Wyrd and Wonder Challenge | Book Tag, Pt. 2

Here’s part two of this tag that’s not a tag but I made into a tag because I like tags. 😉 Part one can be found here.

In case anyone else would like to do this as a book tag, please credit Imyril at There’s Always Room for One More, who put this challenge together for #WyrdandWonder, a month-long celebration in May of all things fantasy.

Today is the last day of #WyrdandWonder and thus the last day to enter my book GIVEAWAY. If you haven’t already done so, click here to be entered to win up to $30USD of fantasy book purchases from Book Depository.

To the prompts!!

Fave trans or enby characters

Akeha’s partner

I couldn’t remember their name, but they are nonbinary. The Black Tides of Heaven is the first novella in a silkpunk fantasy series set in a world where people select their gender. Children do not select a gender until a particular age but once old enough, a person is supposed to choose a gender. If I remember correctly, Akeha’s partner did not choose a gender.

This character is not one of my favorites. I haven’t read many novels that include gender diversity, so I only had this to choose from. The story is interesting (and I love the cover design) but it was not memorable.

Current read

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

It’s one of many books I currently have on the go. I started it but realized that I’ve lost interest in it although I’ve only read 2 pages. Actually, I don’t even consider that a start. I’ll return it to the library unread and try again when I’m in the mood for it.

Fave male characters

Durzo Blint

I can only do favorites of the moment and at this moment, my favorite male character in fantasy is friggin’ Durzo Blint. He’s a character from Brent Weeks’s Night Angel trilogy, a fantasy story about a street urchin named Azoth, a.k.a. Kylar Stern, who’s trained by friggin’ Durzo (bad-ass) Blint to become a notorious assassin (called wetboy in the book). As the story progresses, I like Kylar more, but from the beginning I was hooked on Durzo. I love that he’s a flawed character and I love how sarcastic he is.

The Perfect Shadow is an accompanying novella to the trilogy that gives some backstory on Durzo, which I appreciated, but I want more.

Amazing magical artefact

the Marauder’s Map

There are many other magical artefacts I could have mentioned, but my mind went immediately to Harry Potter’s Marauder’s Map and stuck. I think it’s one of the coolest objects in the books and one that could have helped to solve many mysteries and uncover many plots. It also shows that the Marauders (except Wormtail) were great wizards to have created an object that continued to work well over the years and that’s able to track anyone in Hogwarts.

#StackSaturday

all the Wheel of Time books I own

I managed to do this prompt too on Instagram. Above are all the Wheel of Time books I own. I’ve read them all except the one at the top, Lord of Chaos, which is the sixth book in the series. The story is about a group of farm boys who learn that one of them is the “Dragon Reborn,” a figure who’s destined to save the world from great evil and break the world while doing so. The story is interesting, but the characters are ANNOYING!! Jordan is not great at creating female characters or developing romantic relationships.

Fave female characters

Toph

At the moment, it’s a Toph, a female character from the children’s TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is about a boy who learns his world was thrown into chaos while he was stuck in an iceberg for over 100 years. Toph is one of my favorite characters in the series (but I like them all, even Azula). Although she is blind, she is able to navigate the world through vibrations she feels. She is one of the strongest earth-benders in the world (oh, some people have the ability to manipulate the elements, called bending), and she is comfortable with who she is and confident in herself. She’s one of the best characters in the story.

I didn’t see that coming

the romantic relationships in The Magicians

Julia and my gurl Margo are not with who I thought they would be with and I DID NOT see that coming! But I am surprised that I like how these relationships are playing out; except Julia’s because those two don’t go together in my head.

Through the wardrobe (portal fantasy)

Behind the Canvas by Alexander Vance

Ha! This is funny because I just mentioned The Magicians (it’s based on a novel by Lev Grossman), which is basically portal fantasy. (So too Harry Potter to a certain extent, I think.)

Behind the Canvas is a middle-grade fantasy novel about a girl who enters the world behind the canvas to save a boy. The “world behind the canvas” can only be entered through paintings and can only be accessed by talented artists. It’s an interesting concept that I was eager to read about, but the story was so boring that I skimmed some parts.

