Okay, so the parameters for this blog are a little random, I’m just going to give five of my favourite reads from this year and last. Not necessarily things that have been released that recently, just that I have read them that recently.
These are in no particular order or genre, enjoy.
Skip to the one you are interested in with the contents list below:
Raven Scholar – Antonia Hogson
Genre: Fantasy, Pages: 656, Published: 2025
A summary attempt
In this world there are eight Gods, represented by animals, and at 16 people declare which of the God’s they will follow and train within the discipline of. So Raven’s are scholar, monkey’s are artists, Oxen are the builders etc etc. Also, King’s only rule for 24 years, to prevent dynasties and tyrants from happening again, at the end of 24 years there is a tournament where each monastry selects a representative to fight for the crown.
The book opens with twins, Ruco and Ynara Valet (I only heard the names, so forgive the spelling), being escorted to see the King. Their father lead a failed rebellion 16 years ago and now they are ‘of age’, their protected status as children is over. The king reveals their father bought only Ynara a place to train at one of the monasteries, which would give her the chance to compete in the tournament and win the thrown her father died for. Devastated that his dream would be taken by his sister, Ruco does the unthinkable (no spoilers, that’s all I’ll say).
Our MC, Neema Kraa, plays a pivotal role in the legal documents involved in Ruco’s betrayal and in doing so, is raised up to being the Raven Scholar for the King. Neema doesn’t love court politics, nor is she popular at court, and once the tournament is over she supposed to be free of her duties and can go back to her research. Except, her childhood rival and the Raven contender in the tournament, pulls a stunt at the opening feast that embarrasses Neema and gets her fired. Before she can flee the palace island, she is poisoned and a contender is murdered. Somehow, Neema is a suspect, so she offers herself to investigate to clear her own name. Except, she’s also forced to take part in the tournament.
As she investigates, she reconnects with her childhood best friend and love, who couldn’t forgive her for the part she part she played in Ruco’s betrayal. At the same time, Neema starts to discover the Gods are much more than stories and that they interfere in human affairs more than she knew. There are plots afoot with Ynara’s and Ruco’s mother, who was moved onto palace grounds when her youngest become mysteriously ill. It seems someone discovered something about the King, which plays a role in the events that occur, but someone is also trying to pin the blame for these events on Ruco, or Neema, or other contenders.
Neema’s investigation won’t just save her own life, it might just be that she has the fate of humanity on her hands. As the world of myths a real life plots start to blend, can she discover the truth behind the plots and prevent the end of days?
My thoughts
Once again, I think I’ve given away how much I enjoyed this book by the length of the summary.
I’m not exaggerating, this is the best fanatasy book I’ve read in years.
I loved Neema, as someone herself whose maybe been found unlikeable without really doing anything mean or rude, I related to her a lot. She’s such a reluctant hero in this story and it adds lots of funny moments, I really enjoyed the journey she went on. Plus I really enjoyed the Raven.
The world building is fantastic, so rich and real feeling, with it’s own language surrounding the Gods that doesn’t feel like that icky fantasy thing where they replace everyday words with ‘fantasy’ ones.
It’s devastating that the opening narrator never gets to narrate again, and it feels very much like a Greek tragedy in that Ruco is the agent of his own downfall in that one moment when he’s 16, and then again and again through the choices he makes in the present.
There are incredible twists in this book that I did not see coming but the seeds are planted throughout the book once you know about them.
I can’t wait for the next one, this SUCH a good book. I was never bored, or impatient, it was entertaining from start to finish and so unlike other books coming out in the fantasy sphere right now, whilst still keeping those fantasy things I love.
The Will of the Many – James Islington
Genre: Fantasy, Pages: 630, Published: 2023
Plot summary attempt
In this world, a roman-esq style government called the Hierarchy rules. Power or Will is transferred upwards in the hierarchy, giving people at the top greater strength, agility, energy and the ability to imbue that Will into objects, or manipulate the world around them. Those at the bottom of the pyramid though, ceed half their will upwards, and so spend their lives listless and dull-witted. Hundreds of years before the events of this book was the Cataclysm, an event that nearly ended the world, where much of the knowledge was lost, including a lot of the deeper secrets about WIll use.
The main character, Vis, is actually the son of the King in the last kingdom to fall to the Hierarchy. He escaped but his entire family is dead and his kingdom absorbed by the Hierarchy. Vis has scraped by, hiding and refusing to ceed Will or draw it himself, without getting that fact noticed by the authorities. The book begins with him living in an orphanage under a fake name, working in one of the prisons and losing all his earning to the matron of his orphanage, leaving him to fight in the pits for extra money. It’s the longest he’s lived in one place since the sacking of his kingdom.
