Best of 2025 - Series Reread

As I noted in my Mercy Thompson post, I reread that series in 2025. That was by far not the only one. In 2025, I read 111 books, more than half of which were rereads— and those rereads were mostly series.

I will get around to a full 2025 lookback, but for now, my favorite series reread: the World of the White Rat books by T. Kingfisher. The first book published of those I reread is Swordheart (2018). I reread this and the Saint of Steel novels, all of which are romantasy (aka romances set in a fantasy setting). There are also two Clocktaur War books in this world that I did not reread this year. Also, the sequel to Swordheart, Daggerbound, is scheduled for release tentatively in August 2026.

Cover of Swordheart

I love the books in this world. I find all of them to be laugh-out-loud funny, while being books filled with important, plot-driving problems set off by deaths (mysteries generally for the Saint of Steel books, and family and inheritance problems in Swordheart). I hugely admire Kingfisher for her ability to write romance within frequently horrific series of events. There’s nothing like an encounter with a severed head or carnivorous flying manta rays to interrupt a developing romance!

Cover for Paladin’s Grace, the first book of the Saint of Steel series.

The White Rat of the world setting is a religious order that aims to help people. They have many healers and lawyers, and come to solutions to problems that are occasionally a little absurd but great at using two problems to solve each other. For instance, to reduce police corruption, they train retiring prostitutes as scribes to track all arrested people so that it is clear who is imprisoned where. I am very impressed by the creation of a fictional religious order doing what many religions claim to support— feeding the poor, healing the sick, raising up the downtrodden. At the same time, there is a diversity of gods worshipped in this world, and they are becoming characters in their own right over the course of the series.

I recommend these books if you are comfortable with elements of horror, violence, politics, and religion in a romance with comedic failure of the pair to recognize their growing attraction is mutual. These books are my favorite by T. Kingfisher, but she has many other works that are also very well written.

You can start with either Swordheart or Paladin’s Grace. Swordheart: physical book or audio book. Paladin’s Grace: physical book or audio book.