As much as I love putting together best-releases-of-the-year lists, that doesn’t mean I didn’t read some INCREDIBLE backlist books too! Which are equally deserving of the spotlight.

Thus: in the order in which I read them, the very best books I read this year (not counting rereads!) that were published pre-2025!

Foreigner (Foreigner, #1) by C.J. Cherryh
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 1st February 1994
Goodreads

THE SPACE OPERA CLASSIC: Discover “one of the best long-running science fiction series in existence” (Publishers Weekly)!

A sole human diplomat navigates a world inhabited by hostile, intelligent aliens—and learns the consequences of first contact.

It had been nearly 5 centuries since the starship Phoenix, lost in space and desperately searching for the nearest G5 star, had encountered the planet of the atevi. On this alien world, law was kept by the use of registered assassination; alliances were defined by individual loyalties, not geographical borders; and war became inevitable once humans and one faction of atevi established a working relationship. It was a war that humans had no chance of winning on this planet so many light-years from home.

Now, nearly 200 years after that conflict, humanity has traded its advanced technology for peace and an island refuge that no atevi will ever visit. But then the sole human allowed into atevi society is marked for an assassin’s bullet. The work of an isolated lunatic? The interests of a particular faction? Or the consequence of one human’s fondness for a species which has 14 words for betrayal and not a single word for love?

I devoured most of this series this year, and while obviously some instalments are weaker than others, collectively, these are PHENOMENAL. Such incredibly clever worldbuilding, that’s so economical from the writer’s perspective! Never-ending intrigue! An amazingly vibrant cast! Politics, tradition vs industrialisation, alien linguistics, coups, space travel…and it’s all so impressively readable, has that addictive popcorn quality that makes the pages FLY by! Once I started, I dropped everything else I was reading and read almost all of these back to back. WHICH IS VERY MUCH THE WAY TO DO IT, IMO!

You can read my review of the first book here!

Soulstar (The Kingston Cycle, #3) by C.L. Polk
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Black queer MC, Black nonbinary love interest, F/NB, secondary M/M and F/F
Published on: 16th February 2021
Goodreads

With Soulstar, C. L. Polk concludes her riveting Kingston Cycle, a whirlwind of magic, politics, romance, and intrigue that began with the World Fantasy Award-winning Witchmark. Assassinations, deadly storms, and long-lost love haunt the pages of this thrilling final volume.

For years, Robin Thorpe has kept her head down, staying among her people in the Riverside neighborhood and hiding the magic that would have her imprisoned by the state. But when Grace Hensley comes knocking on Clan Thorpe’s door, Robin’s days of hiding are at an end. As freed witches flood the streets of Kingston, scrambling to reintegrate with a kingdom that destroyed their lives, Robin begins to plot a course that will ensure a freer, juster Aeland. At the same time, she has to face her long-bottled feelings for the childhood love that vanished into an asylum twenty years ago.

Can Robin find happiness among the rising tides of revolution? Can Kingston survive the blizzards that threaten, the desperate monarchy, and the birth throes of democracy? Find out as the Kingston Cycle comes to an end.

This might be the book I’m most appalled to have gotten to so late – I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to read! I ended up feeling a bit meh about the first book, but the second book in the trilogy stole my heart right out of my chest – and then Soulstar, the finale? PERFECTION. Absolute, utter perfection. This book had me ugly-crying fair and square, so full of Feels I had no idea what to do with them. It’s both an incredible finale, fitting together beautifully with the previous books, and freaking amazing in its own right, considered as something separate from the rest of the series. And one thing I especially want to draw attention to is how – earnest it is, genuine; it’s not a book that flinches away from expressing big hopes and dreams and ideals for fear of being cringe or looking stupid, and by virtue of that, makes it all hit so much harder. Fantastic in all the ways!

So You Want To Be A Robot: 22 Stories of Science Fiction and Fantasy by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Portal Fantasy, Horror, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Assorted queer and trans MCs
Published on: 1st November 2024
Goodreads

“Divergent characters find themselves in startling situations in this debut collection of unconventional sci-fi and fantasy stories... A sparkling sequence of tales that bends and flips familiar ideas and fantastic visions.”—KIRKUS REVIEWS ⭐ review [1st Edition]

SSet aside traditional norms and the gender binary in this updated collection of twenty-two stories by Nebula Award finalist Merc Fenn Wolfmoor.
Here you'll find robots and cyborgs exploring their own forms of personhood; lose yourself in wildly imaginative landscapes and dystopian worlds; follow assassins, sentient shadows, sorrowful ghosts, and all forms of monsters. Dare to feel everything—from the brightest joy to sorrow and the rainbow of emotion in between.

Yet even in the darkest moments, there will always be hope.

