Well, here we are, a full week into 2026, and I realize I haven’t dropped a word about my reading habits since March of last year! That’s not okay. I’ve been busy writing, sure, but I’ve also consumed 39 books in 2025, with some of the reads being exceptional, and others… not so much. With that, let me give you a breakdown of my Top 5 Reads and my Top 5 Disappointments of the year. Should be fun!
MY TOP 5 READS OF 2025
5. THRILL ME (2016) and THE NINTH METAL (2021) by Benjamin Percy
And I’ve immediately failed at picking my Top 5, by cheating and giving the #5 slot to two books. But just hear me out!
I was absolutely gobsmacked to have chanced upon Benjamin Percy’s writer manual Thrill Me. It was an eye-opening tome that’s a must for anyone who wants to tell a compelling story. I put it up there with Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing and King’s On Writing as an absolute must have. Percy came out of nowhere and floored me with his competence and acute understanding of story flow, engaging character development, and cutting out the stuff that doesn’t need to be said. He also helped me understand the difference between writing short stories and writing novels (which apparently are not just dozens of short stories strung together!). Invaluable, awesome stuff. I’ll be re-reading this one every year from now on.
And don’t forget about Percy’s non-nonfiction stuff! Let me gush about The Ninth Metal for a minute. What a thrilling fiction read! Percy definitely practices what he preaches, and effortlessly crafts genre-spanning narratives in this weird blend of gritty family drama, superhero mystery, and cosmic sci-fi takeover of the small town of Northfall, Minnesota. I devoured this whole trilogy (which is officially titled The Comet Cycle), and while the two sequel books were quite good, the first one remains my absolute favorite, and stands on its own as a superior quality read. I purposely gave as few plot details as possible not to ruin your journey through this superb book. So go, start your journey!
4. Parable of the Sower (1993) by Octavia E. Butler
How long did I sleep on this one? Only two decades?! Oh my.
I have never read a book that’s so rich with spiritual meaning from an ardently atheist perspective. Butler’s prose isn’t of the flowery variety, but why would it be? In a dystopian California where society has been ravaged by climate change and social decay, the hyper-empathy-stricken Lauren Olamina faces some tough choices. It’s a dark world and one she must do her best to navigate, if she hopes to survive it. This book knocked me on my ass, with its unflinching look at human nature and its prescient view of the “near-future” (part of it was set in 2025, so to read certain plot points during that very year was a haunting, nay chilling experience). I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes dystopias, sci-fi, philosophy, and critical thinking in general. I did go on to read the sequel, Parable of the Talents, and while I recognize that one as a more sprawling, multi-perspective and multi-generational epic, this original novel has sprouted its way into my broken little heart.
3. Full throttle (2019) by joe hill
I’ll be real with you: I’ve long been a reluctant fan of Joe Hill. He made his own way in the literary world, not relying on the aid or the name of his famous father (Stephen, King of Horror). I’ve been watching him carve his own path and tell his own kinds of stories for the past 15+ years, and this collection is a real treat. The breadth of storytelling is on full display here: empathetic, thoughtful, frightening, at times moving and and others quite funny. Just like his father, Joe loves to spend time with the characters he creates, and that joy spills over to the reader.
The fantasy-leaning “Faun” is among the darkest and most moving short stories I’ve ever read, whereas “Late Returns” is a heartfelt meditation on grief and the healing power of reading. And then there’s “Dark Carousel,” which inspired me to write a story of my own, when excellent painkillers were getting me through my emergency hospital stay back in July. Oh, and there’s 10 other stories, as well, including two co-written with a certain famous relative. Hill easily drops us into his world and entangles us in their fantastical, whimsical, and yes, very scary goings-on, and I for one am here for it.
2. Out There Screaming (2023) edited by Jordan Peele
I love reading stories told from different perspectives, and when it comes to horror, Jordan Peele has his finger on the pulse of society. The author, director, and comedian has curated an anthology of cutting, brilliant, heartbreaking, and extremely effective horror. Some of these stories skew into dark sci-fi, others explore the tribal African roots of their authors’ family backgrounds, yet others take an unflinching look at American history and the vile mistreatment of Black Americans. But it’s not a book whose purpose is to wag a finger in the face of the white majority and make them feel horrible. Instead, this anthology is both a testament of trauma and a declaration of healing. It’s a celebration of life, culture, folklore, love, and true human connection. Somehow, improbably, told through 19 horror stories by 19 different authors. If that’s not absolute, life-changing magic, I don’t know what is.
