The time comes for another end to RIP. For this RIP XII season, I wasn’t sure what I was going to read. Something about this autumn – I just wasn’t feeling terribly inspired. I’m sure that has a lot to do with my brain fog. However, despite not feeling inspired, I did get a number of books read, and quite enjoyed almost all of them. In the order I read them:

1. My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix: a horror love-letter to the 80s that wasn’t really my cup of coffee

2. The Empty Grave by Jonathan Stroud (audio): the amazing end to a series I’ve loved for years

3. The Call by Peadar O’Guilin (audio): a surprisingly chilling book of monsters made even better by the audio performance

4. City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett (audio): a delightful find of dark fantasy thriller to start a new series

5. All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater (audio): dark historical fiction meets magical realism, religion, and folklore

Four out of five were excellent RIP books for me this year, so I’m calling that a win! No rereads this year, despite the fact that I keep swearing I’ll read the unabridged version of Phantom of the Opera one of these days. If I had to pick a best book of the bunch, it would be difficult – probably The Empty Grave simply because I’ve loved the series for so long, though All the Crooked Saints is a tough contender.

There are technically a couple days left of the challenge, but I have no more RIP books on my radar. (Except one that comes out on the 31st, and I doubt that I’ll finish that one in time.) As I’m unlikely to finish any books at all before the end of October, I’m wrapping this all up. Thanks again to our hosts, Andi and Heather, for keeping the challenge alive and kicking!