It’s the big finale: look around at the faces around you, the light of new worlds shining in their eyes, their hearts full with new characters, their shelves creaking in anticipation of the grand emptying of the book bags at month’s end. Raise a glass to your fellow adventurers and settle in for the tale of the party’s Wyrd and Wonderful adventures over this past week…

Somehow, it’s the last day of Wyrd and Wonder – time to head back from our journeys and reflect on the size of our TBRs. A whopping THANK YOU to all our amazing adventurers: it’s been a delight to share your journeys and see new destinations get added to your reading maps. There has been an epic number of reviews, posts and challenge responses and our hearts are ablaze with the love of the fantastic.

Let’s get cracking with today’s links. Keep on reading for your lists, discussions, random posts of joy and challenge posts – then pop over to Dear Geek Place for a round-up of the reviews, interviews and the read-along. Don’t forget to watch out for the challenge flashbacks coming soon from Jorie Loves A Story!

Got a post going live today or didn’t get the master schedule updated in time? Don’t worry – there will be one last mini-round up next week.

Discussions

• Rachel of A Bookworm’s Paradise discussed the importance of parents in MG and YA fantasy, with recommendations of 8 books that show the ups and downs of parent/child relationships
• Anouk asked who should win the 2021 Hugo for Best Short Story over at Time for Tales and Tea
• Jorie Loves a Story reflected on how time travel can be a fantasy or an SFnal trope
• Jessticulates made a case for the books missing from TIME’s controversial 100 Best Fantasy Novels
• I looked at how Juliet McKenna won me over with her Green Man books here at There’s Always Room For One More
• Peat Long asked the big question this week: what flavour of chicken wings best represents the key characters of Game of Thrones?

Lists

Warning, these posts may result in the rapid expansion of your TBR…

• Sia picked out 13 stand-out stand-alones at Every Book A Doorway
• Caitlin celebrated her favourite self-published fantasies at Realms of My Mind
• Peter the Swordsmith highlighted his top 5 fantasy series
• Molly considered 6 indie fantasies on her TBR at Molly’s Book Nook
• Peat Long sang the praises of books he doesn’t talk about very often
• Jessticulates tested the temptations of the first line of 10 fantasies on her TBR
• First Line Reader had a Top Ten Tuesday of historical fantasy quotes
• Annemieke chose 5 non-human / animal companions at A Dance with Books
• Mogsy’s Top 5 Tuesday theme was fantasy training schools at The Bibliosanctum
• Heather tempted our taste buds with delightful depictions of food in fantasy at Based On A True Story
• Sia was all about the magic this week with ridiculously cool magic systems and magical abilities at Every Book A Doorway

Book Tags

We do love a book tag – I’m taking notes for tags to try next year…

• How well do you know your fellow adventurers? Get To Know The Fantasy Reader invites you to meet Caspian the Bibliophile Bastard | Ariana of The Quaint Book Nook
• The Wyrd and Wonder challenge asked you to…
  • Sum up your Five Star Fantasy Reads in Five Words. These adventurers were up to the task: Dianthaa Dabbles | The Fantasy Hive
  • Choose your Desert Island Reads. This week’s castaways: Calmgrove | Lex Lingua
• Sahi tackled the Fantasy Tropes tag at My World of Books
• Maddalena matched books with Westerosi in the Game of Thrones tag at Space and Sorcery
• Tammy treated us to a Fantasy A-Z at Books, Bones & Buffy

Much-loved memes

Music Monday always gets the week off to a good start. Last week was all about music from games, with Maxine’s Obsessions going for Final Fantasy while Peat Long chose a Morrowind/Skyrim medley.

Lynn’s Books looked at a classic fantasy cover art trope for the Friday Face-Off: hoods.

The Wyrd and Wonder Challenge

Jorie will be taking a look at some of the amazing pics you’ve all been sharing on Litsy, Twitter and Instagram, but I’m including blog post responses added to the schedule this week for your blog-hopping delight.

• Day 6 | Fly My Pretties: Peat Long appreciated villains who offer airborne employment opportunities #TeamFlyingEvil
• Day 16 | Page to screen: nobody said it had to be the TV or cinema screen – Peat Long wished for video game adaptations
• Day 18 | With friends like these #TropeTuesday: Peat Long charted the evolution of fickle friendships in fantasy
• Day 24 | On the shelf: airing our consciences – what books should we have read by now? | James at Alligators and Aneurysms | Sahi at My World Of Books | Peyton at Word Wilderness
• Day 25 | Chosen one #TropeTuesday
  • The Fantasy Hive picked out some favourite chosen characters
  • Lisa talked about how this trope can be subverted at Way Too Fantasy
  • Peat Long mused on the role of a chosen one as sacrifice
• Day 26 | All the feels: Sahi of My World of Books was swept away by The Jasmine Throne, coming soon from Tasha Suri
• Day 27 | #ThrowbackThursday:
  • Mervi’s Book Reviews reminded us about Robert Jackson Bennett’s divine debut
  • Lisa rang the bell for the works of Carol Berg at Way Too Fantasy
• Day 28 | Off the beaten track: The Fantasy Hive shared a treasure trove of fantasy reads from independents and small presses
• Day 29 | 5 star fantasy reads: Lisa had all the recommendations at Way Too Fantasy
• Tagmash – posts that combine multiple prompts:
  • Amy at A Thousand Worlds| RM Andrews at Beneath A Thousand Skies | Fran Laniado | Ariana at The Quaint Book Nook | Nicole at Thoughts Stained With Ink | Zezee With Books

To feast your eyes on all the photo responses, check out the #WyrdAndWonder tag on Twitter, Instagram and Litsy.

IMAGE CREDIT: pegasus images by Svetlana Alyuk on 123RF.com

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