C0smic Occurence

Snow Crash

Cyberpunk is not a genre I’m particularly familiar with. I don’t watch a ton of movies, haven’t played the video games, and am only versed enough to know the basic premises of a corporate world filled with technologically enhanced humans slowly being corrupted by power (or trying to plow the power holders up in bombs). At least I think? I’m still a bit unsure.

Anyways, Snow Crash was the pick for an in-person book club I’m in. I found myself pleasantly surprised at how familiar the story felt, and can understand why its considered a classic foundational text of the Cyberpunk genre. I had some fairly major issues with it though, and left it feeling the way I feel about a lot of these older iconic works: greatness colored by cringeworthy reminders of the past.

The Premise:
Hiro Protagonist is a freelance hacker, and one of the original programers of the metaverse. YT is a 15 year old courier, who delivers sensitive parcels by harpooning cars and hitching a ride on her skateboard. The world is parceled into corporate burbclaves, each with its own rules, oftentimes able to be bent with a bit of cash. And amidst it all is a growing virus threatening those who visit the metaverse: Snow Crash.

Read if Looking For: fun blends of futuristic and retro technology, observational humor, dramatic internal monologues

Avoid if: dated depictions of female and LGBTQ+ characters, weirdly sexualized 15 year old girls

Split Tooth

Split Tooth is not a novel I should have enjoyed. Despite being an English major in college, Literature with a capital L has always rubbed me the wrong way. Even the more experimental Fantasy stuff I love tends to have strong roots in genre fiction tropes, like The Spear Cuts Through Water. Split Tooth was none of what I typically love, but I found that it became my first five star read of 2025.

The Premise:
Split Tooth follows a girl in Nunavut through her childhood and adolescence. While the story defies traditional plot arcs, you’ll find reflections on her family life, navigating school, pregnancy and motherhood, and the bridging of spirit and physical worlds.

Read if Looking For: books that blend poetry and prose, sparse magical realism stories, books with sharp edges, indigenous voices

Avoid if Looking For: traditional fantasy plot structures, easy reading

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven

It’s been nice to see witches getting more love in fantasy over the last five years. Whether or not they delve into historical witchcraft or lean into fantasy cliches, they’re just a fun archetype. Her Majesty’s Royal Coven is a pretty damn good book focusing on what witchcraft in the modern age might look like. Like with a lot of modern fantasy, you’re getting some political commentary woven into the story, and this book does a good job of locking into an exciting plotline and sticking the landing.

The Premise:
Her Majesty’s Royal Coven (HMRC) is a pseudo-governmental organization in the United Kingdoms managing the affairs of witches, keeping magic secret, and generally preserving traditions as well as they can. In theory of course. In reality, any group is political, and fracture lines have been spreading over the coven’s racist biases, especially post-civil war in the witch/warlock community. But when a young boy triggers the oracles saying the grand demon himself is rising, things will get rough quickly. Only he’s not a he. He’s actually a she. In this book we follow Helena (High Priestess of HMRC), Elle (a witch trying to live away from witchcraft as much as possible), Niamh (left HMRC to use her powers as a vet) and Leonie (who formed Diaspora, a coven focused on providing a community for witches of color) as they navigate their old friendships, current dilemmas, and what it means to be a woman.

Read if Looking For: witches, critiques of TERF ideology, witchy goodness, POVs from many ideological perspectives

Avoid if Looking For: Books with subtle themes, cinematic action

Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon

Speaking generally, I think comparisons to other books does a disservice to individual books. In official publishing industry pitches, this is especially egregious, where every book is _____ meets _____. While Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon absolutely stands on its own merit, it shares a lot of DNA with American Gods, and, considering that many readers are no longer interested in giving Neil Gaiman their money anymore, Shigidi is a phenomenal take on gods and modernity.

The Premise:
Shigidi is a nightmare god. Well, a retired nightmare god who escaped the Spirit Corporation grind and now works freelance to try and gain the prayers and souls needed to sustain him. He and Nnemona, his succubus partner, are offered a final job to clear their debts away and open an opportunity for a life in their homeland. But it means breaking into the London Museum through their tight security. This book drifts between years, exploring the current and past dilemmas facing Shigidi and Nnemona, culminating with their final caper.

Read if Looking For: modern interpretations of myth, three dimensional characters, bisexuals everywhere

Avoid if Looking For: tightly focused ‘heist’ books, fast pacing

Cemetery Boys

The Paranormal Romance trend of the mid 2010s may have died down, but it never quite went away. Cemetery Boys was a delightful recent addition to the genre, eschewing many of the more stickier parts of the subgenre in favor of something refreshing and heartfelt, instead of being another drop of water in the vast ocean of edgy immortal love interests.

The Premise:
Yadriel is a Brujo, or at least, he wants to be. He’s got the skills for it, but his family insists that he is in fact a she, and doesn’t belong in that part of the business. When he summons the ghost of Julian Diaz, he’s stuck with a more inconvenient companion than he could have hoped for, since Julian wants to get to the bottom of his own death. It doesn’t hurt that he’s cute, even as a ghost.

