Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Team Raithe




⚔ Christina (Captain)
⚔ Judy (Co-Captain)
⚔ Louise (Co-Captain)
⚔ Emily
⚔ Sana
⚔ Taylor
⚔ Kate
⚔ M
⚔ AJ
⚔ Janine



Team Spreadsheet:

Challenge Status Spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

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WHEELATHON 11 FULL RULES: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

⏰ COUNTDOWN TO START: tba

📝 PLANNING SPREADSHEET: tba

📈 OFFICIAL TEAM SHEET: tba (editing access for captains only)


The Basics
◈ runs from 31 August to 26 October
◈ start/finish time each round is 9 pm UTC time
◈ four rounds - each round lasting two weeks
◈ only books started after the challenge begins are eligible
◈ check in with your team at least once each week

The Rules
◈ Minimum 100 pages.
◈ For Audiobooks use the default Goodreads edition unless it's a Large Print version, then use the next most popular print or ebook edition instead.
◈ Books with the Goodreads genres Children's, Kids, Poetry, Play, Graphic Novel, Illustrated, Photography or Art (or books with *Illustrated* in the title or an *Illustrator* listed as a contributor) must contain at least 30,000 verified words. AR BookFinder (.com, .co.uk or .com.au) is a good source for verification. As a general guide, the audiobook should be over three hours long.
◈ No Manga, cookbooks, dictionaries and encyclopedias, no matter the word count or audio length.
◈ Books in any language are eligible, provided they meet the challenge requirements.
◈ Re-reads are permitted if it has been at least six months since you last read the book.
◈ Only books finished during the current round may be used. Books cannot be banked from previous rounds.


‼️ Team Bonus Points for Riyria Books (which is our theme this year)‼️

Bonus points are available for books read set in the world of Elan. 20 points are awarded once per book per team. These can be earned by any player in any round and are on top of any page points or mini challenge points the book might earn.


‼️ Bonus Points for current Book of the Month (BOM) discussions‼️

Writing one day's discussion questions = 40 points
Participating in a current BOM discussion (minimum 3 discussion sets) = 20 points


Spell-Out Rules

First letter of:
◈ Book title or series title (articles may be ignored)
◈ Author's first or last name
◈ Fiction only: significant character's first name, surname or nickname
◈ Non-fiction books do not have eligible characters
◈ Audiobook narrator's first or last name (if listening to audiobook)
◈ Translator's first or last name (if reading a translated edition)


Our Shelves
⚔ Christina
⚔ Judy
⚔ Louise
⚔ Emily
⚔ Sana
⚔ Taylor
⚔ Kate
⚔ M
⚔ AJ
⚔ Janine

‼️ IMPORTANT ‼️

‼️Since goodreads has removed the private messaging feature at the beginning of the year captains can no longer hunt you down if you go AWOL. Therefore we ask you to please please please check in at least once a week on the team thread so we know you're still playing and you haven't abandoned us (it happens way more than you think 😕).

‼️If you're going on vacation or will be away/offline for a longer period of time please let us know beforehand (if you can) so we don't file a missing member report with the mods and you get replaced by a reserve player by accident.

DMs having been removed really sucks during these kind of challenges - in fact, tracking down people on this website now can be a bit of a challenge in itself and I'd rather not have to do it again 😅 Thanks in advance for your cooperation everyone :)

WORLD OF ELAN


The Riyria Revelations
Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, are enterprising thieves who end up running for their lives when they're framed for the death of the king and get embroiled in larger political machinations.

The Riyria Chronicles
A prequel series that explores the beginnings of Royce and Hadrian's partnership and first escapades.

The Legends of the First Empire
Taking place in the same world as the Riyria Revelations/Chronicles, this is a prequel series that takes place thousands of years before those series and reveals the truths about the First Empire that were hinted at in the Riyria novels. (This is where our guy Raithe shows up as one of the protagonists btw.)

The Rise and Fall
This series will bridge the gap between The Legends of the First Empire and Riyria Chronicles.

The recommended reading order by the author is the publication order (view spoiler)[
◈ Riyria Revelations (1 - 6): Theft of Swords | Rise of Empire | Heir of Novron
◈ Riyria Chronicles (1 - 2): The Crown Tower | The Rose and the Thorn
◈ Legends of the First Empire (1 - 3): Age of Myth | Age of Swords | Age of War
◈ Riyria Chronicles (3 - 4): Death of Dulgath | Disappearance of Winter's Daughter
◈ Legends of the First Empire (4 - 6): Age of Legend | Age of Death | Age of Empyre
◈ Rise and Fall (1 - 3): Nolyn | Farilane | Esrahaddon
◈ Riyria Chronicles (5): Drumindor
(hide spoiler)],
however our lovely moderator Judith is a big fan of the series/universe and had this to say in the pre-challenge chat: (view spoiler)[

"Theft of Swords, Rise of Empire, Heir of Novron to start. In these Royce and Hadrian's relationship as friends and business partners is established already. And in these you get references to The Crown Tower or Drumindor (and the others in this series).

