imyril @ There's Always Room For One More Giveaways, Wyrd and Wonder, Wyrd and Wonder 2019

Quest Log The First: the party gathers

Text banner: Wyrd and Wonder: Celebrate the Fantastic (1-31 May) - plus a gorgeous stylised dragon glyph

Word had gone around. The clock struck the hour, and the tavern began filling with adventurers. And it kept filling. Good thing about fantasy taverns: there are always enough seats for all. Some people brought a friend. And everyone brought a book or two, and that was how we knew we were in the right company.

Thank you friends: Wyrd and Wonder is off to a flying start! Well over a dozen posts on day 1, plus Challenge responses across Twitter, Litsy and Instagram – and that was only the beginning…

New companions

There’s always room for one more in this party, and that’s just as well! Give your best bookish welcome to Anouk of Time for Tales and Tea, Brittany of Perfectly Tolerable, D Currie, Dani of Mousai Books, James Weber, Lisa of Way Too Fantasy, Lucie of Wishes and Pages, Maddalena of Space and Sorcery, Nils Shukla, Phannie The Ginger Bookworm, Sahi at My World of Books, Sarah of Dragons and Zombies (welcome back!) and Wilnako! Well met by the fire.

Giveaways

It’s too late to register for the Sign Up Giveaway; the winner will be announced on Wednesday. However, there’s plenty more treasure to be claimed this month…

  • Deanna will send one lucky winner a book of their choice (up to $25) from the Book Depository. Enter using the Rafflecopter before May 31st
  • Zezee is offering a book of the winner’s choice (up to $30) from the Book Depository. Enter using the Rafflecopter before May 31st
  • Nikki is gifting a copy of one of the books they read this month via the Book Depository. Enter using the Rafflecopter before May 31st
    • Plus Nikki has bonus prizes for Habitica users!
    • Five gems for one hero who takes part in The Ninth Rain read-along and completes the tasks on Habitica.
    • Five more gems are on offer for a winner who takes part in the Trail of Lightning read-along and completes the associated tasks on Habitica
  • …and watch out for Tammy’s giveaway coming up later this month!

TBRs

We begin Wyrd and Wonder – as I’m sure you suspected we would – with the Trial of the TBR. Are you ready to be tested? Feast your eyes. Open your heart. And keep a tight grip on your wallet unless you’ve got a talent for sweet-talking dragons with big hoards to share.

The Wyrd and Wonder Challenge

I’m loving the many interpretations of the Challenge. I’m not going to try to link to every single post (my bardic skills have limits), but I’ll do my best to compose stanzas praising a few each week. This week I’ve sung the tale of all the TBR posts I could find – and from now on I’ll pick out some favourites along the way.

Some stand outs this week are Wilnako tackling the challenge as fiction prompts; and Maddalena at Space and Sorcery and Anouk at Time for Tales and Tea using the prompts to talk in more depth about some of their favourite fantasy reads.

Check out #WyrdAndWonder on Twitter, Instagram, or Litsy to enjoy the rest!

Reviews

I’m not the only one singing the song of our people! There were welcome messages from Brittany at Perfectly Tolerable, Sarah at Dragons and Zombies, Maddalena at Space and Sorcery, and – ahem – my co-host Lisa and me.

Reviews have started too: Susy (in spite of her concerns) managed to enthuse coherently about long-time favourite Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett over at Susy’s Cosy World; and I flailed at length about just how good The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson is (I was rather less fond of MR Carey’s latest paranormal thriller Someone Like Me).

It’s on a lot of TBRs this year, but Deanna got in first with her review of Alexandra Christo’s dark Little Mermaid re-telling To Kill A Kingdom. In fact, Deanna is on a roll: she also had thoughts to share about Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs and a very early sneak peek review of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s upcoming Jazz Age Mexican mythological fantasy Gods of Jade and Shadow.

Nikki was lukewarm on V E Schwab’s City of Ghosts over at The Bibliophibian, but recommends it for those looking for a middle-grade supernatural fantasy. They are still struggling with how they feel about Sixteen Ways To Defend A Walled City by KJ Parker (although honestly, that title and a fantasy about engineering? I’m sold).

Far less ambiguity elsewhere: Mayri at the Book Forager loved The Anvil of the World by Kage Baker, and Tammy had nothing but praise for Louisa Morgan’s latest The Witch’s Kind at Books, Bones, Buffy.

Features

What, you thought we were done? This is a full-scale quest we have embarked on, not a mere trot around the block.

Lisa kicked off her series of guest posts at Dear Geek Place with the lovely Lynn O’Connacht talking about three tropes she loves in fantasy fiction. Annemieke explains why she’s savouring Discworld slowly over at A Dance With Books. Lynn used Throwback Thursday to highlight Seanan McGuire’s Fae urban fantasy series featuring October Daye (lots of people talking about this one this month).

Kathy of Pages Beneath a Vaulted Sky engaged in a spirited defence of what romance can bring to a fantasy story. Caitlin at Realms of My Mind celebrated her love of shifter fantasy heroine Mercy Thompson. Charlotte at Mug Full of Books talked about all the things that make the fantasy genre dear to her (YASSSSS DRAGONS). And Jess(ticulates) gets in early with a discussion of how Trail of Lightning revitalises First Nations horror (…but I’m saving this for the end of the month in case of, you know, spoilers).

Last but not least, we’re very honoured that Wyrd and Wonder is the very start of A Fictional Fox’s book blogging journey. Please pop by to give her a warm welcome!

Read-alongs

The Trail of Lightning read-along has officially started – Nikki and Lisa chipped in with posts addressing the first week’s questions, which are also posted on Twitter if you’ve read the book and would like to join in. Read-along discussion of The Ninth Rain starts on Thursday – questions are up now on the Goodreads group.

Anyone chipping in who has read the book / series – please, no spoilers!

Recap: Weekly chapter breakdowns for each read-along.

One last thing

If I’ve missed you in this Quest Log, I’m so so sorry, it’s on me. Please do remember to add your links to the schedule spreadsheet to make sure we see them, and if you are cross-posting a link to Twitter always include the #WyrdAndWonder tag! (ahem, just like we almost always remember to 🙂

Right – ready for the next phase? Let’s go find an adventure!