layer you have the people who found their letters and are trying to piece together a timeline of what happened. The characters are *so* lovable, but they also feel like real people. People with strong preferences, flaws, and mental health issues. To be honest, this is more my level of preferred cozy, but I recognize it's not quite the traditional definition of it. There is a sequel, which I will be devouring after April 1st. I need to know what happens next! I'm also dying to know how the author keeps of the epistolary format, >!since the characters siblings have "caught up" with all the letters by the end of the book. !<
Squares: Epistolary
8. The Book That Held Her Heart - Mark Lawrence
And we have our conclusion! This book did a decent job of tying up loose ends and did a half way decent job with social commentary. I liked that Lawrence chose to respect real history, rather than completely rewriting it. That being said, this book was not a favorite of mine, I renew at least once from the library to finish it. >!It's one of the books where the characters you like from previous books get separated into groups and spend most of the book trying to get back together. It's just not favorite trope of mine.!<
Unfortunately, I think this may be one of the last Lawrence books I read. I appreciate his reliability in getting books out in a timely manner. And I love that he puts little summaries in the front of all his sequels, in case the reader doesn't remember all the things. But convenience aside, his stories don't quite grab me the way some of my other faves do. And while the ending of this series made sense, by the time it happened I just didn't care that much emotionally speaking.
Squares: Last Book in a series, Published in 2025
9. Ink Blood Sister Scribe - Emma Torzs
A very good book. It pulled off the secret magic world being hidden in the real world really well. I also liked the way it handled family conflict and emotional trauma. All the cracks in the family bonds felt very real and present. My main real complaint is that some of the last act of the book felt a touch YA. A character who is a focus later in the book is a tad sheltered, so he doesn't feel like an adult in the same way Esther and Joanna do. It's hard to put into words, but the parts of the final climax just reminded me strongly of a YA book with how the finale was handled. Overall a decent book though.
Squares: Book Club, Generic Title
10. Symbiote - Michael Nayak
Let's put some scifi/medical thriller in the mix! It's definitely speculative fiction, so it counts! I almost always enjoy fictional disease stories. This one in particular was very fun, in part of the shifting perspectives. It was a bit like watching a horror movie, where you get to watch one person die, and then it switches to the next perspective. The author did a great job making the character voice feel distinct from character to character. The sense of creeping menace kept me hooked from beginning to end. >!And the end had me going oh...oh no... What do you mean there's an infected survivor??!< I plan to check out the sequel at some point. I will say that part of the final twist, while realistic, was not my fave. >!Having the dude the government wanted to observe the infection manage to survive, feels a little bit convenient.!<
Square: Author of Color
11. The Tainted Cup - Robert Bennett
I feel like with this one's level of popularity, I don't need a hugely long review. Yes, it is very good! I've already read the sequel, self control was at an all time low. I will say, as a person who is frequently disappointed by fiction that pulls from Sherlock, this one impressed me. The Sherlock being largely housebound was a fun twist. I can't wait to see where this series goes.
Square: Biopunk
12. Running Close to the Wind - Alexandra Rowland
I have a complicated relationship with this book. I simultaneously never want to see it again, but also want to know what happens next. I forced my friend to listen to me summarize this book while we were in line to go into a concert. I
Squares: Epistolary
8. The Book That Held Her Heart - Mark Lawrence
And we have our conclusion! This book did a decent job of tying up loose ends and did a half way decent job with social commentary. I liked that Lawrence chose to respect real history, rather than completely rewriting it. That being said, this book was not a favorite of mine, I renew at least once from the library to finish it. >!It's one of the books where the characters you like from previous books get separated into groups and spend most of the book trying to get back together. It's just not favorite trope of mine.!<
Unfortunately, I think this may be one of the last Lawrence books I read. I appreciate his reliability in getting books out in a timely manner. And I love that he puts little summaries in the front of all his sequels, in case the reader doesn't remember all the things. But convenience aside, his stories don't quite grab me the way some of my other faves do. And while the ending of this series made sense, by the time it happened I just didn't care that much emotionally speaking.
Squares: Last Book in a series, Published in 2025
9. Ink Blood Sister Scribe - Emma Torzs
A very good book. It pulled off the secret magic world being hidden in the real world really well. I also liked the way it handled family conflict and emotional trauma. All the cracks in the family bonds felt very real and present. My main real complaint is that some of the last act of the book felt a touch YA. A character who is a focus later in the book is a tad sheltered, so he doesn't feel like an adult in the same way Esther and Joanna do. It's hard to put into words, but the parts of the final climax just reminded me strongly of a YA book with how the finale was handled. Overall a decent book though.
Squares: Book Club, Generic Title
10. Symbiote - Michael Nayak
Let's put some scifi/medical thriller in the mix! It's definitely speculative fiction, so it counts! I almost always enjoy fictional disease stories. This one in particular was very fun, in part of the shifting perspectives. It was a bit like watching a horror movie, where you get to watch one person die, and then it switches to the next perspective. The author did a great job making the character voice feel distinct from character to character. The sense of creeping menace kept me hooked from beginning to end. >!And the end had me going oh...oh no... What do you mean there's an infected survivor??!< I plan to check out the sequel at some point. I will say that part of the final twist, while realistic, was not my fave. >!Having the dude the government wanted to observe the infection manage to survive, feels a little bit convenient.!<
Square: Author of Color
11. The Tainted Cup - Robert Bennett
I feel like with this one's level of popularity, I don't need a hugely long review. Yes, it is very good! I've already read the sequel, self control was at an all time low. I will say, as a person who is frequently disappointed by fiction that pulls from Sherlock, this one impressed me. The Sherlock being largely housebound was a fun twist. I can't wait to see where this series goes.
Square: Biopunk
12. Running Close to the Wind - Alexandra Rowland
I have a complicated relationship with this book. I simultaneously never want to see it again, but also want to know what happens next. I forced my friend to listen to me summarize this book while we were in line to go into a concert. I
thought this would be an easy square for me, I love pirates! I've since realized that I mainly appreciate Pirates in non-book form. The music and cool visuals are a large factor in my enjoyment. So this was last minute pick, based on what I could get from the library quickly. A few quick thoughts below. If you have follow up questions in comments, go for it.
This is one of the horniest non-erotica novels I have ever read. Lots of talking about getting laid, but pretty much all of it is off screen. Everyone not Markefa needs to take a nice long cold shower.
This book actually has a small amount of Epistolary elements, I would have liked more. Julian is a very creative writer, let's put it that way.
Teveri's backstory is very cool. I liked that leaving the cult went beyond just one passing mention. >!I especially like his coat with it's embroidered messaging.!<
Avra - May we never meet in a dark alley. You need to be shaken like a coconut. If the "relationship" you are in is love, may that love never find me. >!This is not a judgement against poly people. Teveri won't even let him sleep in the bed, but somehow has the moral high ground?? Is denial of a comfy sleeping arrangement a fetish for gay men I was unaware of?!<
The Cake Competition!!! I can see why the Pirates do this every year. >!It is amazing, I love all the goofy rules. I want pictures of the cakes. I want fanart or possibly an animated short of just the cake competition and all the insults, with the ambassador in his terrible disguise.!<
There is an actual plot. I feel if Markefa or even Teveri had been in charge of the book, the plot would have been more relevant. It does exist. Though I felt like it could have been close a bit better if this was intended as a stand alone. >!They aren't done with the sciencing yet! Like they slightly more than half of the equation, and we're just done? Because Julian is willing to have sex now? Aghh, this book. !<
Square: Pirates, LGBTQIA
13. It was her house first - Cherie Priest
A murder mystery combined with a ghost story. Always a fun combo. I enjoyed all the twists in regards to who was truly guilty of what. And the main character sort of being in life stage part II was nice. I was always enjoy a protagonist who's established adult who has problems outside of the magic stuff that's happening. I really enjoyed all the minutae about home repair combined with the haunting.
Square: Recycle a Bingo Square - This fits several old bingo squares including ghosts and title with 5 words.
14. Swordheart - T. Kingfisher
I really enjoyed this book, but maybe not quite as much as Hemlock & Silver. The characters were fun and liked I how the chemistry was built. I also appreciated Halla getting way focused on minutae instead of the big picture. It's pretty normal to get focused on the sorts of problems that are familiar and feel personal to you. It was nice to read a book that was essentially one persons really annoying situation vs. having to take down the *Dark Lord* I'm definitely going to have read another book in this universe, because the rat priests were *amazing*.
I only really had 2 complaints
When you've read enough T. Kingfisher books alot of her protagonists start to feel similar. They aren't necessarily the same person, but maybe they all attend the game night/knitting circle? I wish she would stretch a little and a right some more distinct characters. I'm guessing this less of a problem for people who have only ready 1 or 2 of her books.
The twist with how he ended up in the sword. >!It being a punishment, and what it was punishment for, made sense.!< But something about how it was written just didn't work for me. >!And maybe I liked the idea of a guy agreeing to be a sword for *heroism* and then discovering all the downsides, and realizing the people/country he was loyal to, didn't even do a good job of holding onto him. That's a different story! I have to accept the one the author wrote, I just don't love it. It felt like an excuse for them to have a fight? And then it's largely
This is one of the horniest non-erotica novels I have ever read. Lots of talking about getting laid, but pretty much all of it is off screen. Everyone not Markefa needs to take a nice long cold shower.
This book actually has a small amount of Epistolary elements, I would have liked more. Julian is a very creative writer, let's put it that way.
Teveri's backstory is very cool. I liked that leaving the cult went beyond just one passing mention. >!I especially like his coat with it's embroidered messaging.!<
Avra - May we never meet in a dark alley. You need to be shaken like a coconut. If the "relationship" you are in is love, may that love never find me. >!This is not a judgement against poly people. Teveri won't even let him sleep in the bed, but somehow has the moral high ground?? Is denial of a comfy sleeping arrangement a fetish for gay men I was unaware of?!<
The Cake Competition!!! I can see why the Pirates do this every year. >!It is amazing, I love all the goofy rules. I want pictures of the cakes. I want fanart or possibly an animated short of just the cake competition and all the insults, with the ambassador in his terrible disguise.!<
There is an actual plot. I feel if Markefa or even Teveri had been in charge of the book, the plot would have been more relevant. It does exist. Though I felt like it could have been close a bit better if this was intended as a stand alone. >!They aren't done with the sciencing yet! Like they slightly more than half of the equation, and we're just done? Because Julian is willing to have sex now? Aghh, this book. !<
Square: Pirates, LGBTQIA
13. It was her house first - Cherie Priest
A murder mystery combined with a ghost story. Always a fun combo. I enjoyed all the twists in regards to who was truly guilty of what. And the main character sort of being in life stage part II was nice. I was always enjoy a protagonist who's established adult who has problems outside of the magic stuff that's happening. I really enjoyed all the minutae about home repair combined with the haunting.
Square: Recycle a Bingo Square - This fits several old bingo squares including ghosts and title with 5 words.
14. Swordheart - T. Kingfisher
I really enjoyed this book, but maybe not quite as much as Hemlock & Silver. The characters were fun and liked I how the chemistry was built. I also appreciated Halla getting way focused on minutae instead of the big picture. It's pretty normal to get focused on the sorts of problems that are familiar and feel personal to you. It was nice to read a book that was essentially one persons really annoying situation vs. having to take down the *Dark Lord* I'm definitely going to have read another book in this universe, because the rat priests were *amazing*.
I only really had 2 complaints
When you've read enough T. Kingfisher books alot of her protagonists start to feel similar. They aren't necessarily the same person, but maybe they all attend the game night/knitting circle? I wish she would stretch a little and a right some more distinct characters. I'm guessing this less of a problem for people who have only ready 1 or 2 of her books.
The twist with how he ended up in the sword. >!It being a punishment, and what it was punishment for, made sense.!< But something about how it was written just didn't work for me. >!And maybe I liked the idea of a guy agreeing to be a sword for *heroism* and then discovering all the downsides, and realizing the people/country he was loyal to, didn't even do a good job of holding onto him. That's a different story! I have to accept the one the author wrote, I just don't love it. It felt like an excuse for them to have a fight? And then it's largely
explained away.!< I know *a* twist has to happen, this one just didn't land for me.
Square: Generic Title, Book Club
Bonus! - For Not a Book I watched Pluribus. Mostly because all my friends wanted to talk about it. Alot. Overall a decent show, I'm sad the next season is going to take so long and *deeply* concerned about the fact that apparently the writers are pantsers instead of plotters. I keep changing my mind about how I feel about Carol and look forward to even more debates with people when the next season comes out.
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Square: Generic Title, Book Club
Bonus! - For Not a Book I watched Pluribus. Mostly because all my friends wanted to talk about it. Alot. Overall a decent show, I'm sad the next season is going to take so long and *deeply* concerned about the fact that apparently the writers are pantsers instead of plotters. I keep changing my mind about how I feel about Carol and look forward to even more debates with people when the next season comes out.
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My 2025-26 Bingo Year in Review (Not My Favorite Year)
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my completed bookless bingo card (and accidental book bingo card)
I wasn’t planning to engage with the bingo this year – I like the concept and enjoy the reviews/cards others post, but I’m too much of a mood reader and series/author binger to do it myself. Tried it once, did not have fun, decided it’s just not for me.
Last year I did a bookless bingo card to see whether one could even complete the bingo without being a big reader since it is the most unique and interactive aspect of this sub, and found the experience more fun than my book bingo attempt. Still, had no plan to do it again.
Until somewhere around June or July 2025 I realized I have not watched any new shows, seen any new films, and whenever I wanted to do some gaming, I’d pick one of the games in which I already have a few hundred or thousand hours clocked already instead of trying something new. So I thought… maybe I should try the bingo after all.
