I don’t read books just for escape. I read them for orientation. In 2025, I spent the year immersed in 42 works of science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction — stories that bend reality just enough to reveal the systems, consequences, and moral frameworks shaping how we think, act, and endure. From the ritual-bound halls of Earthsea to the sprawling consequences of Malazan, these books don’t simplify the world; they make it legible.