Book #96 of ‘25: A History Of What Comes Next, by Sylvain Neuvel. A slightly breathlessly written historical thriller which canters along, but leaves little time for character amongst all the fun ideas. 3/5

Book #90 of ‘25: Njal’s Saga, translated by Magnus Magnusson. A sprawling, truly epic tale of the spiral of bloody revenge between feuding farmers. Burnings, boilings, decapitations and sarky poetry abound. 5/5

Book #89 of ‘25: If Russia Wins: A Scenario, by Carlo Masala. A well researched and all too plausible exploration of what might happen next if the West abandons Ukraine. 4/5

Book #88 of ‘25: Thieves’ World, edited by Robert Asprin. A fantasy city and characters shared between writers is a terrific idea, but like any collection this is a little uneven. But when it hits, it’s awesome. 4/5

Book #87 of ‘25: The Book of Dave, by Will Self. A future dystopia based on the ravings of a psychotic London cabbie doesn’t sound like it would make a great novel, but this is superbly touching and funny. Also, a terrific tale of London’s ‘deep time’. 5/5

Book #86 of ‘25: The Darkening Age, by Catherine Nixey. An infuriating, depressing book which brilliantly lays bare the destruction of the Classical World by the bigotry and stupidity of early Christians. Angering, but fascinating. 4/5

Book #85 of ‘25: Cairn 2nd edition, Warden’s Guide, by Yochai Gal. A terrific collection of world building and character development tools, packed with wonderfully quirky art. 4/5

Book #84 of ‘25: The Citadel of the Autarch, by Gene Wolfe. A slightly uneven climax to this saga, with a lot crammed into the last third. Even so, still wonderful. 4/5

Book #82 of ‘25: The Sword of the Lictor, by Gene Wolfe. An epic journey through a beautifully drawn world full of action, tragedy, wondrous characters and beautiful language. Superb. 5/5

Book #81 of ‘25: Going To Meet The Man, by James Baldwin. A sometimes melancholy, sometimes absolutely brutal collection of stories tackling race, fear, hate and love. 4/5

Book #80 of ‘25: Changeling Earth, by Fred Saberhagen. The end of this vintage science fantasy trilogy stretches things a bit too thinly but manages a suitably epic demon vs nuke climax. 4/5

Book #79 of ‘35: The Weird of the White Wolf, by Michael Moorcock. Elric returns to full on oh-woe-is-me, but still manages to squeeze in some sword and sorcery. 3/5

Book #78 of ‘25: Diary of Captain Alfred Trutwein MBE. An understandably disjointed memoir, this offers some unusual insights into front line propaganda - and the myth of the indomitable Japanese. 3/5

Book #77 of ‘25: A Far Sunset, by Edmund Cooper. The last survivor of a doomed expedition struggles to adjust to an alien culture. Shōgun in space, if you will. 3/5

Book #76 of ‘25: The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, by Michael Moorcock. My favourite so far of Elric’s misadventures - rich in character, theme and story. 5/5

Book #75 of ‘25: Voyage to the Volga, by Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān. A brief but brilliant record of this epic 3,000 mile tenth century trek from Baghdad to Russia. Funny, horrific and wonderful. 5/5

Book #74 of ‘25: A Gift From Earth, by Larry Niven. A decent enough yarn of colony ship crew living off colonist body parts, marred by a protaganist with a budget super power. 3/5

Book #73 of ‘25: The Lathe of Heaven, by Ursula K. Le Guin. Amazing concept, flawlessly executed. Beware dreams coming true. 5/5

Book #72 of ‘25: The Children of Ash and Elm, by Neil Price. An incredible chronicle of the Viking Age - compelling, dense with detail, challenging, evocative and deeply moving in places. There is simply not a better history out there. 5/5

Book #71 of ‘25: Cloud on Silver, by Sam Youd. A mature take on Lord of the Flies, with a dash of the seven deadly sins and a surprising Cold War twist. 4/5

Book #69 of ‘25: The Monkey’s Paw, by W.W. Jacobs. Super collection of witty little ghost stories, where superstition and foolishness often play a bigger role than the supernatural. 5/5

Book #68 of ‘25: Messing With The Enemy, by Clint Watts. A deeply depressing but thorough journey through the recent history of extremism and social media - all the more dismal because things are now so much worse. 4/5

Book #67 of ‘25: The Black Game, by Ellic Howe. The fascinating if sometimes jumbled memoir of the Political Warfare Executive’s chief forger. “You mustn’t be afraid of forgery or murder.” 5/5

Book #65 of ‘25: The Penultimate Truth, by Philip K. Dick. A superb dystopian tale of lies, propaganda, deception and distrust. Oh, and that AI is shit at art. 5/5

Book #64 of ‘25: The Etched City, by K.J. Bishop. A book that starts well, takes a long time to get anywhere but ends strongly. Along the way, it still manages to get under the skin. 4/5

Book #63 of ‘25: Cathedral of the Undying, by C. Aaron Kreader. A fun little scenario for DCC where undead characters can mess with other undead and save the day into the bargain. Neat idea, beautiful artwork. 5/5

