2025 Tournament of Books: The Extinction of Irena Rey vs. James

Covers of James and The Extinction of Irena ReyThis would have been my finals matchup had the judging gone my way. Instead, these two books face off in the zombie round.

James, as I’ve said every time it comes up, is the best book of 2024, the one that people will be reading decades in the future. The Extinction of Irena Rey, as good as it is, and as deep as it got its little mushroom spores into my brain, ultimately doesn’t reach that same level of importance so I have to pick James to advance.

My judgment on the judgment

So the question becomes, will Mary Turfah repeat the upset in this round? She doesn’t. Given her prologue about how her consciousness is consumed by the genocide in Gaza, it seemed unlikely, but she does show a profound appreciation for what Croft did in her novel which made me wonder for a bit (although not as much as I would have sans the prologue). This sets us up for a rematch of James vs Martyr! for the final on Monday, a match-up which does feel like an appropriate one for the books of 2024.


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