Book #194 of 2025: The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy (Daughters of the Empty Throne #1) I’m not blown away by the generic fantasy setting or the one-dimensional villainous motivations here, but as a personal story rooted in its protagonist’s gender identity, it’s certainly a more distinctive entry in the genre. Sixteen-year-old Lorel is someone …
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Book #191 of 2025: A Hard Day’s Knight by Simon R. Green (Nightside #11) This isn’t the worst entry in its urban fantasy series, but it might be the most generic. Our protagonist received the legendary sword Excalibur at the end of the previous volume, and in this one, he has to return it to …
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Book #190 of 2025: Silverlock by John Myers Myers This 1949 novel is a quaint picaresque adventure tale, similar in plot and spirit to a work like Gulliver’s Travels, except that the foreign land our titular protagonist visits is populated by existing characters of literature and myth. (He even encounters Gulliver’s own talking horses and …
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Book #189 of 2025: The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen (The Dragonships #1) A fun little blend of Ender’s Game, Red Rising, and Fourth Wing, all age-appropriate for the middle-grade audience. Dragons exist in this setting as avatars of every planet and moon, and they each choose one human rider in a generation …
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Book #187 of 2025: The Summer War by Naomi Novik A lovely little fantasy novella that feels creatively adjacent to author Naomi Novik’s earlier title Spinning Silver, as both involve an engagement to an austere fae lord who must be cleverly manipulated via magic binding oaths. (I do think the longer work is the better …
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Book #184 of 2025: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl #1) I hate to be contrarian when I’ve heard such promising chatter about the title, but this 2020 series debut is an unfortunate miss for me. Although I can understand why it’s found an audience, it’s not a piece I’ve particularly enjoyed …
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Book #180 of 2025: The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny by Simon R. Green (Nightside #10) One of the weaker entries in this 2000s urban fantasy series, which is unfortunate, since it also directly sets up the endgame and includes the deaths of some fairly major recurring characters. But plotwise, this is a mess. …
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Book #179 of 2025: The Strength of the Few by James Islington (Hierarchy #2) I don’t really know what to do with this title, rating-wise. I have major critiques about its structure that I’ll get into below, but taking every section on its own terms, I suppose I’ve enjoyed the unfolding story and how it …
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Book #176 of 2025: Silver Elite by Dani Francis (Silver Elite #1) A whole lot of fun and just a little bit trashy, this romantasy title reads like a wild blend of the steamy military academy vibes from Fourth Wing and the covert revolutionary mission from Red Rising. Our heroine is a telepath, a member …
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Book #175 of 2025: Royal Gambit by Daniel O’Malley (The Checquy Files #4) I think this 2025 title is my favorite installment of its urban fantasy series yet, and like the others, it can essentially be read as a standalone piece. The Checquy are a British intelligence agency tasked with protecting the realm from supernatural …
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