So here it is:
#my bookless bingo card for 2025
(the recycled square is Family Matters from 2022)
Was it overall doable? Yes, with the one allowed substitution. Last year I had to substitute the Book Club/Readalong square since there was nothing that fit it, but this year there was a listen-along for The Magnus Archives podcast, which worked for the card. Instead, I had to substitute the Hidden Gem square, because it specifically referring to Goodreads ratings disqualifies any non-books in my opinion. I mean, either every show/film/game/podcast etc is a Hidden Gem by the definition of the square, since none of them have any Goodreads ratings, or I’d have to work out a sensible conversion between Goodreads and IMDB/Steam/Letterboxd or any other website that tracks user ratings and reviews. Which I tried to do! But I just wasn’t satisfied with anything I came up with, so it was just easier to substitute.
‘Not a book’ was tricky for me, because I didn’t want to just make it a free square. It would have been cheeky to put any book I read in this bingo period to reflect the spirit of the square, but then it would also be pretty much a free completion. So I thought… what the opposite of reading a book? Writing a book! I have no ambition of ever writing a book, but a fanfic seemed doable, they can be really short and do not require me to have original ideas.
My highlights from the card:
Knights and Paladins: KCD Fanfest Malešov | Wonderful experience, got to hang out in a restored 14th century fortress, shoot a crossbow and enjoy a day of medieval vibes that ended with a lovely concert. Also, bought a bottle of fantastic local mead that I brought with me to another holiday which was also pretty great. There wasn’t anything explicitly fantasy-themed, since the games the fest was based on are historical rather than speculative, buuut there were some nods like an alchemy station and I just wanted to brag about being there, so.
A ~~Book~~ Game in Parts: Dispatch | I knew I would love it from the moment I saw a trailer for the first episode, and I loved it from the first episode when I played it. It was not perfect, but close enough that I had to stop myself from marathoning the whole game in under 2 days. If the writers gave us better romance options (at least one person who is neither your boss or your employee! Royd was right there!!), it would be a 5/5.
Gods and Pantheons: The Mighty Nein | I HATED Vox Machina and dropped it after one season, but people online were saying this show has a more serious vibe so I gave it a go, and… they were right, what a great start. The characters are all lovable, the plot seems interesting, the relationships are compelling, the animation was really good too! Cannot wait for the next season!
Book Club or Readalong: The Magnus Archives | Ahhh the show that gave me such a fiction hangover that I didn’t read or watch anything else for like a month after I finished my absolutely deranged binge, because all
I wasn’t planning to engage with the bingo this year – I like the concept and enjoy the reviews/cards others post, but I’m too much of a mood reader and series/author binger to do it myself. Tried it once, did not have fun, decided it’s just not for me.
Last year I did a bookless bingo card to see whether one could even complete the bingo without being a big reader since it is the most unique and interactive aspect of this sub, and found the experience more fun than my book bingo attempt. Still, had no plan to do it again.
Until somewhere around June or July 2025 I realized I have not watched any new shows, seen any new films, and whenever I wanted to do some gaming, I’d pick one of the games in which I already have a few hundred or thousand hours clocked already instead of trying something new. So I thought… maybe I should try the bingo after all.
So here it is:
#my bookless bingo card for 2025
(the recycled square is Family Matters from 2022)
Was it overall doable? Yes, with the one allowed substitution. Last year I had to substitute the Book Club/Readalong square since there was nothing that fit it, but this year there was a listen-along for The Magnus Archives podcast, which worked for the card. Instead, I had to substitute the Hidden Gem square, because it specifically referring to Goodreads ratings disqualifies any non-books in my opinion. I mean, either every show/film/game/podcast etc is a Hidden Gem by the definition of the square, since none of them have any Goodreads ratings, or I’d have to work out a sensible conversion between Goodreads and IMDB/Steam/Letterboxd or any other website that tracks user ratings and reviews. Which I tried to do! But I just wasn’t satisfied with anything I came up with, so it was just easier to substitute.
‘Not a book’ was tricky for me, because I didn’t want to just make it a free square. It would have been cheeky to put any book I read in this bingo period to reflect the spirit of the square, but then it would also be pretty much a free completion. So I thought… what the opposite of reading a book? Writing a book! I have no ambition of ever writing a book, but a fanfic seemed doable, they can be really short and do not require me to have original ideas.
My highlights from the card:
Knights and Paladins: KCD Fanfest Malešov | Wonderful experience, got to hang out in a restored 14th century fortress, shoot a crossbow and enjoy a day of medieval vibes that ended with a lovely concert. Also, bought a bottle of fantastic local mead that I brought with me to another holiday which was also pretty great. There wasn’t anything explicitly fantasy-themed, since the games the fest was based on are historical rather than speculative, buuut there were some nods like an alchemy station and I just wanted to brag about being there, so.
A ~~Book~~ Game in Parts: Dispatch | I knew I would love it from the moment I saw a trailer for the first episode, and I loved it from the first episode when I played it. It was not perfect, but close enough that I had to stop myself from marathoning the whole game in under 2 days. If the writers gave us better romance options (at least one person who is neither your boss or your employee! Royd was right there!!), it would be a 5/5.
Gods and Pantheons: The Mighty Nein | I HATED Vox Machina and dropped it after one season, but people online were saying this show has a more serious vibe so I gave it a go, and… they were right, what a great start. The characters are all lovable, the plot seems interesting, the relationships are compelling, the animation was really good too! Cannot wait for the next season!
Book Club or Readalong: The Magnus Archives | Ahhh the show that gave me such a fiction hangover that I didn’t read or watch anything else for like a month after I finished my absolutely deranged binge, because all
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my heart wanted was TMA fanfiction and TMA theories and TMA fanart and… yeah. I sort of missed out on the listen-along because I sped past the pace of the posts (7-10 episodes per week? Please, I was listening to 15 per day), but I am 300% grateful for it being there as I might have not started TMA without it. Should have added even more stars to the chart tbh.
Parent Protagonist: The Hazards of Love by The Decemberists | I’ve always loved concept albums, especially ones that tell a cohesive story rather than are a collection of themed songs. The Decemberists did an amazing job with telling the story through lyrics and music, you can really see the scenes each song depicts without the musical appeal being sacrificed.
The disappointments:
Down With the System: The Long Walk | This was a letdown – I have fond memories of the book, so I was expecting something better to be honest. Though I did read the book over 20 years ago, so possibly I am remembering it as better than it is. The film reminded me why I stopped reading King, I just really don’t like this style and voice anymore. Kudos to the filmmakers by really make it sound like a King adaptation I guess, it was unmistakeably his voice shining through.
Five SFF Short Stories: Love, Death & Robots s4 | LD&R peaked in season 1 and has been chasing that high ever since, with rather middling results. This season had one or two episodes I enjoyed on the visual side, but the stories were very… meh. 400 Boys was the highlight of this season imo.
Not A Book: attempted to write a fanfic | English is a stupid language with a bunch of nonsense rules and grammar that doesn’t make any sense. And what do you mean there is only one right word order in a sentence! I haven’t done any writing since like 2015, and any non-academic writing since maybe 2003, so this was a journey of rediscovery and frustration. In the end, I have 3 pages of notes and no fanfic because writing is pain and English is nonsense. I did spend enough time on this endeavor though that I am inclined to count it anyway. Maybe one day I will get a strike of inspiration and turn the notes into something, who knows.
Overall, I think it helped me get motivated to watch/play more, so I guess I finally realized the purpose of the bingo lmao. Might do it again next year too!
---
I also decided to see if I completed the book bingo without actively trying to, and turns out I did! Apparently, if you read enough books in a year, you can do the bingo even if your reading includes reading 10+ books by the same author in a row. Multiple times. I even had a 'not a book' left over from the bookless card! (though I guess the entire card could be my 'not a book' too?)
#My accidental book card
(the recycled square is 'novel featuring a ghost' from 2020)
I cannot say I was not influenced by the bingo at all when choosing my reading, despite not actively participating in it – I don’t think it’s possible to engage with r/fantasy on the daily without learning the bingo squares, seeing recommendations or themes being discussed, so it is entirely likely that at least some of the books I ended up putting on my card ended up there because I saw someone recommend a book for the bingo and I chose to read it because it sounded good.
I did have to substitute one theme as I haven’t read anything from the 80s (apparently the oldest book I read since April 1st 2025 is from 2017, I guess I don’t reach for older books when left to my own devices), and others might be not great fits since I wasn't really tracking the bingo squares as I read and some books from the card are from almost a year ago so idk if I'm remembering everything correctly.
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Parent Protagonist: The Hazards of Love by The Decemberists | I’ve always loved concept albums, especially ones that tell a cohesive story rather than are a collection of themed songs. The Decemberists did an amazing job with telling the story through lyrics and music, you can really see the scenes each song depicts without the musical appeal being sacrificed.
The disappointments:
Down With the System: The Long Walk | This was a letdown – I have fond memories of the book, so I was expecting something better to be honest. Though I did read the book over 20 years ago, so possibly I am remembering it as better than it is. The film reminded me why I stopped reading King, I just really don’t like this style and voice anymore. Kudos to the filmmakers by really make it sound like a King adaptation I guess, it was unmistakeably his voice shining through.
Five SFF Short Stories: Love, Death & Robots s4 | LD&R peaked in season 1 and has been chasing that high ever since, with rather middling results. This season had one or two episodes I enjoyed on the visual side, but the stories were very… meh. 400 Boys was the highlight of this season imo.
Not A Book: attempted to write a fanfic | English is a stupid language with a bunch of nonsense rules and grammar that doesn’t make any sense. And what do you mean there is only one right word order in a sentence! I haven’t done any writing since like 2015, and any non-academic writing since maybe 2003, so this was a journey of rediscovery and frustration. In the end, I have 3 pages of notes and no fanfic because writing is pain and English is nonsense. I did spend enough time on this endeavor though that I am inclined to count it anyway. Maybe one day I will get a strike of inspiration and turn the notes into something, who knows.
Overall, I think it helped me get motivated to watch/play more, so I guess I finally realized the purpose of the bingo lmao. Might do it again next year too!
---
I also decided to see if I completed the book bingo without actively trying to, and turns out I did! Apparently, if you read enough books in a year, you can do the bingo even if your reading includes reading 10+ books by the same author in a row. Multiple times. I even had a 'not a book' left over from the bookless card! (though I guess the entire card could be my 'not a book' too?)
#My accidental book card
(the recycled square is 'novel featuring a ghost' from 2020)
I cannot say I was not influenced by the bingo at all when choosing my reading, despite not actively participating in it – I don’t think it’s possible to engage with r/fantasy on the daily without learning the bingo squares, seeing recommendations or themes being discussed, so it is entirely likely that at least some of the books I ended up putting on my card ended up there because I saw someone recommend a book for the bingo and I chose to read it because it sounded good.
I did have to substitute one theme as I haven’t read anything from the 80s (apparently the oldest book I read since April 1st 2025 is from 2017, I guess I don’t reach for older books when left to my own devices), and others might be not great fits since I wasn't really tracking the bingo squares as I read and some books from the card are from almost a year ago so idk if I'm remembering everything correctly.
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Bingo Board 2025 - Quiet a few discoveries
https://preview.redd.it/murj0218j1sg1.png?width=1077&format=png&auto=webp&s=7881825d376811d0dfbb90b66063a226cc53bb0b
1. Knights and Paladins
Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 275 pages
This book was great. Easily my second favourite of the past year. I loved the banter and the story and the length was perfect for the story it was trying to convey. The writing style was great and it made want to read more of his work.
2. Hidden Gem
Misplacement Game by Teng Yuan Xin
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 1002 pages
This one is a danmei, and more specifically unlimited flow. It had a few instances that were quiet interesting but the relationship between the main characters was not the most interesting. It’s also quiet long for what it was but I had a good time overall.
3. Published in the 80s
The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 934 pages
This one was my favourite book of 2025. I had a great time with it and it didn’t feel long at any time. I loved all parts of this book equally even though the beginning was a bit slow, it didn’t feel like too much. I loved the characters and the plot and I cannot wait to keep going with this series. The prose is also easily one of the best I have ever read.
4. High Fashion
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
⭐️⭐️.75 - 302 pages
I know that this one is a classic and that people of all ages love it but I never watched the movie nor read the book before and it read very much like middle-grade (which it is) and I didn’t care for it. I can see why it’s loved but I prefer more complex stories over whimsical ones. I was happy when I finished it.
5. Down With The System
The Nightshade God by Hannah Whitten
⭐️⭐️.75 - 480 pages
This is the last book in The Nightshade Crown trilogy. While the first book was interesting and the second was fine, this one felt like a letdown. I didn’t like the ending and I will never read this again.
6. Impossible Places
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
⭐️⭐️.75 - 245 pages
I didn’t like it. The beginning was so interesting but I had expectations and so many questions and not knowing was so much more interesting than what the truth was. It’s just one of those books?movies where the reveal is disappointing because the questioning is the best part.
7. A Book in Parts
Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin
⭐️⭐️.25 - 275 pages
This was boring… So very boring. I expected botanic horror, not mall melodrama…
8. Gods and Pantheons
Atalanta by Jennifer Saint
⭐️⭐️.75 - 357 pages
I just didn’t care. It’s a rewriting of a story that I already knew in a way that brought nothing new to the story.
9. Last in a Series
Wisteria by Adalyn Grace
⭐️⭐️.75 - 425 pages
This was the last book in the Belladonna trilogy. I absolutely loved the first book and the second was not as interesting. I didn’t care at all for this book. I don’t like the ML and was very happy when I finished reading it. I’ll only reread Belladonna as a stand alone from now on.
10. Book Club or Readalong Book
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 544 pages
It was good. It was an entertaining book and the story was interesting. I liked the characters and the overall story and I’ll be glad to continue in this universe.