---SO YOU WANT TO BE A ROBOT (2nd Edition) includes the following
This Is Not A Wardrobe Door
Tomorrow When We See The Sun
The Sorcerer's Unattainable Gardens
The Android's Prehistoric Menagerie
For Want of a Heart
Once I, Rose
Where Monsters Dance
A Survival Guide For When You're Trapped In A Black Hole
Thread
Under Wine-Bright Seas
Of Blessed Servitude
To The Knife-Cold Stars
Finding Home
Winter Bride
To The Monsters, With Love
Batteries For Your Doombot5000 Are Not Included
...Or Be Forever Fallen
Iron Aria
What Becomes Of The Third-Hearted
The Gentleman Of Chaos
Gray Skies, Red Wings, Blue Lips, Black Hearts
How To Become A Robot In 12 Easy Steps

---“The stories are all crafted with the deft and loving touch of an author who knows firsthand what it is to live in their characters’ skins. Each piece in this unmissable collection shimmers with bright explorations of love, loss, and the quest for hope.”—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ⭐ review [1st Edition]

This was the second edition, published at the end of 2024, and I did not quite get to it before the start of this year, so on the Best of Backlist it goes! Wolfmoor has been one of my favourite authors since I stumbled across their horror novella The Wolf Among the Wild Hunt – and I love that novella very much, but it’s Wolfmoor’s short stories that I come back to over and over. So You Want To Be a Robot was a collection I adored in its first edition, and only love more now, getting to revisit it; it’s magic the way magic should be, full of wonder and beautiful even when it’s terrible, terrifying. Queerness, especially transness, is everywhere; there are portal fantasies for those of us who had our hearts broken by Narnia, and quests to save the monsters under the bed, a sorcerer seeking to be reunited with a shadow (which is not their shadow). I never get tired of Wolfmoor’s stunning prose, or equally breathtaking imagination; the new story, “Gray Skies, Red Wings, Blue Lips, Black Hearts” made it into volume one of The Year’s Best Fantasy (2022), and is a gorgeous addition to a line-up that is already endlessly enchanting. This edition also has notes from Wolfmoor on the origins and themes of each story, which were Most Excellent!

My review!

Architects of Memory (The Memory War, #1) by Karen Osborne
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Sapphic MC with fictional chronic illness, F/F
Published on: 8th September 2020
Goodreads

Millions died after the first contact. An alien weapon holds the key to redemption—or annihilation. Experience Karen Osborne's unforgettable science fiction debut, Architects of Memory.

Terminally ill salvage pilot Ash Jackson lost everything in the war with the alien Vai, but she'll be damned if she loses her future. Her to buy, beg, or lie her way out of corporate indenture and find a cure. When her crew salvages a genocidal weapon from a ravaged starship above a dead colony, Ash uncovers a conspiracy of corporate intrigue and betrayal that threatens to turn her into a living weapon.

Another one that’s been vaguely on my tbr for ages, and which SWALLOWED ME WHOLE when I finally picked it up! Osborne’s bleak corporate dystopia is elevated by silken prose and genuinely alien aliens – not to mention the DEVIOUS red herring that had me reaching ENTIRELY the wrong conclusions about where the book was going! And of course, the Extremely Excellent cast, from the protagonists down to the minor characters who are only on-page for a moment. I NEED TO GET TO THE SEQUEL IMMEDIATELY.

In the Heart of Hidden Things (The Gyrford Series #1) by Kit Whitfield
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Representation: Autistic-coded MC, major selectively mute autistic character
Published on: 9th June 2022
Goodreads

The inhabitants of the village of Gyrford live mostly in harmony with their neighbours in the Forest, and that is in large part down to the fairy-smiths, Jedediah, his son Matthew and grandson Johnny, for only fairy-smiths can intercede with the People when a problem arises - like when one of the fae - who, in fairness, does looks a lot like a thornbush with a blackberry for a head - is dug up and transplanted by someone who didn't know any better and is now determined to wreak vengeance on anyone it can.

That's not the only problem, for there's a skinflint landlord determined to sell the mill and kick out the family who've run it for untold generations. And a young boy who was clearly damaged by the People at birth is spending most of his time trying to get into the Forest, which is forbidden territory for all but a very few men.

There's even a rumour that Black Hal has been seen running - fire strikes from the great hound's heels, they said, and his eyes are the red of coals.
So one way or another, the Smiths have got a lot on their plate, and a lot of people depending on them . . .

