2025 is now a week in the rear view mirror, and the world has very much gone from frying pan and into the fire.
But less of that, let’s keep things light and talk about some books! I had a great reading year in 2025 (75 books read, which is the most I’ve ever done in one spin around the sun!). It’s also the year I found myself transitioning away from the fantasy genre of which I had spent 90% of my reading time over the past decade. But I loved so many of my reads from this year. So much so, that narrowing this down to just 10 was a pain in the ass. And because I loved so many books in the past year, let’s start with some quick fire honourable mentions! Consider these all the 11th place. Some even flitted onto the top 10 list in earlier drafts. But ultimately, I think these are all amazing reads, and are all well worth your time.
Honourable Mentions
Bat Eater by Kylie Lee Baker – a sharp, COVID-era mystery about Asian violence, particularly towards women, Kylie Lee Baker’s debut is stunning and shocking.
Christine by Stephen King – The one with the evil car! One of my favourite King coming-of-age stories, and a book with characters so vivid that I loved spending every minute with them (even if some of them were bastards!)
Needful Things by Stephen King – The one with the evil shop! Small town, slow burn horror at its absolute masterful, King takes 400 pages of purposeful building to then spend another 400 pages knockin’ ’em down in the most spectacular fashion.
Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson – If you distilled the grit and grime of a 70’s Scorsese flick, with a heaped serving of road revenge thriller, and sprinkled vampires on top, you have Coffin Moon. John Varley is the GOAT!
Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle – The wackiest book of the year, filled with the most improbable twists and turns. But at its heart is a very uplifting message about self-belief.
Angel Down by Daniel Kraus – A WW1 horror told in one, unending sentence that isn’t anywhere near as pretentious as it sounds, this one was so satisfying and immersive.
The Retreat by Gemma Fairclough – A collection of blog entries, newspaper articles, interview transcripts and letters, all come together to tell the story of a wellness retreat with a sinister background. But what do you believe?
The Massacre at Yellow Hill by C. S. Humble – A western alt-history cosmic horror adventure that scratched that Dark Tower itch like nothing has before.
Edenville by Sam Rebelein – The most ambitious and mind-melting debut I’ve read in a very long time, with a mythology that intrigues me so much! His short story collection, The Poorly Made & Other Things, only adds to this completely bizarre but compelling world.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones – Objectively the best book of last year, I feel weird giving this just an honourable mention. It is a book that everyone should read, periodt. However, this list is based purely on enjoyment and entertainment factor, so I have to say that the challenging narrative style of this book was something I had to overcome. Still, it was utterly devastating in all the right ways.
So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison – A very smart, sharp, and witty vampire story about finding purpose in life, served with Harrison’s signature scathing feminist commentary.
And now, finally, onto the Top 10! The ranking of this top 10 is largely arbitrary, and on any other day the order could be different. But for now, these re my favourite books of 2025! Let me know which ones you’ve read, I’d love to talk to you about them!
10 – The Lamb by Lucy Rose
The Lamb is the debut novel of Lucy Rose, an author that every single one of you needs to have on your radar. This is the grimmest fairy-tale I’ve ever read, told entirely from the perspective of a young girl, as she recounts her life with her mother in a secluded Northumberland home. This life gets turned upside down with the arrival of Eden, who strikes up a relationship with the mother. Oh, and they all eat human meat. The Lamb is poetic, sad, delicately told and voraciously hungry, making its depictions of human flesh almost tantalising. Its ending left me totally numb for days afterwards, and I can’t wait to see what Rose cooks up next.
9 – Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman
The Last of Us by way of the Plague Tale series, Between Two Fires is a dark, lyrical story of Thomas, a disgraced knight-turned-brigand, who comes across a girl with seemingly God-given powers, and sets out with her on a quest to end a battle between heaven and hell. The plague riddled fields and cities of France are painted in this dreamlike hellscape, and the characters and creatures this gang encounter along the way have been burnt into my brain. This is a deeply exhausting and emotional journey, with some of the best character arcs I’ve read all year. No wonder this book is so well loved!
