I participated in the Magical Readathon for the first time in 2020 … and I loved it! Then the world started hating on Harry Potter because of JKR’s actions, and G. decided to not continue with the traditional O.W.L.S. and N.E.W.T.S. approach and re-invented the readathon to still be magical, but held in an entirely new world of her creation.
The first part of the readathon began last September with the Novice Path, where we had a series of challenges to complete, as listed above. I tried to read them all, but I missed one. I read:
- Dark Triumph
- Gutter Child
- The Heart Principle
- (skipped the Ruin of Skye prompt)
- The Guilt Trip
- The Chicken Sisters
- Legendborn
We then had until April to read our character prompts.
This is my character, an urban elf from Kerador. For the character prompts, I read the following books:
- Urban: a book set in a city or town (When the Stars Go Dark)
- Kerador: a book from an ongoing series (Lover Unleashed)
- Elf: moon or stars on the cover or title (House of Sky and Breath)
Then, in March, there was a Gear Up mini magical readathon to get ready for the official start of the readathon in April. I had previously decided to be a member of the Order of the Crescent (simply because it reminded me of Crescent City), so I chose a quarterstaff as my conduit. For this challenge, I had to read a book that’s part of a quartet — and I’ve been itching to get back to the UnWind dystology (not to mention that it’s one of my Unread Shelf challenges this year), so it was the perfect time to pick up UnSouled. Order of the Crescent members were also challenged to pick a familiar and read a book with that animal on it. I have Hollowpox on my 22 books to read in 2022 list, but I knew I needed to start with reread of Nevermoor. Listening to it on audio was an absolutely delightful experience, and I know I’ll do the same with the next two books. What better familiar to have than, not just a cat, but a magnificat!
This month, the readathon officially begins with the Spring Equinox (announcement video is linked here) and I love that G. is still keeping the same exams format that there was in the previous version of the Magical Readathon (I still miss the Harry Potter theme, and I’m a bit sad that I only joined it during the last year it was held). For this readathon, we are challenged to pick a calling and, depending on which one we pick, we have to sit a series of exams related to that calling. I’ve chosen Story Weaver (it reminds me closely of Trader of Magical Tomes, which I had picked during the 2020 Magical Readathon).
For the Spring Equinox (the month of April), I will need to sit four exams:
- Inscription:
- Art of Illusion:
- Psionics & Divination:
- Lore:
The challenge for Inscription is to read an intimidating book and, as Tome Topple also falls during the last half of April, I can think of no better book than A Little Life, a book that I have started twice and put down because I’m afraid of how much it will break my heart.
Art of Illusion will be an easy challenge to check off the list because it’s to read a book with a trope I like. I have quite a few romance egalleys for May, and I’m sure at least one of them will contain a trope that I enjoy, because I honestly don’t think there’s any romance trope that I don’t like, other than a love triangle, but that is more of YA trope than a contemporary romance trope.
For Psionics & Divination, I have to read a book set in the future and I think I will finish off the UnWind dystology (and check that Unread Shelf challenge off at the same time).
Finally, the challenge for Lore is to read a mythology book and this was a trickier one for me. I was going to bend the rules and pick something that’s more fairytale inspired, until I realized that the Grishaverse is based on Russian mythology and folklore and I have the audiobook for King of Scars as well as the physical copy. It will also be the perfect time to (finally!) finish watching the show.
For the Autumn Equinox (which will be in August), I will need to need to read six books because of the grades that I need to achieve:
O = 1 book
Q = 2 books
D = 3 books
As I’ll be on vacation for a big part of August, this feels more than achievable.
I’m excited to dig into my Spring Equinox books this month and start my educational journey towards becoming a Story Weaver!
Writer Grrl Reads 