1. The Dungeon Crawler Carl series (2020-2026) by Matt Dinniman
Okay, so sue me! I shoved several books into one slot. But these books, they’re just… SO… GOOD! Written in a creative, offbeat science-fiction meets fantasy-action-horror style (which I later came to know as LitRPG), these books kick serious ass. Carl the reluctant participant in an alien-run battle royale of all remaining humans, and his loyal royal feline companion Princess Donut are absolute icons. You can’t convince me otherwise. What a madcap blend of genres, resulting in a shockingly compelling narrative of survival, friendship, and perseverance. All themes that have existed in literature for millennia, yet Dinniman was able to repackage them into a hilarious tale of computer-game-like leveling up until the final boss fight.
This series is sheer brilliance (complete with trolls wielding flamethrowers and Lovecraftian tentacled aberrations) all done in a unique voice that belongs only to Dinniman. I admire this author so much for going with his gut and publishing his story, his way. These books are a delight for my soul to read, and while I haven’t quite finished the series yet, I’m far enough in to know that this book (and its sequels) are truly my revelatory find of the year. Seriously, don’t let the goofy name keep you away. Go read them now!
MY TOP 5 DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2025
Alright, shit’s about to get controversial. I’m an author, and I love reading positive reviews of my work. But I’m also a reader, and as such, I have my opinions. Speaking as a creator, I’m not about to trash-talk other creatives who are, let’s face it, much more accomplished than me. But I will explain why some of the books I read this year fell flat for me, and invite civil discourse if you disagree. Ready? Here we go!
5. You Like It Darker (2024) by Stephen King
I know, I know! Look: I really, really wanted to like this one. I adore King, have ever since I discreetly sneaked a read of Pet Sematary when I was 12. It was the Russian language translation of the book, since I was living in Ukraine and that’s what I spoke at the time. And it absolutely blew my mind with the scope and darkness of its subject matter. Not just a “scary story” like I’d seen done in movies and TV, but a real, soul-quaking, grief-stricken tale of human tragedy and horror.
Well, this ain’t it. You Like It Darker goes for subtlety and a relaxed approach, both in the slow burn storytelling style of most of its tales, and in the energy level of the storyteller himself. I get it: King is getting older and he wants to tell the kinds of stories he wants to tell. He deserves it, and there’s dignity in that. But man… so many of these stories seem to be centered around an aging Boomer who discovers a dead body, and the shenanigans that ensue. That’s such an oft-repeated plot point in this collection that I seriously wondered if this was a personal prompt King had set for himself. Problem is, he’s been writing that story since “The Body” back in the 1980s (Remember the wonderful Stand by Me? Yeah, since way back then). Why he would return to that well now, and scoop it dry, is truly beyond me. He’s better than this, and way more creative.
I will give King credit: there are two stories that stayed with me from this collection. “The Answer Man” is a haunting Ray Bradbury-esque urban fantasy about a man with prescient knowledge, and “Willie the Weirdo,” about an older man who tells tall tales about his past. Both have gut-punch endings that remind you of how incredible and personal King’s writing can be, yet they are surrounded by a gaseous cloud of disappointment. That’s all I have to say about it, and now I’ll accept my troll hate and punishment.
4. A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) by Ursula K. Le Guin
Oh boy, where do I start? I’ve heard enough respectable authors speak about Ursula K. Le Guin in venerable terms to know that her influence on the fantasy genre spans generations. But when I gave this, her most famous book series, a try, it left me baffled. Worse: it bored me. The book has a flat affect, written as it was mostly in narrative summary form, and only occasionally choosing to drop us into an actual scene, with any dialogue or character interaction. And the titular wizard’s journey seems so shallow, so bereft of compelling life details by today’s standards, that it made for one of the dullest reads of the year.
While I sympathize with Le Guin’s struggle to earn a seat at a male-dominated Sci-Fi & Fantasy table, I cannot enjoy the results. Also, in case you think I might’ve one-and-done it, don’t worry. I gave Le Guin another try and attempted to read her book Changing Planes, a late-career offering from 2003, and it was just as ungrounded and unengaging a narrative. Perhaps even more so, being a collection of short stories about the protagonist hopping dimensions and encountering different alien societies. It’s clear that Le Guin has a vivid imagination and a knack for world building, but I don’t think I’m interested in visiting any more of her worlds.
3. The Consultant (2015) by Bentley Little
This was another baffling read. Bentley Little has a lot of fans in the horror reading community, and I’ve seen his name recommended numerous times. Well, I picked a novel at random and gave it the ol’ college try… and man. What a strange experience it turned out to be, and not in a good way. The novel, though written in 2015, reads like something a computer Luddite would have written back in the late 1990s, seeing the advent of PCs invading people’s homes. The setting: a videogame company called CompWare. The inciting incident: a consultant is invited to improve the fledgling company’s business strategy, and starts making Strange and Questionable recommendations. As a satire of corporate culture, it’s no American Psycho, although at times it really tries to be.
