2025 year in books

Looking back at 2025, reading kept surprising me. I wandered into new territories, like John Cleaver, tabletop RPG handbooks, and yeah, more Cosmere (because how could I not?).

23 books, 6,949 pages, not too shabby. Average about 302 pages per book, pulled down by shorter RPG supplements and pushed up by longer ones like Jade Legacy (713 pages). You can see my Goodreads Year in Books for more.

Average rating: 3.7/5. Lower than past years, but not because I’ve read worse books, but because I pushed myself to step outside my comfort zone.

Quick stats:

• Books: 23
• Pages: 6,949
• Avg rating: 3.7
• Longest: Jade Legacy (713 pp)
• Shortest: RPG supplements
• Favorite: Way of the Wilder series
• Biggest surprise: The John Cleaver series

Light spoilers ahead (I keep endings vague).

This year I leaned into discomfort: horror that feels plausibly close to home, a family saga that unfolds over decades, and formats that reshape familiar stories. Between GraphicAudio dramatizations and RPG lore, “reading” stretched past prose, and the surprises, especially John Cleaver, reminded me why experimenting pays off.

El Poder de la Mujer Despierta

My explorations outside my comfort zone started early in the year, with a therapist’s recommendation that reframed how I read the rest of the year.

I rarely read non‑fiction, but it aligned with questions I’d been circling for a while, so I took a chance and it helped me articulate a few things I only sensed before. Two ideas in particular stuck: naming boundaries as acts of care (for self and others), and noticing how small habits shape patterns over time. Neither is novel on its own, but the book gave them workable language; I found myself applying its framing to how I choose what to read and how I spend attention. It’s the kind of perspective shift that doesn’t end at the last page.

Mysteries of the Material

That inward lens made me hungrier for stories that complicate heroes and power, which is exactly where Mysteries of the Material hooked me. Mysteries of the Material is book two in the Way of the Wilder series. I read the first book in December last year and liked it so much that I picked up this one at the start of this year. The series is a favorite already, and I’m glad I found this author.

This second book is another great ride with these characters and their intricate world. The series keeps revealing its rules bit by bit and avoids the easy ‘power = villain’ shortcut. I love Kizune, especially their attention to ordinary people, and I’m dying to know more about their history and world. The ending lands like a blow, earned, unsettling, and hard to shake.

Even if on the surface you might think the magic is just another elemental system, there’s more at play in how the worldbuilding unfolds and what it asks of the characters. And let’s be honest, I have a soft spot for elemental systems. I’m eager to read book 3 as soon as I can in 2026.

The Green Bone Saga

From intimate, character‑first fantasy, I swung toward a sprawling family saga to see how time reshapes power and loyalty.

I picked this up to catch up with a much‑praised series, I kept seeing it on YouTube, and even Sanderson mentioned it, so I decided to go for it. I liked it; it’s very well executed, and the intrigue is genuinely engaging, especially the family dynamics.

What I didn’t love as much, likely a matter of taste, was the density of the family drama. Structurally, the multi‑POV focus and political‑intrigue pacing keep the pressure high, but sometimes I wanted a pause to step back and take stock, to see what those moves meant for the themes and relationships. And of course, I wanted more magic. Don’t get me wrong, it was cool and basing the power in such a specific and scarce material has huge implications, but… I wanted more magic.

That said, the generational sweep is a standout. The fact that the series happened through such a long time period, let us see this generation almost end‑to‑end, how it starts, how it ends, and what it hands the next. It’s a thoughtful way to stage the themes.

The John Cleaver Series

After all that generational intrigue, I craved something leaner and sharper. The John Cleaver books scratched that itch with grounded horror.

This wasn’t my first Dan Wells book, I read the Partials series last year, but this was something else entirely. I wasn’t expecting the blend of grounded reality with horror and a touch of the uncanny, close enough to feel plausible. Nothing feels weird… until it does. The small‑town day‑to‑day and routines keep the horror grounded.

Following the main character as he discovers and fixates on the truth is compelling because the escalation feels earned: each choice narrows the path forward. We see how the character gets pulled out of our apparent reality while at the same time becoming more human and caring about the rest. The entire series, from the initial reveal of a variant of our world through how the adventures unfold and how we meet more of these enemies, whatever you want to call them, stays intriguing without losing its footing.

I also watched the film adaptation, “I Am Not a Serial Killer,” and liked it more than I expected. It’s surprisingly faithful to the book. I’d have watched more if they’d made them. I’m not sure when I’ll pick up my next Dan Wells, but I hope it’s soon, maybe even a Cosmere book! Who knows?

Mistborn: The Final Empire (GraphicAudio)

Experimenting this year wasn’t only about genre. I also returned to a format I already enjoy, GraphicAudio, to experience a favorite in performance.

I re‑listened to The Final Empire because my little brother decided to read it; I wanted to read alongside him, but in a different way since I almost never re‑read. GraphicAudio isn’t a substitute for audiobooks or print; it’s a different medium. Because it’s performed, they trim description, actors and sound do the showing. You actually hear what’s happening in the scene, so the script doesn’t need to spell out every sound.

