Nettle & Bone

A red-haired innkeeper, now quiet and unremarkable, sits down to tell the true story of how he became the most notorious name in the land. It's all firelight and music and a poor clever boy talking his way into an arcane university. The prose is honey-slow and gorgeous; settle in and let it take its time.

Fourteen-year-old Mona can do exactly one thing: make dough do as it's told, which is how she ends up with a sourdough familiar and a city to save. It's flour-dusted and funny and braver than it looks, with a real lump-in-the-throat heart. Read it when you want a small hero and a warm kitchen against a dark night.

A doorstop of a book that earns every page: a queen without an heir, a secret mage guarding her, sea-spanning dragon-riders, and an ancient wyrm stirring underground. The sapphic slow-burn at its centre is worth the wait, and the world is the kind you can fully move into. Read it when you've a long quiet stretch and want to disappear for a week.