11. Parent Protagonist
Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 584 pages
This is the first book in The Tawny Man, the third series in the Realm of the Elderlings. I was pretty disappointed in this book. Robin Hobb is a great writer and her stories are always so good but the first half of this book is so very dull, the second half was good but it didn’t save the book. I’ll keep going with the series but yeah, not the best book.
12. Epistolary
The Black Hunger by Nicholas Pullen
⭐️⭐️.25 - 376 pages
This was a very interesting looking book that turned out boring as hell. I expected so much more from a book like this. It’s just a lot of talking and research and more talking.
13. Published in
https://preview.redd.it/murj0218j1sg1.png?width=1077&format=png&auto=webp&s=7881825d376811d0dfbb90b66063a226cc53bb0b
1. Knights and Paladins
Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 275 pages
This book was great. Easily my second favourite of the past year. I loved the banter and the story and the length was perfect for the story it was trying to convey. The writing style was great and it made want to read more of his work.
2. Hidden Gem
Misplacement Game by Teng Yuan Xin
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 1002 pages
This one is a danmei, and more specifically unlimited flow. It had a few instances that were quiet interesting but the relationship between the main characters was not the most interesting. It’s also quiet long for what it was but I had a good time overall.
3. Published in the 80s
The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 934 pages
This one was my favourite book of 2025. I had a great time with it and it didn’t feel long at any time. I loved all parts of this book equally even though the beginning was a bit slow, it didn’t feel like too much. I loved the characters and the plot and I cannot wait to keep going with this series. The prose is also easily one of the best I have ever read.
4. High Fashion
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
⭐️⭐️.75 - 302 pages
I know that this one is a classic and that people of all ages love it but I never watched the movie nor read the book before and it read very much like middle-grade (which it is) and I didn’t care for it. I can see why it’s loved but I prefer more complex stories over whimsical ones. I was happy when I finished it.
5. Down With The System
The Nightshade God by Hannah Whitten
⭐️⭐️.75 - 480 pages
This is the last book in The Nightshade Crown trilogy. While the first book was interesting and the second was fine, this one felt like a letdown. I didn’t like the ending and I will never read this again.
6. Impossible Places
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
⭐️⭐️.75 - 245 pages
I didn’t like it. The beginning was so interesting but I had expectations and so many questions and not knowing was so much more interesting than what the truth was. It’s just one of those books?movies where the reveal is disappointing because the questioning is the best part.
7. A Book in Parts
Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin
⭐️⭐️.25 - 275 pages
This was boring… So very boring. I expected botanic horror, not mall melodrama…
8. Gods and Pantheons
Atalanta by Jennifer Saint
⭐️⭐️.75 - 357 pages
I just didn’t care. It’s a rewriting of a story that I already knew in a way that brought nothing new to the story.
9. Last in a Series
Wisteria by Adalyn Grace
⭐️⭐️.75 - 425 pages
This was the last book in the Belladonna trilogy. I absolutely loved the first book and the second was not as interesting. I didn’t care at all for this book. I don’t like the ML and was very happy when I finished reading it. I’ll only reread Belladonna as a stand alone from now on.
10. Book Club or Readalong Book
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 544 pages
It was good. It was an entertaining book and the story was interesting. I liked the characters and the overall story and I’ll be glad to continue in this universe.
11. Parent Protagonist
Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 584 pages
This is the first book in The Tawny Man, the third series in the Realm of the Elderlings. I was pretty disappointed in this book. Robin Hobb is a great writer and her stories are always so good but the first half of this book is so very dull, the second half was good but it didn’t save the book. I’ll keep going with the series but yeah, not the best book.
12. Epistolary
The Black Hunger by Nicholas Pullen
⭐️⭐️.25 - 376 pages
This was a very interesting looking book that turned out boring as hell. I expected so much more from a book like this. It’s just a lot of talking and research and more talking.
13. Published in
2025
Overgrowth by Mira Grant
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 - 488 pages
This one was good. The story was interesting and I had a good time. It’s a bit too long and it could do with 50-100 pages less but the idea was interesting and the ending was pretty unexpected.
14. Author of Colour
The Darkening by Sunya Mara
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 400 pages
I don’t remember this one. I usually don’t read YA and this is one of the few I did read but I didn’t care for it… clearly. It was pretty similar to The Foxglove King and… that’s all I remember.
15. Small Press or Self Published
Ghost Marriage by Huājuǎn
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 154 pages
It was a short and fun danmei about a ghost marriage. It’s pretty short so there’s not much to say but it was fun and I liked it. The translation was good.
16. Biopunk
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 406 pages
I only read this because it was the only book I found that fit the prompt and looked somewhat interesting. I’m glad I did. The story and characters are interesting and I’ll be glad to pick up the second book and keep going with this series. I liked the writing style and the descriptions. This is what at the Ones You Love should have been.
17. Elves and/or Dwarves
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 480 pages
It’s a very interesting book if you’re into the lore and history of Middle-Earth but it’s also very dense and not that engaging. I’m glad I read it but I’m also glad that I’ll never have to pick it up again.
18. LGBTQIA Protagonist
Poor Monk by Shijing
⭐️⭐️.25 - 1227 pages
Another danmei. I thought it would be very good demon / buddhist monk story but it was so damn boring… It’s so slow and the ML is barely ever present, they probably have three scenes together and the book is OVER TWELVE HUNDRED PAGES!! And only three scenes!!! What happens? Pretty much nothing. It was a slug to go through and I am never thinking about this again.
19. Five SFF Short Stories
The Mammoth Book of Vintage Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1950s by Isaac Asimov with Poul Anderson, Katherine MacLean, Charles V. De Det, Walter M. Miller, Jr., Frederik Pohl, Frank M. Robinson, Eric Frank Russell, Theodore Sturgeon, William Tenn, Philip José Farmer
⭐️⭐️⭐️.25 - 512 pages
I read this almost a year ago and I remember nothing. None of the stories were practically interesting and yeah…
20. Stranger in a Strange Land
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
⭐️⭐️.75 - 388 pages
The Ghost Bride by this author is probably my favourite book of all time. I had a lot of hope for this book but it was boring. I didn’t care for any of the characters or the story. It’s a book. I bought it. I read it. I sold it.
21. Recycle a Bingo Square // First in a Series 2024
Jade City by Fonda Lee
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 - 498 pages
I finally started The Greenbone Saga and I enjoyed it quiet a lot. I don’t like the characters all that much but I think that’s the point. I read the second book earlier this year and I cannot wait to finish this series. Overall a pretty good book with a few twists and interesting scenes. Not as fantastic as I would have hoped though.
22. Cozy SFF
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher
⭐️⭐️⭐️.25 - 359 pages
Another book that I picked up because I liked one of the author’s other works. In this case, Nettle & Bone, which is one of my favourite books. This one had an interesting premise but I could pretty bored as the book went on. I feel like a lot of T. Kingfisher’s main characters read like the same character over and over again and while I liked the witty commentary at first, it quickly got tiring. Also, the second half of the book is not as interesting as the first.
23. Generic Title
Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25 - 402 pages
The second book of short stories in The Witcher series. I liked it. I really enjoyed the first book and I enjoyed the second one just as much. Having played both the first and second games, it was nice to get back into this world and understanding it
Overgrowth by Mira Grant
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 - 488 pages
This one was good. The story was interesting and I had a good time. It’s a bit too long and it could do with 50-100 pages less but the idea was interesting and the ending was pretty unexpected.
14. Author of Colour
The Darkening by Sunya Mara
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 400 pages
I don’t remember this one. I usually don’t read YA and this is one of the few I did read but I didn’t care for it… clearly. It was pretty similar to The Foxglove King and… that’s all I remember.
15. Small Press or Self Published
Ghost Marriage by Huājuǎn
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 154 pages
It was a short and fun danmei about a ghost marriage. It’s pretty short so there’s not much to say but it was fun and I liked it. The translation was good.
16. Biopunk
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 406 pages
I only read this because it was the only book I found that fit the prompt and looked somewhat interesting. I’m glad I did. The story and characters are interesting and I’ll be glad to pick up the second book and keep going with this series. I liked the writing style and the descriptions. This is what at the Ones You Love should have been.
17. Elves and/or Dwarves
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 480 pages
It’s a very interesting book if you’re into the lore and history of Middle-Earth but it’s also very dense and not that engaging. I’m glad I read it but I’m also glad that I’ll never have to pick it up again.
18. LGBTQIA Protagonist
Poor Monk by Shijing
⭐️⭐️.25 - 1227 pages
Another danmei. I thought it would be very good demon / buddhist monk story but it was so damn boring… It’s so slow and the ML is barely ever present, they probably have three scenes together and the book is OVER TWELVE HUNDRED PAGES!! And only three scenes!!! What happens? Pretty much nothing. It was a slug to go through and I am never thinking about this again.
19. Five SFF Short Stories
The Mammoth Book of Vintage Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1950s by Isaac Asimov with Poul Anderson, Katherine MacLean, Charles V. De Det, Walter M. Miller, Jr., Frederik Pohl, Frank M. Robinson, Eric Frank Russell, Theodore Sturgeon, William Tenn, Philip José Farmer
⭐️⭐️⭐️.25 - 512 pages
I read this almost a year ago and I remember nothing. None of the stories were practically interesting and yeah…
20. Stranger in a Strange Land
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
⭐️⭐️.75 - 388 pages
The Ghost Bride by this author is probably my favourite book of all time. I had a lot of hope for this book but it was boring. I didn’t care for any of the characters or the story. It’s a book. I bought it. I read it. I sold it.
21. Recycle a Bingo Square // First in a Series 2024
Jade City by Fonda Lee
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 - 498 pages
I finally started The Greenbone Saga and I enjoyed it quiet a lot. I don’t like the characters all that much but I think that’s the point. I read the second book earlier this year and I cannot wait to finish this series. Overall a pretty good book with a few twists and interesting scenes. Not as fantastic as I would have hoped though.
22. Cozy SFF
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher
⭐️⭐️⭐️.25 - 359 pages
Another book that I picked up because I liked one of the author’s other works. In this case, Nettle & Bone, which is one of my favourite books. This one had an interesting premise but I could pretty bored as the book went on. I feel like a lot of T. Kingfisher’s main characters read like the same character over and over again and while I liked the witty commentary at first, it quickly got tiring. Also, the second half of the book is not as interesting as the first.
23. Generic Title
Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25 - 402 pages
The second book of short stories in The Witcher series. I liked it. I really enjoyed the first book and I enjoyed the second one just as much. Having played both the first and second games, it was nice to get back into this world and understanding it
better. I like the characters and the fact that this is set in a world that sucks and we’re following people who just live in it, no matter how shitty this world is, is a nice change from the world changing plots and massive wars that most fantasy epics have. I’ll happily pick up the next book soon.
24. Not a Book // Set in a Small Town 2024
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 - 465 pages
I chose to pick up a book for this one. It was my second time reading Stephen King and I loved this book. Everything about this book is good, the character work is amazing, the story, the sensation of dread all throughout. I just cannot bring myself to give it 5 stars because I love cats. Truly an amazing book.
25. Pirates
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25 - 489 pages
The last book I read for this bingo. I’m not a fan of powers and ships but I genuinely liked this book. The characters were interesting and I liked the writing, the story and it was a good time overall. It was a pretty atmospheric read. I already ordered the next book in the series and I’ll be happy to keep going with this series.
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24. Not a Book // Set in a Small Town 2024
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 - 465 pages
I chose to pick up a book for this one. It was my second time reading Stephen King and I loved this book. Everything about this book is good, the character work is amazing, the story, the sensation of dread all throughout. I just cannot bring myself to give it 5 stars because I love cats. Truly an amazing book.
25. Pirates
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25 - 489 pages
The last book I read for this bingo. I’m not a fan of powers and ships but I genuinely liked this book. The characters were interesting and I liked the writing, the story and it was a good time overall. It was a pretty atmospheric read. I already ordered the next book in the series and I’ll be happy to keep going with this series.
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Daavor's Duobingo: Not a Book (It's a Film!) Reviews: The Northman, Frankenstein
Well, I've completely and utterly abandoned the pretense I was going to write a review for every pair of books in my double bingo quest. But, I suppose as the duties of my one hard mode card insist I should probably write reviews for the Not-A-Book square.
I'll admit I took the mildly boring route of choosing a few speculative films to watch. Not the most wild option out of those we've seen, but I always mean to watch these kinds of things and often miss out on them, so using Bingo as a little push is perhaps good.
The Northman:
Probably the film out of the speculative films I saw this year that I was most excited for, have longest wanted to get to, and ultimately liked the most. This is a Viking adventure epic from the unmistakable stylings of Robert Eggers. I loved his films the VVitch and Nosferatu, and had also enjoyed The Lighthouse so as a fantasy fan his sprawling Viking epic probably should have been something I tried earlier.
Loosely based on the underlying story that inspires Hamlet, the film follows Alexander Skarsgard as Amleth, the titular Northman. His father is overthrown by his uncle and he escapes into exile as a berserker and raider, when he hears word that his uncle now lives on a farmstead in Iceland (having lost his crown to the expanding Norwegian kingdom) and begins a quest of revenge tinged with magic and cast across the sprawling and epic Icelandic landscape.
The narrative is classic and compelling, leaving room for the characters and actors to breathe their own life into it. The main men of the movie: Amleth and his uncle Fjolnir serve as complicated antipodes, a righteous quest of revenge drives ones wish to destroy the other while ironically by the time revenge is coming it is Fjolnir who provides a quiet and stable life for a household while his berserker nephew is a force of destruction tormenting them. Driving this home are the star performances of Nicole Kidman as Amleth's mother Gudrun who is now also Fjolnir's wife, and Anya Taylor Joy as the slavic witch Olga, who cast more complicated lenses on the simple revenge tale that the men seem cast in.