I’d rather be at sea (ships or sailors)

Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb

Of course, I had to mention the Liveship Traders novels by Robin Hobb. Ship of Magic is the first book and the majority of the story takes place at sea aboard liveships, which are sentient ships that can move independently and communicate with people. Some talk through their figurehead. Reading these books made me want to go off on an adventure at sea.

That was lucky…

…that Lanawyn was able to kill the evil elf in the nick of time.

Elves, Vol. 1 by Jean-Luc Istan, illus. by Kyko Duarte, is the first in a fantasy comic book series about elves. This volume contains two stories, one about the Blue Elves and a powerful magical artefact called the Blue Crystal that can bestow an elf with immense power and another that focuses on political relations between humans and Sylvan Elves.

I was disappointed by both stories but more so by the one about the Blue Elves because this chick name Lanawyn just popped up out the blue and saved everyone in the nick of time. There wasn’t enough build up or hints for me to believe that an evil elf was defeated by her. It happened too quickly and the end was too abrupt.

Unreal locations

the Ghastly Market and anywhere else mentioned in these books

Jessica Townsend’s Wundersmith is now one of my favorite books, and one of the many reasons why I love it is because of the amazing places mentioned in it, like the Hotel Deucalion, where the protagonist, Morrigan Crow, lives with her mentor, Jupiter North. And there’s also the Ghastly Market, where knacks and wunimals can be bought or sold. It does sound very ghastly and is often located down a Tricksy Lane, a lane that often has a trick placed upon it, like making a person flip upside down halfway down it or feel as if they have no air to breath.

Heist

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Hmm… I don’t think I’ve ever read any fantasy heist stories, but I often hear that Six of Crows is one such. I’d like to read it. I’ve already bought myself a copy because I like the book design, especially the sprayed edges.

#ShelfieSunday

my digital fantasy bookshelf

That’s a screen shot of a portion of my digital fantasy bookshelf because I was too lazy to take a pic of my real one. I use Collectorz.com Book Database to organize and keep track of the books I own. I highly recommend it if you own a lot of books and want to maintain a digital list of them. I own 1,017 books (that number includes physical and e-books; I own only a handful of e-books), as indicated in the screen shot above. About 403 of them are fantasy novels, so the screen shot shows only a portion of them.

Epic/tragic death

It’s a spoiler. Highlight here >> Burrich << to see.

Oh my gosh. The events leading up to this character’s death had me and Emily at the edge of our seats and took our breath away. It was sad but amazing and was a great and powerful way for that character to physically exit the story. I say “physically exit” because although he died, it doesn’t feel as if he’s gone because Fitz and other characters sometimes think about him.

Fool’s Fate is the last novel in the Tawny Man trilogy, a fantasy trilogy that’s part of the larger Realm of the Elderlings series, which I have been buddy-reading with Emily from Embuhlee liest for several months now.

Fish out of water

Perrin Aybara

Perrin was just an apprentice to a blacksmith in his small village when he met an Aes Sedai (like a witch, a woman who can “weild the one power”) and got swept up in an adventure with his friends. Of the characters in the early Wheel of Time books, Perrin is the only one that expresses feeling out of place most often especially when among royalty.

Glorious stand-alone

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

I haven’t read many standalone fantasy novels, so my answer was limited. I decided on The Princess Bride because it’s one of the best fantasy novels I’ve read and is certainly a standalone. I also love the movie adaptation and am amazed whenever someone tells me they haven’t read/seen it or dislike/hate it.

Break my heart

Game of Thrones TV show

I’ve seen only the first 2 seasons of the show, I think, but I keep up by listening to people rave about it. Well, rant about it, lately. And from what I’ve heard, I think I’d have been pissed about the end too. I was rooting for Dany to end on a strong note. I don’t like what I heard have been come of her. She was supposed to rise above her brothers and other kin and become what they failed to be. I didn’t expect her to end on such a weak note.

Fave Wyrd & Wonder read

Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend

Hands down, it’s Wundersmith. I enjoyed this story so much that I wanted to buy myself a copy as soon as I was done. (I borrowed it from the library.) I love the characters and enjoy the adventures but what hooked me was the world it’s set in. It broadens and expands in this book and I can’t wait to learn more about it.

Let me know if you’ve read any of these books.

#WyrdandWonder

Today is the last day of Wyrd and Wonder, a month-long celebration in May of all things fantasy, and the last day to enter my GIVEAWAY to celebrate it. Click here to enter.

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