the world beyond is cut off by an invisible wall around the forest while also seeming to have frozen in place. She sets to work at preparing to live in this cabin for as long as she can. Looking for food, preparing to farm, reclaiming what she can. It feels like a straightforward survival story but there is a constant sinister undercurrent. It doesn’t get weirder, it doesn’t get super dark, it just really captures the tense nature of constantly working to survive.
It was a book that was shockingly gripping. When you talk about it it doesn’t sound gripping but the writing is so good that I couldn’t put it down. I needed to know what happened to this woman and her makeshift farm.
The truly magical part of the book is it’s timelessness. I had thought it was written in the last 10 years or so but the book was written in 1963. But there are moments where the main character is reflecting on life in the world before the the invisible wall appeared that feel completely relatable to a 2020 mindset. Which makes it a little sad to know that what women were struggling with 60 years ago hasn’t changed that much...
Highlights per theme
I wanted to write about all the dragon books I’ve been reading but I felt like there were some other patterns I noticed in my books for the year that deserved a highlight as well. But we’ll start with dragons.
I like having a theme for a year. I feel like last year or the year before was kind of mermaid-y, one year was “finish all the series I started”. This year I made the effort to get through all the books about dragons on my ‘want to read’ list. So I’ve been having a lot of thoughts about dragon stories.
Dragons were one of my early obsessions as a kids, as they are for lots of kids. Before I was old enough to learn about the Pern books there were a few others for younger readers that really stuck with me. Like the one where a kid had to carve out the insides of a dragon and crawl inside to survive a cold night. Or Dragon Milk, where people with green eyes can talk with dragons (making me always want green eyes).
I was basically buying any book that had the word dragon in the title.
It felt like dragons as a theme kind of dropped off for a while and I suspect that we’re in a new trendy dragon period because of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. I don’t think House of the Dragon has been super well received? Even with my love of dragons I haven’t watched a single episodes because of how much I disliked the later seasons of Game of Thrones. But! I am grateful, what a rich, new, smorgasbord of dragon fiction now exists!
One of my first books of the year was To Shape A Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose. This is a book that young Kylie would have been obsessed with. It gave me fond nostalgic dragon feelings. It’s great to see dragon books breaking out from the white fantasy history as well. Really hoping we get more books in the series. Dragonfuirt by Makiia Lucier is another one that brings a less explored cultural background to dragon books. There are dragons in so many different cultural mythologies but the popular dragons narratives are still very dragons = power = some sort of military-esque structure around them. To Shape A Dragon’s Breath explores trying to navigate that space as an Indigenous teen who doesn’t want to be a part of the military complex system. Dragonfruit on the other hand has dragons in the world who are free. Dragonfruit is pulling from Pacific Islander mythology and it was so cool to have a story with dragons in a tropical landscape.
One of the things that kicked off my want to read dragon books this year was the popularity of Forth Wing. Or well, more specifically the news that Rebecca Yarros’s Onyx Storm Sold 2.7 million copies in a week, making it the fastest-selling adult novel in the past 20 years. What could possibly make a dragon romance series so popular? I had to know!
I feel like I do now know but it’s going to sound kind of insulting. But know that I’m saying this after absolutely devouring these books because I was hooked.
But basically these books are very fast paced, very horny, very violent, but also all at a YA reading level. Maybe even young teen more than young adult? The language is modern and it stands out as not fitting the world at all but it means that it’s very relatable to the “new adult” demographic. There are times when it was hard to take the writing seriously when the main character goes “he’s so toxic but I love him.”. There sentences and paragraphs are short, you won’t encounter any words you don’t know.
It’s also very Hunger Games in that characters die constantly and so many people are keeping secrets. So I feel like it’s really the combo of simple writing, highrisk life and death situations, a reveal or cliffhanger at the end of every chapter, and chapter long explicit sex scenes that seem to be what millions of people want.
What I really liked the judge-y dragons and that there are also griffins but they don’t get much screen time.
Now if you want a serious dragon series, then Roots of Chaos series by Samantha Shannon is very good. The first book, Priory of the Orange Tree, came out years ago and I read it because it’s gay. I didn’t love it. I hesitated to read any more in the series but then I was talking with a coworker and she really liked them so I took the new ones out from the library. I loved A Day of Fallen Night, book #0.1. I spent 24 hours reading the book and I was so sad when it was done and I couldn’t spend more time in the world. So I bought book #0.5, which felt like a novella by comparison to the beast of A Day of Fallen Night. Given how strongly I felt about these two I re-read Priory of the Orange Tree and liked it a lot more this time around. It’s almost a shame that they didn’t come out in chronological order because I felt like A Day of Fallen Night introduced the world much better and made me feel more invested in the characters.
