[polishgenius]

I didn't read a lot of books by my standard this year- I finished 31, which is pretty rubbish especially when you consider I was on 10 by the end of February - but it was a pretty good one nonetheless. No books that blew my mind or totally obssessed me the way a Victoria Goddard or Ada Palmer had in previous years, but a lot of good stuff and some solid new series and authors to be getting on with it.


Best book I read all year: it's not always that the best book I read in a year came out that year, but this year it was probably Georgia Summers' The City of Stardust, so this year it did. It managed the rather impossible trick of being a whimsical, Valente/Morgenstein/that guy we don't talk about anymore-esque tale of magic, yearning, and mystical realms, and a page-turning espionage thriller. Really, really good.

Runner up: The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman is a post-Arthur Arthurian tale which does a lot and will probably stick with me for a while. Great balance of fable, legend, genuine political and cultural commentary, charm, character... don't be put off if you didn't enjoy the Magicians trilogy, it's not at all similar, far less acerbic. You do have to enjoy a diversion, though.

Best space thing: you can tell there was a high standard because I read books by both James SA Corey and Ann Leckie this year but the winner is neither: instead, The Red Scholar's Wake, by Alliette de Bodard, takes it. It's a piratey space adventure and a romance between a woman and her ship (who is also a woman, more or less), and it's rolicking good stuff.


Best book about mysterious events happening on a large, luxuriously outfitted, but isolated vehicle: if I had a Euro for every book that fit this category this year, I'd have two euros, but it's weird that it happened twice. I'm not going to pick an actual favourite, because both Voyage of the Damned by Frances White- a delightfully witty, plotty, twisty murder-mystery about magical heirs being murdered on their big yacht- and The Cautios Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks - imagine a journey on the Trans-Siberian express but Siberia is Area X from Vandermeer's novels and you're a good portion of the way there- are excellent.


Best new series: I'ma give another joint award here, between Elijah Kinch Spector's Kalyna books- of which two are out, I am cheating in that the first one came out last year but I read it in January so it sneaks in - and Rogba Payne's Dance of Shadows, which is the first book in an as-yet-unnamed series but I'm all in.


Best non-SFF book: trying to up my non-SFF reading, not doing that well, but I have become enamoured by the writing of James McBride- his brand of rambling yet insightful community tale really appeals to me, and Heaven and Earth Grocery Store hit the spot.


Best comic: the Warworld Saga, the Superman-vs-Mogul story by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, was superb, in my view an all-timer Superman story. The kind of big epic I love when Superman writers get it down, and he did here.

[Chance]

Last two years I have been reading less and even listening less than I'm used to just not been in the mood to try out as many decent but perhaps not brilliant books as I've been used to do so its been a lot of safe bets. 2024 has been more some quality reads reaching 37 books with only a couple of re-reads compared to the for me more normal numbers doubling that.

The brilliant The Sword Defiant, Lightbringer, Disquite Gods, Evil Empire, Breaking Hel, Deep Black,

The very good Rythm of War, Traitor of Readwinter, Innheritance of Magic, Art of Prophecy, Art of Destiny, The Sword Unbound, Suicide Kings, Angelina, The Weavers of Sarmyr, Hate Machine, Homecoming, Sabriel, Instruction in Shadow.

Best in class is probably Breaking Hel, Miles Cameron has been on fire since the Red Knight and his last trilogy is a step above the Traitor Son and Masters and Mages. He does not have the most beautiful prose but he is easily sailing up as my favorite currently productive author. I eagerly hope for even more crossover between his three current worlds in the next installment of what is obviously a well thought out shared universe.

Best new author: Probably Gareth Hanrahan whose The Sword Defiant is brilliant and its follow up The Sword Unbound being only somewhat less awesome.

Biggest Surprise: Probably Rythm of War I really disliked Oathbringer when it came out but Rythm of War gave me a new appreciation for the entire series and what Sanderson is doing. He may never become my favorite author but he is really good when he is good.

Biggest Surprise 2: Probably Lightbringer as with Oathbringer above I quite disliked how Dark Age worked out but Lightbringer is to me a perfect return to form and I eagerly anticipate the next installment.

