Laura Sebastian’s Castles in Their Bones
I came across this series while searching for more fantasy with political intrigues—this one involves three sisters raised by their Empress mother to foment dissent in the countries they marry into, so their mother can take over all of them. It’s YA so I was a little bit leery, but I really enjoyed the characters and was caught up in the writing. Some cool twists and I even liked the various romances. Looking forward to book two! A-.
Angela Tomaski’s The Infamous Gilberts
The description of this book makes it seem like it’s going to be wildly dramatic and fun, but actually it’s a huge bummer. It’s about five siblings in England and four of them end up having really sad lives (and the fifth isn’t in it much), but not even in a particularly interesting way? It’s narrated at a remove—told by a neighbor going through their house—so we don’t really go deep on anything and I was kind of frustrated. I did love the very end, but wished this book was less vague. B/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in January.
Naomi Kuttner’s The Retired Assassin’s Guide to Orchid Hunting
Yay, it’s the second book in the series where a retired assassin, his gardener friend who sees ghosts, and a sixty something con woman/art thief solve mysteries in New Zealand! This one involves a bunch of orchid enthusiasts, as per the title. The mystery is whatever, but this was another super fun time with great characters. But authors!! Stop having your characters use gloves to examine old books!! That is not a thing!!! A-.
Seanan McGuire’s Through Gates of Garnet and Gold
I enjoy the Wayward Children series but didn’t really vibe with this one—it’s like fifty percent exposition. The other parts are good though! The plot involves angry ghosts attacking Nancy’s world, so she goes to find some old friends to help save the day. There are a couple of cool moments and the end is intriguing. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in January.
Daniel Abraham’s The Spider’s War
Solid ending to this series! It didn’t hit the highs of the previous book for me, but was satisfying nonetheless. A/A-.
Daniel Abraham's The Widow's House
It's hard to know what to say about the fourth book in an epic fantasy series--for one thing, I don't remember exactly which particular things happened in this volume or the earlier ones, because I'm SO caught up in the story and the characters, and for another, I don't want to even hint at any spoilers. Suffice it to say that I am ALL IN and can't wait to see how things conclude in volume five. A.
Daniel Abraham’s The Tyrant’s Law
Wow, I am majorly invested in these books. High stakes, intrigue, spider goddesses, fascinating characters… just really engrossing. I’m really not sure how the next two books will go down but I can’t wait to find out. A/A-.
Daniel Abraham’s The King’s Blood
Really enjoying this series, it’s just the sort of political intrigue I like and the stakes feel appropriately high. I’m most interested in the two women POV characters (the young banking girl and the savvy wife of a nobleman) but am also pretty invested in Kit and Marcus. Ok, I’m invested in all of it. A/A-.
It's December, I'm partway through the second of five books of a long-ass epic fantasy series, and I'm already looking ahead to the MANY cool books due in 2026. So it's time to admit that I'm not going to read any more of the books on the best-of lists and just present my own personal favorites! It was a good year in books!
Here they are, alphabetically by author--links go to my lil reviews.
K.J. Charles’ All of Us Murderers
Virginia Evans’ The Correspondent
Kate Fagan's The Three Lives of Cate Kay
Alix E. Harrow’s The Everlasting
Daniel Abraham’s The Dragon’s Path
I do like to read a big ol’ epic fantasy series when the chilly times come, and I’ve heard lots of good things about this one. Abraham, of course, is one of the writers of the Expanse series, and this is even more up my alley—tons of POVs, political machinations up the wazoo, a teen girl raised by a banker, a nerd who commits war crimes, a theater troupe…plus really engaging writing. Just the sort of story I like to sink into. A/A-.
Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume (Book III)
I’m not sure if it was the new translators or just the story itself, but at first I wasn’t vibing with this one as much as I was with Book II. There are a lot of philosophical debates! But there are also some really engaging moments and I am very curious about where this series is going. B+.
Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume (Book II)
I enjoyed this more than the first one—it has more momentum and the narrator has a slightly more positive attitude, so it was less stressful to read. Lots of lovely descriptions. I will say I read something about the third book that spoiled the end of this one, so I was a little impatient waiting for things to go down, but that’s not the book’s fault. It’s a really great entry in a series on its own. A/A-.
Cat Sebastian’s After Hours at Dooryard Books
THANK YOU to Cat Sebastian for another sweet and funny and hopeful book in these troubled times. I think I like everything I’ve read by her, but I am very partial to her New York romances, set in time periods not many people are writing about (this is set in 1968 and is very relevant to our current times!!!!). Anyway, this involves a gay guy who runs a bookstore, the mysterious and anxious stranger who comes to work there, and the first guy’s folk singer sister in law and her newborn baby. There is also a great sense of community—I do love Sebastian’s characters and the way she writes both romance and other relationships. Just a lot of love and good feelings and babies and dogs. And political protests. A.
Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume (Book I)
I’m finally reading the literary time loop novel! It’s projected to be in seven parts, three are out in English with a fourth coming out next year, not sure what the sitch is in the original Danish. Anyway, yeah, this is the story of a woman, an antiquarian bookseller in France, who is trapped in November 18th and it’s maybe driving her crazy a little as she compiles notes and tries to figure out how to escape. Compelling, especially considering how insular it is. Really not sure how future volumes will go. A-.
Angela Flourney’s The Wilderness
I ended this book feeling like “wooof.” I just wasn’t expecting it to get so heavy/relevant to our current times. It’s the story of four Black women and their friendship, bouncing back and forth in time from their twenties to the forties and from POV to POV, up through to the near future. I thought it was great, just wasn’t expecting it to be a gut punch toward the end. A/A-.