Samantha Shannon’s previous series has something like 7 books in it so I’m kind of hoping for more Root of Chaos now, but I’m not sure what she’d do with the world as a lot of mysterious are wrapped up in Priory. It feels cursed to say it but I also feel like Roots of Chaos would make a great television series.
I read a few other dragon books but I either didn’t love them enough to include them in this breakdown or I didn’t feel like they were bringing anything fresh to the genre. But I have been trying to read as many as I can find that came out in the last few years. I’ve now been thinking a lot about the origin of the bonded dragon + dragonrider narrative. Where did this come from? Is it just from the Pern books, did they do dragon mental bonds first? It’s just such a common part of dragon stories, near expected staple. I really want to know who did it first.
I now have an idea for a dragon story that plays with that trope but I think it would just be a short story as I don’t know what to do with it after the twist.
Huge interesting worlds
Another theme I noticed in a lot of the books I read this year is that there is some big worldbuilding projects going on out there right now. Yes authors are always worldbuilding, but this year I felt like I read books set in worlds that felt unique again, or at least strange, or weird. I dunno, maybe it’s because I’ve spent so much time indoors because of my health but getting to learn about strange new places was really doing it for me.
The Tainted Cup and it’s sequel have been getting a lot of attention. It’s kind of like Pacific Rim but Old Timey, no mechas but yes huge creatures from the abyss who want to destroy all. They’re more of a lurking background threat during a dangerous multiple murders investigation. The Goblin Emperor had an interesting world but it’s already slipping from my memory. Young kid accidentally becomes emperor, had never been preparing for it, leads to politics and another murder investigation. Maybe another theme of this year was murder investigations... Blacktongue Thief, while feeling very “I am an edgy man, watch me write gross/gruesome stuff” was still an interesting world of ancient witches, murder crows stored in tattoos, and fucked up magic. It felt heavily inspired by classic D&D tropes and settings, but… darker. Heavenly Tyrant, the squeal to Iron Widow, kind of just continues blows the world wide open with it’s tech-fill ancient China setting. I guess what’s really nice about some of these worlds is that aside from Blacktongue Thief they didn’t feel like worlds inspired by D&D. Which I feel like peaked and took over and now I hope we’re going to see more unique stuff.
Conclusion
It was a good year of reading. The library system was very kind to me, but it’s also a cruel ruler. I often felt rushed to finish books to return them so that all the other people could get to the book faster. But it kept me motivated, instead of buying a new book and forgetting about it I just basically never stopped reading. I think I’ve made a large dent in what the library has to offer and what I want to read though, so I suspect 2026 won’t be as much of a treadmill.
I do have a collection of physical books I want to get to, reading on a Kobo is just so convenient. We only have one lamp to read next to which makes it difficult to read in the evening. Also know I’ll get a bunch of water drops on a physical book if I read them in the bath.
I don’t think I have a clear book theme for next year. The library is just going to be random whatever becomes available, while my physical collection is just a lot of random things that interest me. I read a lot of new stuff this year that doesn’t have sequels yet so I don’t think there are many series available for me to catch up on. Maybe check out some of the authors I found this year and see what else they’ve written.
Below is my full list of books with a one line summary and my point score. If anyone has any dragon related books to recommend please tell me about them as that’s an evergreen subject for me.
