Best Series – SFF Book Reviews

July 17, 2025

This year, Best Series fell victim to my Hugo fatigue. I saved this category for last and after finishing the Lodestar ballot, I simply needed a break. That said, I have at least started each of the series on the final ballot, so I am going to try ranking them to the best of my abilities. I am aware that this is unfair to some degree, but I feel it would be even worse to not vote at all, because I’m quite fond of the category as such.

You can find my tentative ballots and thoughts on the other finalists here:

I was lucky enough to have already read all instalments in Brandon Sanderson’s huge epic series, as well as the first book in all other series except one. It was time to do some catching up, but sadly I didn’t get very far. Overall, I think this is a very fine list of finalists and I especially like the mix of subgenres. There’s a little bit of everything here.


  • Adrian Tchaikovsky – The Tyrant Philosophers
    • City of Last Chances (50% read)
    • House of Open Wounds
    • Days of Shattered Faith
  • Rebecca Roanhorse – Between Earth and Sky
    • Black Sun (7.5/10)
    • Fevered Star
    • Mirrored Heavens
  • Seanan McGuire – InCryptid
  • Jeff Vandermeer – Southern Reach
  • Tasha Suri – The Burning Kingdoms
  • Brandon Sanderson – The Stormlight Archive

Let’s get the big one out of the way first. In terms of page count, Seanan McGuire’s series can probably keep up, but just looking at the volumes on my shelf, The Stormlight Archive feels like the chunkiest series on the ballot. I not only fell in love with the first volume a while ago, but actually kept up with the series as the books came out. Except for the novellas (which I read whenever), I read every single entry at least within a year of its publication. And what a journey it’s been!
I love this series dearly, despite its flaws. The overall quality went down after the second book, but given how great the first two are, that isn’t saying much. I have come to love all of its characters so much, and the insane journey Brandon Sanderson took us on will forever be special to me. There’s epic battles, so many scenes that gave me goosebumps, there is character growth and awesome magic, there is so much world building it could fill a whole book. I nominated this myself and I will put it on the top of my voting ballot.

My second spot will probably go to Between the Earth and the Sky by Rebecca Roanhorse. I remember reading this when I spent a holiday in Barcelona, so the fond memories may help (although my partner did catch Covid while we were there, so maybe not only fond memories). I distinctly remember not caring about the book whenever I put it down, but as soon as I started reading again, I was totally into it. There were cool characters and a hugely interesting world. I didn’t like that the structure of the book kind of spoils the ending, but with the vague memories I have, this series is the one I most look forward to continuing. Also, it’s been a long time since I read this and the fact that I can remember certain scenes so well speaks to the author’s talent and skill.

With Tasha Suri’s The Burning Kingdoms, I feel torn. I looked at my review of the book and remembered liking it, but there was also something missing. The kick-ass female characters were a big plus, especially because Suri showed women demonstrate power in such different ways, but the overall story I barely remember. I do kind of want to read on and see what happens, but although I read this after Black Sun, I have fewer memories, fewer scenes that stuck in my mind.
Which would make this exactly the kind of series that I should have continued in order to see whether the trilogy as a whole is better than its first book.

The one book I started specifially for this Hugo category was another Adrian Tchaikovsky. The Tyrant Philosophers has gorgeous covers and an extremely cool concept. I listened to 50% of this via the provided audiobook in the Hugo Voter Packet (thanks so much to the publisher for that!) and I quite loved the idea of character hopping. The story takes place in a city, but every chapter is told from a different POV, with only a few repeats. A character would get mentioned in one chapter only to be the protagonist of the next, and so on.
But this wonderful idea is also slightly detrimental to the book, because it made it hard for me to hold on to any one person to follow. It’s the “the place is a character” kind of story and I definitely want to finish it, but the place being super complex, the politics, magic, and class system being quite intricate, I need to do so when I am able to properly concentrate. So although I haven’t even finished the first book, I think this goes in the middle of my ballot, just because I like the writing and the idea, and I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy the rest of the story.

The first series I wanted to finish for this year’s Hugo Awards was Southern Reach by Jeff Vandermeer, because I had read Annihilation right when it came out, and really loved its creepy atmosphere and the central mystery. Although the trilogy sat on my shelves for years, I never managed to pick the rest of the books up, until now. And… let’s just say Authority was not what I had hoped for. I was incredibly bored for most of the book, which also took away my motivation to read the third volume. This is another series where I suspect the final book – Absolution – could have made all the difference. I will very likely finish it some day, but for now Authority has taken the joy out of the Southern Reach for me. Ask me again in 5 years. 🙂

Lastly, I also wanted to give Seanan McGuire’s InCryptid another chance. I bounced off the first book hard when I read it (also for the Hugo Awards), but the more I think about it, the more I believe it might have been written that way on purpose, kind of making fun of those early 2000s heroines who could lift ten times their own weight while looking like a tiny waifish supermodel. Maybe I should read it as a satire, rather than straightforward?
Be that as it may, I wanted to pick a random volume and read that, to see if it was just the first book that didn’t work for me, but I didn’t have the time and I am now fully done with Hugo reading. So although it might be unfair, I’m ranking this last on my ballot.


My ballot:

  1. Brandon Sanderson – The Stormlight Archive
  2. Rebecca Roanhorse – Between Earth and Sky
  3. Tasha Suri – The Burning Kingdoms
  4. Adrian Tchaikovsky – The Tyrant Philosophers
  5. Jeff Vandermeer – Southern Reach
  6. Seanan McGuire – InCryptid

My top and bottom two are pretty fixed, but I am undecided about the middle series. I’ve really only sampled all but the Stormlight Archive, so no matter how I rank them, I never feel quite comfortable with my choices. With this category, I’ll have to rely on my fellow Hugo voters to have read more than me. Mine is only one vote among many, after all, and even though this category gives me high blood pressure every year, I am glad it’s here and I want it to stay.

Who do I think will win?
I think Sanderson stands a good chance what with the first cycle of his epic series being finished, but Hugo voters are also big fans of Rebecca Roanhorse and Adrian Tchaikovsky. This one is super tough to guess, but I think Rebecca Roanhorse will end up winning, with Seanan McGuire in second place.

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