fiction

My best adult fiction books of 2025

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Between now and the day before Christmas Eve, I’ll be posting about the best books that I’ve read (or the best audiobooks that I have listened to) this year, just in case you need any last minute present ideas. On Monday, I wrote about my favourite non-fiction books, and today, I’m focussing on the fiction books aimed at grown-ups that I’ve read or listened to this year. All of these are books that I have awarded five stars on Goodreads.

The links below to buy the books are all sponsored links to Amazon, but you’re welcome to borrow these from your local library, or buy them from an independent book shop.

‘How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying’ by Django Wexler

Cover of 'How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying' by Django Wexler

This book was recommended to me by a couple of people. It’s told in the first person by Davi, who is stuck in a time loop. Every time she tries to defeat the Dark Lord, she ends up dead and back at the beginning of the loop. So, as per the title, this is How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying. It’s very funny, with plenty of violence, sex and swearing to boot. Christine and I listened to this together in the car, and the audiobook is very well narrated by Jeanette Illidge.

This book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, and so there’s a second book, Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me, which also comes recommended. I think Christine enjoyed both books more than I did, but they’re still amongst my books of the year.

‘Human Rites’ by Juno Dawson

Last year, the other two books in the Her Majesty’s Royal Coven trilogy were in my best of list, so it’s no surprise that this third and final book, Human Rites, is here too. These books almost feel like they were written specially for me, as many of the settings are places around Hebden Bridge that I know well. Plus the various pop culture references.

Dawson manages to bring the overall story arc to a really satisfying conclusion, without making it feel like it was a foregone conclusion. The audiobook is, once again, excellently narrated by Nicola Coughlan, who is able to give each character a unique and distinctive voice.

‘Rule of Cool’ by Matthew Siege

Cover of 'Rule of Cool' by Matthew Siege

This was my first foray into the world of LitRPG – fiction books that incorporate role-playing game mechanics. So, in this book, Rule of Cool, the characters level up, and as events happen, you can read how their stats change. Attacks are on the basis of dice roles. It’s a whole genre of books.

The story is an idea I’ve come across before, in Drew Hayes’ book NPCs. Characters in a game find a way to break out of their pre-defined non-player character roles, and get to be the heroes for once. Whilst Hayes’ book was a little disappointing, I found the story in Rule of Cool much more engaging.

I picked this up on the basis of its narrator, Felicia Day, whose career I have followed since she released the first series of The Guild. Which is approaching its 20th anniversary, somehow.

‘The Fireborne Blade’ by Charlotte Bond

Cover of 'The Fireborne Blade' by Charlotte Bond

I met Charlotte Bond at this year’s Sci-Fi Weekender, as one of the invited authors. She’s from Leeds, and when I read the dedications for this book, The Fireborne Blade, one of those was to a mutual friend. As well as a signed copy of this book, she also gave me some Yorkshire Tea.

It’s a dragon-slaying fantasy book with a few unexpected twists. There’s some humour in here, and overall, it’s quite a short book. Which, if you’re like me and wanting to hit an ambitious reading challenge target for the year, is welcome.

There’s a follow up – The Bloodless Princes – but I haven’t started this yet.

‘When The Moon Hits Your Eye’ by John Scalzi

Cover of 'When The Moon Hits Your Eye' by John Scalzi

Last year’s best of list featured two honourable mentions by John Scalzi. As with Human Rites, mentioned earlier, this is one of two books that I read which were actually published this year.

In When The Moon Hits Your Eye, the moon suddenly turns to cheese. The book is essentially a series of short stories, where different characters all react to the same events, including teams of scientists, eccentric billionaires, and cheese shop owners.

Whilst my favourite John Scalzi book remains Starter Villain, this is good, and what you would expect if you’ve read Scalzi’s other books. The audiobook is once again well-narrated by Wil Wheaton.

On Tuesday, I’ll focus on the best kid’s books that I read this year with our nine-year-old.

Listening to books, part V (Fiction edition)

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It’s time for another update on the audiobooks that I’ve been listening to. As mentioned last time, I’ve been listening to a few fiction books lately, rather than just yet more celebrity memoirs. As someone who hasn’t read (or indeed listened to) fiction in many years, this was a bit of a departure for me. Indeed, Mitch Benn’s book Terra was the first in a long time.

Here’s what I’ve listened to:

Battlemage by Stephen Aryan

The cover of Battlemage by Stephen Aryan

I’ll disclose a minor conflict of interest here: I used to work with Stephen’s partner. At the time, I remember hearing about how he was struggling to get a publisher. This was when self-publishing on Kindle and the like was becoming more popular. I’m pleased to see that Stephen’s persistence paid off, with this book being published by Orbit in September 2015. It’s available as an actual paperbook in real shops (or Amazon – sponsored link), and an audiobook on Audible.

Battlemage is among the longer books that I’ve listened to – roughly on a par with a typical Game of Thrones book. It tells the story of several battlemages, powerful and feared wizards, who are recruited to fight in a war against the ‘warlock’. It’s firmly in the ‘sword and sorcery’ subgenre of fantasy.

I really enjoyed this book; whilst I chose it principally to support someone I know, the story was good and the characters had depth. The narration by Mark Addis on the audiobook is good as well. It’s the first in a trilogy, and I’m looking forward to listening to Bloodmage, the next book in the series.

