10 Books Sure to End Your Reading Slump
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Check out upcoming Top Ten themes on Jana’s blog!
The prompt for today was ‘books guaranteed to put an end to your book slump’, and since I just had such a slump last month, I feel very qualified to put a rec list together for you!
Darknesses (Darknesses, #1) by Lachelle Seville Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Black bisexual MC, Black pansexual love interest, F/F, Black secondary characters
Goodreads
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It’s been a year since Oasis stumbled away from Blessed Falls with wings carved into her back and too many scars to count.
A year spent razing delusions of being an angel's vessel, proving to her brother that she doesn’t belong in a psych ward, and mourning the loss of her mother's vinyl pressed ashes.
A year spent struggling to feel human again.
Enter Laura, the mesmerizing stranger who claims to hear Oasis’ heartbeat, who reads her hand-written memoir like scripture, who makes her feel closer to found than lost.
Laura is the most recent face of the eternal Count Dracula, ruler of the shadows, chimera of the Devil, and embittered victim of libel.
The Van Helsing Institute have been waiting for a glimpse of the dragon’s underbelly, and eagerly approach Oasis for her help in a ploy to kill Dracula for good. But not every wound from Blessed Falls has cicatrized, and Oasis realizes she may be a danger to Laura—and to herself.
Yet no one is as dangerous as Laura—the first vampire, the Devil's plaything, and the person with whom Oasis finally feels human.
Oceans of time have passed since she last had a drink, and she will not let Oasis go easily.
I can vouch for this one from experience, because Darknesses broke my most recent reading slump just a couple of weeks ago! This is over 500 pages on my ereader, but reading it is a BREEZE – it goes so quickly! Part of me wants to describe it as popcorn, but I think that gives the wrong impression: Darknesses isn’t shallow or fluffy, it’s meaty and has sharp teeth and there are so many delicious layers to it. But it’s as addictive as popcorn, or pringles, or whatever your I-can’t-stop-till-the-bag-is-empty snack of choice is. And it’s hysterically funny, and full of Feels of all kinds, and it’s WEIRD – do you want to be surprised? Do you want to encounter fantasy!concepts you never have before? Do you like having the rug pulled from under you re worldbuilding you never expected? THEN COME GET IT!
A Brother's Price by Wen Spencer Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Goodreads
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Do you want to read a bodice-ripper where it’s the men who are supposed to be all sweet and demure? In an early Industrial Age setting where group marriage is the default? With plot-relevant cannons? Of course you do! Like all the best heroines in this kind of story, Jerin is clever and brave and packing unexpected skills that make him much more than a damsel in distress – but his princesses (yes, plural – I mentioned the group marriage thing!) still get plenty of chances to showcase how competent and badass they are! This one always makes me kick my feet, filled with the happy-glitter!feel unique to a certain kind of romance!
His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, #1) by Naomi Novik Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Goodreads
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Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors ride mighty fighting dragons, bred for size or speed. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes the precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future – and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature.
Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France’s own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte’s boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire.
If you love dragons you’ve probably already come across this series, but even if you DON’T love dragons, you will love THESE ones! Because they aren’t just beasts of burden or war, they’re CHARACTERS – and Temeraire, Laurence’s dragon, is an inquisitive, hilarious sweetheart with a wonderfully autistic approach to human rules and conventions, who loves being read to and also is excellent at math (which is especially funny because his human REALLY isn’t). The Regency setting adds another layer of fun to the whole thing, but Novik’s deliciously readable prose, quiet but impeccable worldbuilding, and most of all FABULOUS CAST mean it’ll knock ANYBODY out of a slump!
A Song of Legends Lost (Invoker Trilogy #1) by M.H. Ayinde Genres: Adult, Science Fantasy
Representation: Brown cast, queernorm world
Goodreads
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'A relentlessly gripping, glorious epic fantasy - the exhilarating must-read fantasy debut of 2025' Tasha Suri, author of The Jasmine Throne
A SONG OF REBELLION. A SONG OF WAR. A SONG OF LEGENDS LOST.
In the kingdom of Nine Lands, only warriors of noble blood can summon their ancestors to fight with them in battle. But when Temi, a commoner from the slums, accidentally invokes a powerful spirit, she finds it could hold the key to ending a centuries-long war.
But as secrets long buried come to light, Temi will learn that not everything that can be invoked is an ancestor, and some of the spirits that can be drawn from the ancestral realm are more dangerous than anyone can imagine.