The cinematography and landscape is gorgeous and amplifies the high melodrama of the plot up to and including the bizarrely gonzo conclusion. The magical and mythological elements are elusive and hallucinogenic, reaching out to unsettle our understanding of what is mostly a gritty and grounded (albeit epic and melodramatic) piece. In other words, it's classic Eggers.
A pleasure to watch.
Frankenstein:
So Guillermo del Toro made a Frankenstein movie. And it's pretty good. Like the Northman this is a sweeping melodrama of grand landscapes. Unlike some more studious fans, I chose to let myself go in with only a vague memory Frankenstein as I read it close to 15 years ago.
The for of film's two core acts follows Victor, the titular Frankenstein through his early life as he slowly grows his obsession with understanding and later creating human life. The more claustrophobic of the two acts, this one winds through the halls of palaces, then universities and cluttered apartments, and finally the cavernous ruined mill in which
The second act follows the Monster, portrayed as a just-more-than-naturally tall homunculus by Jacob Elordi, who escapes from the shackles of Victor to try and survive, then to try and find human connection, and finally to seek out his own master in the hopes of finding another of his kind, an Eve to his Adam.
Again the cinematography is quite compelling, though the film leans on a palette of colors that evoke bruised flesh in an uncomfortable vividness. Unlike the Northman I don't think this film necessarily puts in the work to complicate it's core duo beyond the rough sketch of a compelling dynamic the novel provides, and it doesn't have quite the deft hand at the characters (particularly women) beyond the two core men who can break that simple archetypal interaction.
Fun to watch, but not necessarily
Well, I've completely and utterly abandoned the pretense I was going to write a review for every pair of books in my double bingo quest. But, I suppose as the duties of my one hard mode card insist I should probably write reviews for the Not-A-Book square.
I'll admit I took the mildly boring route of choosing a few speculative films to watch. Not the most wild option out of those we've seen, but I always mean to watch these kinds of things and often miss out on them, so using Bingo as a little push is perhaps good.
The Northman:
Probably the film out of the speculative films I saw this year that I was most excited for, have longest wanted to get to, and ultimately liked the most. This is a Viking adventure epic from the unmistakable stylings of Robert Eggers. I loved his films the VVitch and Nosferatu, and had also enjoyed The Lighthouse so as a fantasy fan his sprawling Viking epic probably should have been something I tried earlier.
Loosely based on the underlying story that inspires Hamlet, the film follows Alexander Skarsgard as Amleth, the titular Northman. His father is overthrown by his uncle and he escapes into exile as a berserker and raider, when he hears word that his uncle now lives on a farmstead in Iceland (having lost his crown to the expanding Norwegian kingdom) and begins a quest of revenge tinged with magic and cast across the sprawling and epic Icelandic landscape.
The narrative is classic and compelling, leaving room for the characters and actors to breathe their own life into it. The main men of the movie: Amleth and his uncle Fjolnir serve as complicated antipodes, a righteous quest of revenge drives ones wish to destroy the other while ironically by the time revenge is coming it is Fjolnir who provides a quiet and stable life for a household while his berserker nephew is a force of destruction tormenting them. Driving this home are the star performances of Nicole Kidman as Amleth's mother Gudrun who is now also Fjolnir's wife, and Anya Taylor Joy as the slavic witch Olga, who cast more complicated lenses on the simple revenge tale that the men seem cast in.
The cinematography and landscape is gorgeous and amplifies the high melodrama of the plot up to and including the bizarrely gonzo conclusion. The magical and mythological elements are elusive and hallucinogenic, reaching out to unsettle our understanding of what is mostly a gritty and grounded (albeit epic and melodramatic) piece. In other words, it's classic Eggers.
A pleasure to watch.
Frankenstein:
So Guillermo del Toro made a Frankenstein movie. And it's pretty good. Like the Northman this is a sweeping melodrama of grand landscapes. Unlike some more studious fans, I chose to let myself go in with only a vague memory Frankenstein as I read it close to 15 years ago.
The for of film's two core acts follows Victor, the titular Frankenstein through his early life as he slowly grows his obsession with understanding and later creating human life. The more claustrophobic of the two acts, this one winds through the halls of palaces, then universities and cluttered apartments, and finally the cavernous ruined mill in which
The second act follows the Monster, portrayed as a just-more-than-naturally tall homunculus by Jacob Elordi, who escapes from the shackles of Victor to try and survive, then to try and find human connection, and finally to seek out his own master in the hopes of finding another of his kind, an Eve to his Adam.
Again the cinematography is quite compelling, though the film leans on a palette of colors that evoke bruised flesh in an uncomfortable vividness. Unlike the Northman I don't think this film necessarily puts in the work to complicate it's core duo beyond the rough sketch of a compelling dynamic the novel provides, and it doesn't have quite the deft hand at the characters (particularly women) beyond the two core men who can break that simple archetypal interaction.
Fun to watch, but not necessarily
My last 14 reviews for 2-card Bingo!
Bingo! And bingo again! I finished 2 cards this year, which is 2x as many as I managed last year. One card is all easy mode, one card is all hard mode. This was fun, but in future I'll just stick to one card. This ate up all my reading time for the year, including the time I usually reserve for nonfiction. My last batch of reviews is below – let me know what you think!
Overall highlights of my 2025 Bingo Year:
- House of Leaves, by Mark Danielewski
- Blacktongued Thief, by Christopher Buehlman
- The Rook, by Daniel O'Malley
- Carrion Saints, by Hiyodori
LAST FEW EASY MODE REVIEWS
(4) High Fashion (EM). Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett – 4/5
This novel is set in an alt-early 20th century world where faeries are a recognized phenomenon, studied by professional dryadologists, rather than a subject of myth. The story follows Emily Wilde, a Cambridge academic who travels to Ljosland in Scandinavia to study the faeries who live there. Emily meets the locals (both faeries and human) and gets mixed up in all sorts of trouble in her pursuit of knowledge. The novel has an epistolary structure – each chapter represents one day’s entry in Emily’s journal.
I really enjoyed this one. Emily is such a fun character to follow, intensely competent with respect to all things Faerie and equally incompetent in all things social/interpersonal. Bambleby makes an equally entertaining foil. The village of Hrafnsvik and all its inhabitants felt real, giving the novel a wholesome, cozy feel despite (1) the sometimes clinical tone of Emily’s journaling and (2) the dark, serious directions which the plot sometimes takes. The chapter where Emily >!cuts off her own finger!< was horrifying, epic, and intensely memorable. Unfortunately, the ending didn’t feel quite satisfying to me – I was expecting something a little cleverer from Emily than what the author gives us. I also found the epistolary structure inconsistent. Sometimes the author would lean into the journal-entry format of it all, but other times the style would shift into more traditional narration and dialogue that I couldn’t imagine Emily recording as written.
How it fits: clothing and sewing play a surprisingly large role in the plot for the second half of the book.
(5) Down with the System (EM). Morning Star, by Pierce Brown (Red Rising #3) – 4.5/5
This novel continues the story of interplanetary revolution which began with Red Rising, kicking off some time after the second book’s big cliffhanger ending. Like Golden Son, Morning Star keeps the focus on space opera politicking and sci-fi warfare. Like Golden Son, Morning Star is fast-paced without feeling rushed. The author takes the reader rapidly from one epic scene to the next while still finding room for emotional moments in between. All in all, a fantastic ending to the first trilogy – so much so that I’m not sure I want to muddy it by continuing to trilogy #2.
I don’t normally believe in pushing through a bad first book to get to high-quality sequels. If you already finished Red Rising, though, you’ve already done the hard part. The rest of the trilogy is a tremendous improvement in quality.
How it fits: Political revolution is literally the whole plot.
(11) Parent Protagonist (EM). The Dispossessed, by Ursula Le Guin – 4/5
The Dispossessed is classic sci-fi, set in the contrasting worlds of Urras and Anarres. Urras (or at least, the part of Urras the reader sees) is a highly-developed capitalist society with substantial inequality. Anarres, an anarchist society populated by revolutionaries self-exiled from Urras, is impoverished by comparison. The novel tells two narratives in alternating chapters, both following the protagonist Shevek, a physicist. The first follows Shevek’s childhood on Anarres and his partial disillusionment with Annaresti society, while the second follows adult Shevek’s extended visit to Urras.
I am, appropriately, of two minds about this book. I felt that the Anarres narrative
Bingo! And bingo again! I finished 2 cards this year, which is 2x as many as I managed last year. One card is all easy mode, one card is all hard mode. This was fun, but in future I'll just stick to one card. This ate up all my reading time for the year, including the time I usually reserve for nonfiction. My last batch of reviews is below – let me know what you think!
Overall highlights of my 2025 Bingo Year:
- House of Leaves, by Mark Danielewski
- Blacktongued Thief, by Christopher Buehlman
- The Rook, by Daniel O'Malley
- Carrion Saints, by Hiyodori
LAST FEW EASY MODE REVIEWS
(4) High Fashion (EM). Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett – 4/5
This novel is set in an alt-early 20th century world where faeries are a recognized phenomenon, studied by professional dryadologists, rather than a subject of myth. The story follows Emily Wilde, a Cambridge academic who travels to Ljosland in Scandinavia to study the faeries who live there. Emily meets the locals (both faeries and human) and gets mixed up in all sorts of trouble in her pursuit of knowledge. The novel has an epistolary structure – each chapter represents one day’s entry in Emily’s journal.
I really enjoyed this one. Emily is such a fun character to follow, intensely competent with respect to all things Faerie and equally incompetent in all things social/interpersonal. Bambleby makes an equally entertaining foil. The village of Hrafnsvik and all its inhabitants felt real, giving the novel a wholesome, cozy feel despite (1) the sometimes clinical tone of Emily’s journaling and (2) the dark, serious directions which the plot sometimes takes. The chapter where Emily >!cuts off her own finger!< was horrifying, epic, and intensely memorable. Unfortunately, the ending didn’t feel quite satisfying to me – I was expecting something a little cleverer from Emily than what the author gives us. I also found the epistolary structure inconsistent. Sometimes the author would lean into the journal-entry format of it all, but other times the style would shift into more traditional narration and dialogue that I couldn’t imagine Emily recording as written.
How it fits: clothing and sewing play a surprisingly large role in the plot for the second half of the book.
(5) Down with the System (EM). Morning Star, by Pierce Brown (Red Rising #3) – 4.5/5
This novel continues the story of interplanetary revolution which began with Red Rising, kicking off some time after the second book’s big cliffhanger ending. Like Golden Son, Morning Star keeps the focus on space opera politicking and sci-fi warfare. Like Golden Son, Morning Star is fast-paced without feeling rushed. The author takes the reader rapidly from one epic scene to the next while still finding room for emotional moments in between. All in all, a fantastic ending to the first trilogy – so much so that I’m not sure I want to muddy it by continuing to trilogy #2.
I don’t normally believe in pushing through a bad first book to get to high-quality sequels. If you already finished Red Rising, though, you’ve already done the hard part. The rest of the trilogy is a tremendous improvement in quality.
How it fits: Political revolution is literally the whole plot.
(11) Parent Protagonist (EM). The Dispossessed, by Ursula Le Guin – 4/5
The Dispossessed is classic sci-fi, set in the contrasting worlds of Urras and Anarres. Urras (or at least, the part of Urras the reader sees) is a highly-developed capitalist society with substantial inequality. Anarres, an anarchist society populated by revolutionaries self-exiled from Urras, is impoverished by comparison. The novel tells two narratives in alternating chapters, both following the protagonist Shevek, a physicist. The first follows Shevek’s childhood on Anarres and his partial disillusionment with Annaresti society, while the second follows adult Shevek’s extended visit to Urras.
I am, appropriately, of two minds about this book. I felt that the Anarres narrative
was spectacular; Le Guin gives us an incredibly thoughtful and nuanced picture of the political, cultural, and economic dynamics of Anarresti society. Also, whether or not you agree with the theoretical accuracy of that portrayal, Shevek’s character arc is timeless. I think many of us can resonate with the psychological struggles of an idealist who struggles to get by in a stagnant society which purports to represent grand principles but only sometimes succeeds. On the other hand, I was underwhelmed by the Urras narrative, which, among other flaws, was poorly paced. For 3/4 of the book, nothing happens on the Urras front. Then, with no particular inciting event, everything happens all at once.
How it fits: Shevek has kids, but they’re off-screen for nearly all of the novel and play very little role in the story.
(17) Elves and Dwarves (EM). Iron Axe, by Steven Harper – 3.5/5
Danr, an indentured farm laborer, is half-troll. In the novel’s Norse-themed setting, where humans fear both the trolls living under the mountains and the elvish slavers in their forests, that makes Danr an object of fear, mockery, and contempt. When strange things start to happen, Danr is forced to flee from his unhappy but familiar life and finds himself embroiled in an evolving conflict between the different fantasy peoples and the gods themselves.
This is a solid novel, every aspect of which – characters, worldbuilding, plot, prose – is reasonably well-done. The author gets a lot of good mileage out of Danr’s internal struggle to figure out where he belongs, and there’s a truth-telling magic which I liked. I don’t have any real criticisms, but nothing wowed me, either. I think my taste has drifted away from high-fantasy, but if that’s your cup of tea then this might be a good one to pick up.
How it fits: there’s elves and dwarves around, but the protagonist isn’t one of them.
(18) LGBTQIA Protagonist (EM). Carrion Saints, by Hiyodori – 4.5/5
I already reviewed this novel elsewhere for SPFBO, but it made such an impression on me that I’m reposting the review here. This book is amazing and people should know about it.
I really can’t describe this story better than the author does on Goodreads: “Carrion Saints is a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance between an immortal saint and a severed head.” Now, romance isn’t my favorite subgenre, but talk about a hook! The author sets that romance in a delightfully creepy postapocalyptic setting. The world is slowly eroding into the void, human civilization is in shambles, and immortal monsters of every variety prey on the survivors.
