The best books of 2025

This list is part of the best books of 2025.

Join 1,210 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2025

Book cover of 12 Miles Below: The Frozen Realm

❤️ loved this book because...

That the story has side beats about immortals engaging in social engineering and robotic Cartesian philosophy! The World building is actually and truly robust in a way that doesn't always happen when a story is as fight focused as this one.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Originality 🥈 Thoughts
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Mark Arrows ,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked 12 Miles Below as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Icy death above. Monster-filled dungeons below. He must fight or freeze.Extreme sub-zero temperatures suffocate the surface. Frozen structures of bygone eras span across massive ice-wastes. And the survivors closely guard any technology rediscovered within them.. The only escape from the deadly climate is beneath the surface, but that doesn't mean it's safe.... Monstrous machines lurk in the depths. Unhinged demigods war against them, dying over and over, treating it all like a game. The depths themselves shift over time, more contraption than rock.. When an expedition into the far uncharted north goes terribly wrong, Keith Winterscar and his father get…


When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

My 2nd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of System Awakening

❤️ loved this book because...

I am a huge comics nerd, and this was a well-developed world that played with all of the tropes and little foibles that grew out of a genre with a publishing history close to 100 years at this point.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Immersion 🥈 Character(s)
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Sean Dunning ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked System Awakening as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

There are no heroes in Wichita… The heroes Terry Fairway once idolized have turned against him, hunting him down at every turn. His grandfather, the ruthless S-ranked necromancer who rules the city, watches from his throne as the people starve and suffer. Vampires stalk the streets unchecked, feeding on the innocent without fear of reprisal.Terry always believed his family were the good guys, but Wichita isn't a city of heroes or villains—it's a city of power. And if power is all that matters, then power is what Terry will seize.He’ll become powerful enough to drive the vampires from the shadows.…


My 3rd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of System Awakening

❤️ loved this book because...

It is a story about a character bonding(sometimes consensually, sometimes otherwise) non-human creatures on an isolated world. The bits where he is building the physical parts of civilization(pants, a fire pit) feel just as real and grounded as when the MC is exploring the actual intricacies of his magic. The exploration of each companion's thought processes feel both like each of them is their own person with their own agency, and like each of them is distinctly inhuman.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Character(s) 🥈 Immersion
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Sean Dunning ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked System Awakening as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

There are no heroes in Wichita… The heroes Terry Fairway once idolized have turned against him, hunting him down at every turn. His grandfather, the ruthless S-ranked necromancer who rules the city, watches from his throne as the people starve and suffer. Vampires stalk the streets unchecked, feeding on the innocent without fear of reprisal.Terry always believed his family were the good guys, but Wichita isn't a city of heroes or villains—it's a city of power. And if power is all that matters, then power is what Terry will seize.He’ll become powerful enough to drive the vampires from the shadows.…


Book cover of 12 Miles Below: The Frozen Realm
Book cover of System Awakening
Book cover of System Awakening

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,210

readers submitted
so far, will you?