Best fiction book: There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

I read a lot of books this year (32 according to my Goodreads, though the average length of 250 pages is shorter than usual) and picking just one favorite was a real challenge. But in the end, I just have to recommend There Are Rivers in the Sky by Turkish-British writer Elif Shafak. I picked up this book on a whim because it was showcased in the highly recommended Gay-on-Wye bookshop and LGBTQ+ sanctuary in Hay-on-Wye, and I’m very glad I did.

The book itself was a harrowing and truly exceptional read. It is a story of three people - a boy growing up in poverty in Victorian London, a Yezidi girl living on the shore of the Tigris in 2014, and a woman in 2018 London who studies hydrology and carries a heavy past. Their stories seem almost unconnected but they intertwine into a narrative that is full of symbolism and parallels. The book is also full of historical details that are extremely well researched and add more layers of realism and depth to the story.

The final third of the book was very difficult to finish not because it was badly written (quite the contrary) but because of some extremely heavy topics that forced me to put the book down and breathe deeply. While these topics are extremely important and the story handles them with the respect they deserve, there is so much suffering in this world already that I wouldn’t blame anyone for skipping this book because of them. So here are some content warnings that I’d advise you to take seriously: genocide, attempted suicide, rape, slavery, extreme physical abuse of children, and so much death and suffering.

If you are ready to grapple with its themes, then reading this book will be an experience like no other and leave you trembling and crying. On the other hand, if you need something warm and cosy but still very narratively and emotionally satisfying, I can also highly recommend A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (or any of her other books).

Previous winners: Perhaps the Stars by Ada Palmer (2022), A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers (2023) and A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll (2024).

#BestOf2025 #Book #Fiction #HistoricalFiction

Best non-fiction book: Prefigurative Politics by Paul Raekstad and Sofa Saio Gradin

“The only way for people to sufficiently develop their powers for new forms of free, equal, and democratic organization is by practicing doing so.”

I’m not sure if I would call myself a true anarchist, but I do certainly believe that anarchism has a lot of very interesting ideas that get misrepresented and maligned for no reason. One of these misrepresentations is that anarchists only want to tear down existing institutions and hierarchies without providing a realistic alternative. So when I saw a recommendation for this book on the Youtube channel of Andrewism, my interest was piqued.

Basically, prefigurative politics is an alternative path towards achieving political change that does not rely on either working within the existing systems nor on protests and activism. Instead, it proposes that in order to change society, we can simply create the alternative forms of collaboration and community we want within the structures of our current society. This has three main benefits, namely that (1) it lets us test and refine these alternative organisation forms on a small scale and find out what works and what doesn’t, (2) it provides the people participating in them with the experience and skills they need to later scale up to more ambitious goals, and (3) it demonstrates to the rest of society that these alternatives are in fact possible and can work equally well or better without all the harms of our current systems.

The book itself is a short read but is densely packed with both theoretical arguments and practical examples from history and current times. It was especially interesting for me to learn about the First International in the second half of the 19th century in which Belgian union members played a major role. I also found that the book gives a balanced view by acknowledging the weaknesses (both real and perceived) of prefigurative politics along its strengths. In the end, it will take many ideas to achieve meaningful and lasting change towards a more balanced and compassionate society, but this one feels like it will be pretty essential.

Previous winners: From What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We Want by Rob Hopkins (2022), Unmasking Autism by Devon Price (2023), and The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation by Cory Doctorow.

#BestOf2025 #Book #Nonfiction #Anarchism #Politics

Best comic / graphic novel (new category!): On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden

Throughout the deepest reaches of space, a crew rebuilds beautiful and broken-down structures, painstakingly putting the past together. As new member Mia gets to know her team, the story flashes back to her pivotal year in boarding school, where she fell in love with a mysterious new student. Soon, though, Mia reveals her true purpose for joining their ship—to track down her long-lost love.

This graphic novel is a masterpiece of visual storytelling. Everything from the lines, the colors, the lightning to the positioning, the framing, the pacing makes a bold and deliberate statement about the vision of the author of this world and story. Does there need to be a pretty starry sky in well over half of the panels? Maybe not, but it sure gives a message about what makes this world different from our own.

The strongest part of the artwork is perhaps in what it does not show, by leaving out details and leaving large swathes of empty space that only make the rest even more evocative. Some of the strongest and most emotional panels are the ones that are almost completely empty apart from one or two faces.

The setting is really interesting too and asserts itself confidently. Why are the spaceships shaped like fish? Who built all the ruins that are just floating in space? Why are there no male people anywhere, not even as background characters? The story never feels a need to explain these things, and (in my opinion) is stronger because of it.

But the real highlights are the characters in the story, each of the immensely likeable and strong human beings yet also flawed and relatable. After finishing I honestly wish I could leave my life behind and live with them on their weird fish-ship. Who knows, maybe if you read it too you’ll want to join me?

Since this is a new category, I’ll add some honorable mentions for other (web)comics that I enjoyed reading this year but didn’t quite make the cut: The Power Fantasy, Mindful Love, Flower Knight, and Twistwood Tales.