Enemies-to-lovers is such an easy trope to do badly. I feel like the most common approach is to base the initial opposition on a misunderstanding which the author can resolve to set up a reconciliation. That’s the easy path, which the author does not take. Instead, we’re treated to the fascinating complexity of an evolving relationship between two beings who are genuinely, fundamentally at odds. This is the most screwed-up, manipulative, psychologically twisted relationship I’ve seen since the TV show Hannibal. And it’s so well done. The story itself is structured like a travelogue. In other books that often bores me, but Hiyodori makes it work. I think it’s all the little details of the setting. Did the pasta in that village need to be shaped like a human ear? Did the tea in that other village need to be brewed from pink beetles? Of course not, but congratulations, you have my undivided attention.
The story is an extremely slow burn. It’s not always clear where the story is going, so the book demands a fair bit of trust from the reader. All I can say is that it all pays off in my favorite sort of ending: beautiful, bittersweet, and deeply existential.
How it fits: far from being marginalized, the protagonist here is near the top of the power curve
(20) Stranger in a Strange Land (EM). A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine – 4.5/5
A Memory Called Empire follows Mahit, an ambassador from the insignificant Lsel Station, newly arrived
How it fits: Shevek has kids, but they’re off-screen for nearly all of the novel and play very little role in the story.
(17) Elves and Dwarves (EM). Iron Axe, by Steven Harper – 3.5/5
Danr, an indentured farm laborer, is half-troll. In the novel’s Norse-themed setting, where humans fear both the trolls living under the mountains and the elvish slavers in their forests, that makes Danr an object of fear, mockery, and contempt. When strange things start to happen, Danr is forced to flee from his unhappy but familiar life and finds himself embroiled in an evolving conflict between the different fantasy peoples and the gods themselves.
This is a solid novel, every aspect of which – characters, worldbuilding, plot, prose – is reasonably well-done. The author gets a lot of good mileage out of Danr’s internal struggle to figure out where he belongs, and there’s a truth-telling magic which I liked. I don’t have any real criticisms, but nothing wowed me, either. I think my taste has drifted away from high-fantasy, but if that’s your cup of tea then this might be a good one to pick up.
How it fits: there’s elves and dwarves around, but the protagonist isn’t one of them.
(18) LGBTQIA Protagonist (EM). Carrion Saints, by Hiyodori – 4.5/5
I already reviewed this novel elsewhere for SPFBO, but it made such an impression on me that I’m reposting the review here. This book is amazing and people should know about it.
I really can’t describe this story better than the author does on Goodreads: “Carrion Saints is a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance between an immortal saint and a severed head.” Now, romance isn’t my favorite subgenre, but talk about a hook! The author sets that romance in a delightfully creepy postapocalyptic setting. The world is slowly eroding into the void, human civilization is in shambles, and immortal monsters of every variety prey on the survivors.
Enemies-to-lovers is such an easy trope to do badly. I feel like the most common approach is to base the initial opposition on a misunderstanding which the author can resolve to set up a reconciliation. That’s the easy path, which the author does not take. Instead, we’re treated to the fascinating complexity of an evolving relationship between two beings who are genuinely, fundamentally at odds. This is the most screwed-up, manipulative, psychologically twisted relationship I’ve seen since the TV show Hannibal. And it’s so well done. The story itself is structured like a travelogue. In other books that often bores me, but Hiyodori makes it work. I think it’s all the little details of the setting. Did the pasta in that village need to be shaped like a human ear? Did the tea in that other village need to be brewed from pink beetles? Of course not, but congratulations, you have my undivided attention.
The story is an extremely slow burn. It’s not always clear where the story is going, so the book demands a fair bit of trust from the reader. All I can say is that it all pays off in my favorite sort of ending: beautiful, bittersweet, and deeply existential.
How it fits: far from being marginalized, the protagonist here is near the top of the power curve
(20) Stranger in a Strange Land (EM). A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine – 4.5/5
A Memory Called Empire follows Mahit, an ambassador from the insignificant Lsel Station, newly arrived
in the interstellar Teixcalaanli Empire. Mahit must navigate unfamiliar Teixcalaanli politics and culture while (A) persuading the folks that matter not to conquer her people next and (B) figuring out who murdered her predecessor and why.
This novel is extremely well-crafted, but it’s the sort of book that will turn off readers who go in expecting it to be something that isn’t. Although nominally a space opera, the story is almost exclusively set in the smoke-filled rooms of Teixcalaanli imperial politics. There’s no laser guns, no space battles, and a bare minimum of space travel. Fundamentally, this is a slow-paced mystery with a focus on political intrigue and worldbuilding. If you like that sort of book, you’ll like A Memory Called Empire. The author writes excellent dialogue, does a great job putting you in Mahit’s emotional headspace, and placed a lot of emphasis on making the Aztec-themed Teixcalaanli culture feel alive. I also loved the concept of an imago-machine (the novel’s primary scifi element), by which people from Lsel station integrate their predecessors’ memories into their own minds to gain the benefit of that experience.
How it fits: Mahit visits Teixcalaan as an envoy, not as an immigrant or refugee
(22) Cozy SFF (EM). Half a Soul, by Olivia Atwater – 4/5
Half a Soul, set in Regency-Era England, follows Dora Ettings, who has been faerie-cursed since she was a child. Dora’s emotional life is extremely muted and she has only a loose grasp of social convention. Cue some predictably comic results when Dora moves to London, enters the aristocratic social scene.
This book was charming and delightful. The romance feels especially wholesome because of Dora’s unusual perspective. The story doesn’t rest exclusively on cozy, romatic vibes either – the romance plot runs parallel with a darker story about the dangers of the faerie world. Although I still found this novel a little too insubstantial for my taste, that faerie plotline did a lot to balance out the book’s tone.
How it fits: I read Small Miracles last year, which I’d recommend even more strongly (4.5/5).
(24) Not a Book (EM). Invincible (S1-3) – 3.5/5
How it fits: Hard Mode requires the reader to “write and post a review to r/fantasy.” This is very deliberately not a review. I’m declaring S4 unnecessary for the square, since it was rudely released less than 2 weeks before the bingo year ends.
LAST FEW HARD MODE REVIEWS
(5) Down with the System (HM). World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (Full Cast Audio), by Max Brooks – 4.5/5
WWZ is structured as a series of interview transcripts which were compiled by a journalist recording stories told by survivors of the Zombie War. These stories collectively tell of how the zombie plague emerged, how it managed to spread globally, the damage it did around the world, and how humanity ultimately began fighting back.
This book is excellent. The author puts so much care and creativity to show how the zombie plague afflicts every part of the world and how people would respond to it. There’s a brilliant blend of cynicism and idealism here; the interviews cover the full spectrum from depressingly bleak to inspiring. A couple of the interviews are duds, but they all tell separate stories so a bad chapter doesn’t taint the book.
Also, the audiobook is a whole different animal than the printed copy. It has a true all-star cast, including Mark Hamill, Alan Alda, and Rob Reiner. Highly recommend. By contrast, the World War Z movie sucks and, other than the name, has no relationship to the book.
How it fits: This is about the complete upheaval of almost every aspect of life on Earth … except for the governments, which mostly survive intact. Although a few governments do fall, that’s not the focus of the plot.
(9) Last in a Series (HM). The Song of Rhiannon, by Evangeline Walton (Mabinogion #3) – 4.5/5
The Song of Rhiannon is a retelling of the Third Branch of the Mabinogion, which is Welsh mythology. After the wars retold in The Children of Llyr,
This novel is extremely well-crafted, but it’s the sort of book that will turn off readers who go in expecting it to be something that isn’t. Although nominally a space opera, the story is almost exclusively set in the smoke-filled rooms of Teixcalaanli imperial politics. There’s no laser guns, no space battles, and a bare minimum of space travel. Fundamentally, this is a slow-paced mystery with a focus on political intrigue and worldbuilding. If you like that sort of book, you’ll like A Memory Called Empire. The author writes excellent dialogue, does a great job putting you in Mahit’s emotional headspace, and placed a lot of emphasis on making the Aztec-themed Teixcalaanli culture feel alive. I also loved the concept of an imago-machine (the novel’s primary scifi element), by which people from Lsel station integrate their predecessors’ memories into their own minds to gain the benefit of that experience.
How it fits: Mahit visits Teixcalaan as an envoy, not as an immigrant or refugee
(22) Cozy SFF (EM). Half a Soul, by Olivia Atwater – 4/5
Half a Soul, set in Regency-Era England, follows Dora Ettings, who has been faerie-cursed since she was a child. Dora’s emotional life is extremely muted and she has only a loose grasp of social convention. Cue some predictably comic results when Dora moves to London, enters the aristocratic social scene.
This book was charming and delightful. The romance feels especially wholesome because of Dora’s unusual perspective. The story doesn’t rest exclusively on cozy, romatic vibes either – the romance plot runs parallel with a darker story about the dangers of the faerie world. Although I still found this novel a little too insubstantial for my taste, that faerie plotline did a lot to balance out the book’s tone.
How it fits: I read Small Miracles last year, which I’d recommend even more strongly (4.5/5).
(24) Not a Book (EM). Invincible (S1-3) – 3.5/5
How it fits: Hard Mode requires the reader to “write and post a review to r/fantasy.” This is very deliberately not a review. I’m declaring S4 unnecessary for the square, since it was rudely released less than 2 weeks before the bingo year ends.
LAST FEW HARD MODE REVIEWS
(5) Down with the System (HM). World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (Full Cast Audio), by Max Brooks – 4.5/5
WWZ is structured as a series of interview transcripts which were compiled by a journalist recording stories told by survivors of the Zombie War. These stories collectively tell of how the zombie plague emerged, how it managed to spread globally, the damage it did around the world, and how humanity ultimately began fighting back.
This book is excellent. The author puts so much care and creativity to show how the zombie plague afflicts every part of the world and how people would respond to it. There’s a brilliant blend of cynicism and idealism here; the interviews cover the full spectrum from depressingly bleak to inspiring. A couple of the interviews are duds, but they all tell separate stories so a bad chapter doesn’t taint the book.
Also, the audiobook is a whole different animal than the printed copy. It has a true all-star cast, including Mark Hamill, Alan Alda, and Rob Reiner. Highly recommend. By contrast, the World War Z movie sucks and, other than the name, has no relationship to the book.
How it fits: This is about the complete upheaval of almost every aspect of life on Earth … except for the governments, which mostly survive intact. Although a few governments do fall, that’s not the focus of the plot.
(9) Last in a Series (HM). The Song of Rhiannon, by Evangeline Walton (Mabinogion #3) – 4.5/5
The Song of Rhiannon is a retelling of the Third Branch of the Mabinogion, which is Welsh mythology. After the wars retold in The Children of Llyr,
My last 14 reviews for 2-card Bingo!
Bingo! And bingo again! I finished 2 cards this year, which is 2x as many as I managed last year. One card is all easy mode, one card is all hard mode. This was fun, but in future I'll just stick to one card. This ate up all my reading time for the year, including the time I usually reserve for nonfiction. My last batch of reviews is below – let me know what you think!
**Overall highlights of my 2025 Bingo Year:**
- *House of Leaves*, by Mark Danielewski
- *Blacktongued Thief*, by Christopher Buehlman
- *The Rook*, by Daniel O'Malley
- *Carrion Saints*, by Hiyodori
**LAST FEW EASY MODE REVIEWS**
**(4) High Fashion (EM). *Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries*, by Heather Fawcett – 4/5**
This novel is set in an alt-early 20th century world where faeries are a recognized phenomenon, studied by professional dryadologists, rather than a subject of myth. The story follows Emily Wilde, a Cambridge academic who travels to Ljosland in Scandinavia to study the faeries who live there. Emily meets the locals (both faeries and human) and gets mixed up in all sorts of trouble in her pursuit of knowledge. The novel has an epistolary structure – each chapter represents one day’s entry in Emily’s journal.
I really enjoyed this one. Emily is such a fun character to follow, intensely competent with respect to all things Faerie and equally incompetent in all things social/interpersonal. Bambleby makes an equally entertaining foil. The village of Hrafnsvik and all its inhabitants felt real, giving the novel a wholesome, cozy feel despite (1) the sometimes clinical tone of Emily’s journaling and (2) the dark, serious directions which the plot sometimes takes. The chapter where Emily >!cuts off her own finger!< was horrifying, epic, and intensely memorable. Unfortunately, the ending didn’t feel quite satisfying to me – I was expecting something a little cleverer from Emily than what the author gives us. I also found the epistolary structure inconsistent. Sometimes the author would lean into the journal-entry format of it all, but other times the style would shift into more traditional narration and dialogue that I couldn’t imagine Emily recording as written.
How it fits: clothing and sewing play a surprisingly large role in the plot for the second half of the book.
**(5) Down with the System (EM). *Morning Star*, by Pierce Brown (Red Rising #3) – 4.5/5**
This novel continues the story of interplanetary revolution which began with *Red Rising*, kicking off some time after the second book’s big cliffhanger ending. Like *Golden Son*, *Morning Star* keeps the focus on space opera politicking and sci-fi warfare. Like *Golden Son*, *Morning Star* is fast-paced without feeling rushed. The author takes the reader rapidly from one epic scene to the next while still finding room for emotional moments in between. All in all, a fantastic ending to the first trilogy – so much so that I’m not sure I want to muddy it by continuing to trilogy #2.
I don’t normally believe in pushing through a bad first book to get to high-quality sequels. If you already finished *Red Rising*, though, you’ve already done the hard part. The rest of the trilogy is a tremendous improvement in quality.
How it fits: Political revolution is literally the whole plot.
