Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Team Mari




⚔ Cat (Captain)
⚔ Danielle (Co-Captain)
⚔ Jessica
⚔ CynRo ☾
⚔ Shaw
⚔ Melissa
⚔ Michelle's Empty Nest
⚔ Sarah
⚔ nicole
⚔ Klare
⚔ Stormie ~ Book Dragon ~

Team Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

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


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Planning Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
use this one to log books!

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Team Rules

1. Check the official rules!

2. Communicate regularly - we need you to post at least once a week, in addition to adding books to the sheet! If you don't you may get kicked off this challenge and future ones too :(

3. Be kind to each other - text messages can have all sorts of unintended things red into them. Assume that we are all messaging with good intentions.

4. Have fun!


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How to Play
The core requirement is to read books that fit out our Word of the Round. That's it.
There will be side quests, and we'll fit your books to those tasks, but they need to fit our wheel word first, and are completely optional.
Also, even if you are reading for a specific letter or task, we caps might put it somewhere else. But, any book that fits the word spell out will be used!

There are individual caps - what you signed up for - but also a team overspill allowance, so we can maximise use of books.

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BOM INFO

🔺 September BOMs
 2nd | The Frozen River | discussion thread
10th | Queens of the Jungle | discussion thread *backroom
16th | Blood Over Bright Haven | discussion thread



🔺 October BOMs
 2nd | Skyward | discussion thread


nominations open until 27th Aug, UK evening time
Oct Theme: Deep Clean
Oct General

World of Michael J. Sullivan


Titles that work for Bonus Points
Age of Myth
Age of Swords
Age of War
Age of Legend
Age of Death
Age of Empyre
Nolyn
Farilane
Esrahaddon
The Crown Tower
The Rose and the Thorn
The Death of Dulgath
The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter
Drumindor
Theft of Swords
Rise of Empire
Heir of Novron

Author’s recommended reading order (taken from his website)
• 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 Empire
• Rise and Fall (1 - 3): Nolyn | Farilane | Esrahaddon
• Riyria Chronicles (5): Drumindor

Judith's Notes on Reading Order from pre challenge chat :
Sullivan recommends publishing order

1. 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).

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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.

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Hello everyone, and welcome to a new team challenge, hot on the heels of Tower!

I think I've played with everyone on the team before, so rules reminder has been posted up top, and kept short!

Whilst the Wheel is themed around Michael J Sullivan's series of books, we do not need to have read any to enjoy the game! That said, we do get points for each book in the series that we read - only one set of points per book though :(

Anyway, as a reminder: me (she/her), from London, read a variety of genres, but love some fantasy as a comfort genre.
I've read the first three book (publication & rec reading order, not internal chronology), though a while ago

Hello team. I’m Danielle (she/her) and I’m from Wales.

I’m looking forward to another Wheels. I’ve heard of the series for this wheels theme but haven’t read any.

I mostly read romance with some others thrown in occasionally like fantasy and mystery.

Here’s my shelf wheel

oh! yes!
my shelf:
wheel-riyria

Hi everyone! Not sure I'm over Tower Teams yet, and here we are again. :)

I'm Sarah, from the UK. Looking forward to hunting out those 'U' books that get saved from one wheel to the next unread, lol!

I read most things, but am not fond of romance or horror, although I will read the occasional 'mild' ones. I do enjoy fantasy but have never read any of the Riyria books.

Thanks muchly, Danielle, for the recap of which books count and Judith's guide to the reading order. My library only has Age of Myth, which I was reluctant to start with as it was out of the recommended order, but it seems it will be fine, so I've put a hold on it.

My shelf is wheel-11

I've got family coming to visit this week, so may not be very present until the start of the challenge. They will have gone home by the time we start though so I will be raring to go on the 31st.

Hello team! Checking in today and will do a proper introduction tomorrow, excited to see how the whole challenge will look like :)

Also, just to let you know I volunteered for The Frozen River DQs before knowing the team so I have updated my message in the thread.