Worst Books: Due to being a lot more picky recently I probably never read more than a chapter or two of anything that can be called bad all books where average or better and most where good

This post has been edited by Chance: 08 January 2025 - 03:08 PM

[Abyss]

Fun fact my peoples... this, 2025, is the TENTH year we've done the 'Best Reads of the Year' thing in this thread! S'true, go look at page one, the original post by Apt was made in Dec 2016.
HOW COOL IS THAT?

(I ack there's a whole decade of so of forum history before that, but that was another thread in another time and place and dimension and reality and what were we talking about oh right....)


TELL US OF THE
BESTIEST THINGS
YOU FED YOUR EYES
AND/OR EARS
AND/OR BRAINZEZ
THIS YEAR!

[Tiste Simeon]

Best was probably The Book That Held Her Heart which was a stunning end to the story.

Biggest surprise is how much I'm enjoying Stormlight Archive.

Best audiobook was probably The Devils or Stone & Sky.

Not got to No Life Forsaken yet (I think it's going to be a Christmas present)

[QuickTidal]

Best middle of the road, but still very enjoyable read: RISE OF THE RANGER by Philip Quaintrell

Best Re-read: THE FARTHEST SHORE by Ursula K. LeGuin

Best Welcome Surprise Random eBook sale purchase Read: THE GONE WORLD by Tom Sweterlisch

Best Classic Novel I'd never read before: THE ISLE OF GLASS by Judith Tarr

Best Foreign Translated Read: UNDER THE EYE OF THE BIG BIRD by Hiromi Kawakami

Best 80's Fantasy I'd seen a million times on the shelf and never read: COUNT ZERO by William Gibson

Best Comic series I read: I read no full series this year actually.

Best Book Everyone Else always raved about: RED RISING by Pierce Brown

Best new Setting Fantasy: THE DEVILS by Joe Abercrombie

[amphibian]

Best book I read this year: The Spear Cuts Through Water

Best action movie style jaunt through a story read: The Lost Cube by Phil Tucker

Most I laughed at anything on TV this year: the episode of Love on the Spectrum where Dani makes an animation about her boyfriend and her. I damn near peed my pants while I couldn't breathe after the whole sequence starting from the taco of success line ended.

Best movie I saw this year: Sinners, haven't seen One Battle After Another

Best follow on BlueSky: Jamelle Bouie

Best drink I had this year: a Ms Pineapple at Moon Rabbit in Washington DC

Best concert I went to: Tedeschi Trucks Band with Govt Mule supporting. Susan Tedeschi is a big time star and she + Trucks have assembled a stellar band.

Honorable mentions to the MurderBot series and James Cambias's Miranda Conspiracy.

[Abyss]

amphibian, on 05 December 2025 - 03:59 PM, said:

...
Best action movie style jaunt through a story read: The Lost Cube by Phil Tucker...

I think i need you to tell me more about this IMMORTAL GREAT SOULS thing Amphi?

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 05 December 2025 - 04:40 PM, said:

amphibian, on 05 December 2025 - 03:59 PM, said:

...
Best action movie style jaunt through a story read: The Lost Cube by Phil Tucker...

I think i need you to tell me more about this IMMORTAL GREAT SOULS thing Amphi?

The third book looks like it has a Succubus on the cover...this is not a complaint.

[Abyss]

k my turn... quite the diverse read set this year, from the simple/entertaining (ELI MONPRESS, 13TH PALADIN) to the sublimely complex (MACHINERIES OF EMPIRE). My numbers were consistent w the last few years, 36 books to date, mostly earbook, will probably fit in another 2-3 before year's end, plus a fair amount of audiodrama eartime and a small but glorious set of comics.

BEST OF THE BESTEST OF THE BESTESTIEST - With respectful Honorable Mentions to MACHINERIES OF EMPIRE for complexity and insanity, and ART OF LEGEND for sticking the end on a glorious trilogy, this comes down to two books, Abercrombie's THE DEVILS and Erikson's NO LIFE FORSAKEN. And i'm torn because Devils was massively entertaining but NLF was the Malazan fix i wanted and needed and also just a deeper read overall... as i write it out i think that last bit is what decides this for me, i enjoyed the hell (hee) out of DEVILS, but NLF was just a better read overall, it gave me the action and humor but also the brain buzz i want from a genuinely great book. Devils was a glorious steak. NLF was master class sushi. I loved both but i'll remember the sushi more.