**(11) Parent Protagonist (EM). *The Dispossessed*, by Ursula Le Guin – 4/5**
*The Dispossessed* is classic sci-fi, set in the contrasting worlds of Urras and Anarres. Urras (or at least, the part of Urras the reader sees) is a highly-developed capitalist society with substantial inequality. Anarres, an anarchist society populated by revolutionaries self-exiled from Urras, is impoverished by comparison. The novel tells two narratives in alternating chapters, both following the protagonist Shevek, a physicist. The first follows Shevek’s childhood on Anarres and his partial disillusionment with Annaresti society, while the second follows adult Shevek’s extended visit to Urras.
I am, appropriately, of two minds about this book. I felt that the Anarres narrative
Bingo! And bingo again! I finished 2 cards this year, which is 2x as many as I managed last year. One card is all easy mode, one card is all hard mode. This was fun, but in future I'll just stick to one card. This ate up all my reading time for the year, including the time I usually reserve for nonfiction. My last batch of reviews is below – let me know what you think!
**Overall highlights of my 2025 Bingo Year:**
- *House of Leaves*, by Mark Danielewski
- *Blacktongued Thief*, by Christopher Buehlman
- *The Rook*, by Daniel O'Malley
- *Carrion Saints*, by Hiyodori
**LAST FEW EASY MODE REVIEWS**
**(4) High Fashion (EM). *Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries*, by Heather Fawcett – 4/5**
This novel is set in an alt-early 20th century world where faeries are a recognized phenomenon, studied by professional dryadologists, rather than a subject of myth. The story follows Emily Wilde, a Cambridge academic who travels to Ljosland in Scandinavia to study the faeries who live there. Emily meets the locals (both faeries and human) and gets mixed up in all sorts of trouble in her pursuit of knowledge. The novel has an epistolary structure – each chapter represents one day’s entry in Emily’s journal.
I really enjoyed this one. Emily is such a fun character to follow, intensely competent with respect to all things Faerie and equally incompetent in all things social/interpersonal. Bambleby makes an equally entertaining foil. The village of Hrafnsvik and all its inhabitants felt real, giving the novel a wholesome, cozy feel despite (1) the sometimes clinical tone of Emily’s journaling and (2) the dark, serious directions which the plot sometimes takes. The chapter where Emily >!cuts off her own finger!< was horrifying, epic, and intensely memorable. Unfortunately, the ending didn’t feel quite satisfying to me – I was expecting something a little cleverer from Emily than what the author gives us. I also found the epistolary structure inconsistent. Sometimes the author would lean into the journal-entry format of it all, but other times the style would shift into more traditional narration and dialogue that I couldn’t imagine Emily recording as written.
How it fits: clothing and sewing play a surprisingly large role in the plot for the second half of the book.
**(5) Down with the System (EM). *Morning Star*, by Pierce Brown (Red Rising #3) – 4.5/5**
This novel continues the story of interplanetary revolution which began with *Red Rising*, kicking off some time after the second book’s big cliffhanger ending. Like *Golden Son*, *Morning Star* keeps the focus on space opera politicking and sci-fi warfare. Like *Golden Son*, *Morning Star* is fast-paced without feeling rushed. The author takes the reader rapidly from one epic scene to the next while still finding room for emotional moments in between. All in all, a fantastic ending to the first trilogy – so much so that I’m not sure I want to muddy it by continuing to trilogy #2.
I don’t normally believe in pushing through a bad first book to get to high-quality sequels. If you already finished *Red Rising*, though, you’ve already done the hard part. The rest of the trilogy is a tremendous improvement in quality.
How it fits: Political revolution is literally the whole plot.
**(11) Parent Protagonist (EM). *The Dispossessed*, by Ursula Le Guin – 4/5**
*The Dispossessed* is classic sci-fi, set in the contrasting worlds of Urras and Anarres. Urras (or at least, the part of Urras the reader sees) is a highly-developed capitalist society with substantial inequality. Anarres, an anarchist society populated by revolutionaries self-exiled from Urras, is impoverished by comparison. The novel tells two narratives in alternating chapters, both following the protagonist Shevek, a physicist. The first follows Shevek’s childhood on Anarres and his partial disillusionment with Annaresti society, while the second follows adult Shevek’s extended visit to Urras.
I am, appropriately, of two minds about this book. I felt that the Anarres narrative
was spectacular; Le Guin gives us an incredibly thoughtful and nuanced picture of the political, cultural, and economic dynamics of Anarresti society. Also, whether or not you agree with the theoretical accuracy of that portrayal, Shevek’s character arc is timeless. I think many of us can resonate with the psychological struggles of an idealist who struggles to get by in a stagnant society which purports to represent grand principles but only sometimes succeeds. On the other hand, I was underwhelmed by the Urras narrative, which, among other flaws, was poorly paced. For 3/4 of the book, nothing happens on the Urras front. Then, with no particular inciting event, everything happens all at once.
How it fits: Shevek has kids, but they’re off-screen for nearly all of the novel and play very little role in the story.
**(17) Elves and Dwarves (EM). *Iron Axe*, by Steven Harper – 3.5/5**
Danr, an indentured farm laborer, is half-troll. In the novel’s Norse-themed setting, where humans fear both the trolls living under the mountains and the elvish slavers in their forests, that makes Danr an object of fear, mockery, and contempt. When strange things start to happen, Danr is forced to flee from his unhappy but familiar life and finds himself embroiled in an evolving conflict between the different fantasy peoples and the gods themselves.
This is a solid novel, every aspect of which – characters, worldbuilding, plot, prose – is reasonably well-done. The author gets a lot of good mileage out of Danr’s internal struggle to figure out where he belongs, and there’s a truth-telling magic which I liked. I don’t have any real criticisms, but nothing wowed me, either. I think my taste has drifted away from high-fantasy, but if that’s your cup of tea then this might be a good one to pick up.
How it fits: there’s elves and dwarves around, but the protagonist isn’t one of them.
**(18) LGBTQIA Protagonist (EM). *Carrion Saints*, by Hiyodori – 4.5/5**
I already reviewed this novel elsewhere for SPFBO, but it made such an impression on me that I’m reposting the review here. This book is amazing and people should know about it.
I really can’t describe this story better than the author does on Goodreads: *“Carrion Saints is a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance between an immortal saint and a severed head.”* Now, romance isn’t my favorite subgenre, but talk about a hook! The author sets that romance in a delightfully creepy postapocalyptic setting. The world is slowly eroding into the void, human civilization is in shambles, and immortal monsters of every variety prey on the survivors.
Enemies-to-lovers is such an easy trope to do badly. I feel like the most common approach is to base the initial opposition on a misunderstanding which the author can resolve to set up a reconciliation. That’s the easy path, which the author does not take. Instead, we’re treated to the fascinating complexity of an evolving relationship between two beings who are genuinely, fundamentally at odds. This is the most screwed-up, manipulative, psychologically twisted relationship I’ve seen since the TV show *Hannibal*. And it’s *so well done.* The story itself is structured like a travelogue. In other books that often bores me, but Hiyodori makes it work. I think it’s all the little details of the setting. Did the pasta in that village need to be shaped like a human ear? Did the tea in that other village need to be brewed from pink beetles? Of course not, but congratulations, you have my undivided attention.
The story is an extremely slow burn. It’s not always clear where the story is going, so the book demands a fair bit of trust from the reader. All I can say is that it all pays off in my favorite sort of ending: beautiful, bittersweet, and deeply existential.
How it fits: far from being marginalized, the protagonist here is near the top of the power curve
**(20) Stranger in a Strange Land (EM). *A Memory Called Empire*, by Arkady Martine – 4.5/5**
*A Memory Called Empire* follows Mahit, an ambassador from the insignificant Lsel Station, newly arrived
How it fits: Shevek has kids, but they’re off-screen for nearly all of the novel and play very little role in the story.
**(17) Elves and Dwarves (EM). *Iron Axe*, by Steven Harper – 3.5/5**
Danr, an indentured farm laborer, is half-troll. In the novel’s Norse-themed setting, where humans fear both the trolls living under the mountains and the elvish slavers in their forests, that makes Danr an object of fear, mockery, and contempt. When strange things start to happen, Danr is forced to flee from his unhappy but familiar life and finds himself embroiled in an evolving conflict between the different fantasy peoples and the gods themselves.
This is a solid novel, every aspect of which – characters, worldbuilding, plot, prose – is reasonably well-done. The author gets a lot of good mileage out of Danr’s internal struggle to figure out where he belongs, and there’s a truth-telling magic which I liked. I don’t have any real criticisms, but nothing wowed me, either. I think my taste has drifted away from high-fantasy, but if that’s your cup of tea then this might be a good one to pick up.
How it fits: there’s elves and dwarves around, but the protagonist isn’t one of them.
**(18) LGBTQIA Protagonist (EM). *Carrion Saints*, by Hiyodori – 4.5/5**
I already reviewed this novel elsewhere for SPFBO, but it made such an impression on me that I’m reposting the review here. This book is amazing and people should know about it.
I really can’t describe this story better than the author does on Goodreads: *“Carrion Saints is a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance between an immortal saint and a severed head.”* Now, romance isn’t my favorite subgenre, but talk about a hook! The author sets that romance in a delightfully creepy postapocalyptic setting. The world is slowly eroding into the void, human civilization is in shambles, and immortal monsters of every variety prey on the survivors.
Enemies-to-lovers is such an easy trope to do badly. I feel like the most common approach is to base the initial opposition on a misunderstanding which the author can resolve to set up a reconciliation. That’s the easy path, which the author does not take. Instead, we’re treated to the fascinating complexity of an evolving relationship between two beings who are genuinely, fundamentally at odds. This is the most screwed-up, manipulative, psychologically twisted relationship I’ve seen since the TV show *Hannibal*. And it’s *so well done.* The story itself is structured like a travelogue. In other books that often bores me, but Hiyodori makes it work. I think it’s all the little details of the setting. Did the pasta in that village need to be shaped like a human ear? Did the tea in that other village need to be brewed from pink beetles? Of course not, but congratulations, you have my undivided attention.
The story is an extremely slow burn. It’s not always clear where the story is going, so the book demands a fair bit of trust from the reader. All I can say is that it all pays off in my favorite sort of ending: beautiful, bittersweet, and deeply existential.
How it fits: far from being marginalized, the protagonist here is near the top of the power curve
**(20) Stranger in a Strange Land (EM). *A Memory Called Empire*, by Arkady Martine – 4.5/5**
*A Memory Called Empire* follows Mahit, an ambassador from the insignificant Lsel Station, newly arrived
in the interstellar Teixcalaanli Empire. Mahit must navigate unfamiliar Teixcalaanli politics and culture while (A) persuading the folks that matter *not* to conquer her people next and (B) figuring out who murdered her predecessor and why.
This novel is extremely well-crafted, but it’s the sort of book that will turn off readers who go in expecting it to be something that isn’t. Although nominally a space opera, the story is almost exclusively set in the smoke-filled rooms of Teixcalaanli imperial politics. There’s no laser guns, no space battles, and a bare minimum of space travel. Fundamentally, this is a slow-paced mystery with a focus on political intrigue and worldbuilding. If you like that sort of book, you’ll like *A Memory Called Empire*. The author writes excellent dialogue, does a great job putting you in Mahit’s emotional headspace, and placed a lot of emphasis on making the Aztec-themed Teixcalaanli culture feel alive. I also loved the concept of an imago-machine (the novel’s primary scifi element), by which people from Lsel station integrate their predecessors’ memories into their own minds to gain the benefit of that experience.
How it fits: Mahit visits Teixcalaan as an envoy, not as an immigrant or refugee
**(22) Cozy SFF (EM). *Half a Soul*, by Olivia Atwater – 4/5**
*Half a Soul*, set in Regency-Era England, follows Dora Ettings, who has been faerie-cursed since she was a child. Dora’s emotional life is extremely muted and she has only a loose grasp of social convention. Cue some predictably comic results when Dora moves to London, enters the aristocratic social scene.
This book was charming and delightful. The romance feels especially wholesome because of Dora’s unusual perspective. The story doesn’t rest exclusively on cozy, romatic vibes either – the romance plot runs parallel with a darker story about the dangers of the faerie world. Although I still found this novel a little too insubstantial for my taste, that faerie plotline did a lot to balance out the book’s tone.
How it fits: I read *Small Miracles* last year, which I’d recommend even more strongly (4.5/5).
**(24) Not a Book (EM). *Invincible (S1-3)* – 3.5/5**
How it fits: Hard Mode requires the reader to “write and post a review to r/fantasy.” This is very deliberately *not* a review. I’m declaring S4 unnecessary for the square, since it was rudely released less than 2 weeks before the bingo year ends.
**LAST FEW HARD MODE REVIEWS**
**(5) Down with the System (HM). *World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (Full Cast Audio)*, by Max Brooks – 4.5/5**
*WWZ* is structured as a series of interview transcripts which were compiled by a journalist recording stories told by survivors of the Zombie War. These stories collectively tell of how the zombie plague emerged, how it managed to spread globally, the damage it did around the world, and how humanity ultimately began fighting back.
This book is excellent. The author puts so much care and creativity to show how the zombie plague afflicts every part of the world and how people would respond to it. There’s a brilliant blend of cynicism and idealism here; the interviews cover the full spectrum from depressingly bleak to inspiring. A couple of the interviews are duds, but they all tell separate stories so a bad chapter doesn’t taint the book.
Also, the audiobook is a whole different animal than the printed copy. It has a true all-star cast, including Mark Hamill, Alan Alda, and Rob Reiner. Highly recommend. By contrast, the *World War Z* movie sucks and, other than the name, has no relationship to the book.
How it fits: This is about the complete upheaval of almost every aspect of life on Earth … *except* for the governments, which mostly survive intact. Although a few governments do fall, that’s not the focus of the plot.