I read both of the Gyrford Series books this year, but the second I loved just a bit more (they both work well as standalones, so you can read whichever you like first, though I do recommend them in publication order). They follow a family of fairy blacksmiths – not faeries/fairies themselves, but blacksmiths who, as well as doing normal smithing, are the ones you call when the fae are causing you problems. It’s a little bit like pest control, I guess, if pest control involved an endless amount of lore, very flexible minds, and the ability to speak in poetry at a moment’s notice! What you most need to know is that these are Old School fae, in the British tradition; meaning, they don’t look human, they don’t think or behave like humans, and even when they’re trying to help you they can be incredibly dangerous. I adore this take on faeries, and Whitfield does it so incredibly well; and what surprised and delighted me is that neurodiversity is woven throughout the books too – as a natural consequence of exploring concepts like changelings and being ‘fey-touched’. A major character in the first book is selectively mute and autistic, and I read one of the protagonists as being on the spectrum as well, and I cannot express how much I appreciated this, especially the very ‘love thy neighbour’ approach to people who are Different that suffuses the series. But these are also incredibly compelling on a story-level: both of them had me biting my nails and SHRIEKING, with the kind of villains that make me want to claw a wall and protagonists I would die for. SOMEONE GIVE KIT WHITFIELD A CONTRACT FOR ANOTHER FIVE BOOKS AT LEAST, OKAY???

Fire Logic (Elemental Logic, #1) by Laurie J. Marks
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer Native American-coded MC, MC with drug addiction, F/F, M/M, queernorm setting
Published on: 1st May 2002
Goodreads

Laurie Marks’ Elemental Logic series introduced readers to the realm of Shaftal, an intricately imagined land whose people operate within the boundaries of their basic natures—here defined as logics—which sometimes bequeath them with access to magical, elemental powers and sometimes embroil them in unsolvable internal conflicts. 

Fire Logic centers around the strong female character Zanja Na’Tarwein, a fighter and last survivor of her people in an occupied country. Alongside her is Karis, a powerful half-giant, who is a drug addict and lives in obscurity, hiding her considerable powers. Surrounded by incomprehensible loss, Zanja also forms a bond with Emil, an officer of the army she joins. 

Battling the complex forces of power, desire, and obligation, follow along as the trio work together to try and change the course of history. 

I’ve been seeing this series on LGBTQ+ Fantasy rec lists for decades, but I kept bouncing off the first book every time I tried it. NOT THIS YEAR, THOUGH! This year it was like stepping through an open trapdoor: I just dropped into it, instantly enveloped in Shaftal and its people. This series is a kind of Fantasy that is very rare, one that is anchored in the homely mundanity of everyday life – and when I say ‘mundanity’ I don’t intend any connotations of ‘boring’ – that wrestles unflinchingly with big, painful questions in a way that is disarmingly approachable. In a lot of ways it reminds me of The Fifth Sacred Thing, except that this series is not pacifist and the magic in it is subtler and even more fundamental. These books are about trying to find a way out of an endless, miserable war, trying to build a land worth living in, that has space for everyone within it. The characters are so very, very human; there are very few genuine villains, almost everyone is Trying Their Best, doing what they think is right – even if sometimes those things are horrifying. And all of that makes these books sound so incredibly bleak, and they’re not! They’re warm like a hearthfire, not cosy but deeply heart-warming, soul-sustaining, rich with human connection and love and bright moments of joy and even humour. I have the final book in the quartet waiting for me on my ereader, and I both cannot WAIT to dive in and never EVER want this series to be over!

My review of book one!

Ocean's Godori by Elaine U. Cho
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Korean MC, gay Desi MC
Published on: 23rd April 2024
Goodreads

Ocean Yoon has never felt like much of a Korean, even if she is descended from a long line of haenyeo, Jeju Island's beloved female divers. She's also persona non grata at the Alliance, Korea's solar system-dominating space agency, since a mission went awry and she earned a reputation for being a little too quick with her gun.

When her best friend, Teo, second son of the Anand Tech empire, is framed for murdering his family, Ocean and her misfit crewmates are pushed to the forefront of a high-stakes ideological conflict. But dodging bullets and winning space chases may be the easiest part of what comes next.

A thrilling adventure across the solar that delivers hyperkinetic action sequences and irresistible will-they-won't-they romance alongside its nuanced exploration of colonialism and capitalism, Ocean's Godori ultimately asks: What do we owe our past? How do we navigate our present while honoring the complicated facets of our identity? What can our future hold?

Kicking myself that I took so long to read this, but at least I discovered it in time for the sequel, which was released this year! Nothing I can say is going to put it better than Helen Rhee’s review over on reactormag – it’s what convinced me to give this book a try – but in essence, this is suffused both with Korean culture and with a kind of – joyful nostalgia? ‘Nostalgia’ doesn’t seem like the right word to me; it’s more self-aware than that, and more tongue-in-cheek, and if it’s indulgent it’s in the best, most enjoyable way. This book is FUN in a way I’ve rarely seen modern sci fi be, and put Elaine U. Cho directly onto my auto-buy author list!

