January 2026 - Reviewed

I write this ahead of tonight’s launch event for my second novel, Nightshade and Oak, and I truly cannot believe how fast the last years have gone! I started writing these recaps back in November 2023 when I had just announced my first book and now I have published that, written another two and am plotting more!

Books have always been such a meaningful part of my life and I am blessed to be able to write as well as read. I finished off eleven books this month and this is what I thought of them.

A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh

I haven’t read any Waugh before, but I found his writing style very more-ish. I loved the original family structure and was devastated as it slowly unravelled over the course of the book. It follows a beautiful but bored married woman as she starts an affair with the most nothing burger man of all time, letting her family disintegrate as she pursues him. I really enjoyed the first 90% of the book and then it went totally off the rails with a completely wild finish!

The March of Folly – Barbara Tuchman

Ms Tuchman is one of my favourite historians, and I devoured her history of the 14^th Century, A Distant Mirror. I liked this book too, which takes the concept of “folly” in government and compares four historical episodes: the Fall of Troy, the renaissance popes, the British loss of the American colonies, and the Vietnam war. My favourite was the section on Vietnam, where Tuchman can barely conceal her contempt for the idiocy of the American leadership, and lays out the futility of the entire exercise. A common meme in the British understanding of WW1 is lions led by donkeys, but I think that applies far more to Vietnam.

A Sorceress Comes To Call – T Kingfisher

A very interesting book that feels like it should be a retelling of a classic tale (it’s closest to the Goose Girl) but is somehow entirely new! Cordelia is kept in line by her malicious and powerful sorceress mother, who decides to marry a wealthy Squire and take over his riches. Hester, the Squire’s sister, joins forces with Cordelia to defeat her mother and save the day. I loved the viciousness of the witch, and how there weren’t obvious answers to how to defeat her. Cordelia was a real cinnamon roll character but I totally lost my heart to the middle-aged Hester.

Days of Shattered Faith – Adrian Tchaikovsky

The third in the Tyrant Philosophers series, and another excellent instalment. In this book we are in Alkhalend, a city with a giant frog for a god. I really liked the richly layered history of the setting, as well as the newer characters who joined my old friends. These books are really dense and it took me a few weeks to plough through this but it was well worth the effort. If you like complex fantasy worlds then I highly recommend this series.

Buried Deep – Naomi Novik

I decided to treat myself to a Novik reread and picked out this excellent selection of short stories. Generally I am not a short story fan, I love to really dive into a new world, but I thought these were just so good, and I enjoyed them just as much second time around. Favourites are the Pride and Prejudice and Dragons story and the titular Buried Deep, a wonderfully rich Minotaur retelling.

Lent – Jo Walton

Another reread favourite, Lent is the unlikely mash up of Giovanni Savonarola and Groundhog Day. That description will either immediately make you want to pick this book up or you will be totally baffled – but I really love this detailed meta-adventure through renaissance Florence.

The Incandescent – Emily Tesh

Oh, I loved this book! I liked Tesh’s debut, Some Desperate Glory, but it didn’t quite hit as well as her follow up did. This is a magic school story from the perspective of the deputy head, as she ploughs through an eventful year. I adored the main character, the magical realism of school life, and the delicately layered cultural references to British society, and immediately recommended it to my teacher friends. I really struggled to put this down - I started reading it on site and then had to put it down to drive back and it was difficult not to speed to get home to finish reading!

Disney Adults – AJ Wolfe

I read this in the hope of getting an outsider’s perspective of Disney Adults and what makes them tick but unfortunately it was really more of a DA’s defence of their obsession! I thought there were some solid points about whatever brings you joy is worthwhile, and I don’t really care to litigate how people spend their time. However, I did think this read more as a long list of anecdotes from Disney Adults detailing how they love the parks so much and updates from the company which felt like ads.

Blood Over Bright Haven – ML Wang

Well written but not grabby – was my ultimate conclusion to this much hyped book. I started to struggle early on when I realised it was Salt Lake City with magic and predicted the entire remaining plot. It felt like an attempt at Babel which I also didn't really enjoy but could see the intended effect more clearly. I did think BOBH was an easy read though, and I zipped through it pretty quickly.

Dungeon Crawler Carl – Matt Dinniman

This is my first LitRPG book, and I really doubted that I would enjoy it: but I totally loved it and am devastated that we can't get the rest of the series in paperback here in Australia! It's a fun, action-packed adventure through a post-apocalyptic alien-run game show where the titular Carl and his girlfriend's cat Princess Donut have to complete deadly games and opponents to survive. On first impressions this is a brainless, popcorn read, but if you sit with it, there's a surprisingly thoughtful and complex aspect to it. The enemy fighters seem like simply trolls to be defeated but Dinniman shows you they have cultures and incentives of their own, and it's clear who the real enemy is. I'm very excited to descend to the next level with Carl and Donut.

Seraphina – Rachel Hartman

A reread I have been planning for a year! I finally sat down to reread this excellent fantasy book and unsurprisingly I loved it still! Seraphina is a half-human, half-dragon, in a human city with a very recent and fragile peace. The worldbuilding is great but it's not shoved in your face, it's just there in the background, and reading the book feels like wandering through the city with Seraphina as she discovers who she is and whether she's alone.