fidzu : debian

In 2025, I finished and reviewed 32 books, not counting another five books I've finished but not yet reviewed and which will therefore roll over to 2026.

This was not a great reading year, although not my worst reading year since I started keeping track. I'm not entirely sure why, although part of the explanation was that I hit a bad stretch of books in spring of 2025 and got into a bit of a reading slump. Mostly, though, I shifted a lot of reading this year to short non-fiction (newsletters and doom-scrolling) and spent rather more time than I intended watching YouTube videos, and sadly each hour in the day can only be allocated one way.

This year felt a bit like a holding pattern. I have some hopes of being more proactive and intentional in 2026. I'm still working on finding a good balance between all of my hobbies and the enjoyment of mindless entertainment.

The best book I read this year was also the last book I reviewed (and yes, I snuck the review under the wire for that reason): Bethany Jacobs's This Brutal Moon, the conclusion of the Kindom Trilogy that started with These Burning Stars. I thought the first two books of the series were interesting but flawed, but the conclusion blew me away and improved the entire trilogy in retrospect. Like all books I rate 10 out of 10, I'm sure a large part of my reaction is idiosyncratic, but two friends of mine also loved the conclusion so it's not just me.

The stand-out non-fiction book of the year was Rory Stewart's Politics on the Edge. I have a lot of disagreements with Stewart's political positions (the more I listen to him, the more disagreements I find), but he is an excellent memoirist who skewers the banality, superficiality, and contempt for competence that has become so prevailing in centrist and right-wing politics. It's hard not to read this book and despair of electoralism and the current structures of governments, but it's bracing to know that even some people I disagree with believe in the value of expertise.

I also finished Suzanne Palmer's excellent Finder Chronicles series, reading The Scavenger Door and Ghostdrift. This series is some of the best science fiction I've read in a long time and I'm sad it is over (at least for now). Palmer has a new, unrelated book coming in 2026 (Ode to the Half-Broken), and I'm looking forward to reading that.

This year, I experimented with re-reading books I had already reviewed for the first time since I started writing reviews. After my reading slump, I felt like revisiting something I knew I liked, and therefore re-read C.J. Cherryh's Cyteen and Regenesis. Cyteen mostly held up, but Regenesis was worse than I had remembered. I experimented with a way to add on to my previous reviews, but I didn't like the results and the whole process of re-reading and re-reviewing annoyed me. I'm counting this as a failed experiment, which means I've still not solved the problem of how to revisit series that I read long enough ago that I want to re-read them before picking up the new book. (You may have noticed that I've not read the new Jacqueline Carey Kushiel novel, for example.)

You may have also noticed that I didn't start a new series re-read, or continue my semi-in-progress re-reads of Mercedes Lackey or David Eddings. I have tentative plans to kick off a new series re-read in 2026, but I'm not ready to commit to that yet.

As always, I have no firm numeric goals for the next year, but I hope to avoid another reading slump and drag my reading attention back from lower-quality and mostly-depressing material in 2026.

The full analysis includes some additional personal reading statistics, probably only of interest to me.

01 Jan 2026 9:12pm GMT

Review: This Brutal Moon, by Bethany Jacobs

Series:	Kindom Trilogy #3
Publisher:	Orbit
Copyright:	December 2025
ISBN:	0-316-46373-6
Format:	Kindle
Pages:	497

This Brutal Moon is a science fiction thriller with bits of cyberpunk and space opera. It concludes the trilogy begun with These Burning Stars. The three books tell one story in three volumes, and ideally you would read all three in close succession.

There is a massive twist in the first book that I am still not trying to spoil, so please forgive some vague description.

At the conclusion of These Burning Stars, Jacobs had moved a lot of pieces into position, but it was not yet clear to me where the plot was going, or even if it would come to a solid ending in three volumes as promised by the series title. It does. This Brutal Moon opens with some of the political maneuvering that characterized These Burning Stars, but once things start happening, the reader gets all of the action they could wish for and then some.

I am pleased to report that, at least as far as I'm concerned, Jacobs nails the ending. Not only is it deeply satisfying, the characterization in this book is so good, and adds so smoothly to the characterization of the previous books, that I saw the whole series in a new light. I thought this was one of the best science fiction series finales I've ever read. Take that with a grain of salt, since some of those reasons are specific to me and the mood I was in when I read it, but this is fantastic stuff.

There is a lot of action at the climax of this book, split across at least four vantage points and linked in a grand strategy with chaotic surprises. I kept all of the pieces straight and understood how they were linked thanks to Jacobs's clear narration, which is impressive given the number of pieces in motion. That's not the heart of this book, though. The action climax is payoff for the readers who want to see some ass-kicking, and it does contain some moving and memorable moments, but it relies on some questionable villain behavior and a convenient plot device introduced only in this volume. The action-thriller payoff is competent but not, I think, outstanding.

What put this book into a category of its own were the characters, and specifically how Jacobs assembles sweeping political consequences from characters who, each alone, would never have brought about such a thing, and in some cases had little desire for it.

