I’ve spent 2025 reading modern fantasy – here are some reviews

Last year I wrote a post about my sci-fi journey in 2024 and what I thought about each book I read. I enjoyed the whole process (both the reading and reviewing) so I thought I’d do it again this year, with modern fantasy.

While I’m not a complete newcomer to fantasy, I mostly only read the big series (LotR, ASoIaF, WoT, Witcher, HP etc.), and not much of modern fantasy, so I wanted to explore how the genre is progressing in the new millennium. I considered any series that started after 2000 to be modern fantasy, which might not be the best categorization, but that’s where I drew the line.

I wasn’t able to read as much as last year, but still managed to read 22 books from 12 series. There are a couple of big misses, and believe me, there were like 10 other series on my list that I just couldn’t make time for – but hey, at least, I’ll not run out of reading material any time soon.

I’ll try to avoid spoilers; however, I consider a book’s main premise and plot points that could be on the back cover fair game – so if you want to go into these books completely blind, don’t read further.

So here are my reviews (in reading order):

• Fourth Wing (Rebecca Yarros)
  This book is a mess. But a fun one! I accidentally started my fantasy year with Fourth Wing (didn’t yet know that I’ll do a modern fantasy year) after my wife got it for Christmas last year, and it looked like a solid fantasy from the cover. As I wanted something different after all the sci-fi of the year before, I went in completely blind. I didn’t even know about the romantasy genre before, and I thought this would be something like an Eragon-esque easy fantasy. Imagine my surprise when the book turned out to be 50% lusting after male bodies with the other 50% being some random fantasy setting with so many plot holes that you wonder if there’s actually a plot between the 14-page long sex scenes. So how is it fun? Well, it’s just easy to read, and you can quickly get on board after you realize during the first few chapters that there isn’t that much to pay attention to, and you can just cruise along the story. The book also doesn’t pretend to be more serious than it is, so you can just lean back and read what technically can be called a story, but mostly you’ll read how amazing Xanden’s body is. By the way, I’m not being sarcastic, I did have fun reading it – it’s actually interesting what no expectations does to the enjoyment of a story. But during it I was also really hoping that this isn’t what modern fantasy has grown into. 6/10

• The Kingkiller Chronicle (Patrick Rothfuss)
  Luckily, I picked up the Kingkiller Chronicle right after Fourth Wing, and it proved right away that modern fantasy can be good, or great even. Despite the series not being perfect (not the least because it’s not finished), it’s just written so well that it’s easy to overlook its flaws. The prose is great, the narrative is fascinating and the challenges our protagonist faces are dynamic and well-paced. I was thoroughly entertained while reading it. However, the further I’m from the actual reading experience, the more the flaws become apparent. For example, the protagonist is the biggest Gary Stu I’ve ever read (I know he’s an unreliable narrator, but you can’t be world-class at magic, music, sex and eastern martial arts at the same time), he is super white-knighty and the story, while posing many fascinating mysteries, doesn’t seem to have actual answers to them. But as I said, I didn’t sense much of this while reading the book, so I might be a little bit too critical due to the time passed. It’s still a great read, just don’t think about it too hard afterwards 🙂 8/10

  • The Name of the Wind encompasses everything that works great about the series – the story is well-paced, the proposed mysteries are intriguing, the framing story is done really well and the narrative still feels on track. Yes, the above-mentioned issues are already there, but the good parts overwhelm them, making this book a very enjoyable read. 8.5/10
  • The Wise Man's Fear is where the story kind of starts moving in circles. When I was almost done with the first half of the book, and we were still at the magic school, I knew there was no way the plot could advance at a pace that it needed to get at least some progress on the mysteries and the main plot. And this became even more apparent as the second half of the book starts to feel like a series of independent adventures with the same protagonist – each interesting in their own way, but not really being parts of a cohesive narrative. Still, it’s an enjoyable book, and I really hope that eventually we’ll get the third one and get some closure on the story. 7.5/10
  • The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a novella based around one of the side characters in the series and is written very differently than the main books. It’s a classical case of an author experimenting with different styles – Rothfuss admits as much in the foreword – and I get what he’s going for, I just didn’t enjoy it that much. It was an interesting reading experience, but I felt like there wasn’t much substance besides the unique mindset (or mental illness) of the protagonist. 6.5/10