BEST RETRO - i blame my read of Carol Berg's SONG OF THE BEAST late last year for sparking a 'need' in my readbrain from some olde schoole easy reading fun fantasy, which the five book LEGEND OF ELI MONPRESS absolutely delivered. Ffwd after some sf and grimdark, and then in July THE 13TH PALADIN, which has drawn me in beyond any expectation 11 books later, so that gets the prize. Great fun.

BEST PRITTY PICY - less comics reading overal this year, but the 1-2-3 of BEASTS OF BURDEN, then DIE, and finally SUPERGIRL: WOMAN OF TOMORROW... yeah, it was a good year. I give DIE the win for sheer mindfuckedness and originality, but any of those was a top tier read. FIREPOWER was fun too but not at the same level. Same could be said for the DEMON SLAYER manga.

BEST NEW WRITER: Yoon Ha Lee was a revelation to me. Tnx Forum!

BEST OLD FRIEND IT WAS NICE TO SEE AGAIN - a STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE book is always a treat, and say wharever the online haters will, i enjoyed WIND AND TRUTH overall. Rivers of London also came through with STONE AND SKY and MASQUERADES OF SPRING and i cannot deny it was a pleasure to be back w those characters. Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children bk 10 ADRIFT was a pretty glorious read. That said, the sheer random find of Ilona Andrews' SANCTUARY solo about death priest Roman was a treat, and gets this slot, not the least for giving a death priest a menagerie of nasty monsters and making them all the good guys in the story.

WORSE READ? - if i finished a book, it wasn't that bad, because while hate reads can sort of almost be fun, lifes too short for that. Even so, Mike Cole's Sacred Throne bk 2 QUEEN OF CROWS jumps out for the sheer archetypical by the numbers of it. Good enough, but not great.

SO MUCH DRAMA - in the audiodrama side of things MIDNIGHT BURGER / WELCOME TO THE HORIZON continued to blow me away monthly, DERELICT thrilled, but i have to ack the wild ride that was THE SILT VERSES. Creative, clever, deep (pun intended), as well written and executed as any book could hope to be. If this had been a novel literary people would have been losing their minds over it.


So, great year of reading. Looking fwd to what the next year has in store, notably new Dresden from Butcher, Amina bk 2 from Shannen Chakrabortay, Stross' conclusion to The Laundry, whatever Clines is up to w GOD'S JUNK DRAWER, and maybe just maybe a new Richard Morgan fantasy.


Thanks all of you for the chats and suggestions and nonsense, you complete me.



....except for those of you who are just clones i haven't harvested yet.

[amphibian]

Abyss, on 05 December 2025 - 04:40 PM, said:

amphibian, on 05 December 2025 - 03:59 PM, said:

...
Best action movie style jaunt through a story read: The Lost Cube by Phil Tucker...

I think i need you to tell me more about this IMMORTAL GREAT SOULS thing Amphi?

The basic story is that there's a bunch of half demon half people who get reincarnated a bunch while they're fighting for control of a hell like environment. Things are focused on a school environment at first, then open up to a much, much bigger world that at times feels rather clever and not a Dante's Inferno rip off at all.

[Abyss]

amphibian, on 05 December 2025 - 07:35 PM, said:

Abyss, on 05 December 2025 - 04:40 PM, said:

amphibian, on 05 December 2025 - 03:59 PM, said:

...
Best action movie style jaunt through a story read: The Lost Cube by Phil Tucker...

I think i need you to tell me more about this IMMORTAL GREAT SOULS thing Amphi?

The basic story is that there's a bunch of half demon half people who get reincarnated a bunch while they're fighting for control of a hell like environment. Things are focused on a school environment at first, then open up to a much, much bigger world that at times feels rather clever and not a Dante's Inferno rip off at all.

