What I Read and What I Plan to Read for Dancing with Fantasy and Sci-Fi Reading Challenge the Rest of the Year

Now that we have hit about the middle point of the year I am creating a post just to look at how I’m doing with the reading challenge and seeing what I still want and need. The first six months I just looked to see what could fit as I  read it. In the next 6 months I want to pick more books for my tbr that fit with the prompts.

Its a bit of a long post but I hope I’ve made it easier by now using tables.

What I Read so Far

I am doing pretty decent. At this halfway point I have hit 28 prompts of 52. But it is going to be a little harder from here on out. I’m going to have to find a few books that are more specific towards certain prompts. I haven’t been picking up a whole lot of sci-fi so that is where I need to focus on a bit more. Luckily Sci-Fi month is still upcoming so that should give me a bit more motivation to pick up a few of those.

Be a Fire Breathing Dragon

Prompts	Book
Classic Fantasy	Avempartha by Michael J. Sullivan
Magic School	Wundersmith by Jessia Townsend
Dragon	The Silver Tide by Jen Williams
Fairytale Retelling	The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
Uncommon Fantasy Creatures	Stronger Than a Bronze Dragon by Mary Fan
Shapeshifters	King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
Gods	Firestarter by Tara Sim
Matriarchy	The True Queen by Zen Cho
Set in Our World	The Fever King by Victoria Lee
Witches	Monstress volume 1 by Marjorie Liu
Thief	The Crown Conspiracy by Michael J. Sullivan
Pirates	The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie
Portal Fantasy	Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
Warrior	Slayer by Kierstin White

Be an Alien

Prompts	Book
On a Different Planet	Second Star by J.M Sullivan
Space Ship	Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
AI Point of View	All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Virtual Reality	Wildcard by Marie Lu
Steampunk	Cogheart by Peter Bunzl
Superpowers	Not Your Backup by C.B. Lee
Space Creatures/Beasts	The Outside by Ada Hoffmann

Be a Generic Robot

Prompts	Book
Under 500 Pages	Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
Satire	Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Novella	Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
Finish a Series	The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden
Mental Health	Shadowsong by S. Jae-Jones / Bipolar
By a Woman of Color	Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa
One Word Title	Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones

 

What I Am Planning on Reading

So here I’ve gone through books I own or books that my library has (which is why some have the dutch title behind them). Especially with sci-fi I’ll be picking up some more books from the library. Of course this isn’t set in stone and I might be picking up something different if it passes me by.

Be a Fire Breathing Dragon

Prompts	Book	Owned	Library
Necromancers	The Bone Witch	x
PTSD	The First Law or The Way of Kings	x
Grimdark	Grey Sister	x
Ghosts	The Awakening	x
Animal Companion	Spellslinger	x
Magical Law Enforcement	Stormfront		x

 

Be an Alien

Prompts	Book	Owned	Library
Utopia	The Dispossessed / Ontheemde		x
Hive	Hellstrom’s Hive / Gonzende Nachtmerrie		x
Alien	Only You Can Save Mankind	x
Science	The Three Body-Problem	x
Proto Sci-Fi	From the Earth to the Moon or Dr Jekyll and Dr. Hyde		x
Replicate	Ringer	x
Space Colonization	Avalon?	x
Time Travel	The Last Magician	x
Mecha
Space Creatures/Beasts	Perido Street Station / Station Perido		x
Teleportation	The Long Earth	x
Space Western	Leviathan Wakes		x
The Moon	Caliban’s War?		x
Invasion	The Three Body-Problem	x

 

Be a Generic Robot

Prompts	Book	Owned	Library
Over 800 Pages	The Priory of the Orange Tree	x
Disability	Ancillary Justice		x
Published before 1990	Wyrd Sisters	x
Library	Library of fates / Sorcery of thorns	X / X
Set in Africa	Akata Witch	x

Suggestions from Me & Others

As with the actual reading challenge post here are some suggestions for some of the prompts that aren’t already up above. I hope some of these will help you to continue on with the reading challenge!

Imyril

The lovely Imyril from X+1 has been sharing her recommendations for the prompts on this reading challenge over on her blog and what she has out so far I am linking down below.

Part 1 / Part 2 /

Fantasy

Prompt	Book
Animal or in Animal form companion(s)	Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff
Thief	The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
Gods	The Copper Promise by Jen Williams
PTSD	Ascendant Kingdoms by Gail Z. Martin (PTSD will be a topic at some point in the series but I am not a 100% sure where) The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

Sci-Fi

Prompt	Book
On a Different Planet	All Systems Red by Martha Wells Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belezza Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples
Space Ship	Nyxia by Scott Reintgen Sanctuary by Caryn Lix Avalon by Mindee Arnett The Ship Who Sang by Anne McAffrey
AI Point of View	All Systems Red by Martha Wells Diaspora by Greg Egan The Bicential Man by Isaac Asimov Excession by Ian Banks Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson
Proto Sci-Fi	Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish
Alien	The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. le Guin Destroyer by Anna Carven We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson The Humans by Matt Haig
Steampunk	Homonculus by James P. Baylock
Invasion	The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
Mecha	United States of Japan by Peter Tieryas
Space Creatures/Beasts	Dune by Frank Herbert Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons

General

Prompt	Book
Mental Health	Someone Like Me by M.R. Carey Borderline by Misshel Baker (Borderline, suicide) Planetfall by Emma Newman (Anxiety) Hystopia by David Means ( PTSD) The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (anxiety, PTSD) Dragonslayer by Duncan M. Hamilton (Alcoholism)
Disability	The Electrical Menagerie by Mollie E. Reeder A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer / Ceberal Palsy Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto / Blind Character
Set in Africa	Unholy Land by Lavie Tidhar Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor Rosewater by Tade Thompson The Prey of Gods by Nick Drayden The Ear, the Eye and the Arm by Nancy Farmer
By a Woman of Color	Octavia Butler

 

 

Thank you to

Tammy / Imiryl / Vicki / Kathy Austin / Elizabeth / Kathy  for your help with recs in the original reading challenge post comments or elsewhere.