[Graphic novels get their own post here!]
My favourite - mostly queer, SFF & historical - books I read this year. It was a rough year and there’s so much horrific news for marginalised people of many kinds, I mostly read purely for fun to bolster my morale, and made a real effort to just not finish books I wasn’t vibing with - it meant I found a TON of books I really loved this year!!!
Almost all read on audio via libro.fm - extremely smooth to use & affordable while also supporting bookshops - and I tend to only read if I like the narrator. I’m trying to make a habit of giving them their due credit!
Thoughtful SFF that stuck with me
Favourite Audio:
The River Has Roots - Amal El-Mohtar
Little 3-hour queer fae folktale!! I heard the author speak wonderfully on a Cymera (Edinburgh SFFH book festival) digital panel, and discovered this is a retelling of the folk song The Bonny Swans, drawing on her own time living in Dartmoor as well as her childhood in Lebanon.
The audio version has this AMAZING music of Amal and her sister actually singing traditional songs from both cultures, as well as the Palestinian resistance song Tarweedeh Shmaali. I normally really don’t go in for extra sounds on audiobook, but this is just perfect and adds so much - I believe it was designed for audio, it’s extremely well-produced. Listen if you want something short and lyrical, melancholy and calm and, uh, revengeful.
Great audio by Gem Carmella, et al.
Most mindblowing:
The Spear Cuts Through Water - Simon Jimenez
TAPESTRY of a story which does something I’ve never seen before, seamlessly switching POVs through first, second and third person and moving in and out of characters including briefly into strangers’ heads, making it feel truly mythic and wide-reaching. The effect is feeling everyone’s small human concerns and flaws linked together and tied up with the big scale world.
There were parts where I was less engaged and parts that were hard to read around disabled characters because they were SO dark, but it felt so worth it for the bits I found riveting and incredibly affecting and inspiring. What a treat to have read!!!!
Solid audio by Joel De La Fuente
Favourite short stories:
Salt Slow - Julia Armfield
I don’t usually get on with the more literary end of SFF, but I’ll make an exception for Julia Armfield and her incredible prose, sad wet lesbians and poignant beautifully written reflections on womanhood.
Great audio by Kristin Atherton
Entertaining SFF I was obsessed with
Probably my favourite read of the year:
The tainted cup (& sequel) - Robert Jackson Bennett
I would read ten more of these insane books. Left me bereft and still thinking about the characters for a week after finishing. Won several big awards and I can see why.
Both SF and F. MURDER MYSTERY. Everything’s BUGS and eldritch moss. Gruesome (compliment). Set in a big weird bureaucracy full of genetically-altered people, plants, fungi and sort of unknowable horror kaiju looming in the distance, the plot is wild but it’s so masterfully introduced it feels totally natural. Follows a detective duo: an incredibly offputting old woman who’s also perfect and amazing, and her assistant, big sad poetic bi man.
The first book has strong threads about being neurodivergent or disabled in a world that rarely accommodates you, as they’re forced to work within their limitations inside a very flawed system, which just felt incredibly real and touching. Also sometimes it throws in a line about some bit of incredible and deeply fun worldbuilding like a guy who never stops growing like a lobster. YMMV with the prose/ humour, but you’re in for SUCH an incredible treat if it’s a book for you.
Great audio by Andrew Fallaize, I absolutely love the voices for both MCs.
Almost all of Murderbot - Martha Wells
Everyone was right about how good these are. I love you ART. I love you Mensah. My favourite is when Murderbot claims not to be having an emotion and everyone around is reacting very intensely, because it’s clearly having so many emotions.
Addictive reads that get even better as they go IMO - you just desperately want this robot to have friends, self-acceptance and emotional fulfillment - totally tantalising, so emotionally compelling. Definitely feels like it’s partly about someone trying to ‘pass’ as normal, and has genuinely meaningful platonic relationship arcs which are just great to read. Very SCI FI + a bit horror which I love, set in a bleakly realistic-feeling military-corporate future where groups still strive for positive things - which helps the mood feel very ‘things are bad, but you can still make a difference and do good’ which I found really comforting and necessary at the moment.