Looking back on the trilogy, I think Jacobs has captured, among all of the violence and action-movie combat and space-opera politics, the understanding that political upheaval is a relay race. The people who have the personalities to start it don't have the personality required to nurture it or supply it, and those who can end it are yet again different. This series is a fascinating catalog of political actors - the instigator, the idealist, the pragmatist, the soldier, the one who supports her friends, and several varieties and intensities of leaders - and it respects all of them without anointing any of them as the One True Revolutionary. The characters are larger than life, yes, and this series isn't going to win awards for gritty realism, but it's saying something satisfyingly complex about where we find courage and how a cause is pushed forward by different people with different skills and emotions at different points in time. Sometimes accidentally, and often in entirely unexpected ways.

As before, the main story is interwoven with flashbacks. This time, we finally see the full story of the destruction of the moon of Jeve. The reader has known about this since the first volume, but Jacobs has a few more secrets to show (including, I will admit, setting up a plot device) and some pointed commentary on resource extraction economies. I think this part of the book was a bit obviously constructed, although the characterization was great and the visible junction points of the plot didn't stop me from enjoying the thrill when the pieces came together.

But the best part of this book was the fact there was 10% of it left after the climax. Jacobs wrote an actual denouement, and it was everything I wanted and then some. We get proper story conclusions for each of the characters, several powerful emotional gut punches, some remarkably subtle and thoughtful discussion of political construction for a series that tended more towards space-opera action, and a conclusion for the primary series relationship that may not be to every reader's taste but was utterly, perfectly, beautifully correct for mine. I spent a whole lot of the last fifty pages of this book trying not to cry, in the best way.

The character evolution over the course of this series is simply superb. Each character ages like fine wine, developing more depth, more nuance, but without merging. They become more themselves, which is an impressive feat across at least four very different major characters. You can see the vulnerabilities and know what put them there, you can see the strengths they developed to compensate, and you can see why they need the support the other characters provide. And each of them is so delightfully different.

This was so good. This was so precisely the type of story that I was in the mood for, with just the type of tenderness for its characters that I wanted, that I am certain I am not objective about it. It will be one of those books where other people will complain about flaws that I didn't see or didn't care about because it was doing the things I wanted from it so perfectly. It's so good that it elevated the entire trilogy; the journey was so worth the ending.

I'm afraid this review will be less than helpful because it's mostly nonspecific raving. This series is such a spoiler minefield that I'd need a full spoiler review to be specific, but my reaction is so driven by emotion that I'm not sure that would help if the characters didn't strike you the way that they struck me. I think the best advice I can offer is to say that if you liked the emotional tone of the end of These Burning Stars (not the big plot twist, the character reaction to the political goal that you learn drove the plot), stick with the series, because that's a sign of the questions Jacobs is asking. If you didn't like the characters at the end (not the middle) of the first novel, bail out, because you're going to get a lot more of that.

Highly, highly recommended, and the best thing I've read all year, with the caveats that you should read the content notes, and that some people are going to bounce off this series because it's too intense and melodramatic. That intensity will not let up, so if that's not what you're in the mood for, wait on this trilogy until you are.

Content notes: Graphic violence, torture, mentions of off-screen child sexual assault, a graphic corpse, and a whole lot of trauma.

One somewhat grumbly postscript: This is the sort of book where I need to not read other people's reviews because I'll get too defensive of it (it's just a book I liked!). But there is one bit of review commentary I've seen about the trilogy that annoys me enough I have to mention it. Other reviewers seem to be latching on to the Jeveni (an ethnic group in the trilogy) as Space Jews and then having various feelings about that.

I can see some parallels, I'm not going to say that it's completely wrong, but I also beg people to read about a fictional oppressed ethnic and religious minority and not immediately think "oh, they must be stand-ins for Jews." That's kind of weird? And people from the US, in particular, perhaps should not read a story about an ethnic group enslaved due to their productive skill and economic value and think "they must be analogous to Jews, there are no other possible parallels here." There are a lot of other comparisons that can be made, including to the commonalities between the methods many different oppressed minorities have used to survive and preserve their culture.

Rating: 10 out of 10

01 Jan 2026 5:27am GMT

The majority of Pǔ'ěr chá (普洱茶) is stored in Asia (predominantly China, some in Malaysia and Taiwan) because of its climatic conditions:

• warm (~30°C)

• humid (~75% RH)

• stable (comparatively small day to day, day to night, and seasonal differences)

These are ideal for ageing and allow efficient storage in simple storehouses, usually without the need for any air conditioning.

The climate in Western European countries is significantly colder, drier, and more variable. However, residential houses offers throughout the year a warm (~20°C), humid (~50% RH), and stable baseline to start with. High quality, long term storage and ageing is possible too with some of the Asian procedures slightly adjusted for the local conditions. Nevertheless, fast accelerated ageing still doesn't work here (even with massive climate control).

