2025 Book Wrap Up

Welcome to my annual book wrap-up. It is that time of year when people reflect on the past, in preparation for a fresh start in the new year.

Like last year, I am listing my top 10 favourite books and/or series.

There was a bit more diversity in my reading list this year, thanks to reading challenges both from Goodreads and my local library. Of course, other genres have a challenge to reach the top against the sea of books in my comfort zone, but there were some surprising contenders, to say the least.

It wasn’t easy to narrow things down this year, as there were 22 books or series that I gave 5-star ratings, and some 4-star books stuck with me as well. I’m taking some liberties by combining some entries, and there will be an honourable mentions list this year. It was a good crop of books for sure.

Top Ten Books/Series of 2025

10. Chilling Reflections

I do enjoy anything Drew Hayes writes, and his superheroes, or anti-heroes in this case, are particularly well done. Chilling Reflections is the third book in the Villains’ Code series—all quite lengthy, but well worth reading.

9. Nettle and Bone

Nettle and Bone was one of the books from the list of Acclaimed Titles in the Goodreads Summer Challenge. It was a great story with a fairy-tale vibe, but also fun and engaging.

8. Quantum Tempest

It may be recency bias that is slotting this book in here vs some of the other installments of long-favoured series. Either way, books from the Oregon Files have always been some of my favourites, and this is no different.

7. Reality Benders

I’m cheating a bit with this one: not only is this a sizable 12-book series I’m lumping into one entry, but I’m also including the Perimeter Defense series, which combines with this series for the second half. I am always a sucker for series crossovers, or when different stories take place in the same universe. It is also worth noting that this isn’t a typical fantasy LitRPG; it is more of a space opera with levelling.

6. Terminate the Other World

If you read a lot of LitRPG, you start to notice some tropes that appear fairly often. You can call some of these sub-genres. However, this series, while still being familiar, felt a bit different. It is another example of a series that started as a web novel that leveraged its popularity in more traditional media, and I’m glad it did.

5. Shattered Gods

The Goodreads series link only lists five books in the series, but there are two others that aren’t listed as well as a couple of side stories that accompany it. I have always enjoyed Chris Fox’s books, as they blend science fiction and various fantasy genres into something rich and exciting. Shattered Gods is his take on a progression fantasy based on his Magitech RPG, which in turn is based on another one of his series. But you don’t need to know any of that to enjoy this fantastic series.

4. Welcome to the Multiverse

I read the first four books of this series fairly early in the year and was hooked, although I’ve been waiting for it to finish before binging the rest. A classic ‘Earth inducted into the “System”’ LitRPG, this series still lands firmly with excellent world-building and a solid set of characters.

3. Good Boys

The Good Boys is a fun sci-fi adventure series that departs from Jeremy Robinson’s usual fare. That said, I loved it. It was funny, weird, thrilling and feel-good all at the same time. I definitely recommend it, especially if you are a dog person.

2. This Inevitable Ruin

The latest installment in the now fairly high-profile Dungeon Crawler Carl series does not disappoint. Dungeon Crawler Carl is one of those series I really wish I could go back and re-read with fresh eyes. It is that good. And I’m glad to see it is getting more recognition in the charts. Hopefully, that means more interest in LitRPG, which in turn results in a larger selection of quality titles.

If you haven’t experienced Carl and Donut yet, do yourself a favour. But start at the beginning.

Honourable Mentions

These books/series were ones that I really enjoyed and wanted to call out. Even pruning this list left many excellent books on the cutting room floor. These are in no particular order.

Awaken Online

I am still reading this series at the end of 2025, but I wanted to mention it here because if I had read more of it by the time I made my list, it may have made top ten. It is pretty standard format for classic LitRPG, and there is a lot of angst in the characters, but it explores the depth of those characters in pretty elaborate detail.

Battle Mage Farmer

I binge-finished this series that I had previously started a couple of years ago. If you like your main characters nicely overpowered, this is your series.

Orlando People

I want more books from Mr. Kane. They are also so good, with a nice snarky style that the narrator captured so well. Fun premise and well executed.

The Scholomance

The Scholomance was a series that I started as the first book, A Deadly Education, was on the Community Picks list of Dark Academia as part of the Goodreads Fall Challenge. I figured I couldn’t just stop with one.

Of Monsters and Mainframes

Another Goodreads challenge book, this one from the list of nominees for the Sci-Fi Goodreads Choice Awards. A fun, genre-twisting tale.

Before the Odyssey

This two-book series is a prequel to Odyssey One, one of my top series, which I have written about before—another author I highly recommend.

The Cartographers

And yet another discovery via the Epic Quests in the Community Favorites Challenge from the beginning of the year.

Closing Thoughts

This year, I delved into 198 books, mostly by indie authors in the genres above. This review captures just a glimpse of my reading journey. For example, I left out a couple of the latest installments of my favourite series since I wanted to focus on some new experiences and authors with less of a presence.

You can see my whole year of books on my Goodreads 2025 Year in Books. Feel free to reach out if you’d like to discuss any of these titles further.