Blink and before you know it you’re nearly three-quarters of the way through the year. That means we’re at the point that I should probably start worrying about filling my dance card, doesn’t it? Let’s take a look…

A reading dance challenge?

Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-Fi is a prompt challenge designed by Annemieke at A Dance With Books. Over the course of 2019, we are trying to read to 20, 30 or 50 prompts (depending on how much of the challenge we signed up for – I’m going for the full 50).

Each read can only be used for one prompt, but it can be moved right up until the end if you need to. Plus you can double up and use one read for 2 dances if you get completely stuck, but I’m trying to avoid that!

Autumn check-in

September is just getting underway, and I’m at 47 books read so far this year – I slowed down over the summer (as I usually do). In theory that might mean I was practically done with the challenge, but every book blogger knows that reading challenges are never that easy!

Sci-Fi

Score: 12/20

I’m pretty happy with my progress here – with SciFiMonth looming large on my reading horizon, I’ve got plenty of opportunity to fill a few more spots. That said, there are some tricky ones for me here: I’m not really sure where I’m heading for hive or teleportation. Give me your recommendations!

Prompts completed: On a Different Planet (The City in the Middle of the Night) | Spaceship (Shadow Captain) | A.I. Point of View (I Still Dream) | Utopia (Semiosis) | Virtual Reality (The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) | Super powers (Static Ruin) | Science (The Calculating Stars) | Replicate (The Survival of Molly Southbourne) | Space Colonization (The Freeze-Frame Revolution) | Time Travel (This Is How You Lose The Time War) | Space Creatures / Beasts (Space Opera) | Invasion (Tiamat’s Wrath)

Fantasy

Score: 12/20

The juggling has started here as I’ve read lots of books that tick multiple boxes. Still, I’m not as far along as I should be! I can probably tick off Matriarchy (Draconeans count, right?) and Thief (June totally stole faces in Vengeful), but I’m still nervous about the number of reads left vs the amount of year left to fit them in. I’ll complete Dragons and Shapeshifters this month, but Magic School is starting to haunt me. I know, I know, it’s meant to be the easy one.

Prompts completed: Necromancers (Children of Blood and Bone) | PTSD (Someone Like Me) | Grimdark (Darksoul) | Ghosts (Brightfall) | Uncommon fantasy creatures (The Kingdom of Copper) | Gods (Empire of Sand) | Animal companion (Maud the pig in Once Upon A River) | Set In Our World (The Loosening Skin) | Witches (The Near Witch) | Magical Law Enforcement (Lies Sleeping) | Portal fantasy (Beneath The Sugar Sky) | Warrior (Trail of Lightning)

General

Score: 6/12

If all goes to plan, I’ll complete One Word, Set in Africa and Library (<cough> I’m translating this as Borrowed From The Library, fight me) this month. That Over 800 pages prompt is starting to scare me though, and Satire really isn’t my jam so this category is still quite a challenge.

Prompts completed: Under 500 Pages (The Traitor Baru Cormorant) | Novella (Artificial Condition) | Finish A Series (The Unbound Empire) | Mental Health (The Psychology of Time Travel) | Disability (Age of Assassins) | By a WOC (The Tea Master and the Detective)

So that’s 30/50 overall, which is a little behind where I should be at the start of September (let alone nearly the middle). Given my average reading pace, it means that pretty much every book I read from here on in has to count. Nope, that’s not intimidating at all… I’ll be checking in monthly from here to keep myself honest!