Hey, I'm Michelle from Georgia in the U.S.


I've never read or even heard of this series of books before. Who knows? Maybe I'll give them a try and love them!


I will read just about anything for a challenge, but my favorite genres are mystery/thriller and historical fiction.


My shelf is: wheels-11


I'm looking forward to getting started on this one!

Hi all! I'm Shaw from the Wild West in the U.S and this is my first time playing wheels! I also will read just about anything for a challenge but I do love my detective books particularly the hard boiled old school ones. I do enjoy fantasy but haven't read any of the above books.

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

Hi Team! Checking in and will do my introduction and shelf tomorrow. Looking forward to this challenge!

Hello team, as promised, this is my intro! My name is Cynthia and I live in Spain. I have been in a huuuge reading slump during the last couple of years and I can say that I am finally ready to sign up for team challenges. I took part in TT and now is Wheels time! I actually remember playing the Discworld's one a few years ago and it introduced me to Terry Pratchett's books, so I am looking forward to this.

I remember having Theft of Swords on my TBR, but I removed it in one of my "shelf" cleansings. This seems like destiny, so I am happy to give it a chance, at least to the first book.

I read quite varied genres, but mostly I read Fantasy, Romance, and Thrillers/Crime. I also enjoy historical fiction and try to introduce a classic from time to time.

I am actually excited about the new ACOTAR books, so I am doing a reread, and finally, I hope to read Nesta's book, which I have been putting off for so long!

This is my shelf: 2026-wheel-xi

Hey all! My shelf: wheel-2026

Nice to see some of you again and nice to meet some of you for the first time! I’m excited for wheel to start even tho we just ended TT. I think it’s good to just keep on rolling from one challenge to the next. No reason to ever stop… right?!? 🤪

My fav genres are fantasy, historical fiction, crime/mystery and romcom. I do plan on rereading the Maasverse during this challenge with some other ones mixed in. I’m going to give the Riyria books a chance. I’ve put Theft of Swords on hold at the library and should have it before the challenge starts.

Melissa wrote: "Hey all! My shelf: wheel-2026

Nice to see some of you again and nice to meet some of you for the first time! I’m excited for wheel to start even tho we just ended TT. I think it’s good to just kee..."

What order are you going to follow? I have started with A Court of Thorns and Roses but I was won,dering if I should have started with Throne of Glass

I’ve read them all before except Crescent City #2 and #3 but I would start with Throne of Glass then A Court of Thorns and Roses then Crescent City. That’s what I’m doing this time around. But you can read them in whichever order you want so it’s whatever you feel like really.

OKAY!!!!!

So we now have our first word, set of tags and scavenger hunt in text bonuses PLUS our first mini!

The first two weeks our spell out is:

MAWYNDULE

All books must fit that spell out

We get bonus points if we find either
"CRYPT" in the text or
"FAIRY TALE(S)" tag (10* minimum)
for the book used :)

Mini 1
This lasts the whole challenge, and is a wheel spin of tasks, lightly associated with the books in the Riyria sequence. We have three sets to work on at any one time, and can't use banked booked.
Danielle and I will update when we get new spins.
For this we'll probably work on a first come first used basis to get through tasks, so PLEASE don't get upset if a book you were reading for a specific task doesn't get used! Do shout if you are reading a stinker just for a task, though, and we'll bear that in mind when churning through :)

WHEEL TASKS

Our first three sets of tasks. One book per task!

The Rose and the Thorn
tagged "elves" at least 5 times
MC barters or trades something other than money for an item or service
drink(s) on cover
character's first name starts with G
title is in a format of "_______" and "________"

Drumindor
tagged "waiting" at least 5 times
character is a master at a specific trade, art, or skill
MC wants revenge
the word "dwarf" appears in the text
author initials found in IMPOSSIBLE

Farilane
tagged "owned-unread" at least 5 times
character is a scholar
feathers (more than 1) on the cover
contains time travel or visions of the future
character makes a significant sacrifice (your interpretation)

Does that all books count for the spell out apply to the books used for the tasks as well then?