Read if Looking For: sweet romances, light mystery elements, transmasc latinx rep

Avoid if Looking For: surprising twists, action scenes, lots of magic

I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself

About an hour into my listen of this audiobook, I was convinced that it was going to be my first 5/5 read of the year. I was lost in Marisa Crane’s intensely emotional writing, and felt like I was living in the skin of another person, feeling what they felt. Then, as the story shifted from something amorphous and reflective into a more traditional plot, I ran headfirst into walls of frustration and disappointment. The things I love about this book are intoxicating, but it wasn’t enough to hold the story together until the ending for me.

The Premise
In this version of America, those who harm others receive an additional shadow. Those with shadows are second class citizens: taxed higher, let go from jobs, harassed on the street. And of course, fairness and justice aren’t particularly high on the list of concerns for the government organization assigning shadows, and people of color, queer folks, and those living with mental health challenges are much more likely to get one. That list includes Kris, who just lost her wife in childbirth, and her newborn baby who got a second shadow for ‘killing’ her mother during birth. Lost in grief, Kris must find a path forward in this world and figure out how to life her life (and raise a child) when the lodestone of her world is gone.

Read If Looking For: meditations on grief and motherhood, dynamic queer relationships (romantic and platonic), thoughtful depictions of mental health struggles

Avoid if Looking For: dystopian settings with the intensity of The Handmaid’s Tale, realistic depictions of children

Light From Uncommon Stars

Sometimes you run into books that are really difficult to pitch. Light From Uncommon Stars sounds like a comedy book. Aliens running a donut shop certainly doesn’t sound like a book that takes itself particularly seriously. But this story made me cry, made me furious, and made me feel more deeply than I expected when opening the cover. This book is an emotional roller coaster, and a journey that isn’t happy, but is filling.

The Premise:
A young trans girl flees and abusive family with her violin. The ‘Queen of Hell’ seeks to find a seventh student and convince them to sell their soul to a demon for musical immortality. An alien on the run from the End Plague runs a donut shop. Their stories – and others – connect and intertwine in a tale of what it means to be human (or alien) and what it means to live a life worth living.

Read If Looking For: character-led stories, phenomenal music recommendations, genre bending novels, romance subplots

Avoid if Looking For: stories avoiding queer trauma, classic fantasy or science fiction plot beats

Sufficiently Advanced Magic

Progression Fantasy is a subgenre that happily draws on video games, anime, and tabletop RPGs as inspiration points. Sufficiently Advanced Magic happily wears its influences on its sleeves. It’s a big magic school story with lots of cool fights, badass moments, without a whole lot mental load required of the reader. And while I think I ultimately prefer Journals of Evander Tailor for my ‘queer kid enchants items in a big magic school’ read, this is a phenomenal option, and definitely the more widely popular one.

The Premise:
Corin enters the Spire hoping for many things: an attunement to grant him magic, clues about the fate of his brother, who vanished years ago in his own Spire trial, and maybe a fun magic weapon or two. He comes out with all three things (though perhaps none as intended), the attention of one of the immortal Visages who can destroy countries with a thought, and a pissed off abusive father who can’t stand his son got an enchanting attunement instead of one designed for combat. Corin heads to school, hoping to develop his abilities to eventually be able to find his brother and gain independence.

Read If Looking For: anime vibes, overly analytical characters, dungeon crawling

Avoid if Looking For: books without filler, mystic magic, healthy parent/child relationships

The Butcherer of the Forest

Dark, atmospheric fairy tales are right up my alley, and early reviews of The Butcherer of the Forest made it seem like a good fit for my tastes. This ended up being one part fantasy, one part horror, and one part wandering trip through an hallucination. It won’t be my favorite read of the year, but it was a great time in a small package.

The Premise
Veris is just a normal woman living under The Tyrant’s rule. She raises rabbits, pens letters for those who can’t write, and generally tries to avoid notice. Unfortunately, she’s the only person to ever return from The North Forest with one of the lost children. So when The Tyrant’s own children venture in, she is forced to once more visit her worst nightmares, for if she can’t save the children, her town will burn.

Read If Looking For: dreamy (or nightmarish) prose, fairy tale settings, unknowable beings

Avoid if Looking For: plot driven stories, explanations and justifications for the setting, tidy character arcs

Yield Under Great Persuasion

Alexandra Rowland is one of my favorite authors, and I adore romances, so this book was an easy choice to pick up. I will say Rowland’s past romance (A Taste of Gold and Iron) was a great book, but probably my least favorite thing they’ve put out. Considering that their worst book is one that I’d happily reread, Alexandra Rowland is definitely an author who is right up my alley.

The Premise
Tam knows how to hold a grudge. He’s had a grudge against Lyford for ages, despite that fact that he keeps sleeping with the man. When Tam agrees to volunteer for the town’s yearly festival, mostly out of spite, he ends up paired up Lyford in the matchmaking tent of all places. Tam is forced to confront his own character flaws, his repressed feelings for Lyford, and his habit of sabotaging anything good that enters his life.

Read If Looking For: trope-filled Romances, meddling gods, melodramatic descriptions of penises

Avoid if Looking For: healthy relationship dynamics, sophistication in any sense of the word