I've logged 51 titles in my spreadsheet for 2025 so far, up from 2024 and well above my 10-year average. What was different? Well, 7 of those titles are DNFs, and it's unusual for me to have more than 2 in a year. So, yay, I was trying things I wasn't sure I would like, and yay, I put them down when they didn't work out.
What stood out this year? Picking a few:
Siren Queen. Nghi Vo's novel about early Hollywood with a fantastical twist, where being admitted to the studio system feels a bit like being trapped in Faerie lands. The cameras are magical devices that can literally harm your soul, and becoming a big star literally puts your likeness in the sky.
The Women. Kristin Hannah's novel recognizing the American women who served in Vietnam and the erasure of their experience when they returned home. I read this on the recommendation of a friend, and then read Mystic Lake later this year.
He Who Drowned the World. Shelley Parker-Chan's sequel to She Who Became the Sun, and the concluding novel in this series. Unlike the previous book, this was not a Hugo finalist; I think it was equally worthy. This is a book in which a number of people achieve everything they (thought they) desired and find out all the terrible things they've done weren't worth it, and all because their aim was simply to achieve an end, without a plan for what would happen after. This book, and its predecessor, also neatly examine how the world treats people who do not conform to rigid gender expectations, as well as the cost to those who harm themselves in trying to conform.
What Grows from the Dead. Dave Dobson's (a friend) rollicking crime / mystery / thriller set in modern day North Carolina.
Lines. Sung J. Woo's (a friend) Sliding Doors-style story of a couple's relationship after a collision (or near miss) in Washington Park, NYC.
What Feasts at Night. This is T. Kingfisher's sequel to What Moves the Dead, and the second in her "Sworn Soldier" novellas, which are a mix of Ruritanian romance and horror.
Alien Clay. Adrian Tchaikovsky's novel about a dangerous planet where undesirables are sent to toil so that Earth can learn enough to eventually be able to exploit the planet. This got my top vote for the Hugo award this year, because it did the best job of examining a thought experiment that was reasonably novel to me (no shade on the other finalists).
The Tainted Cup. Robert Jackson Bennett's first novel in a fantasy detective series won the Hugo award for best novel this year. Excellent worldbuilding and a detective that's like Sherlock Holmes turned up to 11, but so overly sensitive to her surroundings that she can't leave her rooms without a blindfold on, so her "Watson" has to do all the investigating and bring the clues back to her. I expect to read the sequel for the 2026 Hugo finalist book club.
Another World. Pat Barker's first book after completing the Regeneration trilogy (the first of which I read back in 2009). I read this after finishing Mystic Lake, and it was a great chaser, for while both books are about "normal" lives, Hannah wrote an entertaining tale about the melodrama of likeable people, and Barker wrote about a thoroughly banal family. I nearly put the book down a few times in the first 50 pages, but Pat Barker skillfully drew me in to her story, and ultimately it was a pleasure to see a master at work.
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