• The First Law Trilogy (Joe Abercrombie)
  The First Law Trilogy is actually really just one big book, separated into three smaller, but still big ones, and with the author leaning heavily into the three-act structure, the three books cleanly become the three acts. Now this has its pros and cons. The con is mainly suffered by the first book, where it takes sooo much time to get things going and pull our characters together, but after you get through it, the second book quickly starts to repay your investment as you get more into the story and the characters, and the third book becomes one of the most epic conclusions I’ve read this year. Also, speaking of characters, this is where Abercrombie shines the most. The story (for me) was nothing special, but the characters are extremely complex and well written. It’s rare when the same characters can act completely differently between two situations and still be believable, but Abercrombie nails these changes and he shows how societal setting and group pressure influence even what seem to be core personality traits – I’ve never felt more validated for having different personalities for different friend groups! Also Glokta is probably in the top 5 fantasy characters of all time. So to sum it up, it’s a great read, after you get through book (or act) 1. 8.5/10

  • As mentioned, The Blade Itself isn’t a great standalone book. I found myself asking multiple times ‘Why am I reading about these people?’ throughout the book, as our main characters seemingly don’t have any connection to each other or any impact on the world. And sure, by the end of the book it all comes together, and you realize that this 500-page book was just a prelude to the actual story. And looking back, everything kind of falls into place, but it’s a bit of a struggle as a first-time reader. However, it does a lot of groundwork for the characters and the world for the next books, so I can’t be too mad at it. 7/10
  • In Before They Are Hanged the story finally takes off for real. Our characters begin to interact with each other and their dynamic is great. Some plots are still separated and there’s a weird choice to have half of the POV characters in the same group throughout the book, and in the least interesting storyline which thus takes up a lot of space that could’ve been spent elsewhere. But regardless, the characters really start to shine through the pages, and so I started to understand why this series is so recommended. 8/10
  • Last Argument of Kings concludes the series in an epic fashion – and it’s easy to do so as the first two books really built up everything that was needed for it. I found the ending for each character perfect – not the ending I would’ve liked for the character, but the ending they needed to have based on everything that came before. In the end there’s one storyline I didn’t like – the magic one with Bayaz – as I felt it took away from the groundedness of the others. But everything else was great, and this book can be held up as a prime example of how to finish a series. 9/10

• Best Served Cold (Joe Abercrombie)
  While not a direct sequel to the First Law trilogy, Best Served Cold clearly continues down the grimdark road of the first books. Brandon Sanderson defined grimdark as a story where “each and every good deed is punished”, and this has never been more true than in Best Served Cold. Anytime a character does something even mildly nice, they are severely punished for it after – and to be honest this becomes a little predictable as the story goes on. However, the more focused plot allows a smoother and more streamlined reading experience, where the narrative is clear, the stakes are clear and our characters can shine from the beginning. There’s a noticeable shift towards a more stylized dialogue (and there is a lot of dialogue), with the style of gangster movies (from the likes of Guy Ritchie and Tarantino) serving as a clear inspiration. For me, this stylized prose has become a little bit much by the end (after all we’re talking about a 680-page book, not a 2-hour movie), but it might be that I’ve read too much Abercrombie in one go. So after this, I’ve kept the First Law books on hold for the rest of the year, but I’ll probably return to them in a year or two. 7.5/10

