Quest Log the Third

We’re two thirds of the way through our journey, which is another fine time to pause and take stock. Pour yourself a drink and settle in to hear all about the adventures we’ve been having on our travels through the realms of fancy.

This week, head over to Dear Geek Place for a round-up of the latest reviews, blog tags, assorted posts and The Darkest Part Of The Forest; or keep reading to enjoy Fantastic Fives and Challenge posts, interviews, giveaways and The Summer Tree – plus Ariana and Annemieke have compiled showcases of some of their favourite Challenge entries from Instagram.

Fantastic Fives

We proposed a series of ‘fantastic fives’ with weekly themes this year; and we keep finding more of you have taken part (this is why we love you folks, you’re amazing). That means today we get to catch up on a smorgasbord of topics!

Books we’ve read since last Wyrd & Wonder | The Book Stop | Pages and Procrastination

Wyrd & Wonder mascots | Alligators & Aneurysms | The Fantasy Hive | Foxes and Fairytales | Jessticulates (ravens)

Favourite subgenres | Thoughts Stained With Ink

Lists and discussions

Let’s start with some Top Ten Tuesdays (hosted each week by That Artsy Reader Girl). Anouk of Time for Tales and Tea and Zezee With Books considered some of their favourite bookish characters. Last week, consciences (and shelves) were examined as Jana asked us what books we were excited to get, but still hadn’t read. Lauren (Always Me), Nicole (Bookwyrm Knits), Natalie (Too Short To Read) and Zezee With Books all came clean.

Caitlin of Realms of My Mind shared her most anticipated video games.

Lauren talked about some recently read historical fantasy novels.

Arwen discussed some favourite books and characters through the Fantasy Tropes tag.

Ariana hosted two authors at The Book Nook this week to discuss the inspirations for their latest work. Mark Cushens discussed the fairytale roots of Little White Hands and Faeland’s Champion; while Lucy Holland talked about forests as liminal landscapes in Sistersong.

The Challenge

The Challenge continues with great enthusiasm over on Instagram and Twitter, as adventurers share pictures for our daily prompts. Some prompts are inspiring blog posts too, although the past week’s prompts were mostly less discursive.

Before we dive into this year’s posts, let’s turn back time with The Fantasy Hive’s retrospective – they are sharing their favourite examples from previous years of the Wyrd & Wonder challenge. This week, it’s time for MapMonday.

Day 11 | Weapon of choice – it’s famous magical swords for Anne Nydam
Day 14 | Book within a book – Anne Nydam literally wrote a book on this idea!
Day 16 | Currently Reading – Peat Long doesn’t too many books on the go at once; there’s only ten this week…
Day 17 | Spirit of Nature
- Anne Nydam took a look at the traits shared by mythical creatures associated with forces of nature
- Annemieke found five books featuring nature spirits
Day 22 | Bitesize delights – the partner prompt to yesterday’s Fantastic Five (see above for Single Serve Fantasies)

To mark the mid-point of adventures, Ariana and Annemieke compiled showcases of some of their favourite Challenge entries from Instagram so far. Head over to The Book Nook to look back at entries for mythic, weapon of choice and undergods; or to A Dance With Books for best laid plans and five star fantasy reads.

For the latest pictorial responses, follow the #wyrdandwonder hashtag on Twitter and Litsy.

Read-along round-up

We have two read-alongs in progress – I’ve got details of The Summer Tree read-along, and you will find links to the latest discussions for The Darkest Part Of The Forest at Dear Geek Place.

Each week we’re reading set chapters and answering questions posed by the week’s host; then swing by the comments of our fellow read-alongers to compare notes. Feel free to slide into the comments on our posts to share your thoughts if you’ve read the book – but please, no spoilers for the final week (or future books, in the case of The Summer Tree).

The Summer Tree

Week One | One Reading Nurse
Week Two | A Dance With Books | The Book Nook | One Reading Nurse | Peat Long
Week Three | A Dance With Books | Book Forager | The Book Nook | Dear Geek Place | The Fantasy Hive | The Green Tea Librarian | One Reading Nurse | Peat Long |There’s Always Room For One More

Our read-along is nearly over – we’ll be reading from Chapter 13 to the end next week, with prompts set by by Mayri @ BookForager. As usual, prompts will be posted in the Twitter community and I will cross-post them to Litsy and Instagram when I get the chance.

Want to join us? Grab a copy and get reading – or

That’s it for this week – see you next week for a round up of the party’s latest adventures.

Giveaways

This May has been a bumper month for giveaways, but which ones are currently open?

I have 1 copy of Black Water Sister by Zen Cho in honour of its UK paperback release | Enter via Twitter | Closes May 26 | UK only
Lisa has a £20 voucher to spend at the Portal Bookshop | Sign up to Wyrd & Wonder to enter | Closes May 31 | UK only
Wyrd & Wonder SatBookChat guest author Jennifer Silverwood is offering a signed paperback of Silver Hollow, 3 ebooks of Blackbriar Cove and swag | Enter via Rafflecopter | Closes May 31
Wyrd & Wonder have 5 ARCs of spooky forest fantasy The Dark Between The Trees by Fiona Barnett to giveaway! Up to 3 entries via Twitter, Instagram and the Wyrd & Wonder challenge (full details)| Closes May 31 | UK / US
Maelia will make 2 winners pride-themed friendship bracelets in honour of our SatBookChat about Trans Witch by EC Garrison | Enter via Twitter | Closes May 31 | International

Housekeeping

If you want your posts to be included in Quest Logs, please add your links to our master schedule. A million thank yous to everyone who has already been doing so. If you missed this week’s cut-off, don’t worry – add your links and we’ll include them in next week’s round up.

IMAGE CREDITS: tree wolf image by chic2view on 123RF.com

Note: the gorgeous tree wolf is not royalty-free, but is licensed for use to promote Wyrd and Wonder online. You are welcome to use the banner on your Wyrd and Wonder posts, but please make no changes (except to resize if needed) and always credit the artist!