What won me over was the craft of the production: the sound work is wild, coins pinging, ash falling, boots scraping, and the spatial mix makes scenes breathe. Between actors, sound, and score, pacing becomes physical. It reaffirmed something I’ve felt for years: The Final Empire is my favorite Sanderson book. Even though I love The Stormlight Archive and the later books, this one is still my top. I highly recommend trying a GraphicAudio production; it’s worth it.

Isles of the Emberdark

Back in Cosmere proper, Sanderson’s sci‑fi tilt tested my comfort zone again, mixing spaceships with dragons in ways that still feel human.

This was one of the first moments where we see Sanderson tackle the more space‑leaning, sci‑fi future of the Cosmere, which worries some readers who arrived for the fantasy. I’m not afraid of the shift, tho I’m curious how it will feel once the era fully turns. Sanderson’s gift for mixing genres shows here: we have spaceships and spacefaring civilizations, but it still reads like fantasy. Spaceships don’t kill the sense of wonder.

What resonated was how tradition tempers progress: it doesn’t do a clean break; the future has to earn the past. The blend of what we want to keep and what we must let go is beautifully woven. Seeing familiar characters, learning more about dragons, and glimpsing the Cosmere’s future was a delight, but, as usual, it’s the human questions beneath the swords (or lasers) that move the story forward.

The Cosmere RPG Materials

And the world kept spilling off the page, maps, stat blocks, and lore vignettes made “reading” a more tactile, playable experience.

Books read: Stormlight Handbook, Welcome to Roshar, The First Step, Bridge Nine Adventure, Daggerheart Core Rulebook.

The Kickstarter buildup and finally receiving the materials was pure joy. I devoured the PDFs, then got even more excited when the physical books arrived. After that, they are really gorgeous. Brotherwise Games and Dragonsteel continue to ship products that feel thoughtfully built and aligned with the Cosmere, and we fans love them for that.

As a side note, the Mistborn deck‑building game was one of the year’s biggest surprises; I’m happy I added it to my backer kit.

Not a deep review, Unfortunately I’m not that deep into the hobby, just notes from a fan. One vignette reframed a familiar corner of Roshar for me. With the map and the stat blocks in front of me, the constraints feel physical, and the stakes click in a way prose alone doesn’t. It’s exciting to see these worlds find new forms beyond books.

If you’re not into RPGs, this might not be for you, but at least browse the canon story online. And especially Welcome to Roshar: one to own physically as the art direction and layouts do real work.

Coraline

To refresh my taste buds, I picked up a small, eerie classic. Tone can be just as impactful as page count.

This one has sat on my list for a long time. I decided to read the book first, then watched the film, and I’m glad I did. Short sentences, domestic details that tilt uncanny, very Gaiman. It isn’t my usual register, which is part of why it worked for me this year. On the page, the restraint makes the dread feel intimate; the film amplifies spectacle (beautifully), but the book’s quieter chill lingered longer. It’s short; worth your time.

A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR)

Everyone was talking about this. The book of the moment. Not my usual thing, but I was curious, and reading it wasn’t a waste of time.

The book was recommended to my wife, and she decided to give it a chance, and as it was her first foray into fantasy, I decided to read along. Unfortunately I came away quite disappointed. It isn’t the worst book I’ve read, but it isn’t what people make it out to be.

Most of the characters are fine and even interesting, but I really dislike the main character, and being in her head for most of the book made the ride less pleasant. The broader cosmology, ancient powers and hints of other worlds, still tugs at me, but the romance leans on familiar tropes; that’s fine for this kind of book, yet alongside the fantasy thread it often clashes and pulls focus from what I find most interesting. On the sex front: if people read this for that, fair enough, but those scenes didn’t add much for me. It’s also very predictable: by the first chapters of book one I could already see where book two was going, and only one moment truly surprised me. The mystery side isn’t well scaffolded, so the reveals feel telegraphed more than discovered. The things I’m most curious about sit at the edges of this world, and the book doesn’t spend much time there; I keep reading hoping those threads will show up, but I’m not sure they will, which is why this doesn’t match my expectations. The prose moves quickly, but at times it felt unpolished to me, long expository paragraphs that don’t quite land, and even a chapter that reads like a monologue.

As a point of comparison, Laura Gallego’s Guardians of the Citadel scaffolds its mysteries and monsters with a patience that rewards curiosity; ACOTAR gestures toward something similar but often prioritizes romantic beats over mystery architecture. I don’t think I’m the primary audience, and that’s fine.

And yet I read the second book, and I’ll probably read the rest of the series. There’s enough here to keep me curious about where the fantasy thread goes, especially reading alongside my wife.

What’s Next?

If 2025 taught me anything, it’s stepping out of my comfortable zone is worth it. Not everything will be great, but it all adds to my reading history.

Forget the numbers, I’m chasing books that make me think and remind me why I fell back in love with reading.

Happy reading in 2026! 🎉