Ambitious as I was at the end of of 2018, I created a sci-fi and fantasy reading challenge with 52 prompts. I can tell you right away, I am never doing that again. I also picked some hard prompts which in a way was nice because challenging, but also so hard to find books for.
Down below we’ll be looking at seeing how I as organizer did with this challenge, and let me tell you, I had a hard time as well. After that I am shortly looking back on how the reading challenge organization went and things I’ve learned for hosting reading challenges this year.
Be A Generic Robot 
Prompts | Book |
Over 800 Pages | Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon |
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 |
Disability | Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu |
Published before 1990 | The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells |
Library | Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson |
By a Woman of Color | Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa |
One Word Title | Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones |
Set in Africa | David Mogo, Godhunter by Suya Davies Okungbowa |
Be A Fire Breathing Dragon
Prompts | Book |
Classic Fantasy | Avempartha by Michael J. Sullivan |
Magic School | Wundersmith by Jessia Townsend |
Necromancers | Trinity of Bones by Caitlin Seal |
PTSD | Tawny Man Trilogy by Robin Hobb |
Dragon | The Silver Tide by Jen Williams |
Fairytale Retelling | The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden |
Grimdark | Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence |
Ghosts | The Awakening by Amanda Stevens |
Uncommon Fantasy Creatures | Stronger Than a Bronze Dragon by Mary Fan |
Shapeshifters | King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo |
Gods | Firestarter by Tara Sim |
Animal Companion | Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger |
Matriarchy | The True Queen by Zen Cho |
Set in Our World | The Fever King by Victoria Lee |
Witches | Monstress volume 1 by Marjorie Liu |
Magical Law Enforcement | The Barrow Will Send What it May by Margaret Killjoy |
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 |
Utopia | The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guinn |
Virtual Reality | Wildcard by Marie Lu |
Hive | Hellstrom’s Hive by Frank Herbert |
Steampunk | Cogheart by Peter Bunzl |
Alien | Warp Gate Concerto by Dorian Graves |
Superpowers | Not Your Backup by C.B. Lee |
Science | To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers |
Proto Sci-Fi | From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne |
Replicate | Autofac by Philip K. Dick |
Space Colonization | The Expanse 2 by James S.A. Corey |
Time Travel | The Color of Paradox by A.M. Dellamonica |
Mecha | Neon Genesis Evangelion volume 2 to 5 by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto |
Space Creatures/Beasts | The Outside by Ada Hoffmann |
Teleportation | The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter |
Space Western | The Expanse 1 by James S.A. Corey |
The Moon | The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu |
Invasion | The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu |
Statistics
I find it interesting to see here that I mostly read 2019 books for this reading challenge. That was not initially in my plans for most of these prompts so I ended up being quite opportunistic with filling in some of the prompts if I happen to come across it in an arc as well. Other than that it is reasonably divided. I think the older books there are certainly more in the sci-fi genre than in fantasy.
The light green is sci-fi and the darker green is fantasy. Mostly I read more women in this reading challenge which is something that has carried over in all my reading this year. But with sci-fi it has been more 50-50%. Sci-fi is a harder genre to get well known in as a woman compared to fantasy, and I might not always come across lesser known female authors (and even non-binary ones) because I am not that into sci-fi as I am into fantasy.
And lastly the target group, wich is again not really a surprise. I have been reading more adult books in 2019 and it jsut makes sense that this would carry over in a reading challenge like this.
What I Have Learned
This is the first time I have really done one of these year long reading challenges. It stands to reason I would take some learning points from them.
First off I really missed a general place to talk to you guys. Creating a twitter group or goodreads group would have been a good thing I think. It would have been easier to share recs and ideas for all the different prompts. Quartly check-ins on the blog with you guys would have been good too I think.
Adding on to that I think this whole reading challenge was a bit too ambitious. I think I had too many prompts but also some of them were a lot harder to find a book for that I had given consideration too. I really struggled with finding books myself so I can imagine it was the same for you guys.
I also think I wasn’t too clear in my set of rules. I saw some read contemporary for the general area when it was meant to read sci-fi and fantasy for those as well. I didn’t say anything though because it is what it is. And people fill in reading challenges in whatever way they want to as well.
I am taking a lot of this on board for the reading challenges I am hosting in 2020. If you have any other feedback, please let me know? I tried to visit people but with my own life, depression and not always finding all the links it was hard for me to do so.
I will be dribbling in my updates for challenges over the next week. Looking at your bingos I may have gotten at least one card filled. I will come back with my link. 👍✨
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I can’t wait to see!
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Looks like you did great!
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Thanks 🙂
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Straf dat je deze gehaald hebt want je hebt het jezelf inderdaad niet makkelijk gemaakt met die 52 opdrachten.
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Nee ik denk niet dat ik dat nog eens zo doe haha. Maar aan de andere kant ook wel weer leuk zo’n uitdaging.
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