Dietland by Sarai Walker

I listened to this book on a recommendation from Sofie Hagen, formerly one half of The Guilty Feminist podcast. I didn’t really know what to expect, other than that it would likely criticise the diet industry.

Dietland (Amazon link – sponsored) tells the story of Plum, a fat girl who doesn’t want to be fat. She signs up for a weight loss scheme called ‘The Baptist Plan’, but is left looking for other options when the company is closed by its founder’s daughter. Considering bariatric surgery, she’s recruited into a secretive collective and finds out the truth about dieting.

The reviews of this book are mixed, perhaps due to its controversial second half where the story takes an interesting twist. For me, I found the second half much stronger than the first. Initially I almost wrote this book off as being typical cheap ‘chick lit’, but I stuck with it and was rewarded. Drawing parallels with real-life events, it’s hilarious and empowering.

Lauren Henderson narrates the book, and whilst she does so well, she wouldn’t be my favourite voice actor.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

I listened to The Alchemist (Amazon link – sponsored) because it was available as a freebie on Audible back in November. I had run out of credits, didn’t fancy paying full price for another audiobook and saw that it was a relatively short 4 hour listen, which I completed in a week thanks to a few long car journeys.

It’s certainly not the sort of book that I would normally listen to, and it was okay, I guess. The story follows a young Spanish shepherd, as he travels to Africa to find treasure. The revelations he has on his journey end up changing the course of his life.

There’s a lot of religious imagery in the book, even if it isn’t overtly Christian. The narration was good, but you can tell that it has been translated into English. There’s not the level of nuance that I expect it would have if read in its original Portuguese.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

The cover of Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

As a child, I read a few Terry Pratchett books – namely the Johnny Maxwell trilogy, but as yet I haven’t dabbled my toe into any of Pratchett’s books for adults. Similarly, I’ve not really read any Neil Gaiman books apart from a couple of short stories. So I thought that Good Omens (Amazon link – sponsored), a collaboration between the two of them, would be a good introduction to both authors. It’s a standalone book that is not part of any wider series.

Good Omens follows Crowley and Aziraphale, a demon and an angel who live on Earth, and who aren’t very happy about its imminent destruction. As the four horsemen of the apocalypse gather, and the anti-christ goes missing, it’s up to them to save the world, with the help of a surprisingly accurate book of prophecies written by one Agnes Nutter.

There are some laugh-out-loud moments in Good Omens, especially in its comments about the M25, and how every cassette that spends more than a couple of weeks in a car becomes songs by Queen. Some of the pop culture references are a little dated – this book was first published in 1990 – but on the whole, it holds up well. Stephen Briggs offers an excellent narration in the audiobook.

Update (May 2025): This was written before the allegations about Neil Gaiman’s sexual abuse were made public. Also, the original Stephen Briggs audiobook has been replaced with a newer recording narrated by Martin Jarvis.

Up next

At present I’m back to celebrity memoirs, but will be listening to more fiction books in future. I’m considering making a start on Game of Thrones, and perhaps making inroads into Terry Pratchett’s Discworld universe.

Terra & Terra’s World, by Mitch Benn

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Yesterday, I did another round-up of the audiobooks I’ve been listening to recently, save for two. I singled out these two as they’re both by the same author, and are both fiction. Now I’m not a big reader of fiction, as my wife, ex-girlfriend and parents will testify. So what made me read these books?

The two books are Terra (Amazon link – sponsored) and Terra’s World (Amazon link – sponsored), part of a series with recurring characters by Mitch Benn. Benn is best-known as a musical stand-up comedian. He has performed on BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show for many years and regularly tours his shows. Indeed, I’ve seen him perform live four times now:

  • In Leeds, at the wonderful City Varieties, with his band The Distractions.
  • In Leeds (again), at the rather less wonderful Carriageworks Theatre, with his show Mitch Benn is the 37th Beatle (also broadcast as a standalone Radio 4 show).
  • In Halifax, at the Square Chapel, with the Don’t Believe a Word show that he has just finished touring.
  • In Hebden Bridge, at a comedy club night at the Old Gate where he was the headline act.

I also follow him on Twitter, where he is very active. So you could say I’m a fan.

Anyhow, as well as being a successful stand-up and radio performer, Benn has also written the two aforementioned books. I would probably describe them as ‘young adult science fiction’ – not too challenging to read, but enjoyable stories. And they’re good books, with good reviews of them both.

Terra tells the story of a baby girl, whose bickering parents accidentally leave her behind, when fleeing from the car after an encounter with an alien spacecraft. The spacecraft’s pilot, having seen that the baby had been abandoned, takes her back to his home planet. He names her ‘Terra’, and brings her up as if she were his own daughter.

Terra’s World follows the first book. The story is told partly from the perspective of Billy, a new character who befriends Terra after her return to Earth in her adolescence. The planet that Terra grew up on is in trouble.

For me, Terra’s World was the better of the two books, but you’ll need to read (or listen to) both in order to understand the plot and who the characters are. I would also recommend the audiobook – Mitch Benn read his own work very well, especially the pronunciation of the names of the alien characters. Plus, he has composed the music that accompanies the books.

The epilogue to Terra’s World implies that Benn plans a third book, although I understand from Twitter that he doesn’t yet have a publisher for it. I hope he’s able to find one – I thoroughly enjoyed these first two books.