Solid audio by Kevin R. Free, but also reads well in book form, which you might prefer if you want no gender implications
A lot of Aubrey-Maturin (Master & Commander series) - Patrick O’Brian
I’ve been listening while working, for reasons that will become obvious with certain upcoming announcements.
These books famously have a lot of intense nautical terms, but I was surprised by how much repressed relationship drama there was between?? Both the main characters are so deeply insane and wildly flawed and fascinating and don’t communicate their feelings, and yet the unspoken emotion occasionally comes across with perfect clarity in a single described gesture or fantastic sentence??
The complexity of the on-ship power struggles and off-ship romances they get entangled in - and various ensuing agonies - feel so real and also knee-jerk, I’m briefly transported into seeing deep into the heart of the human condition. It’s wild.
There’s also a debauched sloth, and I’m so interested in Stephen as an ex-Irish-revolutionary who’s now very driven to do good on a personal level, but unmoored from wider revolutionary politics... And occasionally voicing like ‘yeah I love a mutiny’ to the captain, literally on board an 1800s British Navy ship is so funny. Just like a bizarre scrungly confidently clueless weirdo, love him.
Was skeptical about everyone saying they’re the ‘best historical novels of all time’ but the more I read the more I’m… ok… I do get it actually. Am I aging into a nerdy fantasy dad taste in books? MAYBE.
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+Honourable mention if you’re this kind of nerd (I comiserate):
Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky for 600+ pages of gripping, character-driven napoleonic-ish (anti)war novel in a low-magic fantasy world about women being drafted to the front lines + 20% Jane Austen energy.
Fun queer romance / SFF adventure
I’d call this queer romance, in a fantasy world:
The traitor and the wretch - Jasmine Walls
Full disclosure, I’ve hired the author for editing & enjoyed her comics/ GNs before - there’s also a handful of interior illustrations by Rowan MacColl, who also did guest art for Into the Tower and Night at the Vampire Castle.
Consequently, I was very INTRIGUED to read this indie release, even though I wasn’t sure if gross henchman romance would work for me or be my thing, but guys: IT REALLY WAS. Obsessed with traumatised escaped cultist/ hot little freak Knell, would die for him!! It’s a very character-focused delicious backpack fantasy (cave edition), but I also loved the setting!! The glimpses of the world we do get to see felt really cohesive and interesting, moreso than most 2nd world fantasy romance. Grimy and sweet and tons of fun, made me laugh out loud and stay up way too late reading.
Sorcery and small magics - Maiga Doocy
Queer fantasy, two guys at magic university go into a magic forest, but the star here is the very slowburn rivals-to-intense-chemistry (part of a longer series, so not yet wrapped up). I love that they actually do hate each other and the author’s not afraid to make the MC genuinely kind of a tool. If you’re a Serious Fantasy Reader (me) you might find the world and pacing a bit nonsense - but that didn’t bother me at all since it was so engaging and the writing was so fluid and lovely. Recommend if you’re looking for something that reads like delicious fanfic.
Great audio by Ciaran Saward
I’d call this SFF, with queer romance in it:
Hammajang luck - Makana Yamamoto
Marketed as a space lesbian heist, it’s worth going in knowing this is driven by delicious character stuff more than stressful twisty tension. Even though I didn’t know what to expect, that didn’t matter to me at all because I just loooooved reading it!!!!!!! I love the MC!! Their family struggles felt so real!! IT COMPELLED ME!!! I was constantly delighted by how it unfolded!! Also shoutout to the great audiobook, I think hearing the pidgin said out loud probably adds another nice layer to it.
Could do with a lot MORE books with nonbinary butches bringing down tech billionaires with their gorgeously bitchy ex-best-friend they have mad chemistry with and a ragtag group of loveable lesbians actually
Great audio by Jolene Kim
Honourable mention for Tomb of dragons by Katherine Addison, the newest in a series I’m obsessed with and try to tell everyone about at any opportunity.
A sad gay death priest possessed of an exquisite, thoughtful and solemn kindness goes around methodically solving murders and problems, and you just desperately want things to go well for him. Can’t in good conscience recommend if you’re not a fantasy person, but if you’re ready to get in the zone, these are some of my favourite books ever.
