What are you reading in 2025?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I just did some digging -- it was in her mailing list. She said the release date is May 2026 (Harper Collins has 19 May), though I don't know if that means the book is finished or almost finished or what.

Just added that to my Amazon wishlist and put the very pretty collectors edition of City of Brass on my Christmas list.

 

[jian]

Just added that to my Amazon wishlist and put the very pretty collectors edition of City of Brass on my Christmas list.

Have just noticed - not for the first time, though not about that specific book - that I have City of Brass on Kindle but have never read it.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Just finished the Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, a fast-paced novel about the adventures of a Persian Gulf pirate coming out of retirement during the Crusades. (The Crusades don't reach the region, but a crusader does.)

This is the kind of energy most of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies have been missing. It moves fast, has a good cast of characters you believe care about each other, despite being various flavors of scoundrels and outcasts, has prominent and interesting supernatural elements (including the obligatory crew of mutated pirates battling more human ones) without them completely dominating the story and it sets up a natural path to sequels that we don't need to see, but would welcome.

On top of that, it's full of Indian, African and Middle Eastern mythology, and features well-rounded Islamic characters, which is still a rarity nowadays.

A very fun book and it's going to make me look up the author's previous series as well.

Agree with all the above, and all the other posters who've enjoyed it. The Daevabad books (City of Brass, etc.) are also great.

And I am very excited to hear that another Amina al-Sirafi book is coming. <does a little chair dance>

 

[Paul Farquhar]

She also wrote The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi which, if you like the old Ray Harryhausen Sinbad movies, it’s right in that wheelhouse.

Loved the Daevabad series, btw. She’s a wonderful writer.

The creature approached with strangely jerky movements. Its plasticine-like lips drew back, revealing its tombstone teeth. It asked that fateful question: “More tea, Gromit?”

 

[TiQuinn]

The creature approached with strangely jerky movements. Its plasticine-like lips drew back, revealing its tombstone teeth. It asked that fateful question: “More tea, Gromit?”

Nevermind. I guess I’m not in on the joke.

 

[Umbran]

Started on Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman.

I expected monsters getting slaughtered. I didn't expect Dinniman to put the depth to the ethics and feelings around it.

 

[jian]

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna is similar to but better than her previous book, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. The setting is basically Harry Potter - modern England, magic and witches exist but are secret, the wizarding world is dominated by upper class idiots - and our protagonist Sera is a former prodigy who burned out most of her magic resurrecting her beloved great-aunt when she was 15. 15 years later, she runs a slightly magical B&B in Lancashire, providing a refuge for those who don’t fit in elsewhere.

The book is notable for its version of Voldemort, who is much more believable and realistic - he hasn’t had to conquer England to have everything his own way because he’s a prodigy from a good wizarding family, and he’s very much a loose stair whom everyone colludes fo keep happy.

 

[gnarlygninja]

Started on Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman.

I expected monsters getting slaughtered. I didn't expect Dinniman to put the depth to the ethics and feelings around it.

I really expected to hate those books, because the litRPG stuff I'd engaged with before was broadly terrible. But I'm halfway through book 7 now and tried one of his older books while I was waiting for the Ace version of This Inevitable Ruin.
I can't really recommend Dominion of Blades though, it very much felt like the DCC mom says we have at home.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

For folks interested in the status of The Tapestry of Fate, Chakraborty is reviewing the proofs.

 

[Vael]

Started on Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman.

I expected monsters getting slaughtered. I didn't expect Dinniman to put the depth to the ethics and feelings around it.

The series continues to surprise and move me.

Book Five (The Butcher's Masquerade) is now complete, but it'll be a bit of a wait until the library sends me the next two. Which is good, because the ending of Five shook me.