Risingshadow 2025
04/22/2025 - 12/31/2025 (Challenge has ended)
The Risingshadow 2025 reading challenge is designed to inspire readers to explore a wide variety of themes and genres, especially those familiar from speculative fiction. Since the year is already well underway, we're kicking off Risingshadow's first reading challenge with 25 challenge tasks. Take on the challenge and step into the fascinating worlds of stories—adventures that will invigorate both the heart and the mind!
Here's how to participate in the reading challenge:
- Log in to the website.
- Click the text "Participate" next to the challenge task to which you want to add a book you've read that fits the theme. The book must be read (or listened to) during the year 2025.
- In the "Book title" field, enter the name of the book. A dropdown menu will appear below the field with suggestions from Rising's database that match the title. If the book you read appears in the list, click on it. If it’s not found in Rising’s database, write the full name of the book and the author's name.
- If you want, you can write a short explanation in the lower text field about why the book you read fits the particular challenge task.
- Finally, click "Save".
Reading Challenges
1. A book in which the main character travels to another world
Completed 5: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Chelsea K (15/25), Victoria Boyette (6/25), Master_LJ12 (4/25)
2. A book with a dragon, spaceship, or castle on the cover
Completed 4: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Chelsea K (15/25), Master_LJ12 (4/25)
3. A sci-fi classic or a more recent gem of science fiction
Completed 4: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Silke Brandt (14/25), Darkki (3/25)
Silke Brandt: Thea von Harbou: Metropolis
Reasoning: Until a recent German re-edition I didn't know she wrote the novel / script to the famous film. Shame on me. The story is much wilder than I remember the film, it has sentient architecture, futuristic gods, homunculi, a magical house that reminded me of Jean Ray ("Stork House", also Malpertuis) and has lots of action, very vivid, expressionistic. The christian subtext is disturbing and jarring, totally unfit for a SF novel. Nonetheless, if I ignore that aspect, it's a pretty innovative story even after 100 years.
4. A book by a Finnish speculative fiction author
Completed 1: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25)
5. A fantasy book without magic
Completed 3: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Chelsea K (15/25)
6. A horror book that keeps you awake at night
Completed 2: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25)
7. A book set in the future
Completed 3: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Chelsea K (15/25)
8. A book centered around the battle between good and evil
Completed 3: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Silke Brandt (14/25), Master_LJ12 (4/25)
Silke Brandt: James Silke: Frazetta's Death Dealer - 2. Lords of Destruction
Reasoning: The Death Dealer is almost crushed between the magical forces of 2 women - a crazy story, strange hybrid-creatures, lots of action and surprising twists also in reg. to gender roles. A wild ride, loved it.
9. A book that begins a series
Completed 8: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Chelsea K (15/25), Silke Brandt (14/25), Victoria Boyette (6/25), Master_LJ12 (4/25), Darkki (3/25), Tamika Howard (1/25)
Master_LJ12: Assassins Apprentice
Silke Brandt: James Silke: Frazetta's Death Dealer - 1. Prisoner of the Horned Helmet
Reasoning: I've loved the Death Dealer character since the 80s, and it was interesting to read a new aspect: That the helmet controls & oppresses the warrior, which makes for a more interesting story than just a Barbarian action story (nothing against that either, btw.)
10. A book where the main character is an unusual creature
Completed 2: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Chelsea K (15/25)
11. A book with events taking place at least partially underwater
Completed 3: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Chelsea K (15/25)
12. A book where the main character struggles with their identity
Completed 4: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Chelsea K (15/25), Silke Brandt (14/25), Victoria Boyette (6/25)
Silke Brandt: Chen Quifan: Waste Tide
Reasoning: Struggle: Eastern i.e. Asian vs Western cultural / family background and also rich vs poor. A protagonist who has toes to each world / sphere, but tries to negate one of them.
13. A re-read of an old favorite
Completed 4: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Silke Brandt (14/25), Darkki (3/25)
Silke Brandt: Harlan Ellison: Deathbird Stories
Reasoning: I think that "expect the unexpected" has never been truer than with these stories. Wild, imaginative, smart, brutal and insanely beautiful. Couldn't even say if it's more horror, SF or Weird - it truly transgresses genres & tropes.
