We all have books in our physical or digital shelves that aren’t exactly a priority and for that same reason only remain forgotten and unread, year after year, in our shelves.
Since I don’t like unhauling unread books, my idea for this challenge is to try reading around forty pages of 12 or 24 of these books and then decide if I want to continue reading them, or if the book isn’t for me and needs to find a new home.
The rules for this challenge are as follows:
Choose Your Challenge
Normal or Hard Mode (12 or 24 Books)
Normal Mode – Try 40 pages of 12 books which aren’t priority in your TBR, and that you have in your physical or digital shelves. Decide if you want to finish or unhaul them.
Hard Mode – The same with 24 books.
Slow or Fast Mode
Completing the challenge in one year or two.
*****
My Challenge TBR
I’ll be planning twelve books during one year for now.
1. The Red Knight by Miles Cameron. 2. Mr. Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange. 3. Blood Engines by Tim Pratt. 4. Bronze Gods by A. A. Aguirre. 5. The Golden Age by John C. Wright. 6. Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan. 7. Lord of Snow and Shadows by Sarah Ash. 8. Prisoner of the Iron Tower by Sarah Ash. 9. Treason Keep by Jennifer Fallon. 10. The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli. 11. The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson. 12. Enchantée by Gita Trelease.
Any books I should read first, or give up and unhaul? Let me know in the comments!
March of the Mammoths is a very interesting readathon where you read a book of fiction or nonfiction that’s 800 or more pages in length. Originally created by Jason @OldBluesChapterandVerse and Alex@BigAlBooks, this is a readathon I often try to participate in March.
It takes a specially interesting book to make me invested in reading it beyond the 800 page limit. I don’t consider myself a literary reader and classics sometimes are 5 stars for me and sometimes I simply end up not finishing them.
Books I have read, liked a lot, and would therefore recommend for this readathon are:
Fantasy
The Stormlight Archive Series by Brandon Sanderson
Let’s start with the most popular and obvious mammoth fantasy books.
The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance were both big 5 star favorites for me. Oathbringer and Rhythm of War dropped into 4 star territory but were still very much worth reading.
Gemma Doyle Series by Libba Bray
Truth be said, only the third book in this series, The Sweet Far Thing, is a mammoth.
If you like LGBT historical fiction filled with magic and deep themes, then this series is for you. It’s worth binge reading the entire series. And I want to pick more books by this author for sure.
A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin
Many years ago, I read books #1 – 5 and had a great time with them. There was an incredible ammount of violence, and the fact that this series will probably never be finished detracts a bit from my enthusiasm for recommending it, but even though I don’t regret reading it.
Books I have in my TBR for this Readathon
The Roots of Chaos series by Samantha Shannon
I have read The Bone Season Series by this author and really liked it so far, therefore I have this other series, with the books A Day of Fallen Night and The Priory of the Orange Tree, on my TBR list.
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
I haven’t read this book myself, but my mother read it and really liked it. I have had it in my TBR since then, for the next historical fiction and mystery book I plan to read.
And you? Which Mammoths would you recommend? Let me know in the comments.
My 2024 Book Bingo blog post was one of the most successful blog posts in the history of this blog. It had 3K views so far, and yep, I am happily surprised by that number. I have had a TBR for the Hard Mode of this challenge since the beginning of the year, but I didn’t have the time to post it here so far. Without much further ado, here’s my TBR: I might change some of the choices like I did last year, but in its totality I hope to be as successful as last year in reading most of the planned books):
Bingo Challenge Hard Mode TBR:
First Row:
*Hard Mode: Novella by an author you didn’t read before – I’m between two choices here: The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht Or Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress. And I might even read both books since they have been long in my TBR anyway.
Rainbow: LGBT+ Another book that has been for years in my radar: Luck in the Shadows (Nightrunner #1) by Lynn Flewelling
*Hard Mode: 700+ Pages I already managed to read a book for this prompt in January, and that was Lord of All Things (Herr aller Dinge #1) by Andreas Eschbach, Samuel Willcocks (Translator).
