A running tally of the books that I have reviewed this year, updated and reranked after each book that I finish. Explore the latest reviews and discover hidden gems with insights from BarlinsBooks, your literary companion for top new releases.

Amazon's Top 100 Books of 2025. How do they compare to Barlin's Books rankings for the year? Where did they get things right, and where did they miss the boat?

★★★★☆ A continuation of the Arc of a Scythe series, the novel picks up where book one ended as the scythedom becomes increasingly divided.

★★★★★ Two teenagers are forced to compete to become a Scythe, whose job is to control overpopulation by killing a set number of people each year.

★★★☆☆ A B-52 bomber that has been missing for over 60 years suddenly returns to U.S. airspace in 2025...and it's carrying a nuclear bomb.

★★★☆☆ A colonizer from Earth is stuck on an alien planet and must unravel the internal politics of the local species while trying to survive

★★☆☆☆ A non-binary monk leaves on a journey to find themself and in the process encounters a robot who is seeking to learn what humans need.

★★★★★ A satisfying conclusion to one of the better sci-fi trilogies I have read, the Sentinels once again try to defy odds to save humanity.

Inspired by an underwhelming list from Goodreads, this counts down a far superior list of the Top 50 books of the last 5 years (2020-2024).

★★★☆☆ An alternative take on Stranger in a Strange Land; social commentary abounds as an 1847 explorer tries to acclimate to modern society.

★★☆☆☆ An unfocused debut that combines elements of Minority Report with a grisly ghost story, an all-powerful being, and more. It's a mess.

A running tally of my "Best Books of 2023", updated each time I finish a book throughout the year.

★★★★★ Set in a near-future society that feels all too possible, prisoners fight in gladiatorial death matches for a chance at freedom.

★★★★★ A stand-alone novel unrelated to her "Divide" series, author Dewes elegantly explores immortality, AI, and what it means to be human.

★★★★☆ Filled as much with philosophy and social commentary as with plot, Alderman envisions a near-future society rocketing toward disaster.

★★★★☆ The sequel to Mickey7 finds our hero once again trying to find a way to save the colony while somehow avoiding yet another death.

Happy New Year! It’s time once again for what has become an annual tradition, my Books of the Year list. 2022 was a busy year of reading,...

★★★★★ A scientist trapped alone in space trying to survive. What worked for The Martian does again and this time might be even better.

★★★★★ A ragtag group of soldiers (and a few criminals) are staffed at the end of the universe. Things are mostly boring...until they're not