My 2025 Favorites Will Ruin Your Reading List

And it is absolutely a literary masterpiece. More people should read this. It's incredible.

Book one - By Blood, By Salt - has been taking the indie community by storm since it won the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off (SPFBO) last year, deservedly so. It's an absolutely masterful book.

The feels, the exploration of mental illness in a way that was absolutely breathtaking, absolutely stunning book.

This has never happened before, as far as I'm aware, on my top 10 reads of any year since starting Booktube, but this volume of manga hit every possible note I wanted it to.

Duma Key not only got a solid five stars from me after reading it, but it's also on my top 10 list of the year, which I honestly was not expecting when I picked up this book.

And you guys, I don't think it is possible for J.L. Odom to write a bad book. I really don't think it's possible.

This is one of the most unique fantasy worlds I have read in a long time. Like a long time.

This book, oh, this book, this book saw into my soul in a way that I honestly think it would have even outside of the personal circumstances that I mentioned, but even more so because of them. It is beautiful.

Terry Pratchett came in with flying colors to take Book of the Year with Men at Arms, which is book two in the series, which is still one of my favorite Motley Crew books of all time since reading it.

And I think now I could probably pick between them, but I'm not going to because they're both incredible.

I loved this book so much. I really loved this book, and I read four City Watch books this year.

And McMaster Bujold's prose, like I said before, is just beautiful. There were so many moments when I had to back myself up, reread a section, and just let it soak in a little bit. She's absolutely a master of words.

Absolutely mind-blowing to read about this determined, resilient culture that was fighting for survival during that horrible time in human history. And Lisa See never pulls punches.

I reread this book this year and it was even better on a reread. I absolutely loved it. 10 out of 10 stars.

One of my favorite books, one of my favorite films of all time. The Outsiders is incredible.

The thing about this book that blew my mind was the atmosphere. Atmosphere is something that is so difficult to get right as an author.

It is so slice of life written in this beautifully simple way that is easily digestible. It is so emotionally invested and it's just beautiful.