*Hard Mode Jumping Cat: Book with a witch and her cat familiar on the cover or story. In the Company of Witches (Evenfall Witches B&B #1) by Auralee Wallace
Red or White: Book with Red or White on the cover or title. Red Mars (Mars Trilogy #1) by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Second Row:
*Hard Mode Robot: Non-Human character is the protagonist/main character of the story. Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard (Barsk #1) by Lawrence M. Schoen
Black or Grey: Book with Black or Grey on the cover or title. I will still decide which book I will read for this prompt. Perhaps The Haunting of Blackwood House (The Haunting of Blackwood House #1) by Darcy Coates. I am not sure yet.
Castle: Fantasy, Romance or Castle on the cover I like to read historical fiction/romance/mystery sometimes. Therefore I’m planning to read The Late Mrs. Willoughby (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney #2) by Claudia Gray. Another idea for this prompt would be The House Witch (The House Witch #1) by Delemhach, I heard good things about it on Booktube.
Green or Purple: Book with Green or Purple on the cover or title. I might read The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes for this since it has a green cover. This book would also fit the romance prompt above. An idea for the purple cover would be The Disasters by M.K. England. This book would also fit the LGBT prompt.
*Hard Mode Rocket: Sci-fi without aliens. I plan to read Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre. This has been in my TBR for years now.
Third Row:
Number in the Title 20 Years Later by Emma Newman. I really like the writing style of this author, so I plan to read all her books.
Out Of Your Comfort Zone: A book in a genre you don’t usually read. I rarely read and enjoy Horror books, but I will try to read Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef (Gods and Monsters: Rupert Wong #1) by Cassandra Khaw.
Free Space
*Hard Mode Favorite Author: Three books by your favorite author. I will read three books by Adrian Tchaikovsky: Lords of Uncreation (The Final Architecture #3) Bear Head (Dogs of War #2) The Doors of Eden.
I already finished Lords of Uncreation and really liked it.
Poetry, Nonfiction or Graphic Novel I must still decide what I will read here. Perhaps the graphic novel, The Moth Keeper by Kay O’Neill.
Fourth Row:
Christmas or Halloween: A book set during Christmas or Halloween A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny.
*Hard Mode Record Player: Three books written before you were born. The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester The Plumed Serpent by D.H. Lawrence Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
By An author you never read before
Knot: Book with a twist. I read The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton now in January and I really liked it. It has more than a few twists! I surely want to read more books by this author.
A Book In Translation I read the dystopia I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, Ros Schwartz (Translator) for this prompt and really liked it. This book would also work for the feminist prompt below.
Fifth Row:
*Hard mode Detective: Book with a mystery written by a woman or nonbinary author. I will be continuing the Three Pines series with A Fatal Grace (Three Pines series #2) by Louise Penny.
I would gladly accept recommendations of mystery books by nonbinary authors, since at the moment I can’t think of any.
Bipoc Author Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
*Hard Mode ‘One’ Book: Three Standalones I haven’t decided yet, but I might read three mystery standalones for this prompt. My ideas here would be: The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton, The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
*Hard Mode Gothic AND Feminist: Why choose? Read one Gothic and one Feminist book. Feminist – The Wall by Marlen Haushofer, Shaun Whiteside (Translator) Gothic – All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter, Angela Slatter
Dragon: Book with a dragon on the cover or title.
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld: 50th Anniversary Special Edition by Patricia A. McKillip. Other ideas for this prompt would be: Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Dragonlance: Chronicles #1) by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman. Dragonsbane (Winterlands #1) by Barbara Hambly Dragon Mage (Rivenworld #1) by M.L. Spencer.
This year I’ll be doing a new Reading Challenge where I plan to prioritize 24 books I predict will be 5 stars for me.
This list will include books by already established favorite authors of mine, but also books by authors I’ve read one five or four star book the years before, and which have a high probability of another five stars in their backlist.
Without much further ado, let’s talk about books!
I) By Brandon Sanderson
1. Wind and Truth (The Stormlight Archive #5)
The expected publication for this awaited sequel is only December 2024. I will be trying to read this as soon as it’s published though.
2. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (The Cosmere #29) and The Sunlit Man (The Cosmere #30)
I read Secret Project #1 and #2 in 2023 and I liked both of them enough to plan to read the next two.
II) By Adrian Tchaikovsky
3. Lords of Uncreation (The Final Architecture #3)
I read the first two books in this series in 2022 and then I had too many books to read and somehow forgot about this last book. I am currently reading this third and final(?) book.
4. The Doors of Eden
I planned to read this one last year as well, but that wasn’t done for lack of time too.
5. Blood of the Mantis (Shadows of the Apt #3)
I read the first two books in this series last year and this year I plan to continue this series.
6. Precious Little Things (Made Things #0.5)
I listened to the audiobook of Made Things last year and it was so nicely narrated by the author himself. Made Things is surely cozy reread material and therefore this short story in the same series is in my radar too.
7. Service Model
The expected publication is June 2024. This is another release that I will try to get to as soon as it’s published.
III) By Valerie Valdes
8. Where Peace Is Lost
This space opera was published in August 2023, but somehow this went under my radar. I plan to read it soon.
9. Fault Tolerance (Chilling Effect #3)
I planned to read this third book last year but I didn’t due to lack of time. I plan to read it this year soon too.
IV) By T. Kingfisher
This was one of the favorite authors I planned to read more in 2023. I had a high number of fantasy books to read by other authors though, and these somehow fell to the background.
10. Minor Mage
11. Bryony and Roses
12. The Raven and the Reindeer
13. Swordheart (The World of the White Rat)
14. Thornhedge
This is a horror Novella, but I’ll try it, even if Horror isn’t one of my favorite genres.
V) By Other Authors
15. Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
This is a Horror/Mystery-Thriller book published last year that has been in my radar because I really enjoy all books by this author.
16. Or What You Will by Jo Walton
Last year I read The Just City (Thessaly #1) and really liked it, so this year I plan on continuing the series and reading more books by this author.
17. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, Ros Schwartz (Translator)
I heard about this translated book for the first time on the BookswithEmilyFox Youtube Channel. It seems interesting enough for a five star prediction, even if it’s dystopia.
18. The Ring of Solomon (Bartimaeus #0.5) by Jonathan Stroud
I read the following trilogy last year and I really liked the writing style, therefore I plan to read this prequel book too.
19. The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec
The Witch’s Heart by the same author was one of my favorite books of last year, therefore this is in my TBR too.
20. Before, After, Alone: A Planetfall Universe short story collection by Emma Newman
I read three books in the Planetfall series last year and they were all outstanding. Therefore this short story collection is in my radar too.
21. An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson
This book, which will be published in February, is in my radar due to me enjoying A Dowry of Blood very much last year.
22. Creatures of Want and Ruin (Diabolist’s Library #2) by Molly Tanzer
I really liked the first book in the series, Creatures of Will and Temper, last year. I plan on continuing this series soon.
23. The Late Mrs. Willoughby (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney #2) by Claudia Gray
The genre-blend of Mystery and Historical Fiction is something I am always enjoying more to read. I listened to the audiobook of The Murder of Mr. Wickham (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney #1) last year, and decided this is a series I definitely want to continue.
24. The Clergyman’s Wife: A Pride & Prejudice Novel by Molly Greeley
I like everything inspired by Jane Austen’s world, and I also read The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh by the same author last year and really enjoyed it.
And you, which are the books you plan to prioritize this year?
Since this challenge brought me so many five star outstanding reads last year I will continue it now in 2023.
In this challenge I am reading the backlist books and new releases of my favorite authors and this year I will concentrate on Brandon Sanderson, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Peter Newman and T. Kingfisher. I might find a second favorite female author still this year and concentrate on her backlist and new releases too.