14. A book you discovered through Risingshadow
Completed 1: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25)
15. A book set in a world where you'd like to live for at least one day
Completed 3: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Chelsea K (15/25)
Blue Six:
Retromancer (Brentford #9) - Robert Rankin |
★ 9
Reasoning: It would be interested to visit Robert Rankin's alternative Brentford although possibly only for one day.
16. A work where time travel plays a central role
Completed 3: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Silke Brandt (14/25)
Silke Brandt: Alastair Reynolds: Eversion
Reasoning: Not sure if this counts as classic time travel, but it's (on surface level) set in different eras and the dimensions aren't behaving in a linear way, so I hope it counts. Also: A most wonderful book, perhaps my fav by him.
17. A book where love blossoms in an unexpected environment or situation
Completed 4: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Chelsea K (15/25), Silke Brandt (14/25), Victoria Boyette (6/25)
Silke Brandt: Gretchen Martin-Felker: Manhunt
Reasoning: In a warlike and cruel dystopian world three transfolks (two female, one male) are bound together by friendship as well as love. The splattery, uncompromising and utterly unromantic tale conveys realistic, complex emotions and a very intelligent, passionate love story.
18. A book featuring artificial intelligence or a robot
Completed 4: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Chelsea K (15/25), Silke Brandt (14/25)
Silke Brandt: Brian W. Aldiss: Galaxies Like Grains of Sand
Reasoning: Short Story collection which also features sentient robots/machines and AI, albeit sometimes in a rural, post-apocalyptic setting. The stories all take unexpected turns and sometimes span centuries. Love Aldiss!
19. A book set in a deserted or dystopian world
Completed 4: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Chelsea K (15/25), Silke Brandt (14/25)
Silke Brandt: Manuela Draeger (a.k.a. Antoine Volodine): Kree
Reasoning: One of his later Post-exotic novels where the title character/protagonist stes out to revenge her dog and fights undead monks who try to crush individual, postmortal existences in a post-apocalyptic city.
20. A book that is more terrifying in concept than in action
Completed 1: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25)
21. A book with a particularly stunning or unique cover
Completed 5: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Chelsea K (15/25), Silke Brandt (14/25), Victoria Boyette (6/25)
Silke Brandt: Mark Samuels: Charnel Glamour
Reasoning: Chiroptera Press, cover art by Eli John. Samuels' last, previously unpublished stories.
Victoria Boyette: Grim and Oro
Reasoning: Dueling Crowns Edition by Alex Aster
22. A book published in 2025
Completed 3: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Chelsea K (15/25), Silke Brandt (14/25)
Silke Brandt: Dejan Ognjanovic: Spectral Lights
Reasoning: Chiroptera Press HC. Non-Fiction book on 6 authors of the classic British ghost tale.
23. A book you picked up randomly
Completed 4: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Silke Brandt (14/25), Victoria Boyette (6/25)
Blue Six:
When the Sparrow Falls - Neil Sharpson |
★ 9
Reasoning: Something I found in a book exchange at my local train station, it was the only one that looked even remotely interesting and proved to be far better than expected.
Silke Brandt: Colin Insole: A Calender of Cherries
Reasoning: Chapbook, handbound. A new voice of the Contemporary Weird, love his subtle style and the dark atmosphere.
24. A book that has been on your to-read list for a long time
Completed 4: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Blue Six (16/25), Chelsea K (15/25), Silke Brandt (14/25)
Blue Six:
Metro 2035 (Metro #3) - Dmitry Glukhovsky |
★ 6
Reasoning: It's not easy to find a copy of this in the UK but I eventually found one in a secondhand bookshop.
Silke Brandt: James Silke: Frazetta's Death Dealer - 3. Tooth & Claw
Reasoning: I've always been a huge Frazetta fan, but a sale at Aavetaajuus got me finally started. This is incredibly rich, imaginative and sensory storytelling full of weird ideas and fantastic, innovative characters. Esp. Tooth & Claw has a most interesting, multi-facetted story.
25. A book that changed the way you think or see the world
Completed 2: Dacoda Freeman (Claudis) (★25/25), Silke Brandt (14/25)
Silke Brandt: The House of Doctor Koolhaas (Park Books)
Reasoning: (Changed my way ...: This would be Harlan Ellison's Deathbird Stories, but I've known them longer than a year.)
The House of Doctor Koolhaas is both a non-fiction architecture monography on the conception of Koolhaas' French villa and a surrealistic detective story. It opens up mind spaces, reinvents building practices as art / narration through forms and is a fun read that easily compares to Weird Fiction.