There is very little I enjoyed about this book. The prose reads awkward and the wedged in “shock horror” elements are so bizarrely lackluster, this book felt like the author was trolling me. “Is this it?” I kept asking myself as I read. “This can’t be it!” Spoiler alert: that was it.
I will likely give Little one more chance to woo me this year. It’s not fair to judge a whole oeuvre of an author by one misfire of a book. However, I’m hesitant to do that any time soon. I’m sorry, Bentley Little fans, but Little fell short for me.
2. The Mystery of the Yellow Room (1908) by Gaston Leroux
I have a confession: I think 2025 was the year I’ve found my least favorite author of all time. It happens to be a deceased Frenchman, but please don’t blame me for jumping on the French-hating bandwagon. Gaston Leroux has written what is widely recognized as one of the earliest and most effective examples of the locked door detective mystery. Knives Out is a great example of one, as is its excellent follow-up Wake Up Dead Man, which name-drops this book’s specific subgenre while also sharing it.
But man… I think I abhor Leroux’s writing and his style and his prose and his characterization and his attempts at humor and his attempts at tension and just about everything the man ever did creatively. That’s just my subjective opinion, of course. Maybe since I grew up on Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, and enjoy the hell out of all Gillian Flynn’s novels, my expectations were set too high.
In fact, I know they were. Because I couldn’t stand this book. I listened to the audiobook version, and even that felt like a dullard’s duty. The book is so sophomorically written, with a pretense of omniscience yet in the format of a third-person journalist uncovering criminal facts, that it never stands up to scrutiny. And the “reveal” at the end made me wish I’d never begun this silly excuse for a narrative in the first place. Don’t listen to anyone who calls this a classic. Go read the real classics instead: Chandler, Christie — anyone but Leroux.
1. The Phantom of the Opera (1910) by Gaston Leroux
Wait, I’m not done hating on this Frenchman yet! That’s right, the guy’s been dead in his grave for nearly 100 years, and I’m out here disrespecting his chops. But seriously, have you ever read this atrocity? And no, I don’t mean watched the brilliant Neo-Gothic musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber; that’s a true classic for the ages and one of my favorite live stage productions. And I also don’t mean the iconic Lon Chaney horror film from the silent era. The book that serves as the source of both those wonderful adaptations, I’m sorry to say, sucks.
It sucks, you guys! It sucks so hard. Much like The Mystery of the Yellow Room, Leroux uses his trademark fake-journalist narrative style in this novel. However, he also abruptly switches into omniscient third-person narrator mode whenever it’s convenient, abandoning all attempts at the whole journalist-uncovering-the-truth-after-the-matter contrivance. Also, racism! An entire key supporting character exists whom I’ve never met in the adaptations, and good on the adapters, because… wow.
Also, huge news! The Phantom is never referred to as The Phantom in the book. Yes, really. He’s instead called “Opera Ghost.” I shit you not! Opera Ghost, and he even signs the letters he leaves behind as “O.G.” I guess he was the O.G. O.G.? Ugh… What unbearable drivel. It really kills the cool vibe of his Gothic characterization. But what’s arguably even more laughable, is the climactic conclusion of this novel. There’s a late attempt at a sci-fi element (Yep! You heard correctly!) but Jules Verne must have been rolling in his grave, because Leroux has created a proto-holodeck from Star Trek, only with the aid of mirrors. And this plot device makes the protagonist hallucinate that he is lost in the desert, making him nearly dehydrate to death within said illusion. An illusion which is, again, made of hundreds of mirrors in a cool, damp, dark basement. No wonder all the adaptations cut that part out!
Anyway, if you can’t tell, I really hate this damn book. Especially more so because I love a good Gothic tragedy with a pinch of horror, and I especially adore its live musical version. But now I have discovered a rarity: a book that’s way worse than all the movies based on it. Usually it’s the other way around, but not this time! Leave it to a Frenchman… okay, nevermind. I’ve created enough divisive discourse with my Top 5. Let’s leave it there.
Conclusion
If you’ve read this far, thank you so much! I do not purport to be some kind of literary expert, but I’m pleased you tracked through my ramblings about the books that moved me this year. Whether they moved me to joy, tears, poignant reflection, or a death-rage inspired by a long-dead Frenchman, thank you for coming along on this journey. I’d love to hear about what you are reading lately! Any old classics you’re just now finding? New faves you’re holding close to your heart? Please share what has been making this drab winter a little brighter for you. And maybe by the end of 2026, I’ll have a whole new list of books to share with you.
Take care, and have a great year in books, reader friends!