Book #62 of ‘25: Sailors on the Sunless Sea, by Harley Stroh. A fun, crazy, imaginative funnel for Dungeon Crawl Classics, illustrated with some incredible art. 5/5

Book #61 of ‘25: The Black Mountains, by Fred Saberhagen. Loved this terrific slice of old school science fantasy, brimming with fun ideas. 5/5

Book #60 of ‘25: Comics For A Strange World, by Reza Farazmand. [re-read] Brilliant, funny, bizarre, touching and insightful. It doesn’t get much better than this. 5/5

Book #59 of ‘25: Lone Eons, by David Blandy. A beautifully illustrated little solo RPG, but too gonzo for me and lacking some oracles. 2/5

Book #58 of ‘25: Pendulum, by Sam Youd. The tale of a British family caught in a brutal youth uprising, economic collapse and unrelenting theocracy. Crisply, coldly written, this is powerful stuff. 4/5

Book #57 of ‘25: The Family Trade, by Charles Stross. Alternative reality hopping, drug dealing aristocrats is a great idea but it’s soiled by dull characters, terrible dialogue and a plodding Cinderella plot. 2/5

Book #56 of ‘25: Alien: 40 Years 40 Artists, with foreword by Chris Foss. A superb selection of images inspired by Alien - despite the odd stinker - and a fascinating peep behind the design curtain by Foss. Terrific stuff. 4/5

Book #55 of ‘25: Dying Earth IV: Rhialto the Marvellous, by Jack Vance. These three tales of selfish wizards continually bickering at the end of the world are marvellous indeed. 4/5

Book #54 of ‘25: The Eternal Champion, by Michael Moorcock. Jumping randomly around the back catalogue like this seems to be a time-honoured way to discover Moorcock. This starts like a power fantas, then takes a rather darker turn. Not bad. 3/5

Book #53 of ‘25: Murderbot 4: Rogue Protocol, by Martha Wells. These books just rattle along, fun and clever and also surprisingly warm as Murderbot is reunited with its humans. 4/5

Book #52 of ‘25: Geopolitics: A Very Short Introduction, by Klaus Dodds. [re-read] A dry start neatly accelerates into a fascinating discussion of politics through movies, identity, flags and… Action Man. 4/5

Book #51 of ‘25: Murderbot Diaries: Rogue Protocol. More Murderbot fun, this time a corporate espionage dungeon crawl in space. 5/5

Book #50 of ‘25: A Wrinkle in the Skin, by Sam Youd. Reminiscent of The Road - but far superior - this post-apocalypse tale is by turns brutal and ruthless, but ultimately full of hope. Utterly superb. 5/5

Book #49 of ‘25: Deathworld 2, by Harry Harrison. [re-read] This book has had such a tremendous, unconscious influence on me since I read it about 40 years ago. I could never remember its name, but delighted I finally worked it out. It’s as taut, clever, funny and rewarding as I remember. Phew! 5/5

Book #48 of ‘25: Sláine Volume 1, by Pat Mills et al. A wonderful and often very funny barbarian epic, with superb art from Mick McMahon. Kiss my axe! 4/5

Book #47 of ‘25: Light, by M. John Harrison. [re-read] A sometimes baffling but always interesting book, the big ideas are slightly ruined by a dearth of likeable characters. 3/5

Book #46 of ‘25: Cairn, 2nd edition Players’ Guide by Yochai Gal. A simple, clean little rulebook with some great character concepts. 4/5

Book #45 of ‘25: The Kraken Wakes, by John Wyndham. A superb novel, eerily prescient of our slow frog boil response to climate change. Tribalism, capitalism and politics conspire to doom humanity against an unseen alien threat. 5/5

Book #45 of ‘25: Dead Air, by Fiona Ruthven. A solo game about running a post-nuclear war radio station in Strathclyde. Just take a moment to appreciate the genius of that. 5/5

Book #44 of ‘25: Traveller, Marooned on Marduk. I started playing Traveller in the eighties, but always felt the people at Mongoose don’t really get it. This scenario is a case in point. Run as written, it’s boringly on-the-rails and robs players of agency at every turn. Beyond disappointing. 2/5

Book #43 of ‘25: The Fortress of The Pearl, by Michael Moorcock. Already finding Moorcock a bit samey but between magical children, addictive poisons, dream quests and demon swords there’s still a lot to enjoy. 3/5

Book #42 of ‘25: States of Decay, by Daniel Barter and Daniel Marbaix. Stunning, touching photographs of ‘concrete corpses’ across the U.S. north-east including hotels, asylums, churches, factories and even Al Capone’s prison cell. Haunting, but bereft of detail. 4/5

Book #41 of ‘25: The Island of Dr Moreau, by H.G. Wells. A ripping yarn, truly horrific and oddly melancholy in places. “An animal may be ferocious and cunning enough, but it takes a real man to tell a lie.” 5/5

Book #40 of ‘25: A Short History of Ireland’s Famine, by Ruán O’Donnell. A coldly factual account of the tragedy and the cynical attempts by English authorities to seize it as an opportunity for social engineering. A shocking little book. 4/5