Brandon Sanderson
The Rithmatist (Rithmatist #1) The Alloy of Law (The Mistborn Saga #4) Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania Perhaps: Shadows of Self (The Mistborn Saga #5) New Release 2023: Defiant (Skyward #4) Perhaps: New Release: 2023: Stormlight 5
Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Expert System’s Champion (Expert System #2) Dogs of War (Dogs of War #1) Bear Head (Dogs of War #2) Children of Ruin (Children of Time #2) Children of Memory (Children of Time #3) Empire in Black and Gold (Shadows of the Apt #1) The Doors of Eden Precious Little Things Made Things
Peter Newman
The Vagrant (The Vagrant #1) The Hammer and the Goat (The Vagrant #1.5) The Malice (The Vagrant #2) The Vagrant and the City (The Vagrant #2.5) The Seven (The Vagrant #3)
T. Kingfisher
Swordheart (The World of the White Rat) Minor Mage Bryony and Roses The Raven and the Reindeer
And you, who are your favorite authors? Have you read all their books?
Another idea I have for a challenge this year is to read one book published in that year for each year, from 2000 to 2023.
To make things easier I’ll add the condition that it works if you find a book edition published in that year, it doesn’t have to be necessarily the first edition. If you choose to make this challenge harder tough you can also look for first editions.
A Goodreads friend, R. K. Stumblingbear, decided to participate in this challenge and made a very interesting video on Youtube with her TBR, go check her out.
My initial, not set in stone, TBR:
2000: Stardoc by S.L. Viehl.
2001: The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope.
2002: Tithe by Holly Black.
2003: The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud.
2004: Survival by Julie E. Czerneda.
2005: And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander.
2006: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.
2007: The Last Colony by John Scalzi.
2008: Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
2009: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
2010: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White.
2011: The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells.
2012: The Christmas Grandma Ran Away from Home by Nancy Warren.
2013: Lexicon by Max Barry.
2014: Jackaby by William Ritter.
2015: The Vagrant by Peter Newman.
2016: The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst.
2017: Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
2018: The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson
2019: Enchantée by Gita Trelease
2020: The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
2021: The Expert System’s Champion by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
2022: Prison of Sleep by Tim Pratt.
I will soon post my favorite books from 2022, so subscribe if you like to hear more about fantasy and science fiction books.
And you, are you participating in any yearlong Reading Challenges this year?
I am planning to do this challenge’s hard mode next year. The picture above shows my choices for all rows except row four because I haven’t decided yet which books I’ll pick for its prompts.
My Bingo TBR at the moment (not set in stone):
1st Row
Mystery: Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano H) 1,2 in a series. – First AND second in a series- I must see, perhaps Survival and Migration by Julie E. Czerneda H) 700+: I still have to choose this one because I read my previous choice, Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson already now in December. Rainbow heart: LGBT+ or BIPOC- BIPOC: Fault Tolerance (Chilling Effect #3) by Valerie Valdes. H) Novella by an author you haven’t read before released in 2022 or 2023. Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling.
2nd Row
H) 3,4 – Third AND Fourth book in a series – I must see about this prompt. One of the rules of my challenge is that you can change two squares of the hard challenge for any two others of the normal challenge if you can’t find a book for it, and I might change this square if I can’t find any third and fourth book from a series to read. Red: Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #16 by Lois McMaster Bujold. H) Not one but 3 Books on your physical bookshelf: The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope, The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud. Word Three in title: Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone. H) Science Fiction without spaceships or aliens – Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre.
3rd Row
Grey: The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French. Audiotape: Audiobook – Made Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky. H) A short story anthology – Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight by Aliette de Bodard. H) Trilogy: The Vagrant trilogy by Peter Newman. H) A Book out of your comfort zone written by a BIPOC author.: The Cabinet by Kim Un-su, Sean Lin Halbert (Translator).
4th Row
Rabbit: Bunny by Mona Awad. Green: Spectred Isle by K.J. Charles. Before you were born: The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov. 3 ARCs – I still have to see which ones I’ll pick. Poetry, Nonfiction or Graphic Novel – I still have to see what I’ll pick here too.
5th Row
H) A books by an author you never read before released in 2022 or 2023. Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson Twist: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield 3 favorite author : Here I will probably read three books 3 by Adrian Tchaikovsky: Children of Ruin, Children of Memory, and Empire in Black and Gold. 3 standalones: The Doors of Eden and Spiderlight, both by Adrian Tchaikovsky + 1 more that I will still decide.