All books have to be placed in the spell out.
After that we then look at what tasks it can fill in.

So, no point in getting excited about a *perfect* book for a task if it can't go in the spell out (and I've done that more times than I care to remember!)

Books used in spell outs don't have to fit anything else though.

Clear enough?

Got it - thanks

I’ll be checking my TBR tonight!

Clearly it is time I finally read Uprooted. No idea on tasks it would fit yet but there's a U and fairy tales. :) Found my first book!

Here’s our planning sheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

All info goes on the Books tab it will auto populate on other tabs when captains add ref codes (apart from the BOMs you’ll add that info to the BOM tab).

Columns E:T are for captains, but scroll past them and you’ll see where to add bonus, mini and letter info. Add all the options your book works for, that way it will make it easier for us to make the most of your books and move things around if necessary.

hurrah! I enjoyed Uprooted a lot, so fingers crossed for you :)

Hi All!

I'm Jessica from the UK. I mostly read MM romance, especially if it's fantasy, but I enjoy a bit of everything.

I'm excited to see a lot of fantasy specific tasks already!

I'll link my shelf once I'm back at my computer, which may be soon since I'm itching to start adding books to the planning sheet.

Looking forward to playing with you all!

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

I have added books that will complete The Rose and the Thorn but I can always change them if someone else wants to take the tasks.

I enjoyed Uprooted too!

Yay my reread for ACOTAR series is perfect for the mini tasks. I can see you all have started adding stuff to the SS so will do the same later today

Yes you can add your planned books to tracking sheet

Hi! Checking in but only on mobile now so can’t do much but don’t want to be replaced! Nice to meet you all! This is my first time playing and I’m excited to join this year. Will write more soon :)

Shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

That's all we need, Nicole!

Welcome to the team, and look forward to getting to know you!

Do remember - we need posts at least once a week to be sure you are still playing :)

The challenge starts Monday evening (UK time), and books used for this challenge must start after that deadline - 2100 UTC. Check the team sheets for countdowns!

I signed up for the DQs for The Frozen River (BOM), but no luck this time! We are the next team, but I am guessing all the assigned ones will participate. I will wait a couple of days to see what happens.

Maybe I will try to sign up for the one starting mid September if no one has. I was planning to buy The Frozen River if I got chosen for the DQs but, if in the end it is not the case, I might skip it and read something I already own.

Please welcome Klare to your team with 5 books per round. New team members have 48 hours to check in.

We still get points if you participate in BOMs so even tho you didn’t get picked to write DQs if you read the books within the time frame and answer 3 days worth of DQs we get points.

I’ve already read The Frozen River but I might read it again if I have time for an extra book. It was really good!

Welcome Nicole and Klare!

How do you captains want us to handle reading over our cap since we have to do so as a team? Should we post when we’ve reached our cap and see where we are at? I’ve signed up for 2 books a round but there’s a good chance most rounds I’ll be able to read 1 maybe 2 more.

Yes post when you’ve reached cap. You can add the extra you read to sheet, we’ll make sure to make the best use of them.

Hi everyone I’m Klare, I live in England.

I know a few of you from previous challenges, but hello to all the newbies.

I will read any genre (and any book if it helps a challenge) but currently I am really into crime, thrillers and horror.

If I’m not reading I’m usually with my dog Rolo, he’s a 4 year old Cockerpoo who loves going for walks and playing with his ball.

Here’s the link to my shelf

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

Welcome!

That’s us all checked in.

Hope everyone is ready for tomorrow, we start in about 26 hours. Anyone know what they’ll be starting with?

I’m trying to get my current reads finished. What time does it start in England ?

Klare wrote: "I’m trying to get my current reads finished. What time does it start in England ?"

10pm

Great thank you

Thanks Danielle, sounds good!

I’ll be starting with The Enchanted Greenhouse. I can’t wait to get started. I haven’t read a book in a week and it’s driving me nuts at night having nothing to do!