What are you reading in 2025?

[Elodan]

I've been on a bit of a manga / manhwa kick lately. I've gone through all the existing English-translated volumes of The Eminence in Shadow, Solo Leveling, and the first 5 of Dandadan (with the rest of the way).

For novels, I'm kinda on a old-school / classic kick. Just finished 3001: The Final Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke which was pretty unremarkable. Just started Aftermath, book 7 of the original Thieves' World series. On deck is Sliding Scales, book 9 in the Adventures of Pip and Flinx series by Alan Dean Foster.

For RPG books, I'm currently reading The One Ring and The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying core books.

 

[overgeeked]

For RPG stuff I’ve been devouring Dragonbane. Anything I can get my hands on and being frustrated there’s so little. The core box is damned-near perfect. The Bestiary is great. They even have a novel line but it’s only in Swedish. I have a fever and the only cure is more duck folk. Yes, I’m aware of Glorantha. No, it’s not the same. They hit different.

 

[fbnaulin]

I've been reading some art books. It's like to visit a museum.
History of the Bible by John Barton. Very, very interesting.
And Pendragon Starter Set (6E), learning the rules to run the short campaign included. I loved the solo adventure.

 

[trappedslider]

Checked out Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (20th Anniversary Edition) along with a couple of other books from the library.

 

[Cadence]

Waiting for the end of this season of Shetland and the final two episodes of Vera on Britbox, I picked up the first three books of Ann Cleeves's Matthew Venn series. Finished book 2 "The Heron's Cry" tonight. I hadn't read any of her stuff before. They were entertaining enough to pass the time with - but didn't pull me in enough to stay up past bed time to finish. Still, on to book 3.

 

[Voadam]

I am devouring the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I am currently on book 5. RPG books I am partway through Modenkainen’s Tome of Foes and GURPS Biotech.

 

[Belen]

I am re-reading the Robotech novels, followed by Wheel of Time.

 

[JEB]

Carrying over from the end of 2024, I'm actively reading Heroes of the Feywild for D&D 4e (I'd resolved to read one book from each edition in the anniversary year and technically achieved that) and Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles (my yearly classic).

 

[WayneLigon]

Swordcrossed by Freya Marske

No magic, low tech (Musketeers-like tech, with no guns in evidence) fantasy - Matti Jay (left in that book cover) has a problem. He's the de facto head of his wool-trading House and they are broke, broke, broke. So far it is a secret but that's not going to last long. Fortunately his upcoming marriage to Sofia, whose House deals in wine, will save the family fortune.

There's just one hitch. In this society, all important passages in life (birth, naming, marriage, and others) are accompanied by a ceremony and at some point in that ceremony the question will be asked 'are there any here who object?', and you or your second must defend yourself in a duel. Now, by now things are all civilized and this is mostly just ritual but one must make a good-faith effort at it. And the swords are both real and sharp. It's certainly possible for someone to be injured. Or killed. But it's Just Not Done.

But Sofia has a stalker that is very, very good with the sword. Matti is an accountant; he's never held a sword in his life. So it's off to the agency that provides duelists. And he hires Luca. Whom he is smitten with. A month before his wedding.

Now, two things really distinguish this for me.

(1) Sofia is not a bad person. She's not the secret bad guy, she's not shrewish or evil or whiny. While she's not entirely thrilled with the 'duty to my House' thing, she's not entirely opposed to it, either. She likes Marri. And Matti likes her. He's also not entirely thrilled - his father married for love and that is one of the many reasons their House is teetering on the brink right now - but there are many worse things. Sofia is a nice person. She's kind, she's smart and practical. She is my second favorite character in the thing. And as highly amusing as the entire Matti/Luca Will They/Won't They thing is... as the book goes on you start to feel really bad about Sofia's outcome in all this.

(2) Luca is a goddamn ball of anxieties. He is a lying liar who lies almost constantly, because he has several Deep Secrets. He's a hoot.

There are heists and intrigue to boot. Loved it.

Spoiler:

Spoiler

A truly Happy Ending

 

[Reynard]

I decided that to help with sleep, I would start turning off screens at 9 pm and read dead-tree things for an hour or so before getting ready for bed. Much of these are going to be comics because a) I love comics and b) I have a lot to get caught up on.

Last night I finally read Superman Smashes the Clan. I slept on it because I figured it was too "young adult" but it turns out to be a really great Golden Age Superman story (in addition to be an important story in general).