#huntingtower

I’m excited to do Fortnight of Books again for 2025! Thank you to @idratherdreamofjune for the questions and to @valiantarcher for organizing this each year. (Since I didn’t manage to write or post any book updates in the first two weeks of January, I’m queuing these posts for the second half of January.) 

Fortnight of Books: Day 1

Overall - best books read in 2025?

Top 3 - 5 stars -

Secrets of the Wild Wood by Tonke Dragt - A riveting medieval fantasy adventure about a young knight and his squire who venture into a dark and dangerous forest to uncover the mysterious evils within it and find their friend, a knight who has gone missing. I could not put this book down, and it made me feel a wide range of emotions. I loved the characters and story so much. It’s everything I want in a book, and the genre of non-magical fantasy suits me perfectly. (It’s a sequel to The Letter for the King. This young adult duology was originally written in Dutch and published in the early 1960s, and it’s famous in many languages.)

Urchin and the Rage Tide (Mistmantle Chronicles, Book 5) by M. I. McAllister - Adventure and intrigue, heart and humor, coziness and comfort…and not your average fantasy book with animals, in my opinion. I love the story and characters so dearly. I sobbed over the ending several times over. I still can’t think of it or of a certain character without wanting to cry. I didn’t discover Mistmantle until just a few years ago, but it immediately became one of my favorite book series of all time. I read the series gradually and saved the fifth book to savor for the first time in 2025. 

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - My first time reading Sense and Sensibility! It was one of the only major Austen novels I lacked. I really, really enjoyed it, especially the characters and platonic relationships. I hadn’t seen the 1995 movie in well over a decade, and I only remembered a few scenes and some basics of the premise and plot. Much of it was new to me, and I read the book relatively unspoiled. This meant that I was surprised by things like Colonel Brandon’s backstory. 

Runners-Up - 4.5 stars -

Race Across Alaska by Libby Riddles and Tim Jones - The nonfiction memoir of the first woman to win the Iditarod (the famous dog sled race). It was adventurous, thrilling, and fascinating, a thoroughly enjoyable read, and very well-written.

Rebel Wave: Season 2 by Tor Thibeaux - A futuristic undersea adventure serial, featuring underwater cities and submarines, and most of all, a great cast of characters. A new favorite and one of my most anticipated reads of 2025. After I read the first season of Rebel Wave, I could not wait to read the sequel in paperback, and Season 2 did not disappoint. Each season is 12 episodes, which are available as individual ebooks or in a season collection (ebook or paperback). I’m now hotly anticipating Season 3.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater - An atmospheric, adventurous, dangerous, mysterious, and riveting young adult modern fantasy book, set in a fictional island in the Atlantic ocean. I loved it. I’m so glad I finally got to experience the characters, story, and setting of The Scorpio Races. I’ve long admired the author as a master of the writing craft, but this is the first time I’ve read a book by her. I was very impressed with the tight plotting and pacing, strong character motivations, and vivid writing style. (CONTENT WARNING for frequent innuendo and extreme violence and gore.)

Other Favorites - 4 stars -

Follow the Lonesome Trail edited by Allison Tebo (a multi-author anthology of Western short stories, all by authors that are already favorites of mine; my favorite story was “The Princess of Flat Rock by Elisabeth Grace Foley, which I rated 4.5 stars, and there were two others by Emily Hayse and Rachel Kovaciny that I rated 4.25 stars)

The Realm Beneath edited by Allison Tebo (a multi-author anthology of undersea fantasy short stories; my favorite was “The Song of Arion” by Emily Golus, which I rated 4.5 stars)

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion series by Beth Brower (see below) Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff (a prose retelling of The Iliad that preserves much of the original language, story, and intensity)

Kill the Dawn by Emily Hayse (a heroic and tragic Viking epic fantasy retelling of Hamlet with themes of light and hope amid darkness and grief)

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (Tumblr knows this book. I really wanted to read the book before I saw the movie, because the book suits my favorite style of realistic writing, characters, and story.)

Huntingtower by John Buchan (a vintage mystery/suspense novel featuring a multi-generational cast of motley adventurers, including a middle-aged protagonist that reminds me of Bilbo Baggins)

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai (the nonfiction memoir of a Pakistani Muslim girl who was targeted and nearly killed by the Taliban because she spoke out about girls’ education rights)

Best series you discovered in 2025?

Definitely The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower. It’s a fictional journal of the entertaining daily adventures of a quirky, witty young woman and her unlikely friends, set in an alternate 1880s London, with a slight hint of magical realism. There are eight Emma M. Lion books (so far), and I read one a month for the first eight months of 2025, with my book club. It was lovely. I got very invested after the first book or two. Book 5 was a particular highlight for me, since I really connected with Emma’s experience healing from past grief. Though these books are humorous, they are also heartwarming and surprisingly profound.

Best reread of the year?

On June 27th 1583 James VI escaped from Ruthven Castle to St Andrews Castle.

There is loads of history about the background and actual events themselves but to put it in a nutshell, some of the Lord's thought a catholic relation, of James, Esmé Stuart, was getting too friendly with him and intended to help instigate a "counter-reformation" restoring catholicism as the main religion in Scotland. It mattered not to the protestants that  Esmé  had turned Presbyterian during this time in Scotland,  and suspected it all part of a plot.  James showered Esmé with gifts and made him Duke of Lennox, the only Duke in Scotland. 

Enter William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, and head of Scotland’s militant Presbyterians who attempted a coup, the King was hunting in Atholl in August 1582, he was lured by Gowrie and imprisoned in his House of Ruthven until, the next morning, he signed a document proclaiming himself to be quite free and that Lennox was to be banished from Scotland.

A lengthy denunciation of Lennox was issued from Stirling Castle on 17 September 1582, citing his religion, association with the murderers of Lord Darnley and Regent Moray and Regent Lennox, and his control over the royal household and international intrigue, Esmé sought refuge at Dumbarton Castle for a short time before fleeing back home to France. 

Gowrie led a new government which gave the Presbyterians ruling powers, all the while keeping James their captive. After about ten months as  in June that 1583 the young King escaped from his imprisonment. Gowrie was charged with treason and had his head cut off.

This is another of those stories with different versions, those who follow the Stewarts to this day have a different perspective to the Presbyterians who seen catholic plots.