The Devourers by Indra Das
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Desi MC, queer + nonbinary Desi MC, major nonbinary character, M/NB (or NB/NB?)
Published on: 12th July 2016
Goodreads

For readers of Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, China Miéville, and David Mitchell comes a striking debut novel by a storyteller of keen insight and captivating imagination.

LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD WINNER •  NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST

On a cool evening in Kolkata, India, beneath a full moon, as the whirling rhythms of traveling musicians fill the night, college professor Alok encounters a mysterious stranger with a bizarre confession and an extraordinary story. Tantalized by the man’s unfinished tale, Alok will do anything to hear its completion. So Alok agrees, at the stranger’s behest, to transcribe a collection of battered notebooks, weathered parchments, and once-living skins.

From these documents spills the chronicle of a race of people at once more than human yet kin to beasts, ruled by instincts and desires blood-deep and ages-old. The tale features a rough wanderer in seventeenth-century Mughal India who finds himself irrevocably drawn to a defiant woman—and destined to be torn asunder by two clashing worlds. With every passing chapter of beauty and brutality, Alok’s interest in the stranger grows and evolves into something darker and more urgent.

Shifting dreamlike between present and past with intoxicating language, visceral action, compelling characters, and stark emotion, The Devourers offers a reading experience quite unlike any other novel.

Praise for The Devourers

“A chilling, gorgeous saga that spans several centuries and many lands . . . The all-too-human characters—including the nonhuman ones—and the dreamlike, recursive plot serve to entrance the reader. . . . There’s no escaping The Devourers. Readers will savor every bite.” —N. K. Jemisin, The New York Times Book Review

“The Devourers is beautiful. It is brutal. It is violent and vicious. . . . [It] also showcases Das’s incredible prowess with language and rhythm, and his ability to weave folklore and ancient legend with modern day loneliness.” — Tordotcom

“A wholly original, primal tale of love, violence, and transformation.” —Pierce Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Red Rising Trilogy

“Astonishing . . . a narrative that takes possession of you and pulls you along in its wake.” —M. R. Carey, author of The Girl with All the Gifts

I completely understand why my past self DNFed this so many times – it is GRIM – but oh, I’m so glad I finally managed to read it, because it is one of the most beautiful, exquisite books I have ever read ever. It’s a deep dive into horrors, of so many kinds, but those horrors make the hopepunk heart of the story shine so much brighter. It’s a book about holding on to what is good, what is true, what you want to be, even in the midst of a nightmare, even when you think you’re a monster, and it is so successful, in a way I’m not sure I’ve ever seen another book manage. Devourers is not only an incredible story – several, actually, intertwined with each other – it is a masterpiece of storytelling, of craft, of heart. I’m really not exaggerating when I say that reading it was functionally a religious experience. The rampant queerness and made-for-me worldbuilding, the unbelievably compelling characters – those were all bonuses. The core is this incredible alchemy of ugliness into hope, into soul, and please check all the trigger warnings before you start reading – but you really should read it if you possibly can.

My review!

Imperfect Commentaries by Ruthanna Emrys
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Assorted queer, Jewish, BIPOC MCs
Published on: 27th June 2019
Goodreads

Sympathy with the sea, with the weird, and with monsters fills the stories of Imperfect Commentaries. Ruthanna Emrys's collection offers listeners feminist and #ownvoices Neo-Lovecraftian fiction, anthropological science fiction, and fantasies of belonging, plus miscellaneous deleted scenes, poems, and secret story origins. Readers familiar with her novels (Winter Tide and Deep Roots) will see the first appearance of Aphra Marsh, an Innsmouth survivor, still recovering from her losses and making a life for herself in late-1940s San Francisco in "The Litany of Earth."

Imperfect Commentaries feels as though every story in it was written specifically for me: full of magical libraries and alien linguists and Jewish portal fantasy, each one with exquisite, genius worldbuilding conveyed in breathtaking prose. Emrys goes hard, not at all afraid to rip your heart out with Feels, with impossible-to-answer questions – only to then flip the tables completely and revel in sci-fi nerdery, with immortal jesters wielding nanobots or flying manta rays, or gorgeous, wonder-full magic. After years of refusing to go near anything Lovecraft, her story “The Litany of Earth” has convinced me that Lovecraft can be interesting in the hands of authors aware of it’s problems – cue me diving into her novel Winter Tide! “Seven Commentaries On An Imperfect Land” will live rent-free in my mind forever, a Fantasy so beautiful it was painful to read; “Brief Candle” hooked me from its first line, “The children washed up early this year; we raced down to the beach as soon as we heard.”; “The Two-Body Problem” was an endlessly delightful tale of two mad lady scientists in love with each other. And those are only a few of the treasures here! I loved every single one; every word was literally perfect. Calling it now: I’ll be rereading this collection over and over.

What were your favourite backlist reads this year?

Related Posts