Announcement time! This month my blogging buddy Lili, of Lili's Reflections, and I are taking part in a high fantasy challenge in which we challenge each other to read eleven fantasy books over the course of March. We have brilliantly decided to call this March Fantasy Month, because we are really good at using our heads for things.
This came about when Lili and I discovered that, despite our very similar, nerdtastic tastes in fantasy books, we sometimes, shockingly, have different opinions. For example, while I… did not like Falling Kingdoms, to put it mildly, she really did. Yet we both loved Throne of Glass. Also neither of us have nearly enough geeky, fantasy-loving friends (except for you guys, of course!), and we want to know what other bookish opinions we have in common.
One day Lili turned to me and was basically all,
"A reading adventure," she said. "In which I challenge you to READ!" I was like, cool! I love adventures!
And so unfolded our brilliant plan. We’re challenging each other to review six of our favorite fantasies, and then we’ll both review five books that neither of us have read. This was originally going to be a strictly high fantasy venture, but then we decided to blur the lines a bit, meaning there are one or two fairy tale-ish books and one or two vaguely supernatural ones. Basically, the only common denominator necessary here is:
I challenged Lili to read the following:
The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff
The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long
Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
And she challenged me to read these:
Prophecy by Ellen Oh
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
Dark Star by Bethany Frenette
The Sweetest Spell by Suzanne Selfors
The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke
It took us a looooong time and, to quote Lili, “much agonizing deliberation” to come up with the five new books to read. We asked each other, our Twitter followers, the heavens above, basically every source available, and finally came up with these:
Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross
The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
So basically our wonderful experiment is meant to figure out how and why people with similar bookish taste can have such vastly different bookish opinions. It will consist of me reading Lili’s books, Lili reading my books, and then us telling each other A) you are crazy how could you think I would like this what is wrong with you, or B) You are a GENIUS and I’m SO glad I read this bless your brilliance. Because we are both very busy ladies with school and lives and unforeseen complications, we also have a mulligan option, meaning if we need to, we can opt out of one book. But I'm hoping I don't have to do that, because I'm optimistic like that. I also you tag along for the hilarity and the high fantasy hijinks that will undoubtedly ensue. If all goes well, we may do it again!
I’ll be posting regularly about other things too, naturally. But March will be mostly full of awesome fantasy MADNESS, and I hope you guys enjoy it!
By the way, this just happens to also be my HUNDREDTH POST! That's a whole bunch of posts. Let's celebrate with a gif party!
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Best GIF party to launch the best idea ever! <3 So excited!
ReplyDeleteYES! Read The Thief, Gil. And even if you're meh on it, READ THE SEQUEL. I promise, the sequel is my favorite book EVER. You won't regret it.
ReplyDeleteIf you have the time, you should listen to the Graceling audiobook. They did a lovely job (and for the love of god DON'T READ FIRE AFTERWARDS, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU LOVE GRACELING AND THINK "This is in the same world and by the same author, how could it POSSIBLY not also be fabulous?")
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! This sounds like an awesome challenge. I LOVE Graceling and hope you do, too. The Assassin's Curse is also pretty interesting. As for the books that neither of you have read, Poison Study is the best of those in my opinion. But Kill Me Softly is awesome, too. So many good books!
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