Wyrd and Wonder Wrapped Up
Images by Svetlana Alyuk, banner by Imyril
We’ve come to the end of another Wyrd and Wonder (where did that month go?!) and as ever, we’ve had so much fun taking part! Although we don’t confine ourselves to the one genre here on The Fantasy Hive, we do of course have a soft spot for Fantasy, so indulging in that love for a whole month, and celebrating it, has been a joy.
A huge thanks to Imyril, Lisa and Jorie for organising another brilliant year – may the feature continue to grow in strength!
I’d also like to thank all our contributors who joined in, who put up with my many links to Google Docs – thanks for embracing the feature Nils, Filip, Jonathan, Scarlett, Julia, Asha, Theo, and Peter.
So, how did we celebrate?
Nils, Filip and I took part in the Read-along for Andrea Stewart’s The Bone Shard Daughter:
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
We talked about some of our favourite fantasy books every Fantasy Friday, focusing on the following topics:
Fantasy Voices from Around the World
We brought you some of our 5-Star Fantasy Reads in only Five Words
Our Tough Travels post this month focused on the four tropes used in the #TropeTuesday prompts for the photo challenge.
Julia gave us an update on her favourite Self-Published Fantasy Books.
Did we actually get any reading done? We sure did! Check out our reviews for:
| The Fires of Vengeance | by Evan Winter | For the Wolf | by Hannah Whitten | |
| Sistersong | by Lucy Holland | Sorrowland | by Rivers Solomon | |
| Ten Low | by Stark Holborn | To the Warm Horizon | by Choi Jin-young | |
| The Absolute Book | by Elizabeth Knox | The Court of Broken Knives | by Anna Smith-Spark | |
| The Blacktongue Thief | by Christopher Buehlman | Priest of Gallows | by Peter McLean | |
| Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder | by T. A. Willberg | Norylska Groans | by Michael R. Fletcher and Clayton Snyder | |
| Hummingbird Salamander | by Jeff VanderMeer | The Caduca | by Elaine Graham-Leigh |
We also featured interviews with:
Nils was in charge of the Bingo:
This year Wyrd and Wonder hosted a Book Bingo which we thought would be fun to take part in, seen as though we’ve never done one before.
Here were the rules:
- Read fantasy books! Hopefully some of them match some of the prompts 🙂
- Each read may only be used for a single prompt
- Novellas count (for any prompt)
- The read-along prompt can only be completed by The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
- Post your completed bingo card on your blog or any social media channel at the end of the month and tag me so I can see how you got on and include you in the draw
- Completed bingo cards must be posted by end of day on June 1st
We thought with The Hive doing this as a team it would also be a good way to see how diversely we all read during Wyrd and Wonder, and give you a glimpse into what we all enjoyed reading this month. As you can see the fantasy genre does have such a huge variety to it, it’s not all wizards and dragons!
Here’re the Bingo Squares we managed to cross off:
Yep, we managed them all!! Doing this as a team meant we crossed off a lot of squares halfway through the month and so a few of us then adjusted our TBR’s to try and cross off the ones we hadn’t managed yet. Big thank you to Jonathan, Asha and Julia who managed to cross off the most squares for us!
Say one thing for the Hive, say we love a challenge!
Below is a list of the books we read for each prompt, and which one of us read them. We’ve even included a bonus book, if more than one of us read a different book which fitted the same prompt. Links to Goodreads pages so you can bump up your TBR!
Unreliable Allies
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buelhman
Read by: Nils Shukla
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
Read by: Shona Kinsella
Asian Inspired Setting
Kingdom of Copper by Shannon Chakraborty
Read by: Julia Kitvaria Sarene
Set in or by the Sea
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang
Read by: Julia Kitvaria Sarene
(Note: for anyone looking for more fantasy books set in or by the sea, a few of us also read The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart which would fit perfectly here too.)
Black Author
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
Read by: Jonathan Thornton
Award Winning
Witchmark by C.L. Polk
Read by: Asha Hartland-Asbury
Debut
In The Shadow Of The Phosphorus Dawn by Rob True
Read by: Jonathan Thornton
Reluctant Hero(ine)
Serpent’s Reach by C. J. Cherryh
Read by: Jonathan Thornton
African Inspired Setting
Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter
Read by: Julia Kitvaria Sarene
Fantasy Creature on the Cover
Dragon Mage by M.L. Spencer
Read by G.D. Penman
Work in Translation
To The Warm Horizon by Choi Jin-young
Read by: Jonathan Thornton
Latam Inspired Setting
Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard
Read by Julia Kitvaria Sarene
Standalone
Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer
Read by: Jonathan Thornton
Freebie
Priest of Gallows by Peter McLean
Read by: Nils Shukla
I Never Knew My Father
A Threat of Shadows by J.A. Andrews
Read by Julia Kitvaria Sarene
Talking to Dragons by Patricia Wrede
Read by Asha Hartland-Asbury
Retelling
Valiant by Sarah McGuire.
