Wyrd and Wonder is off to a flying start – I’m delighted and overwhelmed by all the passion for fantasy being shared! It can be tricky to keep up, so here’s the first in a weekly series of catch up posts to highlight at least some of the blog posts, bookstagrams and chat so far…

Features

• Annemieke looked at the difference between contemporary fantasy and urban fantasy and asked who our favourite non-human sidekicks are
• Kristen shared her thoughts on the portrayal of supernatural creatures
• DJ interviewed author Jeff Noon
• I looked back at the important <cough> lessons I’ve learned reading fantasy books

Reviews

A blogstravaganza wouldn’t be worth the name if it didn’t include reviews! C at The Middle Shelf admired Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s The Beautiful Ones (so did I, which surprised me enormously), and Lisa and I are both instant fans of Serial Box’s excellent new weekly drama Born to the Blade (Avatar the Last Airbender meets The West Wing – flying islands and magic swordscraft!). Jenna was similarly impressed by the world-building in Tochi Onyebuchi’s Beasts Made Of Night. Bethan May explained why Mark Lawrence’s Red Sister gave her the best sort of book hangover. Sarah had mixed feelings about V E Schwab’s Vicious, but is full of praise for Lara Elena Donnelly’s Amberlough series (warning, this is a review of book 2 so proceed with caution!). And we’re just getting started – follow @wyrdandwonder on Twitter to keep up with everything going on!

Read-alongs

The Daggerspell read-along has begun! This is an informal ‘read on your own time, then come chat on Twitter or Goodreads‘ sort of event – prompts go up on Goodreads midweek and on Twitter at a weekend. There’s no set time for the chat – drop by and leave your thoughts on the threads whenever you have a minute. The first week’s discussions have started on Twitter – come join us. If you’ve read the books before, please avoid spoilers – we have some first-time readers!

The #Muskedragons #Earthsea tweet-along continues on Sundays at 9pm UK time. We’re nearly done with this, but feel free to join us for the second half of The Farthest Shore next week. Be sure to check out Lisa’s review of The Tombs of Atuan.

Photo Challenge

Last but not least, we’re having fun with the #wyrdandwonder photo challenge! Some of my favourites so far: Bethan May’s choice for plot twist (you have the most amazing locations!), Lisa’s pick for favourite heroines and Siannalyn’s bookdragon-guarded TBR. Feel free to join in at any time – just pop the prompt and a photo on your social network of choice and tag us in!

 

Did I miss something you posted? Drop me a note in the comments! Remember, tag @wyrdandwonder if you’re on Twitter or add an entry in the schedule if you’re not to make sure that we don’t miss any of the fun.

Come join the conversation on Twitter at #WyrdandWonder