All the New Fantasy of 2025 Ranked 💫 ranking every new fantasy book I picked up in 2025 📖

That's my one thing about this series is that I wish we could get even more of them because of the murder mystery feel to this. the plot is constantly moving in a good way, but I like we can step back and get to know them a little bit more, have these conversations or have introspection and reflection, those types of moments, and we get not as much of that as I tend to like, but still the world is fantastic.

I liked the thematic elements that were tackled in this. I also appreciated that we weren't afraid to show how difficult the thematic element we are actually depicting in this, how challenging it can actually be because the story doesn't almost go the way you want it to.

The split timeline, while I thought was utilized fantastically, I think it's going to make it drag for some people, but I thought that the build was fantastic. The intrigue was fantastic.

The backstabbing, the twist and turns, the constant questioning of if someone is going to backstab somebody or are they going to ally with somebody, and what is going to happen here as we have everything coming to a head. I thought that this final book in this trilogy was done really well.

A forgery of Fate was just so much fun. And I feel like Elizabeth Limb is kind of a go-to author for me if I just want this kind of fun YA fantasy that just feels so whimsical, feels kind of like lighthearted, but there are stakes and they've got a family they care about or they have people in their lives that they love and that they want to try to ensure are safe and do what they can to help them and protect them.

Grave Empire, h such a great example of Eldrich horror. A story that if it was sold in the horror section, I wouldn't even question it.

Green Teeth felt like a classic fairy tale, but also with a great friendship at the core of it. So, I really, really loved that.

Hemlock and Silver in particular I thought leaned a little bit too much into some repetition for the sake of developing the character and that is not my favorite means of character development. This was more so true I would say within the dialogue. I still like this one.

I think that what I was talking about before with tone and camp factor, this one's not necessarily tone and camp. It's more just tone in thematic elements versus the way that it's written.

It was definitely a book that if it's a Friday night and you just feel like reading something that's slightly creepy, but maybe not too scary. I think this one serves that purpose quite well, but I don't think it was for me anyway.

Characters and the plot, neither of them necessarily were standouts for me. It's not like I was so invested in these characters and I didn't really care that much if the plot shine because these characters are just so great.

I think it's a very specific kind of humor and if it doesn't hit, it doesn't hit. And I don't dislike this kind of humor. I just think you have to use it in moderation, which I don't think Abberrombie did.

But then once we're settled into present day, the sort of murder mystery component to the story, the trials plotline, the almost school-like plotline, I did not necessarily love the tone of the story and the way that the plot was progressing. It just felt like we were trying to consistently trump the previous reveal and also we were constantly trying to make you second guessess everything.

This one truly feels like it was written before. for like you would find it in a story book filled with fairy tales and I enjoyed it. The writing is very different than a lot of modern fantasy works.