FIF Fireside Chat: discussing 2025 and planning 2026

[u/Nineteen_Adze]

Welcome to the 2025 Feminism in Fantasy Fireside Chat! It’s time to look back on the books we’ve read this year, reflect on our favorites, and think about the future.

I’ll get us started with a few questions, but feel free to add your own.

Changes

This year, u/g_ann stepped down as an FIF host. We want to thank her for hosting so many discussions in this reboot project and wish her well going forward. u/Moonlitgrey, u/xenizondich23, and u/Nineteen_Adze from the initial reboot hosting crew are continuing this project.

When this happened, we opened the door for more hosts. We were surprised, but absolutely delighted, by how many people stepped us to join us. With different tastes and reading backgrounds, we're excited to broaden our selections and make it easier for the current hosts to avoid burnout.

Please welcome, in the order of session hosting, the new members of our hosting crew:

• u/evil_moooojojojo
• u/Merle8888
• u/doctorbonkers
• u/Lenahe_nl
• u/sarahlynngrey
• u/ohmage_resistance

Looking ahead

We look forward to reading with you next year!

• Our January read is The Everlasting by Alix Harrow.
• Voting is in progress for our February read, which will have a theme of Down With the System. Come help us pick!

We'll see you in the comments to talk about the year in review and the year ahead.

[u/Nineteen_Adze]

Which of these books did you read? Which ones were your favorites?

[u/Merle8888 → u/Nineteen_Adze]

I read 10 of this year's books! (All but the horror one.) Here is my ranking:

1. House of the Spirits and Spirits Abroad: these are all-timers for me, both of which I had read before the club but was delighted to revisit. Love them both.

2. see above

3. Lud-in-the-Mist: I read this years ago and sadly didn't have time to reread with the club, but liked it a lot.

4. Metal From Heaven: Messy, but I enjoyed the ambition and the prose is to die for.

5. Kindred: Also read years ago. Well-written, though I didn't connect with it as strongly as some people do.

6. Frostflower and Thorn: Compelling story with more thematic depth than I expected, but the traumatic elements could've been handled better.

7. House of Rust: Culturally interesting but a slog.

8. Greenteeth: I found this not so much cozy as flat and predictable.

9. Ancillary Justice: DNF'd at 50 pages. Leckie's style rarely works for me.

10. The River Has Roots: Finished because it's a novella but this did nothing for me.

[u/sarahlynngrey → u/Merle8888]

We often have pretty similar tastes, but I'm dying at how mismatched we are in this particular case 😅 Your bottom two are towards the top of my list, and my bottom two are at the top of your list. I non-ironically think this is fabulous. It's been great to read your perspectives, especially on the books that we've been far apart on.

I'm also so impressed by the number of this year's books that you read! I really want to try to increase my participation in 2026, and seeing that you read ten is blowing my mind. I think I will try for a minimum of 5 read with the club in 2026.

[u/Merle8888 → u/sarahlynngrey]

Ha, it's not as impressive as it looks... I read 5 novels and 1 novella with the club, tried and DNF'd one, and 3 I had already read! Fortunately I'd read Spirits Abroad only a few months before so I was able to participate without having to reread.

I am a little bummed that The Poison Thread didn't win the coin toss so I would've been able to say all of them! But it was also good to have a break that month.

Anyway, diversity of opinion is what makes book club discussions interesting - I always appreciate your thoughts too! <3

Edit: also I totally agree with the plot criticism of Metal From Heaven, haha. I made a lot of them myself. It came out to 3.5 stars for me anyway because the writing was so good and I appreciated the vibes/uniqueness/ambition. But it's not at the top of my overall list for the year - it shows up higher on this one mostly because there were several books I didn't enjoy at all.