When a chance encounter with a Quintus (a very powerful man in the senate, who has a lot of Will ceded to him), leads to Vis being adopted – he’s left with no choice but to accept what is happening. Ulciscor has an ulterior motive in adopting Vis, he needs someone smart enough and physically gifted enough to infiltrate the academy for him. The government is divided into pillars, and Military and Religion are currently on the brink of civil war. Religion control the academy, where Ulciscor’s brother died six years ago, and he’s determined to uncover whether Religion and the academy’s headmaster had something to do with it. he threatens Vis with imprisonment if he doesn’t succeed, but also promises him an illustrious career if he does – one where Vis might never have Ceed or draw will. It’s the first real chance at a future Vis has had, so, despite all the risks, he agrees.
The academy is intense, and Vis finds himself constantly straining against the Hierarchy’s culture, even though he does his best to fit in. Plus, there’s another complication, a rebel faction knows his real identity and they are also using it to blackmail him into furthering their own interests at the academy and against the powerful people in the Hierarchy that Vis now has access too.
Vis slowly discovers the secrets Religion is hiding, but he also discovers devastating ones Military is holding too, and all of this is tangled up with the rebel faction. All Vis wants to do is survive, and survive with as much of his soul in-tact as possible but as he finds out how deep these secrets run, and how it’s all related to the cataclysm, his hopes of being free of the Hierarchy one day diminish.
My thoughts
This book was SO GOOD, Vis is a great reluctant hero – he doesn’t want to reclaim his kingdom, or get revenge, he just wants to survive. Unfortunately his training as a prince and the survival mode he’s been living in since then has honed him into the perfect weapon. I really enjoyed the friendships Vis makes and how he doesn’t have it easy, despite being very talented, Vis really does struggle to survive in the academy and perform all the tasks being put upon him by different people.
I thought it was really interesting way to learn about the Hierarchy’s society through Vis’s eyes as someone trying to survive and masquerade as one of them – it’s a massive society to understand and could have been really dully monologued as I’ve seen in some books.
And the ending!? I’m reading the next one ASAP let’s put it that way.
Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus
Genre: Literary Fiction/ Historical fiction, Pages: 390, Published: 2022
A summary attempt
Elizabeth Zott is a chemist, she’s been one at her core since she was a little girl but in 1950’s America, a female scientist – let alone one that is ten times smarter than her male colleagues and also incredibly direct and blunt – is not well liked, or respected.
The story flips around the timeline between the present: where Elizabeth is the presenter of a daytime TV show called ‘Supper at Six’ and has a daughter out of wedlock, to the past: detailing how she meets Calvin, another scientist, and falls in love, with various stories peppered in showing her childhood, Calvin’s childhood, her neighbor who helps with her daugther and the dog: Six Thirty.
In the present, the TV show is incredibly successful, despite how much the Studio’s head protests the way Zott treats it like a chemistry lesson rather than a cooking show. Zott’s show makes a point of talking about how valuable the work of housewives is, how supper and home-making isn’t simple, or easy, and women are not less-than… for some reason the popularity baffles the station owner…
We see how a chemist came to lead a cooking show, the challenges she faced as a women scientist juxtaposed against the ease with which her partner is given acclaim – despite not having produced tangible research in years. We later see the challenges she faced as an unwed mother and as a rather ‘radical’ thinker (I.E women are people of value too) in a very conservative time.
Over the book we slowly learn how we got to the present day, and once all the puzzle pieces are in place, we follow Elizabeth as she tries to reclaim her research and her life.
My thoughts
I feel like you can probably tell with the summaries how much I liked or hated a book, because both get super long! In this case, I loved this book.
It’s heartbreaking but in that way of just beautiful storytelling, you really feel the injustices done to Elizabeth, even though the narration does not wax on about it. Some parts of it are relayed without emotion, very factual, kind of like Elizabeth herself, but you become angry nonetheless. Especially as a women, knowing you are reading about a time not that long ago really, knowing that the laws protecting you from what happens to Elizabeth aren’t that old… and a fair few of them are under threat in the current political climate.
The story telling style completely reels you in, as the picture of her and Calvin’s life builds you spend the whole time wanting more and more pieces and then when you get them all you kind of want to cry for Elizabeth… or smash something.
100% recommend this book, it’s probably one of the best things I’ve read in 2026.
For Whom the Belle Tolls – Jaysea Lynn
Genre: Fantasy, Pages: 628, Published: 2024
Summary attempt
The story begins with our FMC getting the news that her cancer is terminal and that her short life that she had only just begun to live on her own terms is going to end. When Lilly arrives in the afterlife, she is filled with fear that everyone from her strict Christian upbringing was right and that she was destined for hell. Except… the afterlife doesn’t quite work like that, it’s not bound to one religion’s idea of morality and a person can choose whether to go through the gateway judged by the values of their religion or without.
