#TheReadingQuest discussion

Okay, so. As some of you may know, I have a Booktube channel AND a blog. But due to an unexpected situation at work in which basically every student in the school where I work now knows about them, I'm currently on hiatus. (Excuse me while I cry forever) So I'm putting my TBR here instead.

Because I'm an overachiever, I have grand plans to finish the entire board...

Starting character: Bard
Level 9
430 XP (Marginalised authors: N.K. Jemisin, Jared Thomas, Randa Abdel-Fattah, David Levithan. Quests finished: Bard, Rogue, Mage, Knight)
927 HP

Books finished: 25
Pages read: 9,399 (240 from graphic novels)

BARD TBR:
A book with a TV/movie adaptation: My Cousin Rachel
A fairytale retelling: Cruel Beauty
A book with striking typography: Who Runs the World?
A book translated from another language: Rupture
A banned book: The Grapes of Wrath

ROGUE TBR:
A banned book: The Grapes of Wrath
A cover with a partially obscured face: City of Saints & Thieves
A book with <500 ratings on Goodreads: Beyond Carousel
A book published by a small press: Songs That Sound Like Blood
A book with a one word title: Trust

MAGE TBR:
A book with a one word title: Trust
A book that contains magic: Skylark
A book based on mythology: The Song of Achilles
A book set in a different world: Fuzzy Nation
The first book in a series: Passenger

KNIGHT TBR:
The first book in a series: Passenger
A book with a verb in its title: Where the Streets Had a Name
A book with a weapon on the cover: The Book of Ivy
A book with a red cover: The Door That Led to Where
A book with a TV/movie adaptation: My Cousin Rachel

SIDE QUESTS:
Potions: Invisibility
Multiplayer: Beard in Mind
Grind: The Poisonwood Bible
Respawn: The Fifth Season
Animal companion: Owl and the Japanese Circus
Minigame: Drama
Expansion: Stars Above
Time Warp: A Company of Swans
Open World: Rituals

13/8 - Started and finished multiplayer side quest, Beard in Mind.

It was...definitely the worst of the series so far. Womp.

This is an ambitious and incredible list. I really want to see how far you get!

14/8 - Finished my first main quest book! My Cousin Rachel was freaking amazing. I'm reeeeeeeally interested to see the movie now...

15/8 - Finished Cruel Beauty. It was...completely cracked out and incredibly predictable, and yet somehow pretty stinking great?? WHO KNEW.

16/8 - Finished Who Runs the World?. Stunning cover. Faaaaaaaaabulous concept. Iffy execution, but nowhere near as bad as people have been making it out to be, as far as I'm concerned.

Holy crap you've already read so many! Well done :D

17/8 - Finished Rupture, which was a pretty quick and easy read but was a little bit meh compared to the others in the series. Possibly because elements of it were quite similar to an Yrsa Sigudardottir book I read a couple of months ago...

19/8 - Finished The Grapes of Wrath, which pretty much blew my mind. I'm often not a fan of 20th century classics (or American classics, for that matter), but this one was phenomenal.

And that means I've finished the Bard quest! I'm moving onto the Rogue now.

20/8 - Finished The Fifth Season. I was pretty terrified, tbh, but OMG WHY THE HECK DID I DNF THIS BOOK LAST TIME IT WAS SO GOOD AND SO COMPELLING AND WHAT THE HELL PAST ME.

WOW! I'm impressed!!

22/8 - I finished City of Saints & Thieves yesterday afternoon, and really enjoyed it! Although the ending was a little rushed for my liking... And today I finished Beyond Carousel, which was...weird. Decidedly weird. And I don't know how I feel about it, tbh.

24/8 - I...forgot to post an update yesterday, buuuuut I've finished four more books. Whoops?

1. A Company of Swans. Decidedly not YA (not because it's inappropriate, just because it features a romance between an 18 year old girl and an almost 30 year old man, and NOPE. Other than that, it was pretty fun.)
2. Songs That Sound Like Blood. The story of an Aboriginal girl who moves from Port Augusta to Adelaide for university and discovers in the process that she's attracted to women. Own Voices Aboriginal representation!
3. Trust. Look, it was basically trash. You can tell from the cover. But it was ENJOYABLE trash, and featured a plus sized main character. So.
4. Drama. Super cute, super quick to get through. Super relatable for anyone who's crushed on someone who's not attracted to their gender.

So now I've finished the Rogue path, and I'm pushing onto the Mage!

26/8 - I just finished The Poisonwood Bible, and wow. Like, WOW. How did I wait like a year and a half after buying it to follow through and read it??

30/8 - I've been terrible at updating again. I've finished four more books, and the Mage quest.

1. Skylark. Cool concept, but I needed more worldbuilding and a more...stand-on-its-own ending.
2. The Song of Achilles. I didn't have All of the Feels like everyone else did, but I did find it a thoroughly enjoyable story. (Although I maintain that Achilles/Patroclus is actually canon)
3. Fuzzy Nation. Absolutely delightful. Funny and fun and thought provoking. Equal parts sci-fi and legal thriller.
4. Passenger. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

31/8 - Finished Where the Streets Had a Name, which was...pretty astonishing, frankly.

I also tried reading The Night Watch, which was my pick for a book with a weapon on the cover. Buuuuut I only made it 28 pages in before knowing that it definitely wasn't for me. So I DNFed it without going any further, and will be reading The Book of Ivy instead!

10/9 - I...failed spectacularly at posting updates in the past little while. I actually finished on...Thursday?? I think??

Owl and the Japanese Circus was not at all what I expected, but still pretty enjoyable. The Book of Ivy was decent enough. The Door That Led to Where was...eh. Invisibility wasn't what I anticipated and not necessarily in a good way. Stars Above was pretty damned enjoyable. And Rituals (my Open World pick) was a solid ending to the series!

PHEW.