• The Powder Mage (Brian McClellan)
  I’m a little ambivalent (though leaning positive) about these books. First, this series has the most original magic system I’ve read all year and it’s integrated perfectly into the American/French revolution aesthetic, and these really provide the series with a strong backbone. But (and here comes the big but) I can’t for the life of me understand why the author felt the need to introduce a different, super generic classical fantasy magic system into the story, and also why, oh why do we need to have gods in this universe. There are so many stories about fireball-throwing, lightning-shooting, ice-summoning magi that aim to prevent/bring forward the summoning of a god (isn’t this the plot of every second World of Warcraft raid?) that it’s just super played out for me. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like these additions really take away from the strongest aspects (setting and the powder magic) of the books. The other elements of the book are well written, the story is sound, most of the characters are interesting (especially Tamas), however they’re just that – well written, not extraordinary. 7.5/10

  • Promise of Blood starts the series strongly with an ongoing coup, which gives it a nice dynamic to the first part of the book. This, and all similar political intrigue plots are the best part of the story. However, we soon leave this behind as we have our – otherwise likable – investigator character going after some prophecy bullsh*t. I think I made it clear above how I feel about this, but nevertheless, it’s a fine first entry of the series, even if I had problems with parts of the plot. 7/10
  • The Crimson Campaign is the best entry in the series – coincidentally the one with the least generic fantasy plots – I especially enjoyed the death march behind enemy lines, where it constantly felt like the characters were on their last legs, but still, their solutions (mostly) didn’t feel forced or convenient. At one point, however, I had to realize I didn’t really care for Taniel (who is one of the main characters), which sucks as he had some interesting plotlines, but his personality is just not very likable. 8/10
  • Aaaaand we’re back with the god stuff in The Autumn Republic. I know, even I’m bored of my complaints by now, but what can I do? It just bugs me about these books. We get another god, and his deal is… election campaigns and trade unions. I mean, at this point, what’s the point of him being a god? I really like all the political plots and maneuvering, but the sharp contrast between the groundedness of the story and the fantasy elements really bothered me right to the end. But besides this, the ending is a competent and satisfying way to conclude the series, which after all, I’m glad I’ve read. 7.5/10

• A Darker Shade of Magic (V. E. Schwab)
  This book has so much wasted potential. I was hooked on the world as soon as I read the synopsis – four parallel Londons, that are similar, but are shaped by different events into becoming separate worlds – how cool is that? I couldn’t wait for the author to highlight the comparisons between each world and show how they are alike, but not alike at the same time. However, it turns out my expectations were way too high. Instead of exciting alternative Londons we got Boring (Real) London, Generic Good London, Generic Evil London and Generic Extra Evil London. The only parallels between them are that there’s one(!) building in the exact same place in each and there’s a Thames in all of them. So not very exciting. But how about the characters, the story? Those were to me kind of average – there wasn’t anything wrong with them per se, but I just couldn’t really get involved. One problem I had is that there’s a lot of ‘tell, don’t show’, for example, we are told again and again how our protagonist loves his brother, and this even becomes a key plot point down the line. However, the only interaction we see between them before things go down is when they argue with each other – we don’t see them having fun or hanging out or anything, and this really hampers the impact of the later parts of the book. There are other examples of this, so in the end this book didn’t really grab me, so I didn’t read further into the series. 6/10

• Green Bone Saga (Fonda Lee)
  The Green Bone Saga is the best series I’ve read this year. Its setting (a fantasy world that’s parallel to our 1970s East Asia) and themes are completely unique in this genre and Fonda Lee handles these magnificently. She tackles topics like how globalization affects traditional societies, how immigrant groups try to hold on to their native culture, while trying to adhere to the norms of the country they’re in, how honor-based rules and traditions collide with what’s essentially becoming a modernized world and other difficult topics that are usually absent in fantasy literature. All of these are presented as real challenges for the characters, without falling into the evil globalization vs. morally pure native dichotomy – in which it helps that our protagonists are organized criminals. This is also handled wonderfully as the characters are nuanced, flawed, but still very human and understandable, or even likable. I didn’t give a perfect score to any of the books as the first one lacks the ambitious themes of the whole series, while the latter two’s story is less focused due to the growing scope. However, in total it really is greater than the sum of its parts, so as a series it gets a perfect 10/10 from me.

