Medieval-A-Thon Wrap-Up & August Reading Plans

~ megs14malloy

Hi, book friends! I would like to officially announce that I slayed the Medieval-A-Thon and am now officially a Queen.

Medieval-A-Thon was a super fun, month-long Fantasy readathon hosted by Holly over at Holly Hearts Books on BookTube. She did a phenomenal job creating this readathon and consistently following up with us all on Twitter. I really had a great time participating and completed six Fantasy books over the course of the month to meet certain challenges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above are the visuals created by Holly to help you keep track of the challenges and what you were earning by meeting them. Seriously, how creative is this? I am obsessed. Anyway, without further ado, here are the six books that I completed and what they earned me in weapons and my armour set:

  • To earn my fighting daggers, I needed to complete a book with assassins in it. For this I read Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) by Julie Kagawa. I had an ARC of this book and loved it so much. I was disappointed at all and gave this Japanese-Inspired YA Fantasy 5-full stars!
  • To earn my bow and arrow, I needed to complete a book with elves in it. For this prompt, I chose The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air #2) by Holly Black. Again, I absolutely loved this YA Fantasy, 5-full stars!
  • For my crown, I needed to complete a book where a character fights for the throne. For this I read, Roar by Cora Carmack. This YA Fantasy that had a very unique magic system based on people who could control the weather really surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. The long awaited sequel to this 2017-release is actually coming out this month and I have already preordered a copy and plan to pick it up right away. I gave this 4.5-stars.
  • For my helmet, I needed to complete a book with a dragon on the cover. For this, I selected Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. This beautifully written Adult Fantasy is a retelling of a Mayan legend modernized and set in the Jazz era. As I have found before with Moreno-Garcia’s writing, it was lyrical and truly beautiful to read. Her writing is simple but in a gorgeous way. I had an ARC copy of this and ended up giving it 4-stars.
  • For my breastplate, I needed to read a shiny book. For this I chose The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell. I listened to the audiobook for this and followed along in my hard copy and will admit, I was lost through at least the first half of the book. There were so many perspectives to follow, and time jumps, and I seriously had no clue what was happening. Overall, I did find the characters were interesting and it did have an interesting premise. I gave this one 3-stars and am not sure if I will continue on with this series. I own the second one so may or I may just unhaul them both.
  • Finally, for my cape, I needed to read something with red on the cover. On the very last day of the month I completed Lost Boy by Christina Henry. This book. Oh my goodness did I love this one. This is an origin story for Captain Hook, one of the most underrated villains of all time. This was so unique, bold, graphic and bloody brilliant. Best origin story I have ever read. EVER. No surprise, I gave this a full 5-stars! Loved it.

That wraps up my Medieval-A-Thon. So glad that I had the chance to participate. I love a month long readathon and this one provided me with a great opportunity to get some things off my TBR, as well as complete some ARCs that I really needed to get to.

On to August. What are my reading plans for August? I am actually not participating in any readathons but am participating in The Page Turners Book Club again, hosted by Chelsea Palmer from the BookTube channel of the same name. She hosts this Book Club on Facebook and it is a fairly interactive group. We are reading Nevernight by Jay Kristoff the third week of the month. I have heard great things about this book and as it is dark and bloody, I anticipate really enjoying it. Plus, the synopsis for the main character gives me heavy Arya Stark vibes, which I’m down for.

Mainly in the month of August I will be participating in ARC August. This is sort of a movement going through the book community right now. Although not an official readathon or challenge it is something a lot of people are talking about an focusing on. Basically, it is just an entire month dedicated to reading all our ARCs. If you do not know what an ARC is, it is an Advanced Reader Copy provided to a reader by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Basically it is a way that publishing companies create buzz for and promote books before their release.

I personally have a ton of ARCs I need to get to. Some have already released so I will be playing catch up. Others come out this month and then a lot come out this Fall so I am trying to get a bit ahead.

I have a review post going up tomorrow morning for one of these ARCs, The Escape Room by Megan Goldin. I am part of the Blog Tour for the release of this book and am so excited to be taking part as, spoiler alert, I freaking loved this book!!! So stay tuned for that. Be sure to check back tomorrow if you want to see my spoiler free thoughts.

How was your July? Did you participate in any readathons? Are you taking part in ARC August? What are you reading plans for the month? I want to know. Leave a comment here or contact me through any of my social media links! I love to hear from you all.

Cheers & Happy Reading!