Reading Time: 5 minutes

Hello, book nerds!

What a year it’s been. I went into 2024 with a goal of 75 books (for the record, this is a decrease from 2023, when I read a whopping 100 books). I set a goal of 75 thinking I would then spend more time on other art forms, like film and games.

Well, I did enjoy more films and games. I also still read 95 books.

I swear, I can slow down whenever I want!

Well, anyway. I (for real) want to slow down more in 2025, and I think I’ve found the solution: big ass books. I’m going to pick up more of the longer books I’ve seen — more on that in the 2025 section at the end, and how I’m changing up some of my blogging routines.

2024 Wrapped

First, here’s how my 2024 reading wrapped up. This year, instead of recapping my Storygraph stats like I did last year (because the stats are basically the same), I’m going to sum up some highlights instead. I made some pretty graphics in Canva for my socials, so I’ve gotta share them here, too.

See? Pretty. I went for a postcard vibe. As in, I’m writing to you from 2024, and sharing my adventures (because reading is adventure, yada yada).

I struggled to pick my top 3, but when I really boiled it down, these just stuck out most. They were incredible, and the ones I’ve recommended most to others. Here are my full reviews if you’re interested:

• The Will of the Many
• Blood Over Bright Haven
• The Six Deaths of the Saint

And these were all of my 5-star reads for the year. It was actually a great reading year, I had sixteen 5-star reads! A triumph, really. I just finished The Fifth Season (full review to come when I finish the trilogy) and I have to say, that one could easily slot onto my favorites list. I debated putting it on there, but alas, I stuck with just 3. Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love is also up there, but I didn’t include it because it’s fanfiction (and being rewritten into a book for publication next year!)

Here are those reviews, in no particular order:

I also had a few 4.5 star reads — hence, “almost perfect.” I couldn’t help but notice that all of these were YA reads, as well, and I wonder how much that factored into my score for these. Perhaps if I’d read these in high school, they would have been true 5-star reads for me.

• A Winter’s Promise
• Tress of the Emerald Sea
• My Lady Jane

I also just want to say that I DNF‘d 23 books this year. I’m not going to lie, I think that’s why I was even able to read 95 books so easily. I didn’t force it when I wasn’t enjoying a book, and therefore avoided any reading slumps in 2024.

For 2025

In 2024, my challenge to myself was to try manga and sci-fi. I managed to start both! It wasn’t until the fall that I finally got around to it, but on the manga front I’ve started Sailor Moon and Chainsaw Man (wildly different, I know) and for sci-fi I’ve started Brandon Sanderson’s Skyward series. I definitely feel like I’ve unlocked new levels.

In 2025, my goal is to tackle the Cosmere. For the uninitiated, the Cosmere is the universe in which many of Brandon Sanderson’s books take place. I’ve read two books from this universe already, which were Warbreaker and Tress of the Emerald Sea, and loved both (though they’re very different from each other). This year, I’ll be starting with Mistborn Era 1, and then moving into his magnum opus, which is the Stormlight Archives series. That’s my goal for now. Mistborn era 2 might have to wait until 2026.

After reading Blood Over Bright Haven, The Will of the Many, and now The Fifth Season, I can definitely feel a high fantasy kick taking over. So this feels like the perfect time to commit to the Cosmere.

On a book-adjacent note, I’m renovating my library/game room this spring! I’m very excited for what’s to come for that room. Look out for my blog post that inevitably will result from that process.

On Blogging

I love blogging my reviews — doing this has both kept me up on the trends and got me reading consistently. And now for 2025, I’m changing up the frequency a bit.

For two years now, I’ve (almost consistently) posted a review every week. But now as I head into more and more high fantasy territory, I’m looking at absolute tomes that are 600-1,000 pages each. I also like posting full series reviews (which I only do when it’s a completed series), because personally I like to have a wholistic bird’s eye view on a whole series before I begin. If I’m looking to start a series, but can’t read most of the reviews for later books because of spoilers, it becomes hard to know what I’m getting into. So I like to provide that to others like me.

Which means two things: reviewing a book every week is less possible, but full series reviews will mean better, more comprehensive reviews overall.

That’s not to say I’ll be posting less in general, but it might mean a few skipped weeks here and there. I’ll experiment with this and see how I like it. This will also give me more freedom to enjoy review-free reads — books I want to read uncritically, for the vibes and nothing else.

Anyway, I’m excited for what 2025 has to offer, and look forward to many more great reads.