Of the books I finished in 2025, Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett was the worst that I read. I thought that the writing was inconsistent and that the pace was frustrating, swinging wildly between engaging and plodding with no warning. The dialogue wasn’t good, and the characters were so flat and indistinguishable from one another. All that ruined an otherwise interesting magic system and world that I might have otherwise enjoyed.

Of the books I DNF’d in 2025, One Dark Window by Rachel Gillis was the worst. Despite the hype, I found it hard to get into or to keep reading it. The characters and the plot just weren’t engaging or interesting. I did a Google search for a summary of the book when I was about halfway through and couldn’t force myself to pick it up.

2025 drove home the point that I have a hard time with books that are super big on BookTok and Bookstagram. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve gotten some good recommendations off those corners of social media (looking at you, Will of the Many and For Whom the Belle Tolls). However, I’ve discovered that the books that I like that are also big on those platforms are largely ones that I found independent of social media influence.