An Autumn War 4/5

Think I actually prefer the slower pace and smaller stakes of the first two books but the ending is so unbelievably fucking devastating and tragic in contrast to how tame the first two's were that they even out for me. Phenomenal stuff

Scythe 3/5

Wow that sure was a YA book. Biggest complement I can give it is that I finished it in 2 days, definitely a fun time and every issue I have with it boils down to simply not being the target audience. Will prob read the sequels as palette cleaners between heavier books

Angeline Era

I like the story/atmosphere of Anodyne 2 more but this is so far ahead in terms of gameplay that it's easily my favorite analgesic productions game now. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to recapture the spirit of falcom games like gurumin or nayuta no kiseki

A Betrayal in Winter 4/5

Abraham is simply unmatched in character motivations and political scheming. Basically no action happens in the books it's literally only people talking and I'm starting to realize that's just the way I like it. No more 300 pages epic battle sequences in my fantasy please

Riley (Fantasy) Book Awards 2025 etc etc

Blood Over Bright Haven 2/5

Wow this was not good! Story just gets completely hijacked by the themes which are presented in the most heavy handed fashion imaginable. I had problems with the sword of kaigen but that book at least had a strong emotional core that's completely absent here, major shame

A Shadow in Summer 4/5

Have repeatedly heard this book described as a slow burn but I was completely enthralled the entire way though, only real criticism is that the ending isn't quite as explosive/interesting as I would've liked but I'm sure that's coming down the line, highly recommended

Perdido Street Station 3.5/5

Mieville is undoubtedly an incredible writer and I was constantly wowed by all of the insanely inventive worldbuilding but imo the overall plot went in the single most uninteresting direction it could've and I was kind of checked out for the last third or so

Toll the Hounds 3/5

Expectations for this were through the roof and while there's more than several flashes of brilliance here + Erikson consistently being in a league of his own in regards to prose, it just did not hit the way I wanted it to at all. Maybe my the biggest letdown of the year

King Sorrow 3/5

Not entirely sure why I picked this up since i'm not a horror guy at all but it was pretty fun, not entirely what I was expecting as it wasn't very scary but the emotional payoffs were mostly good, lot of poignant character moments near the end but definitely a bit bloated/uneven

Reaper's Gale 4/5

Have some conflicting thoughts on how a few plot/character threads were resolved and I think the marine sections very much overstayed their welcome but this was otherwise a major return to form after finding the previous book comparatively underwhelming

parallel or melting away