Tolkien Character Book Tag

I can’t believe I’ve made it this far into Wyrd & Wonder and haven’t yet done a book tag! Things have been too busy lately. Anyway, I’m hoping to do some tags over the next few days and get some blog-hopping in as well to see what everyone else has been posting.

Well, I’ll be doing the Tolkien Character Book Tag, which was created by booktuber Things Lucy Reads. I’m not a fan of the Lord of the Rings series (blasphemy! I know), but I enjoyed The Hobbit and prefer the movies to the books. I’ve toyed with the idea of trying the core trilogy again, but… I’ve yet to act on that and doubt I will. However, I do appreciate Tolkien’s creativity and all that went into creating this story and world. And, of course, I enjoyed the movie adaptation as well as many fantasy stories that are inspired by Tolkien’s work.

---

Aragorn: A book that ended up being everything you wanted it to be

DCeased by Tom Taylor, illus. by Trevor Hairsine

It’s the first in a comic book series set in the DC universe about a zombie apocalypse and how the superheroes try to save the world and stop its spreading. I’ve always wanted a superhero, zombie apocalypse story, and this delivered. I enjoyed seeing how certain superheroes react and spread the virus based on how their power works. It was a very entertaining story for this zombie-apocalypse-stories fan.

Fantastic Top Five — Single-Serve Fantasy Reads

Fantastic Top Fives is a meme for Wyrd & Wonder, a monthlong celebration in May of all things fantasy.

This week’s topic:

Top Five Single-Serve Fantasy Reads

---

Now I know this calls for short works such as short stories and novellas, but I really want to talk about picture books because I love them and think more adults should give them a chance. Plus, they fit the category — being books you can read in a single sitting — and these will be great recommendations for your kids.

Book Haul #81: The Wyrd & Wonder Edition

The last time I did a book haul was back in March, and since then, 99% of the books I bought were fantasy, which makes this the perfect book haul for Wyrd & Wonder, a monthlong celebration of all things fantasy! So let’s just call this the Wyrd & Wonder edition.

---

PURCHASES

PHYSICAL

Kicking things off with this bunch, all of which I got because bloggers I follow read and loved them and inspired me to get them.

Reviews from Mogsy and Mayri, the Bookforager, made me add Mordew to my TBR and eventually buy a copy. The Summer Tree is one of the read-along books for this year’s Wyrd & Wonder. Obviously, I got it because I intended to participate in the read-along, but life/work demands are getting in the way. I’ve only ready two pages so far. 😩 I’m working my way through Abercrombie’s novels with Emily of Embuhleeliest, and Best Served Cold will be the next one we read. As for Legends & Lattes, I’ve been seeing it everywhere and unfortunately, I forgot which blog made me add it to my TBR.

Top Ten Tuesday #51: Fantasy Books I Haven’t Read Yet

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s topic:

Books I was excited to get but still haven’t read

The Wyrd & Wonder monthlong celebration of all things fantasy is still going, so I’ve decided to make this Top Ten Tuesday post fantasy related by listing only fantasy books below.

There are many books I could have included on this list because my unread TBR is large, but these are among the top ones I’d love to prioritize.

---

Top Ten Tuesday #50: Bookish Characters From Fantasy Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s topic:

Bookish Characters

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Top Ten Tuesday post, but I didn’t want to past up the opportunity to make this one fantasy related in honor of Wyrd & Wonder, a monthlong celebration of all things fantasy.

So here are 10 bookish characters from fantasy books.

---

Eladora from The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Hanrahan

The Gutter Prayer is basically about a country at war against it gods and how the protagonist — a young woman named Carillion — and her friends get caught up in the conflict between those who want the gods to return and those who want to get rid of them permanently. Eladora is Carillion’s cousin and a scholar. She knows much about Guerdon, the story’s setting, and its gods. In part of the story, she spends the entire day at the library researching the gods. I don’t think she noticed how much time had passed until the library started to close. (Review of the Gutter Prayer)

Fantastic Top Five — Forest Fantasy

Fantastic Top Fives is a meme for Wyrd & Wonder, a monthlong celebration in May of all things fantasy.

