The official topic is “Best Books I Read in 2025”, but I’m being a bit more precise and saying this is a list of my favourite books — because some of them are not objectively as good as others, but I had more fun with them and they did more to shape my year, regardless of quality. Besides, markers of quality are pretty subjective anyway, so this phrasing just pedantically reveals what I think I’d really be doing anyway.

I did a favourite 12 books of 2025 over on Litsy, picking out my favourite book for each month for #12BooksOf2025, but this list is a bit different because some of my favourite books came from the same months.

1. The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish, by Xue Shan Fei Hu. These books were so ridiculous and so cute: what if a guy gets transmigrated into a novel he’s been reading… as the tyrant’s pet fish? And then has to mitigate the tyrant’s character and turn him into a good emperor? Their relationship ends up genuinely lovely, as Li Yu completes quests that allow him to turn into a human form. But I wasn’t kidding about it being silly too, since Li Yu ends up giving birth to four fishy babies (and later a human baby). It doesn’t really go into the mechanics of that, fortunately. Anyway, I can see myself rereading these books in future years, and eagerly consuming any adaptations that come out, so this has to get a place in my top ten.
2. Solo Leveling, by Chugong (+ the manhwa adaptation by Dubu). I’m bundling both the novels and the manhwa into this one slot, because why not? I wasn’t sure what I’d think of this series, but I ended up loving it and reading it in both formats. Jinwoo is ridiculously overpowered, and that’s the fun of it: you know he’s safe, and the majority of the people around him are going to be safe. But how is he going to do it? What neat monsters is he going to face? What’s behind it all? I had enormous fun reading the manhwa, which is what I started with, and have now dug into the light novels as well.
3. Dinosaur Sanctuary, by Itaru Kinoshita. This manga series is so much fun. Basically, what if dinosaurs were resurrected and kept in zoos, and handled by keepers who have to become expert in their healthcare, nutrition and enrichment needs? It follows a new keeper who’s learning how to handle the various dinos, and the series had a dinosaur consultant keeping the science pretty accurate, with neat fact files between chapters explaining more about the relevant science. I definitely know kids who’d enjoy this, but as a forever-lover of dinosaurs, so did I. It’s relatively low stakes, and a lot of fun.
4. Tied to You, by WHAT (adapting a novel by Chelliace). This manhwa ends up being both creepy and romantic: what if someone didn’t trust the concept of fated partners, and was willing to do anything to manipulate his fated partner into being sure to stay with him? It’s not even clear that Jigeon needs to act the way he does, but he’s so determined not to let Wooseo go, no matter what. In the end, he has to put his cards on the table and show Wooseo exactly what he’s been up to in order for them to bond fully, and Wooseo does choose him eyes-open, but it still ends up having a twisted sort of feel. It’s lived in my head rent-free since I read it, despite me knowing nothing about the series and just encountering it randomly on Library Pass/Comics Plus.
5. Everything is Tuberculosis, by John Green. This is my new go-to as a recommendation for people curious about tuberculosis, which is my “favourite” infectious disease, and still a really important cause of mortality worldwide. I wrote my BSc dissertation on tuberculosis and studied it again during my MSc: it’s still so important, and people know so tragically little about it (sometimes believing it’s no longer a disease of importance, when in reality it’s the #1 cause of death from infectious disease worldwide). Green’s books is well-written and excellent for a general audience, and even I learned a couple of things (mostly about the experience of being a TB patient: I wasn’t aware that the treatment process makes you really hungry, which is a huge problem for people who don’t have a lot of food available).
6. You Should Be So Lucky, by Cat Sebastian. This romance is really good. The process of the two of them falling for each other feels so realistic, their connection makes sense, the setting and the other characters are really good… I expected to enjoy it, because I like Cat Sebastian’s work and I liked the other book in this series (We Could Be So Good), but it really had a stranglehold on me for a while there. I swear her work gets better with each book.
7. A Case of Mice and Murder, by Sally Smith. I loved this and the second book in the series, A Case of Life and Limb. The setting (the Inner Temple, one of the Inns of Court in London) didn’t necessarily sound fascinating, and the main character sounded like he might be kind of stuffy… and then he won me over completely with his gentle courtesy and considered kindnesses. The setting is surprisingly cool, as well: not a setting I’d thought much about, but shaped by unique traditions and history. I can’t wait for more books in this series.
8. The Teller of Small Fortunes, by Julie Leong. This was an early favourite for me. It steers away from world-changing stuff for the most part, instead following someone who wants to use her powers quietly, travel safely, and avoid world politics — despite having the power to foretell more or less anything. I loved the way it played with the idea of seeing these small fortunes and how even those could be important, and I really liked the cast. I’m looking forward to The Keeper of Small Magics.
9. Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher. This has been a year for reading T. Kingfisher’s work for me, but Hemlock & Silver is really lodged in my head because it felt like such a wild (and fun) take on the Snow White story. The mirror monsters were particularly inspired — there’s often a touch of horror to Kingfisher’s fantasy, and they were definitely a freaky and fascinating inclusion. Honourable mention to Clockwork Boys, though, which I also absolutely inhaled… and the Saint of Steel books too, really. I liked that this one stood alone, though.
10. A Drop of Corruption, by Robert Jackson Bennett. I love that this is an earnest attempt to write a classic mystery story (very Holmesian) in a fantasy world. We’re given a lot of detail about the world to help us draw our own conclusions, and there’s so much of it to sink your teeth into. I found this as compulsive as the first book, and it has some satisfying weirdness too.

If I started getting further into honourable mentions than I have already we’d be here all night, but hopefully that’s a nice taster! Curious to see what other people’s picks have been.