'A Song of Legends Lost is stunning and vividly told . . . Ayinde is a master storyteller, and readers are in good hands from the very first pages to the very last'Andrea Stewart, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Bone Shard Daughter
'A whirlwind debut of ferocious talent and compulsive storytelling that lifts you up from the first page and never lets go. It's joyous from end to end - and highly recommended!'Lavie Tidhar, World Fantasy Award-winning author
'An epic tale of conflict, betrayal, and intrigue . . . M. H. Ayinde weaves a rich and engrossing story through a unique and fascinating world'Anthony Ryan, author of Blood Song
You’ll find this one on my Best of 2025 list in December, but the reason I included it here is because Song of Legends Lost engages your curiosity from the first page. Ayinde’s worldbuilding is so intricate, with layers and layers of misapprehension, outright lies, and custom obscuring the objective truth of what’s going on, this world’s history, how their magic works, and what the forbidden ‘techwork’ actually is – and all of it is plot-relevant! It’s all so tantilising – you’ll be WILD to find out the truth, and each delicious piece of the puzzle leads to the next like a trail of sweets, drawing you deeper and deeper in to the story and its mysteries. And that’s without even beginning to talk about the large cast and their very different plotlines, all of which give us very different perspectives on said mysteries and how they all fit together. I NEED THE SEQUEL YESTERDAY DAMN IT!
The Raven Scholar (Eternal Path Trilogy, #1) by Antonia Hodgson Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Representation: Brown MC, bi/pansexual love interest, queernorm world
Goodreads
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From an electrifying new voice in epic fantasy comes The Raven Scholar, a masterfully woven and playfully inventive tale of imperial intrigue, cutthroat competition, and one scholar’s quest to uncover the truth.
Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best.
Then one of them is murdered. We know who did it. We saw it happen. No one else did.
It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.
If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.
We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.
Another one that’s already secured a spot on my Best of 2025, The Raven Scholar is an enormous trick – on the reader as much as on the characters. It sets itself up to look like a fairly conventional murder-mystery in a high fantasy setting, but from the end of the first chapter it’s clear that Hodgson is going to do everything but what you expect! It’s surprise after surprise; every time you think you know what’s going on – who the villain is – what level of threat we’re dealing with – what genre we’re in – even who’s telling the story! – TABLE-FLIP TIME! All of it grounded in really cool worldbuilding and bursting with emotion (brace for heart-ache, chills, and outrage alongside all the delight).
The Curse of Chalion (World of the Five Gods, #1) by Lois McMaster Bujold Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy
Goodreads
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A man broken in body and spirit, Cazaril returns to the noble household he once served as page and is named secretary-tutor to the beautiful, strong-willed sister of the impetuous boy who is next in line to rule. It is an assignment Cazaril dreads, for it must ultimately lead him to the place he most fears: the royal court of Cardegoss, where the powerful enemies who once placed him in chains now occupy lofty positions.
But it is more than the traitorous intrigues of villains that threaten Cazaril and the Royesse Iselle here, for a sinister curse hangs like a sword over the entire blighted House of Chalion. And only by employing the darkest, most forbidden of magics can Cazaril hope to protect his royal charge -- an act that will mark him as a tool of the miraculous . . . and trap him in a lethal maze of demonic paradox.
The Curse of Chalion is, impossibly, cosy – BUT with intense plot and the highest of stakes. I know, it makes no sense, I can’t explain it – Bujold is just magic like that. Curse fills you with warm Feels even as you’re on the edge of your seat, hoping this very-physically-wrecked man can race across the kingdom on horseback in time! Bujold has some of the most readable prose I’ve ever encountered (which is why she’s one of the only fantasy authors I followed into sci fi, and honestly, her entire Vorkosigan series is also an amazing reading-slump-breaker!) so good luck on not getting sucked in to this one! This setting also has some of my favourite theology ever, with simple but brilliant gods who have their hands in the plot up to Their elbows. You can read it as a standalone perfectly, but there’s a bunch of other books and novellas set in this world for you to pounce on after you fall in love with it!
Swordheart by T. Kingfisher Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Representation: Secondary nonbinary character
Goodreads
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I mean, if you’re in a reading slump and it doesn’t occur to you to try T Kingfisher, I can only presume you have not yet encountered the awesomeness that is T Kingfisher! Swordheart is…a comedy-fantasy-romance? (NOT romantasy!) Because it’s Kingfisher, it’s neurodiverse as fuck and incredibly funny (I’ve read it four times now and it STILL makes me cry with laughter every time), but also really insightful in ways that will have you constantly going ‘wait you’re right, why DO humans do that???’ Both Hella and Stefan are in the 30-40 age-range, so they have life experience and have LEARNED THINGS and are a great deal less silly than your average 20yo. Both of them give wonderfully practical, hyper-competent vibes in their respective areas and they both recognise that about each other, and it’s epic.
Metal from Heaven by August Clarke Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MC, multiple lesbian secondary characters
Goodreads
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“WHEN MY VIOLENCE SUBSIDES, WE WILL HAVE NOTHING, AND BE CHAMPIONS.”
Ichorite is progress. More durable and malleable than steel, ichorite is the lifeblood of a dawning industrial revolution. Yann I. Chauncey owns the sole means of manufacturing this valuable metal, but his workers are on strike. They demand Chauncey research the hallucinatory illness befalling them. Marney Honeycutt, a lustertouched child worker, stands proud at the picket line with her best friend and family. That’s when Chauncey sends in the guns.