Personally I prefer the balanced, "natural" storage over the classical "wet" or "dry", or the mixed "traditional" storage (of course all storage "types" are not that meaningful as they are all relative terms anyway). Also I don't like strong fermentation either (Pǔ'ěr is not my favourite tea, I only drink it in the 3 months of winter).

Therefore, my intention is primarily to preserve the tea while it continues to age normally, keep it in optimal drinking condition and don't rush its fermentation.

The value of correct storage is of great importance and has a big effect on Pǔ'ěr, and is often overlooked and underrated. Here's a short summary on how to store Pǔ'ěr chá (in Western Europe).

Image: some Dàyì Pǔ'ěr chá stored at home

1. Location

1.1 No light

Choose a location with neither direct nor indirect sunlight (= ultraviolet radiation) exposure:

• direct sunlight damages organic material ("bleeching")

• indirect sunlight by heating up the containers inbalances the microclimate ("suppression")

1.2 No odors

Choose a location with neither direct nor indirect odor exposure:

• direct odor immissions (like incense, food, air polution, etc.) makes the tea undrinkable

• indirect odor immissions (especially other teas stored next to it) taint the taste and dilute the flavours

Always use individual containers for each tea, store only identical tea of the same year and batch in the same container. Idealy never store one cake, brick or tuo on its own, buy multiples and store them together for better ageing.

2. Climate

2.1 Consistent temperature

Use a location with no interference from any devices or structures next to it:

• use an regular indoor location for mild temperature curves (i.e. no attics with large day/night temperature differences)

• aim for >= 20°C average temperature for natural storage (i.e. no cold basements)

• don't use a place next to any heat dissipating devices (like radiators, computers, etc.)

• don't use a place next to an outside facing wall

• always leave 5 to 10cm distance to a wall for air to circulate (generally prevents mold on the wall but also isolates the containers further from possible immissions)

As consistent temperature as possible allows even and steady fermentation. However, neither air conditioning or filtering is needed. Regular day to day, day to night, and season to season fluctuations are balanced out fine with otherwise correct indoor storage. Also humidity control is much more important for storage and ageing, and much less forgiving than temperature control.

2.2 Consistent humidity

Use humidity control packs to ensure a stable humidity level:

• aim for ~65% RH

Lower than 60% RH will (completely) dry out the tea, higher than 70% RH increases chances for mold.

3. Equipment

3.1 Proper containers

Use containers that are long term available and that are easily stackable, both in form and dimensions as well as load-bearing capacity. They should be inexpensive, otherwise it's most likely scam (there are people selling snake-oil containers "specifically" for tea storage).

For long term storage and ageing:

• never use plastic: they leak chemicals over time (no "tupperdors", mylar and zip lock bags, etc.)

• never use cardboard or bamboo: they let to much air in, absorb too much humity and dry to slow

• never use wood: they emit odors (no humidors)

• never use clay: they absorb all humidity and dry out the tea (glazed or porcelain urns are acceptable for short term storage)

Always use sealed but not air tight, cleaned steal cans (i.e. with no oil residues from manufacturing; such as these).

3.2 Proper humidity control

Use two-way humidity control packs to either absorb or add moisture depending on the needs:

• use humidity control pack(s) in every container

• use one 60g pack (such as these) per 500g of tea

3.3 Proper labels

Put labels on the outside of the containers to not need to open them to know what is inside and disturbe the ageing:

• write at least manufacturer and name, pressing year, and batch number on the label (such as these)

• if desired and not otherwise kept track already elsewhere, add additional information such as the amount of items, weights, previous storage location/type, date of purchase, vendor, or price, etc.

3.4 Proper monitoring

Measuring and checking temperature and humidity regularly prevents storage parameters turning bad going unnoticed:

• put temperature and humidity measurement sensors (such as these) inside some of the containers (e.g. at least one in every different size/type of container)

• keep at least one temperature and humidity measurement sensor next to the containers on the outside to monitor the storage location

4. Storage

4.1 Continued maintenance

Before beginning to initially store a new tea, let it acclimatize for 2h after unpacking from transport (or longer if temperature differences between indoors and outdoors are high, i.e. in winter).

Then continuesly:

• once a month briefly air all containers for a minute or two

• once a month check for mold, just to be safe

• every 3 to 6 months check all humidity control packs for need of replacement

• monitor battery life of temperature and humidity measurement sensors

Humidity control packs can be recharged (usually voiding any warranty) by submerging them for 2 days in distilled water and 4 hours drying on paper towl afterwards. Check with a weight scale after recharging, they should regain their original weight (e.g. 60g plus ~2 to 5g for the packaging).

Finally

With a correct Pǔ'ěr chá storage:

• beginn to drink Shēng Pǔ'ěr (生普洱) roughly after about 10-15 years, or later

• beginn to drink Shóu Pǔ'ěr (熟普洱) roughly after about 3-5 years, or later

Prepare the tea by breaking it into, or breaking off from it, ~5 to 10g pieces about 1 to 3 months ahead of drinking and consider increase humidity to 70% RH during that time.

2026年享受茶的快乐！

01 Jan 2026 12:00am GMT