TOP PICKS – April 2025
Welcome to this month’s Top Picks!
Every month, we like to share with you our favourite reads of the month. We’ve rounded up our contributors and asked them each to recommend just one favourite read of the month.
A big thank you to Nils for coming up with this feature, and our contributors for taking part!
Let’s find out what the team has read this month…
Nils: The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
I’m still currently reading a few books so I only managed to finish three this month, but I had such a great time with them that it was so hard to choose a favourite between them! I started off with a buddy read with Beth of Death on the Caldera by Emily Paxman which was a fusion of murder mystery and epic fantasy set on a luxurious train. This was a novel which completely won me over with its deep worldbuilding and fully realised characters. I truly loved it. I also read A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett which was a fantastic sequel to the first book and held more of the same but with creepier worldbuilding. However, my Top Pick goes to The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson which was another epic fantasy, murder mystery but with the addition of dark academia too. Everything about Hodgson’s fantasy debut continuously impressed me and I was thoroughly entertained throughout. With scrupulous writing, well developed characters and a puzzle box of a plot, this is a chonky book which simply swept me away.
Gray: Wriggly Little Hands by Alex Knight
This month I got an advance review copy of Alex Knight’s newest book Wriggly Little Hands, a comedic fantasy road trip about a group of goblins attempting to deliver a doomsday weapon to The Dark Lord and failing in catastrophic and hilarious ways.
I want to wax lyrical about the plot and whatnot, but honestly I would have happily read a full book of nothing but the idiot goblin interactions. Highly recommend picking it up in May when it is out.
Kat: A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
Given that it’s the only one I’ve finished this month it’s going to have to be A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett for me!
So close to being a five star sequel and it gave me everything I loved from the first book in the series and more.
If you like fungal magic systems and gross, complex mysteries this series needs to be on your tbr.
Theo: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab
I’ve been in a bit of a slow phase in my reading this month, but I did get to chew (bite?!) my way through the latest V.E. Schwab masterpiece, a kind of Sapphic take on Interview with a Vampire, that combines the centuries’ long romance of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue with the darker urges and penalties of embracing a problematic form of immortality. Had I read a half dozen other books in April, I suspect this would still be my pick of the month. My full review will be out in June shortly before the book’s release date. In the meantime suffice to say this is a gorgeous book with succulent prose and enticing characters. Schwab’s three protagonists are utterly compelling, while her prose catches the bewitching effect of a curve, the lure of a fine neck, the intoxication of a heartbeat, in writing of wonderfully subtle sensuality. She also brings fresh invention to a familiar trope, with motifs that spice, surprise and subvert the reader’s expectations of vampiric lifestyles – and deathstyles!
Emma: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming
Oh my first ever top pick! I’ve read a lot but the stand out book this month for me has to be That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming. Most monster romances are set in modern times, so it was a lot of fun to get back to my roots and read a more fantasy orientated one. As well as all the lovely monster smut, we get an adventure, a big bad lich, a spot of piracy as well as a well written story full of charm and joy. It really is the ultimate spicy comfort read.
After reading this, I immediately read the following two books, but I think the first is definitely the best of the series.
Cat: Blood Slaves by Markus Redmond
Fair warning: I read this before seeing the brilliant ‘Sinners’ at the cinema, but if you like one, you’ll love the other – Blood Slaves by Markus Redmond. What if American plantation slaves had encountered an African vampire who empowered their fight for freedom? This is such a powerful book, truly angering me in the awfulness of slavery and thus cheering on the vampires… while still understanding them to be their own type of inhuman.
A smart, timely and beautifully-written historic horror that has stayed with me, already hinting for a reread.
Hil: A Gentleman and his Vowsmith by Rebecca Ide
It’s been a busy reading month for me, with The Shadow Key by Susan Stokes Chapman as the book club read for the month, and me rediscovering my love for Dorothy L Sayers. But “DLS is not fantasy!”, I hear you cry! Correct! But past me anticipated this, and pre-ordered A Gentleman and his Vowsmith by Rebecca Ide.
When it arrived on release day, my inbox *sizzled*. It’s a regency country-house locked-room mystery, with added creepy automata, vile stepmothers, gothic romance, m/m leads and ace/aro representation. I love Lady Leaf. End of. The hints from the wider world-building are tantalising and engaging. The story absolutely sticks the landing. More please!
Vinay: Vengenace of Asgard by Baptise Pinson Wu
April was a busy month overall but I still managed to pack in a set of good books. I did a re-read of books 3 and 4 of Codex Alera by Jim Butcher (Cursor’s Fury and Captain’s Fury). Both books are my go-to re-reads as they exemplify storytelling and momentum building at their very best (it also helps that I am re-reading this with my wife who is going through these books for the first time and is having a great time).
I also read Rose/House by Arkady Martine and found it to be a wonderfully creepy vibe book (Reviewed here). Luke Arnold’s Fetch Phillips Archives is one of fantasy’s most underrated series while Luke Arnold only rivals Robin Hobb in putting their lead characters through so much pain and tribulation. A Foot in the Fade (book 3) and Whisper in the Wind (Book 4 – out on 29th April) continue the same trend and Whisper in the Wind particularly draws inspiration from Godfather 3 and the Dark Knight and is fabulous & status-quo changing.
My Top Pick of the Month is Baptise Pinson Wu’s Vengenace of Asgard, the trilogy capper to his Army of One series. This is a thrilling unstoppable ride showcasing Ragnarok through the eyes of an Einherjar and not the Gods. The book hews to the Pawns of Prophecy trope while introducing wrinkles and elements in the cycle of Ragnarok and packs in a ton of gritty bloody action sequences while not eschewing solid character work.
Beth: Death in the Caldera by Emily Paxman
I’ve had another great reading month, and as I’m writing this, I still haven’t decided which of two books to choose as my top pick… I also read The Shadow Key, Hil and I are in the same book club, and I didn’t enjoy it as much as the rest of the group seems to have, so I’m looking forward to the discussion tonight. I’m currently buddy reading The Ashfire King with Nils, so in preparation for that I reread the first book, The Stardust Thief.
I read and absolutely loved T. Kingfisher’s Paladin’s Grace; I couldn’t put it down and immediately ordered the rest of the series when I finished it. I was utterly swept up in Grace and Stephen’s romance. But I’ve decided my top pick has to be Death in the Caldera by Emily Paxman, that I buddy read with Nils. I couldn’t put that one down either, it was thoroughly entertaining, and Nils and I were constantly messaging each other with different theories! I can’t believe it’s a debut!
Buddy read review | Pre-order here
What was your favourite read of the month? Share with us in the comments!
