I didn’t read too much last year. Perhaps it was the spike in reading in 2024, or just the insanity of 2025, but I felt like I denied myself a joy. That is, until I took the time to reflect on what I did get to read, and, oh boy, the quality definitely outshines the quantity.
(hit more for full reflection 💜)
The first major read of this year was a month-long binge of the Rebecca Roanhorse, now Hugo Award winning, series, “Between Earth and Sky.” Simon and Schuster’s website offers a quick synopsis of the trilogy:
“An epic series weaving the people, cultures, and history of Pre-Columbian and indigenous society into the astounding fantasy world of Meridian where matriarchal clans vie for power as a dead god rises.”
I absolutely loved everything about this series, from its honest storytelling, to its queer (specifically trans) representation, to its clever and seamless interweaving of all the characters and plots. One may correct me to say realism instead of honesty, but that word feels like it lacks the human depth to the story. Roanhorse weaves her story together, with happy and unhappy endings, conflicts of cities, and hearts alike. The story was incredibly human in this aspect, particularly with the character Okoa (which the optimist in me is still mourning his arc, while admiring its tragic beauty). I could go on and on about the simple complexities of his arc, but I think I'll save that for a different reflection. No need to spoil things here. Not everyone in the story gets a happy ending, and every choice has its consequences. And some people only get so much time to do what they can with that time. This is just honest, you apply if you wish to say whether it's good or bad.
A note on the queer representation, particularly from the non-binary experience, was fantastic. My favorite part was the variety and the presentations that were just natural to the story telling, and not preachy pedestal. After all, trans people are just people, and Roanhorse demonstrates this so well. I specifically want to highlight that I listened to the audiobook first (fantastic cast for reading by the way). There is this character that took me quite a few minutes to figure out xer name because, if you are visually following this… I had NEVER heard the pronouns of xe/xer used so fluidly and regularly, that two things occurred. First, I had to google the character names to discover xer name was Iktan, and xe would become my favorite character through sheer personality alone. Secondly, the heart breaking revelation to HEAR that kind of representation as someone who still struggles to get people to use they/them had me weeping for hours. For that, thank you Rebecca. And that just scratches the surface for her elegant presentation. Ultimately, reading this series broke through a sea of quick reads with a complexity I missed and aspired for, bringing light back to the writer who valued full vibrant and thorough worlds, thrived in them really.
The other book series I got to devour was The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir, which has got to have some of the best themed language of a book that plays to the philosophies it represents that I’ve read so far. A quick synopsis provided by Good Read, briefly introduces the galactic themes of this series:
“The Locked Tomb Series, by Tamsyn Muir, follows the dread adventures of Gideon Nav, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, and a host of other goths. These epic science fantasy novels mix funny tone with dark subject matter, and contain swashbuckling action, waves of bones, and lesbian necromancers in space.”
The bodily language of the micro-world of the Ninth house necromancers, and then the community of just rigorously educated and disciplined necromancers for the first book, was so unique to me. It wasn’t giving body horror like other books of this diction have done before, but something that was just factual, a regular detail in the way they experienced their world. They were necromancers after all, flesh and bones were their art, and all their knowledge. It wasn’t until the second and third book (fourth and final is on the way), that I noticed this purposeful take, with the idea of “body, mind, and soul.” The language gets a bit less anatomical in the second book as our view of the word begins to expand as our protagonist, Harrow’s, very mind is at war with itself. The third book was probably the most “human,” of the three as we flipped the script on what we have learned in the previous two books and got to see the life of people in this macro-world of our galactic conflict. It’s an expanded take on what makes up a soul: is it simply ectoplasm powering a meat suit, ravaging spirit monsters, or the connections and experiences we collect in 6 short months with the world all around us. Is it love? I’d very much call this book romantic but not in the contemporary sense of a love story, but in the context of the romantic period of literature. Poe would have LOVED this book series.
The book is also incredibly queer, without you even knowing it. Not so much in the overt declarations or subtle love plots, but in the strangeness of the world where relations are deepened by duty, vows are the answer to life's riddles, and what it is to truly share a life. It’s a kind of reflection on love that exists despite the body.When we don’t focus on love in a binary, we are open to seeing it in ways not bound to rose petal reproduction. Though not entirely absent, the notion of sex is pretty minimal, though the books are full of the yearning found prominently in sapphic literature.
I will die on this hill: no one yearns quite like a sapphic person.