So I found it fun after I read the main series to then read The Crown Tower (this is where they meet). Some of it I found more entertaining because you know where they end up and it's kind of amazing that they manage to get there.

However, if you start with The Crown Tower, you don't spoil anything for yourself. Drumindor is actually the most recent publication out of all of the entire list.
The Crown Tower
The Rose and the Thorn
The Death of Dulgath
The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter
Drumindor

The Legends series (all the books that start with "Age of"). These take place 1000 years before Royce and Hadrian's story. And is really the story of how the empire of man came to be and characters and places in this series get referenced in the other books but almost a myths and fables. In these you get the "real" story. You could start with these if you wanted to as well.

I actually read Age of Myth first because of an audible sale, then jumped to Theft of Swords because of a TT7 task and realized I loved Royce and Hadrian so did their books and then went back to the other series.

What I will say is Nolyn, Farilane, and Esrahaddon should be read last. These are almost stand alone books about important characters from the series but you will spoil a lot if you read these first. And will not understand a lot background things going on." (hide spoiler)]

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSIONS



2 Sep: The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon - discussion thread
16 Sep: Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang - discussion thread

2 Oct: Skyward by Brandon Sanderson - discussion thread

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Just

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Case

Hello and welcome explorers of Elan :)

I'm Christina (she/her) from Austria, and I will be your captain on this adventure 🫡 I work as waitress in my family's restaurant and most likely have adhd, so I'm online at random hours of the day (and night) (except for mornings, that's when I sleep 🤪) don't be surprised :D

I almost exclusively listen to audiobooks, mostly mystery/thrillers, contemporary fiction, and some horror thrown in. But I also read other genres on occasion, especially if the books are BOMs and give us bonus points 😉 as long as they spark my interest. And I also started doing Goodreads' official challenges a few months ago thanks to Judy!

The spell-out of wheelathon is always pretty straight forward and the mini challenges that get thrown at us throughout the challenge usually are too, however if you do have any questions please don't hesitate to ask (just make sure to double check the rules in the wheel or mini threads first please 😅)

But let's discuss this: how come the Riyria/Elan universe is such a big one, yet I had never even heard of any of the books or the author? How is this even possible?? What about y'all- please tell me you haven't been as ignorant as me! Or actually, please do. Make me feel less alone lol.

My shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hi everyone im Janine from England 👋👋

Im a bit of a challenge addict and usually have 10- 15 team /partber challenges on the go at any one time 😄😄
I read mm romance pretty exclusivly , and if its paired with a mystery at the same time ..then even better .
I havent heard of the Riyria/Elan universe either and tbh it doesnt sound like my cup of tea either

Heres my shelf Wheel 11
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Im off to bed now so hopefully everyone else will have arrived when i wake up 😁

Hello everyone.
I'm Sana from Pakistan and this is my third wheel. Had to skip last wheel because of numerous health issues but I'm so glad to be here.

I read all genres but fantasy and historical fiction are my favorite and I avoid non fiction.

I love Riyria books. I got a couple of short stories from the author, introducing his two protagonists and was asked to leave a review on GR. This was more than a decade ago. Since then I have been in love with Royce and Hadrian.

It's a great time for a reread of Revelation/ Chronicles. And I haven't read the Rise and Fall trilogy. I'm so looking forward to it.

My shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hey there!

I'm AJ (they/them). I'm from BC, Canada in pacific time. This is my first wheel and the 4th goodreads challenge I've ever joined.

I read sci-fi, fantasy and romance (mm, alien, and monster ones mostly).

I've never heard of Riyria before this challenge even though I'm a fantasy person!

Heres my shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hi everyone!

I'm Judy (she/her) from Germany and one of your co-captains for this adventure! While I took a break from captaining for this towers, me and Christina have been captaining for years at this point so we've got plenty of experience :)

The Riyria have been on my somewhat extended TBR for a while in the sense that I'm aware of them and interested the way I am in many big fantasy universes, without any concrete plans to pick them up at any point soon... but for bonus points... I've placed some holds with my library and we'll see what comes in over the next few weeks!

I read all over the place but usually no thrillers, horror or mysteries please! Every once in a while I'll pick something from those genres up and well... it doesn't often go well (though I do really need to get around to House of Leaves before the end of the year, a friend lent me their copy almost two years ago 😬)

My shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...