**(9) Last in a Series (HM). *The Song of Rhiannon*, by Evangeline Walton (Mabinogion #3) – 4.5/5**
*The Song of Rhiannon* is a retelling of the Third Branch of the Mabinogion, which is Welsh mythology. After the wars retold in *The Children of Llyr*,
This novel is extremely well-crafted, but it’s the sort of book that will turn off readers who go in expecting it to be something that isn’t. Although nominally a space opera, the story is almost exclusively set in the smoke-filled rooms of Teixcalaanli imperial politics. There’s no laser guns, no space battles, and a bare minimum of space travel. Fundamentally, this is a slow-paced mystery with a focus on political intrigue and worldbuilding. If you like that sort of book, you’ll like *A Memory Called Empire*. The author writes excellent dialogue, does a great job putting you in Mahit’s emotional headspace, and placed a lot of emphasis on making the Aztec-themed Teixcalaanli culture feel alive. I also loved the concept of an imago-machine (the novel’s primary scifi element), by which people from Lsel station integrate their predecessors’ memories into their own minds to gain the benefit of that experience.
How it fits: Mahit visits Teixcalaan as an envoy, not as an immigrant or refugee
**(22) Cozy SFF (EM). *Half a Soul*, by Olivia Atwater – 4/5**
*Half a Soul*, set in Regency-Era England, follows Dora Ettings, who has been faerie-cursed since she was a child. Dora’s emotional life is extremely muted and she has only a loose grasp of social convention. Cue some predictably comic results when Dora moves to London, enters the aristocratic social scene.
This book was charming and delightful. The romance feels especially wholesome because of Dora’s unusual perspective. The story doesn’t rest exclusively on cozy, romatic vibes either – the romance plot runs parallel with a darker story about the dangers of the faerie world. Although I still found this novel a little too insubstantial for my taste, that faerie plotline did a lot to balance out the book’s tone.
How it fits: I read *Small Miracles* last year, which I’d recommend even more strongly (4.5/5).
**(24) Not a Book (EM). *Invincible (S1-3)* – 3.5/5**
How it fits: Hard Mode requires the reader to “write and post a review to r/fantasy.” This is very deliberately *not* a review. I’m declaring S4 unnecessary for the square, since it was rudely released less than 2 weeks before the bingo year ends.
**LAST FEW HARD MODE REVIEWS**
**(5) Down with the System (HM). *World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (Full Cast Audio)*, by Max Brooks – 4.5/5**
*WWZ* is structured as a series of interview transcripts which were compiled by a journalist recording stories told by survivors of the Zombie War. These stories collectively tell of how the zombie plague emerged, how it managed to spread globally, the damage it did around the world, and how humanity ultimately began fighting back.
This book is excellent. The author puts so much care and creativity to show how the zombie plague afflicts every part of the world and how people would respond to it. There’s a brilliant blend of cynicism and idealism here; the interviews cover the full spectrum from depressingly bleak to inspiring. A couple of the interviews are duds, but they all tell separate stories so a bad chapter doesn’t taint the book.
Also, the audiobook is a whole different animal than the printed copy. It has a true all-star cast, including Mark Hamill, Alan Alda, and Rob Reiner. Highly recommend. By contrast, the *World War Z* movie sucks and, other than the name, has no relationship to the book.
How it fits: This is about the complete upheaval of almost every aspect of life on Earth … *except* for the governments, which mostly survive intact. Although a few governments do fall, that’s not the focus of the plot.
**(9) Last in a Series (HM). *The Song of Rhiannon*, by Evangeline Walton (Mabinogion #3) – 4.5/5**
*The Song of Rhiannon* is a retelling of the Third Branch of the Mabinogion, which is Welsh mythology. After the wars retold in *The Children of Llyr*,
two survivors return to Wales and find themselves at a loss for what to do with the rest of their lives. One of them proposes the following solution to the other: come home with me, seduce my mom, and we can all just hang out together. After which, various mystically bad things occur.
I’m being a little facetious here; this is a great retelling. Walton does an excellent job making the characters feel like human beings doing psychologically plausible things, which is a tall order for a retelling – mythical heroes often just *do stuff*. The best part is the prose, which preserves that fantastical and mythic feeling even as Walton turns the source material into a modern-ish novel.
One note: whoever published this edition should be fired. Granted, it’s probably too late for that, since it was published in 1972. The cover looks like the world’s worst porno, which is especially strange because this book isn’t sexually explicit or erotic in any way. On top of that, literally everything in the back cover blurb occurs in the last 50% of the novel. Some of it in happens in the last 25%!
For your amusement: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28796.The_Song_of_Rhiannon
How it fits: I’m shamelessly relying on a technicality here. *The Song of Rhiannon* represents the third chronological branch of the Mabinogion – the second to last, out of four). I haven’t yet read the 4th. However, the 4th and chronologically final branch was published (for whatever reason) before all the rest. So *The Song of Rhiannon* is the fourth and final release by publication date.
**(11) Parent Protagonist (HM). *The Road*, by Cormac McCarthy – 4/5**
After an unspecified apocalypse, a father and his young son wander through the empty ruins that used to be the United States. They try to survive and protect each other while “carrying the fire” of human goodness in a fallen world.
This book should have been very boring. Read cynically, it’s little more than a laundry list of survival chores: look for food, try to stay warm, hide from desperate people, repeat. Instead, McCarthy makes this struggle feel deeply meaningful. The setting is nothing but ruin and despair, but that allows the novel’s core theme to come through with perfect clarity and deep emotion: that even a few peoples’ love and hope and conviction still matters.
Unfortunately, the ending is terrible. I’m still angry about it. McCarthy literally laid all the foundations for a perfect ending, then blew it.
How it fits: this father-son relationship is the whole focus of the book.
**(17) Elves and Dwarves (HM). *Elric of Melniboné (The Elric Saga, Vol. 1)*, by Michael Moorcock – 3.5/5**
Elric is the emperor of Melniboné, which ruled the world for millennia before the cruel, inhuman Melnibonéans slid into a decadent and stagnant irrelevance. This collection is comprised of four Elric novellas.
The first two novellas in this collection, *Elric of Melniboné* and *The Fortress of the Pearl* are fun and pulpy. Classic sword and sorcery, though not masterpieces. Elric is a fascinating character: he’s the only Melnibonéans with a glimmer of conscience and introspection, which alienates him from his subjects and pushes them towards other potential rulers who act as a Melnibonéan ought. The third novella, *Sailor on the Seas of Fate*, is entertaining but a little too surreal and aimless for me. The fourth novella, *Weird of the White Wolf*, is terrible; Elric is barely recognizeable as the same person. While I recognize that these novellas were all published at different times, this sort of massive character discontinuity is a fatal flaw in a a collection of novellas which purports to tell Elric’s story in chronological order.
How it fits: The Melnibonéans aren't explicitly elves, but they're nonhuman, elflike in description, supernaturally elegant, and magically inclined. My understanding is that Moorcock wrote them as a subversion of Tolkien's elves and helped to create the dark elf trope.
**(19) (Substitution Square: 2021) New to You Author (HM) – *Mother of Learning, Arc 1*, by Domagoj
I’m being a little facetious here; this is a great retelling. Walton does an excellent job making the characters feel like human beings doing psychologically plausible things, which is a tall order for a retelling – mythical heroes often just *do stuff*. The best part is the prose, which preserves that fantastical and mythic feeling even as Walton turns the source material into a modern-ish novel.
One note: whoever published this edition should be fired. Granted, it’s probably too late for that, since it was published in 1972. The cover looks like the world’s worst porno, which is especially strange because this book isn’t sexually explicit or erotic in any way. On top of that, literally everything in the back cover blurb occurs in the last 50% of the novel. Some of it in happens in the last 25%!
For your amusement: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28796.The_Song_of_Rhiannon
How it fits: I’m shamelessly relying on a technicality here. *The Song of Rhiannon* represents the third chronological branch of the Mabinogion – the second to last, out of four). I haven’t yet read the 4th. However, the 4th and chronologically final branch was published (for whatever reason) before all the rest. So *The Song of Rhiannon* is the fourth and final release by publication date.
**(11) Parent Protagonist (HM). *The Road*, by Cormac McCarthy – 4/5**
After an unspecified apocalypse, a father and his young son wander through the empty ruins that used to be the United States. They try to survive and protect each other while “carrying the fire” of human goodness in a fallen world.
This book should have been very boring. Read cynically, it’s little more than a laundry list of survival chores: look for food, try to stay warm, hide from desperate people, repeat. Instead, McCarthy makes this struggle feel deeply meaningful. The setting is nothing but ruin and despair, but that allows the novel’s core theme to come through with perfect clarity and deep emotion: that even a few peoples’ love and hope and conviction still matters.
Unfortunately, the ending is terrible. I’m still angry about it. McCarthy literally laid all the foundations for a perfect ending, then blew it.
How it fits: this father-son relationship is the whole focus of the book.
**(17) Elves and Dwarves (HM). *Elric of Melniboné (The Elric Saga, Vol. 1)*, by Michael Moorcock – 3.5/5**
Elric is the emperor of Melniboné, which ruled the world for millennia before the cruel, inhuman Melnibonéans slid into a decadent and stagnant irrelevance. This collection is comprised of four Elric novellas.
The first two novellas in this collection, *Elric of Melniboné* and *The Fortress of the Pearl* are fun and pulpy. Classic sword and sorcery, though not masterpieces. Elric is a fascinating character: he’s the only Melnibonéans with a glimmer of conscience and introspection, which alienates him from his subjects and pushes them towards other potential rulers who act as a Melnibonéan ought. The third novella, *Sailor on the Seas of Fate*, is entertaining but a little too surreal and aimless for me. The fourth novella, *Weird of the White Wolf*, is terrible; Elric is barely recognizeable as the same person. While I recognize that these novellas were all published at different times, this sort of massive character discontinuity is a fatal flaw in a a collection of novellas which purports to tell Elric’s story in chronological order.
How it fits: The Melnibonéans aren't explicitly elves, but they're nonhuman, elflike in description, supernaturally elegant, and magically inclined. My understanding is that Moorcock wrote them as a subversion of Tolkien's elves and helped to create the dark elf trope.
**(19) (Substitution Square: 2021) New to You Author (HM) – *Mother of Learning, Arc 1*, by Domagoj
Goodreads
The Song of Rhiannon
A retelling of The Mabinogion in novel form. Manawydon …
Kurmaić – 2.5/5**
Zorian is an annoying teenage kid who goes to magic school, then gets stuck in a time loop.
I hated this book. It stayed *just* entertaining enough to keep me wondering if it was on the brink of turning into something fun, but never did. The author uses the time loop structure to set up a story which blends mystery elements with slice-of-life coziness. Ordinarily, I like both of those things, but Zorian was too annoying for me to enjoy watching him live his life. The prose was clunky and the infodumps were blatant. Also, I think the audiobook made the whole experience worse, since the narrator did *too* good a job committing to the text. A character who’s only mildly annoying on the page becomes infuriating when you have to listen to them whine nasally in your ears.
How it fits: I know nothing about this author and can’t even remember how this book found its way onto my TBR.
**(23) Generic Title (HM) – *The Broken Sword*, by Poul Anderson – 4/5**
*The Broken Sword*, a fantasy classic from the 1950s, is heavily inspired by ye olde Norse sagas. The story follows Skafloc, a child of vikings settled in England, stolen by the elves as a baby. Skafloc grows up in Alfheim and fights for his adopted people against both trolls and his changeling counterpart Valgard.
This novel is grand and ambitious, with archaic language that captures the feel of myth despite the sub-200 page count. The author succeeds in telegraphing the ultimate tragedy of the story without sacrificing tension. Some readers (though not me) might find it unnecessarily dark or edgy – these are the cold, inhuman elves of myth, not the wise elves of LOTR, and they’re only marginally less evil than the trolls they fight. In a way reminiscent of *The Worm Ouroborous*, the morality of this story is somewhat orthogonal to modern ethics. Skafloc and the other heroes of this novel are those who surmount great obstacles with courage, not those who act rightly or selflessly.
A few things bothered me, though. The writing style keeps some distance between the reader and the characters, which makes it hard to connect with the characters emotionally. The ending is also rather abrupt; the last few pages of the book are the climax, which left me missing some sort of falling action or space to engage with the story’s emotional fallout.
How it fits: Self-explanatory
**(24) Not a Book (HM) – *God of War (2018)* – 4/5**
This is not the first entry in the God of War series, but it’s the first one for me. My understanding is that it’s a reset for the series: the protagonist Kratos has left Ancient Greece for Scandinavia, where he faces threats from Norse mythology instead. The story follows Kratos and his son Atreus as they go on a personal journey which takes them through many different realms and puts them up against the Norse gods themselves.
This game was quite good. Lots of fighting and puzzle elements, with great scenery and lore about the Norse gods and giants. There’s a decent character journey woven into the gameplay, where Kratos and Atreus grow closer together and Kratos learns to be more than the cold, distant father you meet when the game begins.
How it fits: Self-explanatory
https://redd.it/1s6zfvt
@r_fantasy
Zorian is an annoying teenage kid who goes to magic school, then gets stuck in a time loop.
I hated this book. It stayed *just* entertaining enough to keep me wondering if it was on the brink of turning into something fun, but never did. The author uses the time loop structure to set up a story which blends mystery elements with slice-of-life coziness. Ordinarily, I like both of those things, but Zorian was too annoying for me to enjoy watching him live his life. The prose was clunky and the infodumps were blatant. Also, I think the audiobook made the whole experience worse, since the narrator did *too* good a job committing to the text. A character who’s only mildly annoying on the page becomes infuriating when you have to listen to them whine nasally in your ears.
How it fits: I know nothing about this author and can’t even remember how this book found its way onto my TBR.