All of them
| Book | Thoughts | Rating (out of 3) |
|---|---|---|
| To Shape A Dragons Breath | Teenage Kylie would have absolutely loved this. | 3 |
| A Half-Built Garden | This was trying to be something pretty unique but it really wasn’t working for me. | 1 |
| A Prayer for the Crown Shy | Not as good as the first one but still a nice time. | 1 |
| The Girl From the Other Side vol 1 & 2 | Weird, mysterious, beautiful. | 3 |
| Comfort me with Apples | A classic Valente story. | 2 |
| Wilder Girls | Yellow Jackets meets Area X (Annihilation) | 1 |
| The Raven Tower | Very good but I didn't love the storytelling style (switching POVs, etc.) | 3 |
| The Surviving Sky | Very unique setting but I kind of couldn’t stand the main characters. | 1 |
| Orbital | I understand why it won a lot of award. Very pretty. | 3 |
| Someone you can build a nest in | This one won a lot of awards but it was just kind of mid to me. | 2 |
| In Acension | I liked this, a very human scifi story. | 2 |
| Wicked | It’s probably been 10 years at least since I last reread Wicked. I still like it. | 3 |
| Heavenly Tyrant | So much happens in these books. Nice to be consistently surprised. | 2 |
| A Dark and Drowning Tide | This is one that sounds perfect for me on paper but it felt a little all over the place. | 1 |
| Convenience Store Woman | An absolute banger. The queerest book I read this year. | 3 |
| Elphie | I understand Gregory Maguire can just write Wicked books forever now. I don’t blame him. | 1 |
| A Language of Dragons | Dragons + Bletchley Park | 2 |
| The Goblin Emperor | I can’t remember why I gave this a 3. I don’t remember much of the book but I guess I liked it! | 3 |
| Messy Roots | 2 | |
| Rose/House | AI runs a house, it doesn’t like people, but oh no there is a dead body inside. | 2 |
| Sunrise on the Reaping | How many times can Susan Collins write a Hunger Games book using the same structure? | 1 |
| Asunder | I was hooked within the first like 10 pages. The comparison to Abhorsen is apt. | 3 |
| A Sorceress Comes to Call | Very forgettable but an okay time. | 2 |
| This is how you lose the time war | Re-read. It’s nice and all but I | 2 |
| Delicious in Dungeon (all volumes) | Extremely good, if you like the show at all you’ll like the books. | 3 |
| Strange Practice | Sadly forgettable, fantasy creatures living in modern London, but there’s evil about. | 2 |
| Blacktongue Thief | Enjoy the worldbuilding and the story but the writing was a little much. | 2 |
| Tainted Cup | Liked this a lot. I think I’ll probably read any book that’s described as “a little bit Pacific Rim” | 3 |
| Dragonfruit | Fun adventure of chasing dragons around the sea. | 2 |
| Digging for Heaven | Dragons and gays but I still found it a little mid. | 2 |
| The Wall | Woman forced to live on her own in a cabin after being cut off from the rest of the world. Slow but also one of the most gripping things I read all year. | 3 |
| Fourth Wing | War dragon school but oops the hot one wants me dead. | 2 |
| Iron Flame | The hot one who wants me dead is actual my true love. | 2 |
| Onyx Storm | The hot one who wants me dead has a lot of feeligns. | 2 |
| The Raven Scholar | Raven god! Fox god! Murder mystery! | 3 |
| Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil | Vampires across 500 years. People seem to be loving it but not for me. | 1 |
| The Fall That Saved Us | I guess I didn’t realize this was a romance when I started reading it. Was hoping for more story but it was a pretty straight forward “I will do anything for you person I just met”. | 1 |
| Into the Riverlands | Very good. | 3 |
| Mammoths at the Gates | The Cleric Chih books are all very good. | 3 |
| The Brides of High Hill | You can just keep reading Cleric Chih books. | 3 |
| Tusks of Extinction | Ray Nayler continues to explore stories about nature and tech. Not as good as The Mountain in the Sea but still good. | 2 |
| When Among Crows | Really wanted to like this one but I’m afraid I’ll forget about it within a few months. | 1 |
| A Day of Fallen Night | World sweeping fantasy of conflicting beliefs, an ancient evil rises. | 3 |
| Among the Burning Flowers | This book establishes what happenes right before Priory of the Orange Tree. The main storyline is good by the supporting cast isn't as strong. | 2 |
| Nettle and Bone | This had some really interesting moments/ideas but the overall | 2 |
| Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow | GoodReads readers, please get it together. This book was suffering. | 1 |
| Under the Eyes of Big bird | So weird, so interesting, not sure I could even explain it well. | 3 |
| Spread Me | I didn’t read the description about this one. More sexy than I expected. Erotic body horror? Solidly scifi creepy tho. | 1 |
| Priory of the Orange Tree | The ancient evil of the world is rising once again, gotta stop the evil dragon by working with other dragons. | 2 |
| The Starless Crown | There are some writing choices in this one I hate and for some reason I just struggled to read it. I'd often find my thoughts drifting on most pages but I liked the central plot so kept going. | 2 |
Some stats
I made the switch away from GoodReads a year or two ago and struggled to keep my StoryGraph account up to date because I don’t love the mobile version. So it’s missing a few things but it’s still nice to look at.
You can clearly see when I started to add my backlog of books into StoryGraph...
Now the Libby graph is pretty accurate. With the stipulation that my wife and I share an account and I don’t read all the books that are checked out. I am impressed by the fact that it looks like there was no point in the whole year where we didn’t have at least 1 book checked out.