  • Jade City is the most focused and dynamic story out of the three books (the story happens in just 6 months, instead of the years the following books tackle), and it pulls the reader right in. The living, breathing city of Janloon provides a wonderful backdrop to the great characters whose unique struggles and challenges are super captivating. The author doesn’t hold any punches, the stakes are real and high. The book lacks the thematical depth of the rest of the series, but it’s a near-perfect story on its own as well. 9/10
  • Jade War starts to broaden the story with more perspectives. We meet immigrant communities, our characters start to feel the grasps of globalization and how super-powers influence and vie over resource-rich, but smaller countries. And these are just the background themes behind a good-old clan war. However, to show all this, the story becomes less focused and a little bit too broad, but it’s all worth it in the end. 8.5/10
  • With Jade Legacy we’re moving into modernity, and with it, the changing of traditional values, generational differences and the societal volatility that is caused by all these drive the story forward. The story is even less focused – it takes place over 20 years -, so there are places where I was not yet ready for the time-jumps and wanted to read more about certain situations, but I accept that to tackle these themes, these were unavoidable. The conclusion is handled extremely well, it’s perfectly bittersweet and rounds out a great reading experience in total. 8.5/10

• The Lies of Locke Lamora (Scott Lynch)
  The Lies of Locke Lamora is a fine book with likable characters and a well-written story. However, the flow of the book really threw me off. We’d start a heist in the present, then flashback to a storyline from 10 years ago then have a flashback inside the flashback. Then back to the present story. Then flashback again. And this goes on throughout the book. Maybe it would’ve been fine, if the glimpses to the past were interesting at least, but I found most of them quite boring, especially as I couldn’t wait to get on with the main story. But no, we had to see what irrelevant things happened to our characters 10 years ago (so a secondary character pretended to be a priest for a while, thanks, now can we go back to the literal climax of the book?). But at least the main story was interesting, and the characters were great as well. I especially liked that the author didn’t hold any punches, and there were real stakes and consequences. But in the end, I couldn’t really get over the flow and structure of the story, and while I liked the book at a lot of places, I don’t think I’ll continue with the series. 7/10

• Bloodsworn Saga (John Gwynne)
  Surprisingly, I haven’t yet encountered many fantasy books that are based on Nordic culture. It’s surprising as it lends itself super well to the genre as it’s showcased by the Bloodsworn Saga. It’s just familiar enough so that concepts don’t have to be over-explained and unusual enough so it’s not just another fantasy world that’s basically medieval Europe. So the setting is great, the worldbuilding is solid, but the story has some issues. Nothing to ruin the experience, and I enjoyed the books and the story, but it won’t be a 10/10. And although I didn’t have time to read the third book this year (it was already November when I finished the second book and I wanted to dig into a few more series), I’m definitely picking it up next year, as I’m quite interested in how the story ends. 7.5/10

  • I imagine The Shadow of the Gods was written like this: the author wrote a very solid story, then said ‘Hey, this is a pretty good, let’s duplicate everything, it’ll be twice as good!’. And behold: there are 2 very similar mercenary groups, 2 moms looking for their kidnapped kids, 2 protagonists with wolf powers, 2 groups going north to explore sites of fallen gods, and I could go on. The two very similar mercenary groups are my biggest gripe, as several times I had to stop and think about which character is part of which one. But besides this, as I said, it’s a pretty good story, action-packed and dynamic. The characters are solid, not necessarily complicated, but there are a couple of twists about them that make them interesting. 7.5/10
  • The Hunger of the Gods picks up where the previous book finished, the dynamism and action continues, but this time it got a little too much for me. Basically what happens is that the 3 original characters go from place to place and kill everything in-between. Lots of broken skulls, slit up bellies, and cut-off appendages. It gets a little tiresome after a while and by the end I found myself skimming over the battle scenes, as after a point they all seemed the same. The actionmovie-esque writing also introduces some weird things, like super short chapters (there’s a chapter that’s just 2 pages long), that I imagine should evoke the effect of a camera cutting back-and-forth between two characters, but it just didn’t work for me that much. What did work for me are the parts that are NOT filled with gore and violence and chopped off fingers: there are a couple of new characters whose story is not as action-packed and they slow the narrative down nicely and we’re shown some nice character development, intrigue and much-needed breathing space between the other chapters. 7/10