Hell, even the relationships throughout this series feels as “messy and chaotic,” as the sapphic community. If you know, you know, because unless you know the community it's kind of hard to explain why it's queer, and that's kind of amazing. I’m still digesting the play of gender or more over the lack of rules to gender with these characters, particularly the lyctors. That alone could be another whole reflection. In reading this series, the old buried bones for telling weird stories unrooted in traditional fantasy began to reform their ligaments and move once more.
I am going to skip the few nonfiction books I read; they were insightful but not so impactful.
The last I want to show some appreciation to, without being able to fully discuss it yet, is N.R. Farias’s debut novel, “Splinters of Souls,” the first book to her “Chronicles of the Unwoven,” series. I have the privilege to be one of her alpha readers, and that alone has been an inspiring experience. Her dedication, vulnerability, and perseverance shines in her interactions with her alphas and her writing, not to mention her patience. (She is so patient with me!) I’ve even got to see her get bolder and bolder with her voice through her social media and community building. It’s honestly been such a joy to witness. I can’t go too much into the plot, but I can say it has been a very intriguing trail of a story to follow, full of heart and a level of authentic experience I don’t see often in our more book-tok popular pieces. This aspect has been so refreshing and a good reminder to lean on what we know. In those moments when we feel, as creators, that our stories hold no weight, there is somebody out there (probably several somebodies) who need to see it to help shoulder their own story, in the way only we can say it, and give them the words they struggle with to hold important conversations. I’m excited to keep reading where this story goes! A big thank you to Nathalie, the writer in me is ready to tell their own story.
In short, like my whole year’s reading list, the stories I got to enjoy were filling and transformative to the point I didn’t need to over indulge. It was a strange feeling to savor something for a while, in comparison to the year prior and external social paradigms. Don’t get me wrong, I was so proud of how many books I had gotten myself to read in 2024. I have a reading disability, but a strong passion for storytelling, so to get those kinds of numbers felt like a huge triumph. Comparison did try to steal my joy of reading, but my 2025 picks were just right to keep me happy without burning me out. Sometimes, we all just need to slow down, and that's enough.
PSA TO ALL READERS while wandering around a mall today I was ensnared by a powerful force that bade me enter a place called Barnes & Noble. in a daze I wandered the displays and was compelled to even pick up several books that this force attempted to foist upon me at great personal cost to myself. it was only through great strength of will that I was able to fight off this befouling force by withdrawing my cellular device from my pocket and logging into my library account to place requests for the same books at no cost that i was able to escape without grievous harm. truly it's crazy out there, stay safe and remember that libraries are always there to provide aid as you fight against such forces of darkness
Rebogging because I'm so happy to now see this artist work. I've been seeing this exact piece for YEARS on Pinterest and it has been an inspiration to how I describe I type of shifter in a world I like to write in (I know, vague af) but like now I can follow and support their work directly.
I know I'm late to the Tumblr game but this and the Between Earth and Sky blog, I am happy I was late, then never have ventured here at all!
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Between Earth and Sky - Rebecca Roanhorse
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Xiala/Serapio, Naranpa/Iktan, (background)
Characters: Serapio, Xiala, Naranpa, Iktan, Background & Cameo Characters, The Tuyon (Between Earth and Sky)
Summary:
The sound of a human voice has become unaccountably dear to him. He is doing no harm, asleep like this.
Seven years after the war’s end, Serapio’s resurrection remains incomplete.
Or: hey what if everyone who had a hand in my birth said I had no purpose beyond my death and I said “bet” and had a life about it
It’s done! The first fic in the Between Earth and Sky tag is on ao3. I flatter myself that the prose is quite pretty. Loved thinking about these characters in a little more detail 🫶
I guess an introduction is in order, and how better to do it that in the first person!
"From pole-dancing to pothos propagating, K Mitch often struggles to write their own bio. Hopefully, this will do.
Though their formal education includes film and theater, Mitch has never been one to keep their mind grounded in this reality. Daydreaming is a far more respectable pursuit for knowledge.
They currently resides in Tampa, the homelands of the Tocobaga and Seminole people. They spend a decade working in independent animation and themepark entertainment, and, after some fun therapy, they decided to derail that career to bartend and write. They have honestly never been happier.
Mitch is a very go with the flow and adventurous spirit, who loves learning from the locals, participating in the festivals, like Fringe, and supporting their favorite causes (like environmentalism and neurodivergence acceptance).
They have three kitties named Hope, Josh and Davina. They are one of many siblings and proud child of a Gen X mom. They are a practicing seer where the natural world is their church.
For more details, find them on Instagram at @pynklyght and be sure to ask why that's their handle. They have been waiting a decade for that question.
You read it here first folks.
Soon coming to a book sleeves back lip near you...
A Left Turn Out of the Goblin City @pynklyght - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
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