It is LitRPG or Progression?

[amphibian]

I think it's progression. There's a certain amount of stronger the main characters have to get in order to get out into the world and not die + figure out what's going on in the hells.

[JPK]

So far I'm at 97 for the year and aiming for 100. That'll leave me near my usual average but I've read some bricks this year, so I'm not gonna sweat it.

BEST OF THE YEAR: I'm going to have to concur with Abyss on this one and give it to NO LIFE FORSAKEN. This one just fired on all cylinders for me and gave me that sweet sweet Malazan fix that I needed.

BEST NON-FICTION: Panzram: A Journal of Murder. This one was a super interesting one about an awful individual named Carl Panzram that is half memoir told through his own words that was smuggled out of the penitentiary by the one prison guard he took a liking to and half insight and corroboration of his story by editors. While his crimes were fascinating enough on their own (guy broke into the home of an ex US President, stole a bunch of money, a gun, and a yacht, and proceeded to go on a murder spree), this one really fascinated me with it's insights into the US prison system back in the early 1900's and how the treatment (read torture) that Panzram was subjected to ended up making him much worse than he would have been on his own.

BESTEST THIS IS WAY BETTER THAN IT HAS ANY RIGHT TO BE: Dungeon Crawler Carl series. There is something about Carl and Donut's complete unwillingness to be broken and the completely batshit situations they find themselves in that just works for me. It's also the way the series evolves from these two just trying to survive to becoming a beacon of hope for the other crawlers while stoking the fires of galactic rebellion... I'll be rereading these in the future for sure.

BEST THAT I SHOULD HAVE READ A DECADE AGO: The Milkweed Tryptich. Super-nazis, warlocks, time travel, Eldritch horror. Just fantastic.

BEST OF THE CLASSICS - This one comes to a tie between A Tale of Two Cities and The Brothers Karamazov. Both of them were just excellent novels.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Best fantasy novel I've read this year (so far): Speaking Bones, Mirrored Heavens, or maybe The Book That Wouldn't Burn (I think that might have been my favorite of the trilogy, even though iirc in that one the author repeated a common misconception about the mathematics of infinity despite having a PhD in mathematics (he really could have done much better, and actually educated readers a little bit about infinity (and so on...))).

But I might still have time to get to---and through---No Life Forsaken (if a great book is ever really "finished" (or just forsaken?)) before the end of the year.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 06 December 2025 - 07:27 PM

[worry]

Best things I read this year:

• The Spear Cuts Through Water. A 10 out of 10 book for me. Still think about it frequently.
• No Life Forsaken. As I mentioned in Abyss's thread, this one didn't quite bring the waterworks like my favorite SE stories do -- which is kind of ironic, if you've read it -- but other than that I have to have to say I still loved every minute of it. I also re-read The God Is Not Willing, and love and appreciated it even more this time around. Another thing I said in Abyss's thread is that these books are gifts, and I mean it sincerely.
• James (by Percival Everett). I just finished this a couple days ago. The log-line for this one is that it's a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from Jim's perspective. It is that, kinda, but it's not only that. There are deviations from the original novel -- some quite significant, especially in the latter half -- and it doesn't try to mirror Twain's style or diction. In fact it has a pretty modern style, though not in any way that involves anachronisms within the story. I think it's also fair to say this isn't necessarily a corrective of Twain -- Everett has a brief lovely note about him in the Thank You section -- but it exists as an acknowledgement that there are places Twain (and Huck, a white child protagonist) wouldn't or couldn't go, as bold as it was for its time. Anyway, I thought it was pretty great.
• Dungeon Crawler Carl. I've read through book five, and so far the books get better with each volume. This isn't on the same tier as the above books, but it's highly enjoyable. It's action packed, very funny, and in between all the bloody good times, the themes can be surprisingly heady. I honestly never planned to read anything in the "lit RPG" genre, just has never been my interest, but I think Dinniman found the right formula to get me over my reservations. Or at least he handles it in a way that doesn't make me roll my eyes. In short, he's a good storyteller and this isn't amateur hour.
• Family Lore (by Elizabeth Acevedo). This is one of those contemporary lit novels where it's about an entire multi-generational family, there's like one big thing/event happening in present day, and then you get a lot of deep dives into everyone's histories. This is kind of like its own sub-genre, right? This one is about a Dominican-American family, and POVs include an older generation of I think 3-4 sisters who immigrated to the US, and then their daughters who are first-gen adults. There's some magical realism and each family member has a 'talent' of sorts. I guess you can think of Encanto, but these talents are much more mundane and less fantasy/cartoon-like, just bits of flavor in the story. Plot-wise: one of the elder gen sisters decides to throw herself a wake while she's still alive to attend it, and it naturally sets things off in the family. I thought the writing was strong, the characters were all nicely drawn, all their individual pieces were fascinating, the family dynamic was entertaining and moving, and it culminates into a pretty strong finale.