I am still planning to do two others yearlong reading challenges and I’ll post them here soon!
I created a Bingo Reading Challenge for 2023 . It has a normal and a hard mode.
Bingo Challenge Normal Mode
First Row
Detective: Book with a mystery.
1,2 in a series. – First OR second book in a series
500+ Pages
Rainbow heart: LGBT+ or BIPOC
Novella
Second Row
3,4,5 in a series – third, OR fourth, OR fifth book in a series.
Red, Pink, Orange Cover or Spine
3 Books: On your physical bookshelf
Number in the Title
Ufo: Spaceship on the cover or with aliens.
Third Row
Black, Grey, White Cover or Spine
Audiotape: Audiobook or, if you don’t like audiobooks, a book in a genre you usually don’t read.
Free Space
Many Books: A book part of a series.
A Book out of your comfort zone.
Fourth Row
Rabbit: Animal or Rabbit on the cover
Green, Purple, Yellow Cover or Spine
Record: A book published before you were born
I didn’t buy this one – A book from the library or an ARC.
Poetry, Nonfiction or Graphic Novel
Fifth Row
A book by an author you never read before
Knot: Book with a twist.
Reread or favorite author.
Castle: Fantasy, Romance or Castle on the cover
One Book: A standalone
***
Bingo Challenge Hard Mode
If you think this bingo challenge is too easy, I have ideas about how to make it harder,
Just use the H prompts then:
First Row
H) Detective: Mystery written by a woman.
H) 1,2 in a series. – First AND second in a series
H) 700+ Pages
Rainbow heart: LGBT+ or BIPOC
H) Novella by an author you haven’t read before, released in 2022 or 2023.
Second Row
H) 3,4 – Third AND Fourth book in a series.
H) Red, Pink, Orange on the title or series title
H) Not one but 3 Books on your physical bookshelf
H) Word “Three” for the Number “3” in the Title like in “The Three-Body Problem.”
H) Science Fiction without spaceships or aliens
Third Row
H) Black, Grey, White on the title or series title
Audiotape: Audiobook or, if you don’t like audiobooks, a book in a genre you don’t usually read.
H) A short story anthology or a magazine
H) A whole trilogy
H) A Book out of your comfort zone written by a BIPOC author.
Fourth Row
H) Rabbit: Rabbit on the cover
H) Green, Purple, Yellow on the title or series title
H) Record: A book published before you were born by an author that isn’t alive anymore or a classic book.
H) I didn’t buy this one – 3 books from the library or 3 ARCs.
Poetry, Nonfiction or Graphic Novel
Fifth Row
H) A book by an author you never read before released in 2022 or 2023.
Knot: Book with a twist.
H) 3 Rereads or 3 favorite authors.
H) Castle: A fantasy/romance or a sci-fi/mystery genre-bender
H) One Book: 3 standalones.
***
Considerations
1) You don’t have to complete the entire board to be successful at the challenge. One row or one vertical is victory too.
2) You can change two squares of the hard challenge for any two others of the normal challenge if you can’t find a book for it or do it for any other reason.
In my case, I might exchange the third, fourth and fifth book in a series square for another one.
***
You get a dragon emoticon for each row 🐉
In a hard mode row, you get 💥 🐉💥
You get a rocket emoticon for each vertical 🚀
In a hard mode vertical, you get 💥🚀💥
You get a 🏆 if you complete the bingo card!
In hard mode: 💥🏆💥
I will be doing this challenge hard mode in 2023 and I will be posting my TBR in the next post.
A friend of mine who has an awesome YouTube channel, Kristenelle – SFF Reader, announced a Readathon planned for August called Releaseathon where the main idea is to read new book releases.
She has a video with her own recommendations (go check that out after you read my post) and I will plan a TBR of my own too.
They have a very nice bingo board that I will be posting here below:
Releaseathon Bingo Card 2022
BINGO BOARD PROMPTS:
I will read books that will most of the time fulfill more than one prompt at the same time and I won’t mostly try the hard mode. For now, I am sure that I’ll try to read at least three new releases for this Readathon.
