Starting 2026 off with dragons, magic, time travel, betrayal, and a giant Pacific octopus...

Not going to lie, this was my reading goal last year, but I didn't make it. Like, I was waaaaay far off (22 books) because, well, I was busy, which is why I'm trying again this year — and am even more determined to reach it.

The Dark Mirror is the fifth book in The Bone Season series, so let me rewind: The year is 2059, and Scion reigns with the intent of criminalizing voyants, aka people with "unnatural" abilities. Thus, voyants are forced to hide.

In Scion London, Paige Mahoney is a rare dreamwalker and a high-ranking member of an underground, voyant-run criminal organization. But when Paige is captured by Scion's secret police, she is transported to Oxford, a hidden city ruled by the Rephaim, an ancient non-human race.

Paige is essentially forced into servitude but finds herself under the tutelage of a mysterious Rephaite called Warden, who teaches her to fight and strengthen her abilities. But as Paige learns more about, well, everything, she realizes that it's not enough to just survive; she has to burn the entire system down.

Since this is the second book in the series, let me set the stage from the first book, The Sword Catcher.

Kel, aka cutie patootie #1, was taken from the orphanage to become Prince Conor's Sword Catcher, a body double meant to take a blade for him (and more) if needed. Though becoming the Sword Catcher gave Kel luxury and proximity to power, his main purpose is to live, bleed, and die for Conor, the heir to the throne.

Cutie patootie #2 is Lin, a gifted Ashkar physician who lives within the walls of The Sault with other Ashkar, segregated due to their affinity for magic. But when a failed assassination attempt brings Lin and Kel together, she finds herself caught in court politics, conspiracies, and an infuriating attraction to a certain prince.

Desperate for answers, Lin and Kel turn to the city's criminal mastermind, which pulls them straight into the city’s darkest secrets and sets the stage for The Ragpicker King.

June Farrow comes from a line of women known to be cursed; no matter what, they always seem to go mad. After a year of hearing and seeing things that aren't there, June knows that the madness has begun coming for her. But after her grandmother passes away, she finds a string of cryptic clues surrounding her mother's disappearance and her family history, which leads her to cross through a red door that wasn't a hallucination after all.

After she crosses the door's threshold, she finds herself still in her small town of Jasper, North Carolina — but in a time way before the one she came from. There, June learns more about the curse that has haunted generations of Farrow women and tries to uncover the truth behind her mother's mysterious actions and disappearance.

Basically, to get y'all up to speed, Alizeh is the long-lost Jinn queen who, for years, has been forced to hide in plain sight as a servant among the Clay people after her parents were killed. Not only is she prophesied to be the end of King Zaal of Ardunia, but she's haunted by the devil, Iblees, who often shows up whenever misfortune enters her life. But when Alizeh and Prince Kamran cross paths, everything changes, and Alizeh is forced to come out of hiding, hoping to lead the Jinn people back to freedom.

However, things get quite complicated once Cyrus, the young king of Tulan shows up, and Alizeh must confront the truth about her purpose, her identity,  and Iblees, and decide what's best for her people.

Seventy-year-old Tova is wading through grief after the recent death of her husband and the mysterious disappearance of their son, Erik, 30 years prior. She passes the time as a night cleaner at the local Sowell Bay Aquarium in Puget Sound, Washington. But when she discovers that Marcellus, the giant Pacific octopus, has been sneaking out of his tank to scavenge for food other than his usual fare, an unlikely friendship forms between them.

Meanwhile, Cam is an irresponsible, can't-keep-a-job 30-year-old dealing with a breakup and mommy and daddy issues. His mom abandoned him when he was younger, and he never knew his dad. But when an old high school photo of his mom prompts Cam to go on a road trip in search of his father, he winds up in Puget Sound and learns things about himself and his past that he never expected.

Here are the five books I read in January:

• The Dark Mirror by Samantha Shannon (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

• The Ragpicker King by Cassandra Clare (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

• The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

• Every Spiral of Fate by Tahereh Mafi (⭐️⭐️)

• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

What genre of book should I read in February?