July 2025 Reading Recap

August, eh?

Although I doubt it’s real, here we are at the start of the last month of summer.

I made a promise to myself that this summer I was going to get out and do more. And I’m proud to say that I’ve been doing it. We’ve been to concerts, Jays games, a music festival, an opera festival, food truck festival, a bike trip and more.

To be honest, it’s been fun. But tiring as heck.

In the middle of doing stuff, I’ve been reading a bit too. July was a fun month. I caught up with some authors I loved, tried a few new ones and lost a book at the beach. I have no idea where it went. I think someone stole it, but didn’t take my phone or wallet.

As per usual, here are all the books I read in July, ranked and mini-reviewed.

1 — Thrill Switch by Tim Hawken

Awesome cover.

Fantastic book.

I picked up this book on a BookBub sale from the cover alone. It’s just a cool art style. And I am so glad I did.

This book is a cyberpunk dystopian horror novel set in a world split between people who live in VR and those that don’t. We follow a police detective whose assigned a case that blurs the borders between the real world and the fake.

It’s thrilling. Exciting. A little wonky. Creative. Twisty.

The ending is something.

4.5/5

2 — The Ghost Brigades (#2) by John Scalzi

The sequel to Old Man’s War continues the story where we left it in book 1…sort of.

It takes place after the first book, but with different characters. This time, we follow the special forces of Earth’s space military.

If you have never read Old Man’s War, it’s a lot to dive into. It’s a good series. It features all of the normal Scalzi style; funny, fast-paced, not too scientific.

This book goes further into the universe. We start to see the politics at play, in addition to more of the technology and inner workings of the military.

The middle of the book lagged a little bit, but the ending made it all worthwhile. I’ll be onto book 3 soon!

4/5

3 — Flybot by Dennis E Taylor

This Audible exclusive audiobook is okay.

I’m a big fan of Dennis E Taylor, writer of the Outland and Bobiverse series, and fellow Canadian!

This, I assume, was one of those ‘give big author money for Audible original’ books that Amazon does.

It was good, but it felt a bit like a half-baked idea that wasn’t quite ready for a full novel.

The book almost felt like two parts. One small nanotechnology idea, and one large AI-can-be-bad idea, stitched together into a middling investigative story.

The ending made it all worthwhile, but the first half had me thinking about stopping.

3/5

4— Next by Michael Crichton

Next is one of the few Michael Crichton books I haven’t read before.

It features a genetically modified chimpanzee that’s able to speak English. Also, a bunch of genetic companies doing shady stuff.

Honestly, it was one of my least favourite of the Crichton books. Perhaps its the influence of more modern books, but this felt slow. The stakes didn’t feel real. I didn’t connect with any of the characters.

The science was fascinating. Genetics is wild. But the story connecting everything felt mediocre.

2.5/5

5 — Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

This might be on me.

I listened to this as an audiobook and I just don’t think that’s the best medium for Tchaikovsky.

Service Model follows a butler android who accidentally kills the human he serves. It kicks off a journey across a robotic dystopia where the service model explores the world and asks big questions.

It’s well written and a few parts had be actually laughing out loud. It also dives into some big philosophical questions.

I can appreciate how well done the book is. But it did not work as an audiobook for me. It features long passages of dialogue that really slow down the pacing.

2/5

— — —

July!

What a month! Gosh, it was so hot in Toronto. Truly awful heat. The humidity in this city is terrible.

Good reading thought!

Until next month!

Exclamation points!