I’m really excited to be joining the #ReadersWithoutBorders charity readathon for June, all in aid of Doctors Without Borders. The readathon is the brainchild of J D Roberts at The World of SFF, and simply consists of a personal reading challenge and, for those with blogs, a blog post or two about it.

You can read more information about the readathon here on The Worlds of Sci-fi & Fantasy. 

Donations are very much appreciated and can be made HERE. There’s also a book giveaway lottery for those who do donate, so even more reason to get involved! Details of the giveaway, which are featuring diverse reads in order of Pride month, can be found on the blog page above. 

For my readathon, I wanted to challenge myself to something I am often not very good at – finishing or continuing series. You see, as a reader, I’m always distracted by shiny new books (and authors), and with so many of those around it can take me a while to get around to continuing a series – even one I like. I’m not a binge reader, that’s for sure.

So, for my reading challenge, I’ll be reading three books that are the third book in a series. For the most part, they will also be the last (SFF loves trilogies!). I looked at my bookshelves and immediately picked up the following book threes which I’ve ignored for too long:

Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie 

I really should have read the conclusion of the award-winning Ancillary Trilogy by now, because it’s an amazing series that has come to define modern sci-fi in many ways. However, I got distracted by the author’s recent fantasy, The Raven Tower, “instead” and never ended up going back to this – but since Raven Tower was also wonderful, it’s about time I corrected that oversight.

Chains of the Heretic by Jeff Salyards 

I loved the first book in the Bloodsounder’s Arc trilogy, Scourge of the Betrayer, with its narrow POV and tight focus on a small band of mercenaries on a mysterious mission. I think the reason I’ve delayed on Book 3 is that, unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy Book 2 (Veil of the Deserter) quite as much, as the story became a bit more epic in scope. But I’ve heard good things about the third, and so I’m excited, because this could become one of my favourite series ever (no pressure!).

Macaque Attack by Gareth Powell

This is a wonderful SF series that contrasts crazy concepts with a deft handling of ideas and characters. There was far more to the first two books than the titular uplifted, pistol-packing, Spitfire-piloting monkey with attitude – but honestly he would have been enough to keep me reading!

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

This is the third Murderbot book, and is a bit of a wild card because it’s a novella, and also not the end of the series (there are two further novellas and a novel so far). It might also come in handy if I fall a bit behind with the other books – but Murderbot is just perfect for these fraught times anyway.

As the mathematicians amongst you might have noticed, I’ve listed FOUR books above, not three as I have challenged myself. Well, that’s simply because I couldn’t make up my mind ahead of time, and wanted to leave myself some wiggle room in case any of them didn’t end up working for me. (But I’ve already started Macaque Attack, so that’s definitely one of them…)

Keep up with my progress on Goodreads and Twitter (@notjameslatimer), where I’ll be using the hashtag #3book3s as well as #ReadersWithoutBorders!