As we near the end of 2025, it’s customary to look back over the year at the books we’ve read and enjoyed. We’ve had a busy year at Read Indie Fantasy, as both Nils and Trudie were judges for SFINCS, and Trudie judged SPFBO. We’ve posted some great reviews and features on the blog throughout 2025, and also started our LGBTQIA+ Collection.
This was also the year we hosted A Month of Rain and Reads, our first ever month-long book event featuring many reviews, features, interviews, and giveaways from the indie author community.
So how did our year go? We’re taking a look at our year in books:
Nils’s Year in Books
A (perhaps not so) brief reflection on the books I read in 2025:
Thinking back on the past year, my first thought is that I didn’t read much. That’s not necessarily correct, but the feeling is true.
I was a judge in SFINCS2, and I’m once again a judge in SFINCS3, so I’ve read a lot of novellas. I also took the time to read a bunch of other books, and of course, I’ve re-listened to The Wandering Inn, again – yes, I’m boring like that.
I also spent a lot of time working on, and finishing, my own novel (yay me). During that time, I barely touched other books.
Reading novellas for SFINCS is great, because I get to read awesome books I’d never have picked up otherwise. At the same time, the judging period doesn’t allow for much leisure reading, as I feel I ought to read as many of the competition books as possible.
What I’m getting at is that between writing my own book and judging SFINCS, I didn’t take much time to explore new books or new authors. I’d like to change that for next year.
I did read in 2025, though, and I’ll try to share my thoughts on it without drifting too far off track.
Two notable works stand out – The Blood Scouts series, by Phil Williams, and The Queen of Dreams and Dust, by Grace Carlisle. Dark stories that explore the human condition and that focus on personal struggles – stories that let me peek into someone else’s life and experience their world through their eyes.
It seems that’s where my tastes lie at the moment, and it’s what I’d like to explore more of. Suggestions are welcome.
By contrast, I’ve fallen out of love with epic and urban fantasy. Grand conflict and wondrous new worlds no longer hold the appeal they once did. The same goes for sassy ladies playing fetch with werewolves and holding up mirrors to vampires. I still love the idea of all those things, and I’m sure I’ll get back to enjoying both epic and urban when the time is right, but for now, that’s not where my heart is.
Instead, I like my UF like Ben Schenkman’s My Boss is the Devil, which is borderline cozy but with some dark undercurrents. The same could be said for A Second Life Worth Living, by Karen Lucia, which I read for SFINCS3. The again, those books are probably closer to Contemporary Fantasy than what I generally associate with the term Urban Fantasy.
I do think genre and genre definitions matter, even if it may seem silly or nebulous at an outside glance. Writing to market is a viable option for those who are able to do it, but it requires the author to meet the expectations of the market they write to. As a consequence, the common understanding of tropes and genres become more defined and more rigid.
At the same time, wouldn’t this leave more room for stories to fill the growing spaces outside ever more refined market interests? Stories that span multiple genres or that combine tropes in unconventional ways? Stories that defy conventions and that explore the fantastic and the wondrous from new perspectives?
Stories like The Final Voyage of Avery Mothmere, by Helen Whistberry, or The Drowned Heir, by Jennifer R. Donohue – both novellas I read for SFINCS3 and that I can’t easily place in a genre other than to “some kind of fantasy” or “speculative fiction” but that are nonetheless remarkable in their own way. It’ll be interesting to see what else I can find off the beaten path.
Finally, I should mention that I’ve dipped my toe into horror (the genre, not some actual horrific substance). Here, I’d like to draw attention to Susanne Schmidt and her series The Order of the Strawberry Circle and adjacent works. Horror books for Young Adults, but heavy with moody atmosphere, and well worth a closer look.
That only leaves the question of what I expect to read in the year to come, and who knows. I’m very much a mood reader, and I’ll go where my fancies take me. The only thing I’m sure of is that I’ll keep up with The Wandering Inn, and that I want to get started on my next novel. I also want to stick around as a judge for SFINCS, if the organisers will have me, so I expect to read a lot of novellas.
I look forward to a new year, new discoveries, and strange new stories.
Trudie’s Year in Books
What a year that was, huh?
Like Nils, I started the year as a judge for the second SFINCS, which is a contest that I adore because I’ve discovered I enjoy reading novellas, and judging any contest allows me to discover new authors and dip my toes into genres I might not otherwise indulge. Highlights from SFINCS for me included As Born to Rule the Storm by Cate Baumer, Majordomo by Tim Carter and Once We Flew by Nikky Lee.
I had a busy year of books, as I was also judging SPFBO X and the SPFBO Champions League straight after! Some of these were BIG books as well, which is another reason why I appreciate SFINCS, as I’ve burned myself on chonks. Judging SPFBO was a great privilege for me, as I had a chance to give back to the contest I’ve previously been a finalist in, while also getting a glimpse behind the scenes and a chance to learn more about SPFBO.
I still plan to catch up on the series for my chosen semi-finalist, Wolf of Withervale, but at the start of 2025 I finished off reading the rest of year ten’s finalists. Then off the back of that, I took part in the Champions League, which was to read all winners of the past ten years.
I’d never actually read the winning SPFBO books, despite being a SPFBO finalist, and so I took this as my opportunity to finally read all ten champion books. These are the absolute best of the best indie fantasy as chosen by blogging judges, so I was expecting to find great reads here – especially as a couple had gone on to become trad published. As it turned out, the trad published ones annoyed me the most, and I did DNF a few of these winners. But it wasn’t all bad though, as I discovered some amazing new books. My favourites were Murder at Spindle Manor by Morgan Stang, Orconomics by J. Zachery Pike, Small Miracles by Olivia Atwater and The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang.
During this time, I was also working on the second draft to my upcoming book. I can tell you, judging a book contest and writing a book at the same time is no easy task! One reason why I decided not to return to judge the third SFINCS is because I need a break from judging, and I needed to prioritize writing. I’ve been a judge now for SFINCS, SPFBO, and BBNYA, and I can recommend it from both a blogger and writer perspective. Judging books means I get to discover new authors, but also as a writer, it helps me analyse and understand what works and doesn’t work for me in a book.
But I think I’m retired from judging for now. I still have a book to finish writing. This year I also adopted a kitten, and I don’t recommend that for productivity either!
It all kicked off in November for me as I ran a successful crowdfund campaign for my upcoming book and also helped manage A Month of Rain and Reads.
With SPFBO over, I made a commitment to read more books by trans and non-binary authors, and this also lead to some of my new favourite reads. These included Magica Riot by Kara Buchanan, Mercy by Ian Haramaki, The Orchid and the Lion by Gabriel Hargrave, and The Reanimator’s Heart by Kara Jorgensen.
For 2026, I plan to carry on my commitment to queer, trans and non-binary authors by reading more of their SFF books. I’m looking forward to reading more for fun!
Lastly, I wanted to give a shout out to Tessa Hastjarjanto, who helped with the blog and A Month of Rain and Reads this year. My final read of 2025 was A Dress to Save Me, the second book in her short story horror series about a spooky dressmaker that I’ve really enjoyed.
So how was your year in books? What were your favourites? Drop us a comment and let us know!
