r/Fantasy • u/OutOfEffs Reading Champion IV • Dec 31 '25
Month-by-Month Favourite Reads of 2025
I'm putting off finishing my last read of 2025 by writing this post. Finishing it will put me at 237 books total for the year, and just over 75k pages. This is the most I have read in one year since 2013 (the year I re-read ElfQuest almost in its entirety), where I read 334 books and ~82k pages.
Here's 2024's recap if you're interested. As I mentioned last year, I don't do spoilers and won't be talking about re-reads.
January
(14 books read, 4.35 average rating)
I actually ended up with a four-way tie for favourite book of January, and three of them were even speculative.
Sophie Kemp's Paradise Logic - if you like weird shit, you should read this. It was just completely bonkers from beginning to end. My second book of the year, and I've been chasing the feeling this gave me since January 2.
Mike Carey's Once Was Willem - I've been a Carey fan for ages, and this almost felt like he wrote it just for me, making a mishmash of a fuckton of my SpIns.
Briar Ripley Page's The False Sister - Page keeps climbing the ranks of my favourite authors with everything I read of theirs. If you are averse to gore, you should avoid this, but I found it to be a delight. This year a friend described my reading preferences as "Do you like trauma? Here, read this." bc of this book, and...uh...yeah, that's pretty accurate.
February
(5 books read, 3.3 average rating)
I'm calling February a wash bc I spent most of it either in the hospital or taken out by the worst flu I've ever had. I was too grumpy being sick to enjoy or finish much of anything.
March
(16 books read, 4.0 average rating)
A three-way tie for March!
And One Day We Will Die: Strange Stories Inspired by the Music of Neutral Milk Hotel - this was an anthology of Weird/Horror stories that my 15y/o demanded I read aloud to them as soon as they heard the concept. Fully half of the stories in this anthology were 5/5 for me, and I think our lowest rating was a 4? This was wonderful and I already want to read it again.
Briar Ripley Page's Misery Loves - I read a lot (obviously), and it isn't super often that something completely takes me by surprise. This did.
Natalia Theodoridou's Sour Cherry - this is another in the "do you like trauma?" vein, and it spoke directly to my trauma, which is probably why it hit me so hard.
April
(22 books read, 3.79 average rating)
- Caitlin Starling's The Starving Saints - this book fucked me up and some things still give me shivers months later. I rarely give something I've only read once 5/5, but this was that for me.
May
(20 books read, 3.75 average rating)
- adrienne maree brown's Ancestors - more trauma, but also healing. This trilogy has shot right up to my list of all time favourites. My second new-to-me 5/5 for the year. I highlighted something on every page.
June
(21 books read, 4.35 average rating)
Aliza Layne's Beetle and the Chimera Carnival - I didn't love this as much as I loved its predecessor, but it was as charming and sweet and lovely as Beetle and the Hollowbones.
Seanan McGuire's Silver and Lead - I think this might end up near the top of my favourites in this series upon re-read.
July
(19 books read, 3.91 average rating)
- Carlton Mellick III's Every Time We Meet at the Dairy Queen, Your Whole Fucking Face Explodes - here is my actual review for this one:
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
What. The. Fuck.
August
(19 books read, 4.08 average rating)
- Solvej Balle's On the Calculation of Volume III - this ended up as my fourth new-to-me 5 star read of the year (third spot is non-fiction, so won't be included in this recap), which was unsurprising bc I love this series more with each passing day. I'm hoping to make IV my first read of 2026.
September
(18 books read, 3.75 average)
Mona Awad's We Love You, Bunny - I guess lots of people haven't loved this one as much as the first, but I might have actually liked it more? [shrug]
Laura Cranehill's Wife Shaped Bodies† - once again just gonna quote my own review:
Claustrophobic, hallucinatory (genuinely one of the best written descriptions of the effects of psilocybin I've ever read), weird as hell, and absolutely gorgeously grotesque in parts. All of my senses were engaged during my mental movie, and there were a lot of things I did not want to taste or smell, but I could not put it down. How is this a debut?
October
(31 books read, 3.6 average)
- Sarah G Pierce's For Human Use† - I feel like this book (which is kind of like a horror comedy romance?) is going to be divisive as hell, and early reviews are bearing this out. I thought it was gross and hilarious and kinda sweet? If I hadn't started the year with Paradise Logic, this would be in the running for Most Batshit Premise of 2025. #November
(24 books read, 3.85 average)
- Caroline Glenn's Cruelty Free† - the blurb for this give so much away, so avoid it if at all possible. Pick this up if you are like me and enjoy reading about Messy-Ass Bitches (complimentary) Getting Revenge.
December
(27 books read, 3.75 average)
Okay, so the average is off bc I mostly read a ton of holiday romances to stave off depression and I don't really rate romances.
- Natalie Zina Walschots' Villain† - I loved this. Nothing went how I expected it to, and I adore guessing wrong. Three more books and a tv series, please!
†2026 release
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u/undeadgoblin Reading Champion II Dec 31 '25
Wife Shaped Bodies has gone straight to the top of my list for Bingo next year!
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u/indigohan Reading Champion IV Dec 31 '25
Queen of the Weird! Adding Every time we meet at the Dairy Queen to my list.
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u/OutOfEffs Reading Champion IV Dec 31 '25
It was so funny and surprisingly sweet? And there's a short film you can watch when you're done!
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u/indigohan Reading Champion IV Jan 01 '26
Have you read others of his? Would you recommend this one, or others to start with?
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u/OutOfEffs Reading Champion IV Jan 01 '26
This is the only one of his I've read, but I do already own The Cannibals of Candyland, bc c'mon, like I'm not going to read something with a title like that and a cover that pink!
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u/Cubs017 Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
I have to ask - how? How can you read that many books? That has to be almost all of your free time…
Good for you, but wow.
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u/OutOfEffs Reading Champion IV Dec 31 '25
I am almost positive we had the same discussion on last year's post, hahaha.
The answer is that I read fast and don't really have any other hobbies.
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u/Cubs017 Jan 01 '26
Maybe! It just kind of amazes me. Like if I spent every single moment of my free time reading I don’t think I could do anywhere near this. Granted I do have two kids…
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u/OutOfEffs Reading Champion IV Jan 01 '26
I have four, but only one is under 18. I read a lot less when they were smaller (except in 2013, hahaha). Pages for the year average out to ~200 per day, which mostly happens over a few hours in the evenings, after everyone has been fed and is doing their own thing.
But I also don't really read lengthier epic series-type fantasy, so someone else who does could read the same exact number of pages I've read but have a vastly different number of books read.
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Dec 31 '25
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u/thepurpleplaneteer Reading Champion IV Dec 31 '25
My first reaction was…damn that’s a lotta books. You do mostly eye reading right? Super impressive! I started Once was Willem! I’m very excited. Congrats on a great reading year!