• The Poppy War (R. F. Kuang)
  This is a weird one. While The Poppy War does a lot of things well – showing how seemingly “meritocratic” systems can entrench the power of the ruling class, providing a perspective into women’s challenges in highly competitive environments etc. –, but there are just so many things wrong with the book that I just couldn’t enjoy it in the end. First, the prose is clunky in a lot of places, e.g. it sometimes goes from third-person limited to third-person omniscient point-of-view within the same chapter. Then the worldbuilding is really unimaginative: it’s just China, that’s it, with some magic (plus Japan and the Western countries). For example, quotes in the book in-story are from real Chinese philosophers with their actual name included, which is quite jarring. If the author wanted to do an alternative mystical version of China, why create a seemingly new fantasy world, that just comes off as lazy worldbuilding? Lastly, the tone of the book is extremely inconsistent. One chapter I’m worrying about the story turning into a YA-style love triangle, and the (literally) next chapter describes some of the most extreme, horrendous atrocities I’ve ever read in ANY book. This last part is so insanely out-of-place, unexpected and unwanted that I considered not finishing the book. I powered through, but I most certainly won’t read the rest of the series and I might just keep away from all future books of the author. 5.5/10

• Piranesi (Susanna Clarke)
  This was a great read! Piranesi is a unique take on the “infinite house” trope, where the mystery is captivating, and the plot is excellently written. Many mysteries fail to involve the reader in the solution, making it impossible to come to the right conclusion on our own (I’m looking at you literally every detective book ever), but not Piranesi. Here, when a new clue was introduced, I was able to figure it out maybe a page or two before the protagonist came to his conclusions. I also didn’t have to “wait” for him over chapters to figure out something obvious. This shows how well-written and well-paced the story is. My only criticism would be that the ending was a little too neat (but this is a matter of taste) and that I would have liked an additional ~100 pages of non-plot-heavy exploration of the House that could’ve let the story breathe a little more, especially in the later chapters. 9/10

• The Fifth Season (N. K. Jemisin)
  I enjoyed The Fifth Season thoroughly. It’s interesting in more ways than one, the plot is solid, the characters are great and the world is fascinating. I also liked how it went against some usual trends and e.g. used a second-person narrative in a few chapters – it’s clear that the author didn’t just follow formulas, but went in her own direction. The worldbuilding is also not just the usual “medieval equivalent of our world with magic” that a lot of fantasy books fall into, it’s a well thought-out, convincing world, where people aren’t based on a particular “real” civilization, but rather their culture corresponds to the challenges and problems that are in their own lives and world. Sadly, I didn’t have time to read the rest of the series in 2025, but I’ll certainly start 2026 with the next book. 9/10

• The Curse of Chalion (Lois McMaster Bujold)
  The final book of my modern fantasy year turned out to be not a modern fantasy, but a very much classical one. Even though it was released after my arbitrary deadline of 2000, the contrast between this book and the others I’ve read are stark: the morally grey protagonists are nowhere to be seen, here the good characters are good, the bad ones are bad; the good princess is beautiful and she marries the brave prince; the gods are kind and try to help the mortals against the evil of the world. If I’m being completely honest, it was a bit of fresh air after all the complicated themes, ambiguous motivations and uncomfortable stories. So this review and score might be a little inflated by this, but I really enjoyed The Curse of Chalion. The story flowed smoothly, the challenges were substantial, but not unconquerable, the good characters were likable, the bad ones were appropriately dislikable and the whole narrative was built up and then closed in a satisfying way. Of course, I didn’t gain any new perspective, neither was I surprised by anything that happened, but this is definitely a solid book to read, and I’m glad I finished my year with this one. 8/10