[Tsundoku]

I have enjoyed:
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Wesley Chu's War Arts trilogy (currently on book 3)
The Devils

I have a month's holiday coming up so and looking forward to Wind and Truth plus No Life Forsaken.
Although I need to get a e-book version of NLF as it's official - I prefer e-books now. So much easier on my eyes.
I've read so many more books in the last 2 years compared with the previous 8-10 simply because I don't get the godawful eyestrain headaches from reading dead tree versions any more.
Which is sad in a way as nothing compares to the feel of a book. But I'll also take no headaches any day. And before you ask, my glasses prescriptions are up to date, that's not it.
No, it's lighting, crappy fonts, bad page/type contrast etc etc etc, none of which do I suffer from on the Kobo.

[amphibian]

Getting a Kobo was a great decision. It really works well and I love the options of the physical button and touch screen.

[Tsundoku]

Yah, only problem is it's the one I borrowed from Lucifer's Heaven two years ago.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 07 December 2025 - 08:03 PM

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Overall favourite new read of the year would be To Kill a Mockingbird, which I'd just somehow never got round to. It broke my heart and I loved it.

Hot on its heels in the classics would be A Tale of Two Cities, my first Dickens and it was beautiful.

Best new book (by an author I'd already read): The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden. I loved her Bear and the Nightingale trilogy and I'd say Ghosts is even better. Very affecting in all the right ways.

Best new book by a new author (to me): Tress of the Emerald Sea. My first Sanderson and I suspect it won't be my last. What a lovely story.

Notable mention to Joe Abercrombie's The First Law books. I finally pushed past all my negative associations with Abercrombie to give The Blade Itself another go and I'm pleased I did. Sand dan Glokta is somehow one of both the best and worst characters I think I've ever read and I loved the dissonance so much.

Non-fiction: I audio-booked it but probably Ask a Historian by Gregg Jenner (he of the You're Dead to Me podcast). It's all questions sent in by the public about history grouped into chapters. Has a similar light and breezy comic tone to the podcast for the most past, but also doesn't shy away when questions provoke darker and sadder points (eg the question "Do you get fed up of the "Atlantis was built by aliens theory" launches a deep dive into the deeply rooted racism behind that theory).

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 08 December 2025 - 10:22 AM

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 05 December 2025 - 07:43 PM, said:

amphibian, on 05 December 2025 - 07:35 PM, said:

Abyss, on 05 December 2025 - 04:40 PM, said:

amphibian, on 05 December 2025 - 03:59 PM, said:

...
Best action movie style jaunt through a story read: The Lost Cube by Phil Tucker...

I think i need you to tell me more about this IMMORTAL GREAT SOULS thing Amphi?

The basic story is that there's a bunch of half demon half people who get reincarnated a bunch while they're fighting for control of a hell like environment. Things are focused on a school environment at first, then open up to a much, much bigger world that at times feels rather clever and not a Dante's Inferno rip off at all.

It is LitRPG or Progression?

amphibian, on 06 December 2025 - 01:21 PM, said:

I think it's progression. There's a certain amount of stronger the main characters have to get in order to get out into the world and not die + figure out what's going on in the hells.

is any time spent on 'stats', characters looking at conveniently located magic/virtual/wrist screens and monologuing how powerful they are or aren't?