A YA retelling of the Brave Little Tailor
Read by: Asha Hartland-Asbury
Readalong
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
Read by: Nils, Beth and Filip.
International Author
Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder by T. A. Willberg (who is South African and currently living in Malta)
Read by: Beth Hindmarch
Magic School
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Read by Asha Hartland-Asbury
Finish A Series
Nomad by Joanne Hall – The Art of Forgetting book two (duology)
Ready by: Julia Kitvaria Sarene
LGBTQIA Author
Widdershins by Jordan L Hawk
Ready by Asha Hartland-Asbury
The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk
Read by: Bethan Hindmarch
Asian Author
Fonda Lee author of The Green Bone saga
Jade City read by: Julia Kitvaria Sarene
Novella
Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson
Read by: Shona Kinsella
Indie/Self Published Work
Beyond Redemption by Michael Fletcher
Read by: Julia Kitvaria Sarene
Pacific Inspired Setting
The Shark Caller by Zillah Bethell
Asha Hartland-Asbury
Chosen One
Wrath by John Gwynne
Read by Dorian Hart
And finally, it wouldn’t be Wyrd and Wonder without their photo challenge. Nils and I love taking part in this every year, and we were thrilled that not only has Julia caught the photo challenge bug, but new contributor Scarlett joined in also, as did Jonathan!
You can find all of Jonathan’s posts on his Instagram, and there may be some from the rest of us I’ve missed, so you can check our pages here:
Jonathan | Nils | Julia | Scarlett | Beth | Wyrd And Wonder
Day 1 – We’re off on an adventure
What were we planning on reading for the month ahead?
Day 2 – Pop this in your bag of holding
What one fantasy book have you read since last Wyrd and Wonder that you want to put on the rest of the party’s radar?
Day 3 – #MapMonday
You should know our love of fantasy maps by now!
Day 4 – #TropeTuesday – I never knew my father
Our favourite orphans, foundlings, and secret heirs
Day 5 – I can do this all day
Who are our favourite underdogs? What are our favourite examples of victory against all the odds?
Day 6 – Fly my pretties
We share our books featuring flying animals on the covers (there were bonus points for pegasus!)
Day 7 – #FantasyFriday – Fantasy from around the world
We focused on fantasy settings inspired by non-European cultures
Day 8 – Currently Reading
Day 9 – Spine Poetry OR Mother’s Day
We turned our hands to poetry today using book titles, whereas some instead chose to feature our favourite mums in fantasy.
Day 10 – Mixed Feelings
Which books didn’t meet our expectations? Were there books that had elements we loved and elements we didn’t like so much? Maybe the book made us feel both very happy but also very sad?
Day 11 – #TropeTuesday – Reluctant Hero(ine)
Turns out we all rather love a reluctant hero or heroine!
Day 12 – Desert Island Reads
Day 13 – Had me at hello
Which books did we simply have to pick up from the cover or synopsis alone?
Day 14 – #FantasyFriday – Fantasy Voices from around the world
We focused on fantasy authors who were non UK/US born
Day 15 – #StackSaturday
Day 16 – Page to Screen
Our favourite adaptations, or a novel we’d love to see adapted!
Day 17 – Can’t wait to read
Was there a title coming up on our TBRs that we were particularly looking forward to?
Day 18 – #TropeTuesday – With friends like these
We had a look at our favourite unreliable allies
Day 19 – Who’s afraid of the suck fairy?
Is there a book you’re ever worried of returning to in case it hasn’t aged well, and has instead been visited by the suck fairy?? Alternatively, Julia could think of a book she didn’t enjoy the first time round but loved on the re-read!
Day 20 – Fantasy creature on the cover
There were bonus points if it wasn’t a dragon – but it’s fantasy how can you not feature a dragon?
Day 21 – #FantasyFriday – Fantasy in translation
We focused on books that were not originally written in English
Day 22 – Get in the sea
We took to the seas and brought you are nautical favourites
Day 23 – Book rainbow
A favourite prompt of mine, we created rainbows with our fantasies!
Day 24 – On the shelf
We scoured our shelves for those books that have sat there the longest unread
Day 25 – #TropeTuesday – the chosen one
Perhaps one of the more typical fantasy tropes!
Day 26 – All the feels
Which books set us on an emotional rollercoaster?
Day 27 – #ThrowbackThursday
We looked at backlist titles that we would love to read – leave your judgement at the door! (bonus points if it’s older than ten years)
Day 28 – #FantasyFriday – Off the beaten track
We focused on our favourite self-published fantasies and fantasy books from small presses
Day 29 – 5-Star Fantasy Reads in Five Words
Day 30 – #ShelfieSunday
Day 31 – Fave Wyrd and Wonder Read
The last day! We take a look back over the month and share our favourite read.
That’s it for this year’s Wyrd & Wonder!
Thank you to everyone who followed our posts, we hope you enjoyed!