Really good audio by Liam Gerrard
Favourite 20thC classics
Passing - Nella Larsen - 1920s Harlem, US
Short, incredible, haunting classic. You learn about a light-skinned black woman who ‘passes’ as white and married a racist - via the childhood friend who was always drawn to her as their lives ominously intersect.
A friend recommended for the queer-feeling undertones, but even without that interpretation, I just found it incredibly gripping and beautifully written.
Great audio by Amaka Okafor
Giovanni’s room - James Baldwin - 1950s Paris
Just the most spectacular writing. To me, it feels like it’s about queer desire threatening to derail a privileged white american’s life, and his inability to let that life go.
Paints this intense intimate portrait of a city and a person in a way only prose can. Moments of emotional terror, the rare instant chemistry of really falling for someone, and some scenes of sex and romance completely driven by anguish that feel incredibly vivid. An often bleak but always beautiful slice of humanity, that seems to cut effortlessly to the raw emotional truth of every scene. Beautiful, painful, poignant, immersive, drove me insane (which I say as a compliment).
Great audio by Kevin Young
Honourable mention: Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh - fancy 1920s England
HAD I previously read this at a young queer formative age, or did I just watch both adaptations? Formative as it was, I can personally only get so much out of Evelyn Waugh’s historical sad rich people ennui where gay men end up exiled or ruined, but it’s so well written I still enjoyed it a lot.
Great Jeremy Irons(!) audio
Yes these classics ARE all at-least-kind-of-queer poignant semi-tragedies, now I think of it!!!
Favourite YA prose
Not for the faint of heart - Lex Croucher
Honestly I partly read this because we were doing another talk together, this one at the British Library(!! virtually for me obviously, due to the large disability) but it was my new favourite of theirs. Possibly because it has quite a lot of adventure plot, really good lesbian chemistry and it’s mostly set in a forest. I’m just awed how much real thorny emotion AND very funny jokes they’re managing to squeeze into basically every sentence!!!!!! Just a very powerful romcom author
The Butterfly Assassin - Finn Longman
I wouldn’t normally read anything even near the YA thriller genre, but I’m so glad I did - this grim violent plot in an alternate reality about a teen assassin trying to escape that world was a weirdly very cathartic/ comforting read full of incredibly real-feeling emotions and descriptions around chronic pain. The author has some adult stuff coming out I’m now very interested to read!!
For lots more YA, see the comics list.
Favourite nonfiction
Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer
SHOULD HAVE READ THIS LONG AGO!! ESSENTIAL READING!! Realised a whole lot of quotes I’ve seen and saved over the last few years are literally just from this book.
The ideas link together beautifully - if nothing else, it feels so crucial to be reminded methodically that destructive (over)consumption is something culturally-specific, recent and colonial rather than an inevitable, unchangeable way of the world.
Even on grim climate subjects, the writing feels calm and thoughtful and deliberately, relentlessly filled with hope, made me cry.
Goes over points a bit, but I honestly think that’s part of reinforcing and weaving new strands into the tapestry worldview it’s creating - and it’s a great mindful exercise in slowing down to give it the time and consideration it deserves.
Wonderful audio read by the author.
Favourite book on writing I’ve ever read:
Refuse to be done - Matt Bell
Every writer I know who’s read this immediately insists on getting a copy and recommending it to all the writers they know, which is how I found it. Easy to understand but not beginner-feeling, non-patronising, practical, flexible, and reassuring.
The illustrated nonfiction I was most excited about was probably CARVED IN STONE, over in the graphic novel post!
Thanks for reading (this, and generally!)
If you have recs in similar areas or OPINIONS on these books, I’m always keen to hear book recs & thoughts over on bluesky.
You can find more on my goodreads here (5 stars for ‘loved reading’, everything else ‘nuance’)
And a blog about the books I’m currently working on / what I’ve been up to in 2025 here.
Lastly thank you to everyone who’s already got a copy of (or got their library to get!) my new choose-your-own-romance book Night at the Vampire Castle.
I’m always so delighted to hear which romance and route people played first, or achievements or surprises they encountered. Rating, reviewing or recommending ANY book to a friend if you enjoyed it really does make a big difference, you are very sincerely appreciated!!