8 – All The Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby
When someone describes a page-turning, unputdownable thriller, what they are really describing is S. A. Cosby’s fantastic Southern noir All The Sinners Bleed. A book that tackles small town racism with a history swathed in the Dixie flag, all whilst its inhabitants are being stalked by the most vicious serial killer I’ve read to date. This is like Se7en and The Devil All The Time had a baby and let Ryan Coogler raise the child. This book had me genuinely sweaty palmed, it had me hating some of these townsfolk with a passion, and it had me rooting for our new Sheriff protagonist like no other character this year.
7 – Incidents Around The House by Josh Malerman
Easily the scariest novel I read this year, Incidents Around The House is told from the POV of 8 year old Bela, all written in a unique narrative formatting. Some of the most creepy, skin crawling imagery in a book, made all the worse through the innocent lens of childhood. Other Mommy is an evil, creepy bitch, and I had an actual nightmare that left me scared of my own bathroom for a few days. So honestly, fuck this book, fuck Malerman, and I can’t wait to read more of his books!
6 – When The Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy
Nat Cassidy spins a yarn that starts off as a cat & mouse chase (or werewolf father and terrified child with distraught improv actress chase), and then becomes something wholly “other” by its closing pages. This is told at breakneck pace, with characters so compelling and a plot so engaging, I defy you to not be immediately gripped by this story once you first see the absolute monstrosity that is the werewolf for the first time. Rest Stop by Nat is also an incredible locked-in-a-room thriller. The guy just writes in a way that I aspire to achieve!
5 – We Used To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
Liminal space horror like We Used To Live Here is something that really butters my parsnips. Not only that, there are other elements that I can’t talk about because SPOILERS that also tickle my pickle. So maybe this was a book entirely built for me (a self-centred thing to say I know), but I just loved what this one did. A book that builds a mind-bending, paranoia inducing mythos, with interactive elements ala House of Leaves littered throughout. I read this in two sittings, I was truly hooked! Go into this blind. I am super excited for The Caretaker, releasing April this year.
4 – King Sorrow by Joe Hill
A colossal return to novel writing after an 8 year hiatus, Joe Hill delivers this seal-clubbingly large novel about a group of college friends who summon a dragon, and the Faustian pact they enter into with the beast over the course of 25 years. This book reinvents itself with every new part, going from Donna Tart dark academia to high-octane airplane thriller, to Crichton-esque black ops nail-biter, to British folklore adventure. There is a reason this massive book was so massive last year; it’s pure fire!
3 – Good Boy by Neil McRobert
Part of the Northern Weird Project by Wild Hunt Books (check out all of the novellas in the series, they’re all great!), Good Boy is about a man digging a hole in a field where a child has just gone missing, and the story about this small Northern village that he has to tell. His tale is one of loneliness, hope, duty, and the absolute best dog in all of fiction. Riot is exactly like his namesake, and every time that fluffy little git is on the page, the book goes from 10 to 11! With a cosmic undertone to this tale, McRobert crafts a truly emotional story that had me and my partner in tears. There is a part of this story that hit so close to home (as it is eerily similar to something that happened to us at the start of 2025), but it helped to heal me. So, thank you again Neil.
2 – Blood Over Bright Haven by M L Wang
One of only a handful of SFF books I read last year (of which all were very good!), Blood Over Bright Haven is a smart, impactful book about classism, feminism, sexism, racism, elitism, and about a thousand other isms. Each chapter tackles something new, and what gets explored in this novel is incredible. The magic system is more than just for show, and it’s integral to all of the themes that Wang delves in to. This is the kind of book that needs to be taught in schools. Absolutely sensational!
1 – Wake Up And Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman
Who’d have thought that one of the first books I read this year will still be in the top 10 – let alone the number 1 spot – by the end of the year? Clay crafts a totally unsubtle book here, but that feels totally necessary in this day and age. Right wing news media, wellness culture, the rise of the incel, all of this is packed into this absolutely crazy experimental book, one with such shocking, brutal, tragic, and downright gross moments. Clay became one of my favourite authors this year (Acquired Taste and Kill Your Darling are both great too), but Wake Up And Open Your Eyes is the slap in the face that the world needs. These insidious institutions of hate are slowly turning us and our loved ones into monsters, all for their own unknowable gain. It’s time we all followed this books title.
And there’s all my favourite reads of the year! Let me what yours are, and let me know if you’ve read any of these and what your thoughts are! Would love to talk to you all more about books!
Here’s to a good year of reading in 2026!
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