Wayfarers Series (#2, #3, #4) by Becky Chambers
Synopsis: A hopeful, character-driven sci-fi saga about found family, cultural clashes, and finding your place in a diverse galactic community, following different crews and individuals after humanity left a dying Earth for the stars, focusing on everyday life, identity, and connection rather than epic battles, with each book exploring new perspectives within the same universe.
Why it made the list: Last year, I included the first book in this series on my favorite books of 2024 list, so I guess it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that the rest of the series has made my list for 2025. Each book follows different characters in different parts of the universe, with minimal crossover with any of the other books. All of the books are very fun and cozy, and honestly I wish she kept going with more within this universe as I would just keep reading them. My favorites out of the four are the first one from last year, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and the last one, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within. Highly recommend this series.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
Synopsis: The apocalypse will be televised!
A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.
In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.
The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.
Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your followers, your views. Your clout. It's about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.
You can't just survive here. You gotta survive big.
You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that "it" factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That's the only way to truly survive in this game—with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.
They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it's anything but a game.
In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.
The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.
Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your followers, your views. Your clout. It's about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.
You can't just survive here. You gotta survive big.
You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that "it" factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That's the only way to truly survive in this game—with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.
They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it's anything but a game.
Why it made the list: A fun, quick read that will really appeal to those who know and love video games. It's full of humor and goes at a steady pace, while upping the ante on the tension and overall drama of the larger story. I do wonder if the series will continue to be entertaining if it feels like more and more of the same stretched out over multiple books, but I enjoyed the first one quite a bit.
The Mercy of Gods (The Captive's War #1) by James S.A. Corey
Synopsis: How humanity came to the planet called Anjiin is lost in the fog of history, but that history is about to end. The Carryx – part empire, part hive – have waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy. Now, they are facing a great and deathless enemy. The key to their survival may rest with the humans of Anjiin.
Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team. Then the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them. They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure.
Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to learning to understand – and manipulate – the Carryx themselves. With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers. Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination. He will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people. This is where his story begins.
Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to learning to understand – and manipulate – the Carryx themselves. With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers. Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination. He will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people. This is where his story begins.
Why they made the list: Though I haven't read The Expanse series of books, I did watch the TV series and highly enjoyed it. I've often thought about reading the first book in that series to see if I wanted to read the whole thing, but when I saw the writers had a new series coming out, thought I'd give that a try first. A very compelling story that I'm interested in seeing unfold.
Other books I enjoyed this year, but wouldn't necessarily call my absolute favorites: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
You can check out all of the books I've read on my Goodreads page, but let me know if you've had any favorites from this year that I should check out!
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