It was not easy to narrow down from 70+, but here are my 15 favourite reads of 2025. Most of them are #CanLit - 3 of them by Emma Hooper! Still think Tiger should have won the #Gillerprize Had a hard time choosing which Zadie Smith book to include. #booksky #books #booksread2025 #booksread

Hardcover copy of The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones, standing face out on a bookshelf with an animal skull with a unicorn horn sitting next to it.

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#90
My final book of the year and it was a great one!
A slow burn story with big payoffs by the end, @sgj.bsky.social weaves a compelling tale here of revenge, Native American traditions, and some truly horrifying situations and absolute craziness. I loved it!

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101: Deadwood, by Peter Cozzens.
Fascinating insight into the town of Deadwood, lurching from the death of Wild Bill Hickock, the ongoings of Calamity Jane, the gold rush, the Lakota attacks, the fire and touching on the real Al Swearingen. Highly recommend this as a read.

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100: V For Vendetta, by Alan Moore and David Lloyd.
Enjoyed this, but I do prefer the film personally. It probably does come down to watching it first and being used to that version of the story. A good read nonetheless.

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99: Brigands and Breadknives, by Travis Baldree
Enjoyable, though I don’t think as good as Legends and Lattes. Fern and Astryx are decent, but Zyll is the real star here, and she’s more a background event rather than the focus. Would have preferred more time on her and backstory.

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#88

My favorite book about Christmas and the holiday season that isn’t actually about Christmas. A book that perfectly defines human belief and the lost magic of childhood. A top 5 #Discworld book that I try to reread every December. 💀 Ho, Ho, Ho!

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98: The Return Of Moriarty, by Jack Anderson.
Slow start, but did improve and made for a good read. Did it feel like Moriarty? Not entirely convinced. Still, decent enough for all that, with Clara a fair narrator.

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97: Katabasis, by RF Kuang.
Not a patch on Yellowface in my opinion. It’s an okay read, but Alice and Peter have to play out that frustrating “won’t explain things to each other” and the flashbacks lack of linearliness is irritating. Plus it feels like a lot of “in-jokes”.

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96: Hemlock and Silver, by T Kingfisher.
Good read this. Even if the characters were a bit daft at times.

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95: Aim To Misbehave, by Rosiee Thor.
Firefly novelisation. Enjoyed spending time with the crew again, and get a bit of Book’s backstory.

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94: Actually, I’m a Murderer, by Terry Deary.
Severe dislike. Started well, caught the interest with the intros in train. But went downhill fast. The style didn’t work for me. The 50 yrs gap between when it happened and when it was told felt unneeded. And the characters…meh.

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93: Murder Most Haunted, by Emma Mason.
Another murder mystery. Also not a fan.

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92: Miss Winter In The Library With A Knife, by Martin Edwards.
Murder mystery. Not a fan. And the twist just seemed odd. Would have preferred a simpler murder mystery rather than this.

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91: The Eye Of The Bedlam Bride, by Matt Dinniman.
Hmm…felt like this tailed off from previous books. It feels overly complex and trying to do far too much. Feels like it needs a glossary to refer to as to what is going on and who everyone is.

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#87

The Poppy War Trilogy is complete.
R.F. Kuang sure doesn’t hold back in showing all the consequences and devastation waiting at the end of an epic fantasy heroes journey. Harsh, ugly, and honest with who her characters are. This book ended in the only way it could- in blood.

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#86
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Still not sure if I would love these books even half as much without Jeff Hayes’ greatest of all time narration, but who really cares, because I’m having the time of my life reading this hilariously unhinged, action packed splatter-fest of a series. Bring on the fifth floor!

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89&90: The Gate of The Feral Gods and The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinniman.
Next two books in the DCC universe.
Some interesting sections here, but does seem to be losing more and more context as the story progresses, with various action or dialogue sequences a bit impenetrable.

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#85
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My kind of weird! Insanely inventive and trippy as hell. The page layouts are spectacular, and the creativity exhibited throughout is on a whole other level. Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez really craft something special here!

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88: All That We See Or Seem, by Ken Liu.
Not sure about this one. The search for Elli was a bit of a damp squib with how that finished. And the story after that felt a bit like an addon rather than a natural progression for the story.

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87: The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman.
3rd book in Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Nice enough read. I am struggling to keep up with elements introduced in previous book, which is difficulty of having a gap between reading them, but story still fun.

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#84
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jamie Delano writing Hellblazer has always been hit or miss for me, and this 2nd collection was a prime example. The 1st half rocked, with the Newcastle backstory and the Nergal stuff, but the Souls arc and The Horrorist just didn’t work for me.

#booksky
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#83

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Never read anything like it, and probably never will again. So many layers. So many interpretations.
Rabbit hole after rabbit hole. This book will fuck with your mind and consume your thoughts. A true classic.

#booksky
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86: The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman.
Next in Thursday Murder Club series. The lack of peril remains for this series, and it just doesn’t hold the attention as such anymore. And with the cast of characters continuing to grow the focus feels spread a little thin.

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85: Alchemised, by SenLinYu.
It’s about 600 pages too long. The romance is not romantic, and had more red flags than a grand prix at Monza. It’s about possessiveness, domination and obsession, not love. And I really could have done with an explainer on the background of

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#82

R.F. Kuang invokes some great atmospheric dread here (you just know this isn’t going to end well), but this definitely would have benefited from a bit more fleshing out of the characters and a lot more page length. Still enjoyed it though.

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#81

Terrifying in how close this hits to home right now. Set in the near future, imagine the people in charge of the US right now, and the billionaires and racists who exist in their orbit, armed with time travel technology. Now imagine how they would use this tech.

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#80

A Douglas Adams book I just recently became aware of. Part travelogue, part love letter to the unsung heroes working very hard to keep a lot of awesome creatures from extinction. Funny, informative, entertaining, and heartbreaking. The dodo chapter made we want to cry. 😢

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#79

I love Carl and Donut so much, and will follow them to the end! Fantastic sequel! Hilarious and surprisingly poignant, this series is a blast, and Jeff Hays’ audio narration is absolutely bonkers. Definitely in this to the end.

#booksky 📚📚📚

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84: Shield Of Sparrows, by Devney Perry.
Well, this wasn’t great. The relationship underpinning this romantasy wasn’t so much romantic, but more toxic and abusive.
“Yes, he was horrible to her and controlled her by deliberately withholding all info from her…but look at all

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83: The Last Soul Among Wolves, by Melissa Caruso.
Second book in the Echo Archives. Enjoyed this, and close to living up to the first.