#BestOf2025 #Comic #GraphicNovel #SciFi #Queer

Best movie: Moonrise Kingdom

I mostly knew Wes Anderson from his more well-known movie ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ which I found pretty good but not exceptional, which is why I was pleasantly surprised that Moonrise Kingdom was so much better on basically every level. It uses the same slightly surrealist and fourth-wall-breaking visual and narrative style as his other movies, but the story felt more grounded, the scenery more varied, and the characters much more memorable.

The movie takes place on an island where two pen pals - a 12-year old orphan boy on a scouting camp and a 12-year old girl from a rather oppressive family - decide to run away together. Meanwhile, people from the small island community mount a search party to bring them back. The situation escalates several times from there, ending on a dramatic scene in the middle of a hurricane.

More than anything in the plot or the visuals of this movie, I really enjoyed the conflicting feelings of loneliness and friendship, hesitation and conviction, adventure and homeliness. It’s good to just feel these feelings from time to time and this movie helped me to do so, for which I am grateful.

Previous winners: Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022), Wolfwalkers (2023), and Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (2024).

#BestOf2025 #Movie #WesAnderson #ComingOfAge

Best TV Series: Arcane: season 2

I’m cheating with this pick both because I watched most of season 2 at the end of 2024 and because I’m really recommending the series as a whole. But in this case I believe it’s worth cheating a bit to recommend you one of the genuinely spectacularly animated, emotionally drenching, and narratively satisfying series out there. Unfortunately, I’ve heard of several people who skipped it because it’s a video game adaptation, but there’s really no need to know anything about League of Legends to enjoy this series (and in fact it’s probably better if you don’t).

The setting of Arcane is a really cool combination of fantasy and steampunk and has plenty of morally grey conflicts between and within the factions. Compared to the first season, the second season felt somewhat more rushed, as if the plot of two novels was compressed into a single season. However it didn’t lose any of the unique characters and drama between or the intriguing world-building that made the first season so special. If anything, the fact that there’s not as much need to explain the setting gives it more room to go really crazy with the plot.

Previous winners: Spy x Family (2022), Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (2023), and Tonari No Yokai-san (2024).

#BestOf2025 #Series #Animation #Steampunk #Arcane

Best Video game: Messenger

I only played a few video games this year, but the most memorable one was somehow a tiny browser game called Messenger. In it, you walk around as a teenager on a tiny planet modelled after a Japanese-style suburb to deliver messages back and forth between the people living there, learning about their funny and touching stories along the way. The graphics are surprisingly nice for a browser game and the music matches the lo-fi atmosphere very well. There’s also some minor character customization and you can see other people who are playing the game at the same time. I can’t really explain what makes the game good, but it’s short and free, so if you have half an hour to spare then you owe it to yourself to just give it a try.

If you are looking for something slightly meatier, I also enjoyed playing RPG/storybook Citizen Sleeper 2, deckbuilder/roguelike Iris and the Giant, and looter/shooter Relic Hunters Legend this year.

Previous winners: Omori (2022), I Was A Teenage Exocolonist (2023), and Citizen Sleeper (2024).

#BestOf2025 #VideoGame #BrowserGame #LoFi

Best Tabletop Game: Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast

Oh boys and girls. Let me tell you about Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast.

Once upon a time, the world was cruel, and there was a witch who knew it well, and so she sold her heart to build a house in the woods where the world could never find her. At first she would let no one into her fortress. But in the long march of days, a strange thing happened: in her own cold and spiteful way, the witch made a friend…and then another…and then several more, until her house was teeming with colorful faces and complicated lives. The house would come to be known as Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast, and it would last for a very long time.

This is a role-playing game unlike any other you’ve seen. Its existence feels magical, impossible even. It defies all common sense of how these games are supposed to work. It’s cozy. It’s queer. It’s silly. It’s deep. And I am all here for it.

So what is this game like, really? It’s a “slice-of-life legacy tabletop role-playing game about a found family and their magical home.” It revolves not around heroic deeds like your typical RPG but instead around small everyday moments. Each session you choose one chapter from the book to play as a group, and each chapter (48 in total) has its own simple but unique rules. You don’t create your own character but choose each session one of the residents or guests of the B&B to play. After each session you get stickers to place in the book which can unlock new characters and chapters.

The characters range from an insecure teenager to a knight-turned-frog who is now a cook, and from a rambunctious demon child to the heartless witch Yazeba herself. Each of them has their own personality and their own options for growth. There are also a TON of guests each with their own personality so not creating your own feels like a liberation rather than a constraint. But the real highlight are all the chapters which come with their own story, their own rules (yes, really), and their own rewards. I should also mention that the book has a number of secret, unnumbered pages with additional backstories and chapters, as well as a separate “forbidden envelope” with even more secrets.

Honestly the thing I like most about this game is how easy it makes everything. There’s no need to do any preparations, to come up with your own characters, or to count squares on a grid. You just read the opening text, pick a chapter, pick characters, and you’re already playing. Yet at the same time the progression - both on a global level by unlocking new chapters and guests and on an individual level by making progress on the resident’s paths - makes the game feel epic in a way I thought wasn’t possible for a silly rules-light RPG like this. I believe I will be playing this game for a very long time.

Previous winners: Avatar Legends by Magpie Games (2022), Cantrip by Hipólita (2023), and Slugblaster: Kickflip over a Quantum Centipede by Wilkie’s Candy Lab (2024).

#BestOf2025 #TTRPG #SliceOfLife #Queer #YazebasBnB