Book you have not heard about:
This is a very hard prompt for me since I am very much tuned to all new releases. I guess I’ll go with ARCs I saw on NetGalley and just decided to pick because they sounded good:
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia would be my option for this, but let’s see if I manage to read it in August. If not I will surely be reading it at Latinxathon.
Title without articles (a/an/the) (Hard mode: title is just one word):
Kaikeyi I took a look at the first chapters and liked them a lot, so I’m looking forward to this book. Kaikeyi is a character that appears on The Ramayana which I will also try to read in August to familiarize myself with the original story this Retelling is based on.
Here is this year’s challenge bingo card that you can download here. At the moment I don’t know who created this card so let me know in the comments.
And this is my initial TBR for this yearly challenge. I won’t be describing each of the prompts, so for a better challenge description look here.
I might need to change a couple of books because one of the rules states that “You may not repeat an author on the card” and I thought of books by Adrian Tchaikovsky for four of the prompts. I wrote the books I thought about here even if they won’t be my final choice but I plan to read all of those anyway and I recommend them too.
A couple of my book choices may be not speculative fiction, but as usual I will either change my final choice or not submit a card next year since I always participate in this challenge in a low key way.
First Row Across
A Book from r/Fantasy’s Top LGBTQIA List: The Cloud Roads (The Books of the Raksura #1) by Martha Wells I want to start this series since years.
Weird Ecology: (Semiosis Duology #1) by Sue Burke This has been in my TBR for a couple of years now and it qualifies for hard mode since it isn’t written by Jeff VanderMeer or China Miéville.
Two or More Authors: Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff I have the third book in this trilogy since years in my list of series to finish, so I might just finally read it.
Historical SFF: The Diviners (The Diviners #1) by Libba Bray. The setting here is New York City 1926, so this probably qualifies for hard mode.
Set in Space: This is probably the easiest prompt in this bingo board for me. I might read Mickey7 by Edward Ashton.
Second Row Across
Standalone: The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst
Anti-Hero: The Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus #1) by Jonathan Stroud
Book Club OR Readalong Book: Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell
Cool Weapon: I have no idea yet, but I think many of my fantasy books will be fine for this prompt.
Revolutions and Rebellions: I also still have no idea yet, but I think I’ll just find it along the way too.
Third Row Across
Name in the Title: The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. Another book I have since years in my TBR.
Author Uses Initials: Swordheart (The World of the White Rat) by T. Kingfisher
Published in 2022: Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I read the first book in this duology in March and I want to continue it asap.
Urban Fantasy: The Nightjar (The Nightjar #1) by Deborah Hewitt. I don’t know much about this book but let’s try a new author for this prompt.
Set in Africa: Rosewater (The Wormwood Trilogy #1) by Tade Thompson. Yet another case of a book I have had for years in my TBR.
Fourth Row Across
Non-Human Protagonist: Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I read the first book in this series awhile ago, but I want to continue it this year.
Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North. Yet another case of a book that has been in my TBR for years now.
Five SFF Short Stories: I have a lot of anthologies I want to read so I hope to read one of them for the hard mode of this prompt.
Features Mental Health: We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson. This seem to be an interesting mixture of Contemporary and Sci-fi.
Self-Published OR Indie Publisher: Death Trace (Hound of Hades #1) by Zoe Cannon
Fifth Row Across
Award Finalist, But Not Won: The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky- finalist for the BSFA award 2021, didn’t win. I know this is now my third book by this author but until I find better choices for these prompts, this will be my choice.
BIPOC Author: A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger.
Shapeshifters: I still have no book for this prompt but I often come across shifters in my fantasy books. I would recommend here The Tiger and the Wolf (Echoes of the Fall #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky since it also has shifters.
No Ifs, Ands, or Buts: It’s difficult to find a title that does not include the following words: the, a/an, and, or, if, of, but. More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon did the trick though.
Family Matters: I can’t think of any SFF book for this prompt at the moment so I hope to come across it as I read my books this year. As a no SFF book I could think of The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield but yet again, even if I read this book, it would not fit as a final choice.
I hope though that I could inspire you to participate in this challenge even if in a low key way like me.
My Reader's Journey 