This week’s topic:

Top Five Forest Fantasy Recs

---

Since wood is symbolic of fifth anniversaries, a theme for this year’s W&W is forest fantasy. For this topic, we can choose books that have “woodland settings, forest creatures, a particular focus on trees — or maybe even important wooden items and artifacts.” It’s totally up to you.

I’ve decided to focus on fantasy books that either have a forest setting or in which the forest has great significance. (Kinda went overboard and chose 7 🙃)

“Before They Are Hanged” by Joe Abercrombie

I’m back with the boys from the First Law series. Emily of Embuhleelist (my buddy-reader in all things Hobb, and now in all things Abercrombie) and I are enjoying reading about this cast of characters and have already started on the third book — which is quite entertaining so far what with Jezal’s and West’s promotions. But anyway, this book…

---

Genre

Fantasy

Series

First Law, book 2

Pubbed

2007

From Goodreads

Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It’s enough to make a torturer want to run – if he could even walk without a stick.

Northmen have spilled over the border of Angland and are spreading fire and death across the frozen country. Crown Prince Ladisla is poised to drive them back and win undying glory. There is only one problem – he commands the worst-armed, worst-trained, worst-led army in the world.

Magical Readathon | 2022 — Orilium Spring Equinox Wrap-Up

I completed the readathon! 😀 I’m so proud of myself — and my characters too — for surviving Orilium’s Spring Equinox semester. Confused about what I’m talking about? Well, the gist of it is —

This is part of the Magical Readathon hosted by booktuber, G, where we get to create characters, have them choose a calling (i.e., a career), and attend a magic university called Orilium Academy. For more details about the readathon, character creation, and all that, see my previous post.

We only needed to create one character for the readathon, but I created two because I got carried away. That means I had a lot to read. Luckily, I own a lot of unread comics and picture books and short stories, so they came in handy and I managed to complete the readathon in time.

We also had the option to take part in quests and guild wars. But I had too much going on, so I did neither. However, although we only had to read books for the required courses, I also took on some additional ones as electives my characters took because I obviously got too excited about all this. Well then, let’s see how my characters did.

Fantastic Top Five — Fantasies

Wyrd & Wonder has begun!! 😀 That means, no matter what, May will be a fantastic month.

If you want to know more about Wyrd & Wonder, the monthlong celebration of all things fantasy, see my previous post. But to get things started, I’ll do a Fantastic Top Fives post, which is a meme the Wyrd & Wonder crew created in honor of W&W’s fifth anniversary. There’s a different topic each week.

This week’s topic:

Top Five Fantasies Since Last Wyrd & Wonder

---

To get my five below, I went back to books read since April last year. So here are the top fantasy/fantasy-related books I read since then.

Wyrd & Wonder 2022 Is Coming | Here’s My TBR

Wyrd & Wonder is almost here!!

Am I as prepared as I was hoping to be?

Nope.

But am I as excited as I was the year before?

I sure am!

---

WHAT IS WYRD & WONDER?

It’s a laid-back monthlong celebration of all things fantasy. The event takes place during May (May 1-31), and you can participate in any way you like: whether that’s reading a bunch of fantasy books, playing a bunch of fantasy games, watching a bunch of fantasy movies, dressing up as a bunch of fantasy characters for every day in May, or whatever else you come up with. You decide how you’d like to display your love of fantasy.

This year’s celebration marks the fifth anniversary of W&W, so we have five hosts. In addition to the original Wyrd & Wonder crew — Imyril, Lisa, and Jorie — there’s also Ariana and Annemieke.

And, since a fifth anniversary is traditionally honored with a gift of wood, the theme of this year’s W&W is forest fantasy. You can stick to the theme if you like, but it’s not necessary.

Anyway, if you’d like to learn more about the event, see the links below.