Only Marney survives the massacre.
She vows bloody vengeance.
A decade later, Marney is the nation’s most notorious highwayman, and Chauncey’s daughter seeks an opportune marriage. Marney’s rage and the ghosts of her past will drive her to masquerade as an aristocrat, outmaneuver powerful suitors, and win the heart of his daughter, so Marney can finally corner Chauncey and satisfy her need for revenge. But war ferments in the north, and deeper grudges are surfacing. . .
This one’s a little hit or miss – you’ll either adore the writing or despite it – but you’ll know whether or not it’s for you by the end of the first page, and if it IS for you, then you are in for a wildly electric time and you will INHALE this book from cover to cover! Metal From Heaven is queer anarchy via a main character who is very traumatised and fully feral, and it’ll make you feral too. clarke pulls off so much that NO ONE should be able to pull off, you’ll want to lick the prose, and it’s nothing like Gideon the Ninth but it has the same kind of heart – I don’t know how to put it better than that. ALL THE YES!
The Mercy Makers (The Moon Heresies, #1) by Tessa Gratton Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bi/pansexual brown MC, secondary brown sapphic character, minor nonbinary character, minor trans character, queernorm world
Goodreads
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A talented heretic must decide between the pursuit of forbidden magic, or the ecstasy of forbidden love—either way, her choice will upend the world, in the start of a sweeping, romantic epic fantasy trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Tessa Gratton.
Can an empire trip and fall on a mere strand of silk?
Iriset is a prodigy and an outlaw. The daughter of a powerful criminal, she dons her alter ego Silk to create magical disguises for those in her father’s organization, but she longs to do more with her talent: to enhance what it means to be human by giving people wings, night-sight, and other abilities; to unlock the possibilities of gender and parenthood; to cure disease and even to end mortality itself.
Everything changes when her father is captured and sentenced to death. To save him, Iriset must infiltrate the palace and the empire’s fanatical ruling family. There, she realizes she has a chance—and an obligation—to bring down the entire corrupt system. She'll have to entangle herself in the lives of the emperor and his sister, getting them to trust and even to love her. But love is a two-way street, and Iriset’s own heart holds the most mysterious and impenetrable magic of all.
Maybe you’re in a reading slump because you feel like everything is so same-y and grey? In which case, The Mercy Makers is here to hit you like a baseball bat of jewel-tones and decadent weirdness! Gratton has gone all-out creating a world that FEELS like fantasy – with a moon hanging suspended over the city, and shapeshifting graffiti, and skull sirens! Everything down to the tiniest detail feels new and strange, and it’s so rich, it’s so hedonistic, it revels in itself in the best possible way. Iriset gives no fucks but loves fucking, is so defiant as a person and as a character, I would never dare speak to her in real life and I worship the ground she walks on. Gratton is a genius in all the ways but also right down to word choice and tense, if you read Mercy Makers you will see, GO READ IT.
A Letter to the Luminous Deep (The Sunken Archive, #1) by Sylvie Cathrall Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: MC with clinical anxiety, possibly ace-spectrum MC, sapphic MC, MLM MC, background F/F and M/M, queernorm world
Goodreads
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'An underwater treasure-chest to be slowly unpacked, full of things Iike nosy and loving families, epistolary romance, gorgeous worldbuilding, and anxious scholars doing their best to meet the world with kindness and curiosity' -Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light
A charming fantasy set in an underwater world with magical academia and a heartwarming penpal romance, perfect for fans of A Marvellous Light and Emily Wilde's Encylopaedia of Faeries.
A beautiful discovery outside the window of her underwater home prompts the reclusive E. to begin a correspondence with renowned scholar Henerey Clel. The letters they share are filled with passion, at first for their mutual interests, and then, inevitably, for each other.
Together, they uncover a mystery from the unknown depths, destined to transform the underwater world they both equally fear and love. But by no mere coincidence, a seaquake destroys E.'s home, and she and Henerey vanish.
A year later, E.'s sister Sophy, and Henerey's brother Vyerin, are left to solve the mystery of their siblings' disappearances with the letters, sketches and field notes left behind. As they uncover the wondrous love their siblings shared, Sophy and Vyerin learn the key to their disappearance - and what it could mean for life as they know it.
Let’s wrap up with a book that feels like a warm hug. Letter to the Luminous Deep is so sweet, but also hard to put down; written in letter format, it’s both impossible not to fall in love with the cast, and to not need to know what happened to them. It reads like fantasy despite being (I’m pretty sure) sci fi, with one of our mcs living in an underwater house and another spending a lot of time in their world’s version of the Mariana Trench – because their planet has almost no land at all! People live on boats or boat-like-things or floating landscapes and universities, and it’s fascinating and charming. Luminous Deep will put a smile on your face for sure!
Tell me about the books that have ended YOUR reading slumps!
The post 10 Books Sure to End Your Reading Slump appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
