This year, I’ve decided to create a physical bingo board throughout the year with a miniature painting to represent each book. Which has been fun so far! I linked the artwork in the comments if anyone is interested
And onto the reviews for the first five I’ve managed to complete
Unusual Transportation (HM):
The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells (4.5/5)
This is the second book of the Raksura trilogy. The Indigo Cloud court has successfully returned to their ancestral tree, but it quickly becomes clear that something is not quite right. To return the tree to its former glory, they have to travel to a city built atop a leviathan, which is of course the unusual transportation.
I really liked this edition to the series. Wells continues to add richness and depth to the world without veering too far from the plot. We explore Moon’s dynamics with his new court and his insecurities as a consort without just rehashing the exact issues from the first novel
Author of Color:
Monstrilo by Gerardo Sámano Córdova (4/5)
This book is exactly as it is advertised: a literary horror about grief. A grieving mother takes a part of her son’s lung and feeds it until it becomes Monstrilo.
He is monstrous, inhuman, and hungry. Even after his family manages to mold him into the shape of a boy. He is protected and denied his nature, as the parents see him as the only remnant of their deceased son.
I loved that this book allowed people to be unlikeable in their grief, especially the mother as women are so rarely allowed to have ugly reactions in media. I also loved the writing style shifts between different perspectives. Though I wish the perspectives were more interwoven rather than in big chunks. I would have liked to see the parents’ perspectives on either side of a rather substantial time jump that occurs
Published in 2026:
Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett (2.5/5)
This was unfortunately not for me. I love the Emily Wilde series, but this novel definitely leans more into the realm of Hallmark movies.
I liked the magic system. I liked the atmosphere. But I don’t think the plot or world was as solid as Fawcett’s previous work. It is info dumpy at times and every conflict is resolved perfectly in Agnes’ favor even when the text has done nothing to justify it.
But it was a very cozy, nice read and I can imagine it appealing to a lot of people
Feast Your Eyes on This (HM):
Stonefish by Scott R. Jones (5/5)
I originally picked this up for the One Word Title prompt, but after learning rule #1, Everybody Hungry, I decided it belonged here.
This is a cosmic horror story where ‘bigfoot’ siting are actually people who stumbled across the interdimensional being that control (and antagonize) the world.
I’m finding it difficult to explain anymore about this book, but it is a wild ride and I absolutely loved it. If you want to complete hard mode with something delicious, but do not like cozy fantasy then I highly recommend this book; the food is lovely but the world is gruesome
I made a sesame crusted ahi tuna, asparagus, and rice pilaf to complete hard mode
Choose a Book by its Title (HM):
The Worm and His Kings by Hailey Piper (4/5)
I chose this book because it popped up in a thread about cosmic horror recommendations. It’s a novella and I wish it was longer. It has cults, fallen civilizations, timey-wimey shennanigans, giant women, and betrayal.
It is confusing and evocative in an amazing way. When reading this, I could picture Junji Ito illustrating each scene
I didn’t even mind that no actual worm was ever on the page