To Lilly’s surprise, she isn’t sent to hell and while her paradise is… well paradise, she can’t let go of her anger at her upbringing or her fear of hell, a place she fully expected to end up, so she takes herself down there to see what it’s about. She discovers a place that about punishment, yes, but also a place that is about redemption; souls are sent to one of the nine levels depending on the acts they committed in their life and have the opportunity to move back up through them as they reform.
The demons that run hell however are overrun by complaining souls who believe they belong elsewhere and resist proceeding to their levels, so Lilly takes pity on them and uses some of her customer service experience, with extra sass and violence thrown in, to deal with some of the whinging souls. Thus, the ‘Hellp desk’ is born!
Lilly begins to makes friends in the afterlife and in the demon levels, accidentally bumping into deities in the line for coffee becomes a regular occurrence. Plus, there’s this guy she’s been flirting with over the afterlife equivalent of online gaming. Thanks to Lucifer’s scheming, her and the sultry voice finally get to meet and it turns out he ‘s a demon, a general for hell’s armies and a (reluctant) Prince of hell. Their connection is instant but Lilly is just a soul in the afterlife temporarily… right? Despite the looming prospect of her reincarnation or her choice to step into the void and not reincarnate, they can’t help but form a connection.
As a threat to their dimension causes Bel to be sent away time and again to fight to keep them safe and as Lilly becomes more settled in her life here in the afterlife, this place starts to feel more like home than she ever felt in life and this new love starts to feel more real than anything she’s ever experienced… Lilly finds she can’t ignore the fact of her eventual reincarnation any longer.
My review
I loved this book, the lore behind the afterlife is so well thought out, the back story’s of every character are so well done. I loved the relationships the FMC builds, platonic and romantic. I haven’t had many books that have hooked me from page 1 in a while, I didn’t expect a book based on tiktok sketches to make me laugh, cry, kick my feet with cute romance moments and everything in between. I think the world-building was so rich and none of the character’s felt weak or like they were an after-thought. I loved the whole storyline with Sharky and getting more of Bel’s story, plus learning that Lucifer is just an interfering Uncle figure in this world.
In conclusion, read this please and thank you.
5. The Tempest Blade – Bridge Kingdom Book 6 – Danielle L Jenson
Genre: Fantasy, Pages: 736, Published: 2025
(this is the final book in a series… so there are potentially spoilers ahead if you’re looking to trust me and jump into book 1)
An overall guide to the series: Starts with kingdoms under a tentative treaty, because all of them need access to The Bridge, which connects disparate island nations to one another and makes trade across a temperamental sea easier. When one king hatches a plot that makes this treaty, shit hits the fan.
Each two books follow one particular couple/ ruler in the story. So this book below is the conclusion to the series as a whole and the conclusion to Ahnna’s and James’s duo-logy.
An attempt at summarising
This book opens with Ahnna on the run. After her dramatic exit from castle, she is a fugitive, accused of killing the King and gravely injuring the Queen. James is pursuing her, blind with grief and trying to prove his loyalty to his family. He stops at nothing to follow her, even in to enemy territory. After Ahnna causes an avalanche to block his path, she believes she is safe at last as she escapes over the border. When James catches up to her Ahnna does the only thing she can, she runs again, but when a confrontation on the ice sees James slipping beneath the surface, Ahnna can’t bring herself to let him die.
She almost has James convinced she is telling the truth when his enemy and Prince of the rival nation to Herondale turns up, takes them both hostage, confirming that his mother orchestrated everything with the Queen of Herondale. From there they become (begrudgingly) united in their mission to get Ahnna back to Ithicana and prevent a war between all the Northern nations.
My review
This book was SO GOOD. The twists and turns? The number of times you just don’t know how their going to make it? All the little threads and how they piece together? It was just so well done and SUCH a good conclusion to the series.
Like, I don’t want to say more because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. It had me gasping aloud and made a very boring commute entertaining for a while. The romance and how they come back together is well done, but there’s plenty of pining and longing until we get there. There’s no frustrating moments where you’re screaming at two characters to communicate, right from the moment Ahnna gets a chance to, she’s is screaming the truth at James. I honestly have no criticisms of this book or how it ended the series, book 1 in Ahnna story was a little slow for me but this book had an excellent pace.
There you go, if you are a regular reader, these may not be a surprise to you. I might not have been reading as much this last year or two but between the fluffy books that are easy on the brain, I have squeezed some really good books in!
Is there something you would recommend to me based on these books? Comment below!
Antonia Bernardin 