**(23) Generic Title (HM) – *The Broken Sword*, by Poul Anderson – 4/5**
*The Broken Sword*, a fantasy classic from the 1950s, is heavily inspired by ye olde Norse sagas. The story follows Skafloc, a child of vikings settled in England, stolen by the elves as a baby. Skafloc grows up in Alfheim and fights for his adopted people against both trolls and his changeling counterpart Valgard.
This novel is grand and ambitious, with archaic language that captures the feel of myth despite the sub-200 page count. The author succeeds in telegraphing the ultimate tragedy of the story without sacrificing tension. Some readers (though not me) might find it unnecessarily dark or edgy – these are the cold, inhuman elves of myth, not the wise elves of LOTR, and they’re only marginally less evil than the trolls they fight. In a way reminiscent of *The Worm Ouroborous*, the morality of this story is somewhat orthogonal to modern ethics. Skafloc and the other heroes of this novel are those who surmount great obstacles with courage, not those who act rightly or selflessly.
A few things bothered me, though. The writing style keeps some distance between the reader and the characters, which makes it hard to connect with the characters emotionally. The ending is also rather abrupt; the last few pages of the book are the climax, which left me missing some sort of falling action or space to engage with the story’s emotional fallout.
How it fits: Self-explanatory
**(24) Not a Book (HM) – *God of War (2018)* – 4/5**
This is not the first entry in the God of War series, but it’s the first one for me. My understanding is that it’s a reset for the series: the protagonist Kratos has left Ancient Greece for Scandinavia, where he faces threats from Norse mythology instead. The story follows Kratos and his son Atreus as they go on a personal journey which takes them through many different realms and puts them up against the Norse gods themselves.
This game was quite good. Lots of fighting and puzzle elements, with great scenery and lore about the Norse gods and giants. There’s a decent character journey woven into the gameplay, where Kratos and Atreus grow closer together and Kratos learns to be more than the cold, distant father you meet when the game begins.
How it fits: Self-explanatory
https://redd.it/1s6zfvt
@r_fantasy
Reddit
From the Fantasy community on Reddit: My last 14 reviews for 2-card Bingo!
Explore this post and more from the Fantasy community
BINGO! (so much fun).
Wow, this was great. A gigantic thank you to the Bingo 2025 team, the mods, everyone who made recommendations and everyone who posted early Bingo cards while I lurked and tried to figure out how to do this. To u/messi1045 thank you so much for the autofill template. I would not have posted my card otherwise and I was just delighted to see magic populate my books into slots.
These are all wonderful books and by no means all that I read, it was a good year for SFF. Regarding ratings, five is sublime, four is outstanding, three is pretty darn good/will read the author again I try to rate against my expectations for the subgenre--I don't expect from space opera what I expect from cozy fantasy. Ninety percent of these books were on audio.
https://preview.redd.it/oo1n59ufk2sg1.png?width=1722&format=png&auto=webp&s=79ac011ef2987376ab69174c3784db6661cdc423
My personal rules 1) Published in 2025 whenever possible 2) Hard mode 3) If a book I was tempted to DNF was generating buzz and some good reviews on r/fantasy push through to finish 4) Only include books that I'd be willing to recommend and 5) Use the library as much as possible. I am typically not a reviewer/or rater although I put stars on the form. Maybe for next year and maybe more thought into discouraging people from reading really fun books by not giving a 4 or a 5. So, some last minute superlatives.
Favorite: The Everlasting by Alix Harrow. Knights & Paladins HM.
Most surprising: The Bewitching by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia which I liked far more than I expected (I don't generally read horror). Author of Color HM.
Most fun: Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove. I thought this book was hilarious and I found it at random by getting an armful from New Releases shelves to get a start on Bingo. My substitution for Generic Title, Picked based on the cover (2024).
Great r/fantasy recs: The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes (Fashion HM), Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy (Cozy HM), A Letter from the Lonesome Shore by Sylvie Cantrell (Epistolary HM) ((someone recommended her first book, A Letter from the Luminous Deep) and Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill (Published in 2025 HM).
Treasure hunt on my own shelves: I finally listened o a 2014 Gail Carriger YA (Crudrat) for Hidden Gem which was light but enjoyable. I also had a lot of fun reading Crown Tourney (Five Short Stories) a book I'd gotten to support a favorite (Doctor Who) podcaster, Tansy Rayner Roberts.
Brain stretchers: Without Bingo, I would never have read Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorofor (LGBTQ HM) or Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman (Stranger in a Strange Land, arguable HM but I didn't count it as such). While I can't say that either of these books were perfect, they were both written by authors teasing out themes in complex narrative structures and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading them.
Most disappointing. I struggled to find a book for this, I had already read all those generic title epic fantasy books! I was excited to get access via Hoopla to Red Sword by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur, to use for Generic Title/2025 pub date. But, I just could not get through it. Sigh. So I substituted another 2025 book instead.
Looking forward to Bingo 2026!
https://redd.it/1s7aul1
@r_fantasy
Wow, this was great. A gigantic thank you to the Bingo 2025 team, the mods, everyone who made recommendations and everyone who posted early Bingo cards while I lurked and tried to figure out how to do this. To u/messi1045 thank you so much for the autofill template. I would not have posted my card otherwise and I was just delighted to see magic populate my books into slots.
These are all wonderful books and by no means all that I read, it was a good year for SFF. Regarding ratings, five is sublime, four is outstanding, three is pretty darn good/will read the author again I try to rate against my expectations for the subgenre--I don't expect from space opera what I expect from cozy fantasy. Ninety percent of these books were on audio.
https://preview.redd.it/oo1n59ufk2sg1.png?width=1722&format=png&auto=webp&s=79ac011ef2987376ab69174c3784db6661cdc423
My personal rules 1) Published in 2025 whenever possible 2) Hard mode 3) If a book I was tempted to DNF was generating buzz and some good reviews on r/fantasy push through to finish 4) Only include books that I'd be willing to recommend and 5) Use the library as much as possible. I am typically not a reviewer/or rater although I put stars on the form. Maybe for next year and maybe more thought into discouraging people from reading really fun books by not giving a 4 or a 5. So, some last minute superlatives.
Favorite: The Everlasting by Alix Harrow. Knights & Paladins HM.
Most surprising: The Bewitching by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia which I liked far more than I expected (I don't generally read horror). Author of Color HM.
Most fun: Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove. I thought this book was hilarious and I found it at random by getting an armful from New Releases shelves to get a start on Bingo. My substitution for Generic Title, Picked based on the cover (2024).
Great r/fantasy recs: The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes (Fashion HM), Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy (Cozy HM), A Letter from the Lonesome Shore by Sylvie Cantrell (Epistolary HM) ((someone recommended her first book, A Letter from the Luminous Deep) and Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill (Published in 2025 HM).
Treasure hunt on my own shelves: I finally listened o a 2014 Gail Carriger YA (Crudrat) for Hidden Gem which was light but enjoyable. I also had a lot of fun reading Crown Tourney (Five Short Stories) a book I'd gotten to support a favorite (Doctor Who) podcaster, Tansy Rayner Roberts.
Brain stretchers: Without Bingo, I would never have read Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorofor (LGBTQ HM) or Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman (Stranger in a Strange Land, arguable HM but I didn't count it as such). While I can't say that either of these books were perfect, they were both written by authors teasing out themes in complex narrative structures and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading them.
Most disappointing. I struggled to find a book for this, I had already read all those generic title epic fantasy books! I was excited to get access via Hoopla to Red Sword by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur, to use for Generic Title/2025 pub date. But, I just could not get through it. Sigh. So I substituted another 2025 book instead.
Looking forward to Bingo 2026!
https://redd.it/1s7aul1
@r_fantasy
Reddit
Check out messi1045’s Reddit profile
Explore messi1045’s posts and comments on Reddit
Review of Clair Obscur Expedition 33 for Bingo's Not a Book Square
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Not a Book HM)
4.75 stars
This one became a bit longer than the others on the post I'm going to be making for my other squares, so I decided to make it its own post here!
I would have honestly preferred to count and review either Silksong or Deltarune Chapter 3 + 4 for this square because I connected to both of those games more than Expedition 33, but neither of those felt in spirit of the square being about trying something new that isn’t a book, as I was already a fan of both video game series before playing them.
That being said, Expedition 33 was still an outstanding game that I enjoyed my time with quite a bit! It was really fun to try to plan out moves that synchronize with each other during battles, and the enemies were different enough to where I never felt like I was going through the motions when fighting them, unlike some other turn-based games. Some of the fights were also just absolutely gorgeous in their own rights.
The music of the game is absolutely excellent, and many of the tracks have made their way onto my playlist. Some of my favorites (though not quite all of them, because that list would be very long) are Goblu, Monocco, Poème D'amour, Vers le Sommet, Une vie à t'aimer (of course lol), Our Drafts Unite, The Whale Next to the Cliff, Our Painted Death, and Une vie à peindre.
The plot of the game had one of the best twists that I’ve seen in gaming, and it recontextualized the rest of the game up to that point in a super fascinating way, though I did find the >!world and politics outside of the Canvas a good bit more intriguing than what was happening in the Canvas, and wish we got a bit more insight into the worldbuilding out there, though I definitely understand the decision to continue to concentrate on the Canvas, as it’s where the heart of the story resides. Perhaps we’ll get more about the outside world in a future game?!<
The way the game messed with gameplay and tried to manipulate the player’s feeling to draw parallels to what was happening in-world was super fascinating too. I can think of two examples of this that really stood out to me from the top of my head. >!One instance was how Verso very abruptly replaced Gustave in the party, trying to evoke the feeling in the player that he was just a replacement for a dead character that we cared about much more at the time, to draw a parallel to how many of the Dessendre family members would view him as a hollow replacement of the real Verso. The other is how the Paintress starts healing you during the final phase of her battle as a way to try to preserve her and Verso’s creations as long as she could before Renoir Gommaged them after she was ejected from the Canvas.!<
I haven’t done everything in the postgame yet, but one thing I did get around to was >!The Reacher. Gosh Renoir cooked with the allegory here. It was super touching to see how much he cared for Alicia/Maelle in the creation of her Axon, and in the way it represented his hope that she would be able to continue to fly and thrive despite the people and circumstances wishing to tear her down. And, the fact that Maelle is afraid of heights hinting both towards the fact that Renoir doesn't quite understand her needs and desires despite his best intentions, and the fact that she doesn't think that she can overcome her challenges in the real world is so, so good in a depressing sort of way. And don’t even get me started on Painted Alicia’s scenes here. It was so beautifully tragic. Even outside the Dessendre family narrative, it was a super cool area in general. I really loved the contrast of the Reacher against the sinister enemies you found there, and the sort of scarecrow monster feeling most of them invoked was really neat theming!!<
Finally, the ending was incredible, and devastating all at once. >!The fact that you got to choose the fate of the Canvas yourself was incredibly impactful, and I stared at the screen for a good while just trying to figure out whose side
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Not a Book HM)
4.75 stars
This one became a bit longer than the others on the post I'm going to be making for my other squares, so I decided to make it its own post here!
I would have honestly preferred to count and review either Silksong or Deltarune Chapter 3 + 4 for this square because I connected to both of those games more than Expedition 33, but neither of those felt in spirit of the square being about trying something new that isn’t a book, as I was already a fan of both video game series before playing them.
That being said, Expedition 33 was still an outstanding game that I enjoyed my time with quite a bit! It was really fun to try to plan out moves that synchronize with each other during battles, and the enemies were different enough to where I never felt like I was going through the motions when fighting them, unlike some other turn-based games. Some of the fights were also just absolutely gorgeous in their own rights.
The music of the game is absolutely excellent, and many of the tracks have made their way onto my playlist. Some of my favorites (though not quite all of them, because that list would be very long) are Goblu, Monocco, Poème D'amour, Vers le Sommet, Une vie à t'aimer (of course lol), Our Drafts Unite, The Whale Next to the Cliff, Our Painted Death, and Une vie à peindre.
The plot of the game had one of the best twists that I’ve seen in gaming, and it recontextualized the rest of the game up to that point in a super fascinating way, though I did find the >!world and politics outside of the Canvas a good bit more intriguing than what was happening in the Canvas, and wish we got a bit more insight into the worldbuilding out there, though I definitely understand the decision to continue to concentrate on the Canvas, as it’s where the heart of the story resides. Perhaps we’ll get more about the outside world in a future game?!<
The way the game messed with gameplay and tried to manipulate the player’s feeling to draw parallels to what was happening in-world was super fascinating too. I can think of two examples of this that really stood out to me from the top of my head. >!One instance was how Verso very abruptly replaced Gustave in the party, trying to evoke the feeling in the player that he was just a replacement for a dead character that we cared about much more at the time, to draw a parallel to how many of the Dessendre family members would view him as a hollow replacement of the real Verso. The other is how the Paintress starts healing you during the final phase of her battle as a way to try to preserve her and Verso’s creations as long as she could before Renoir Gommaged them after she was ejected from the Canvas.!<
I haven’t done everything in the postgame yet, but one thing I did get around to was >!The Reacher. Gosh Renoir cooked with the allegory here. It was super touching to see how much he cared for Alicia/Maelle in the creation of her Axon, and in the way it represented his hope that she would be able to continue to fly and thrive despite the people and circumstances wishing to tear her down. And, the fact that Maelle is afraid of heights hinting both towards the fact that Renoir doesn't quite understand her needs and desires despite his best intentions, and the fact that she doesn't think that she can overcome her challenges in the real world is so, so good in a depressing sort of way. And don’t even get me started on Painted Alicia’s scenes here. It was so beautifully tragic. Even outside the Dessendre family narrative, it was a super cool area in general. I really loved the contrast of the Reacher against the sinister enemies you found there, and the sort of scarecrow monster feeling most of them invoked was really neat theming!!<
Finally, the ending was incredible, and devastating all at once. >!The fact that you got to choose the fate of the Canvas yourself was incredibly impactful, and I stared at the screen for a good while just trying to figure out whose side