Readalongs, Rereads & Reacquiantances

Happy New Year! 

To all you Fantasy Book Nerds everywhere!

Well, here we are on the first day of the New Year. I hope the celebrations went well and you were able to share time with everyone you hold special.

As we come into the New Year, I have no doubt that you may have set yourself new reading goals and Challenges. 

Me too! 

So, throughout 2021, I will be taking part in two readalongs with different groups. The first one is working my way through Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere books over at Ben's Blurbs.

This is reading a book a month starting with Elantris.

(it may take some time to write this post as my dog, Alfie, is obsessed with his new Christmas presents and is demanding to play! Calm down Alfie!)

I read Elantris earlier this year and although not Sanderson's best, it is quite good. I think the problem with Elantris is that many people come to it after reading Mistborn or The Stormlight Archives and the fact that Sanderson's greatness is already established. However, if we put Elantris into context and forget all that stuff, Elantris is an excellent debut from a promising new author. It has excellent worldbuilding and the magic system is exceellent with believable and enthralling characters. Yep, already Sanderson is developing his trademarks and they shine through.

(There is also a discord channel for this readalong called Cosmere conquest which is a lovely community of bloggers and people taking part)

The second readalong that I am taking part in is The Malazan readalong with the excellent Mike's Book Reviews. If you haven't seen Mike's Book Reviews on Youtube, I urge you to seek him out. He presents reviews of books in a warm, friendly and comprehensive way (and he has a cup and T-shirt collection to die for!).

As well as starting Elantris, I will also be reading Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson.

I have heard so many things about this series, and although I am looking forward to it, I do have a slight bit of trepidation entering into this one. So, I will update you with my progress.

There is plenty of support out there, particularly on my twitter buddy's excellent blog Under the Radar blog

Under the Radar is doing  a Discord channel to discuss and support those taking part, as well as Mike's Book Reviews Discord Channel (which you can find in the info for his channel on youtube)

I also have a buddy read with one of my other favorite book blogs Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub

For this buddy read, I am re - reading The Dragonlance Chronicles 

I read these many moons ago and I loved them. However, this will be like reading new books again for me bescause to be honest, I cannot recall much about them except the bare bones of the story, so I am looking forward to that immensley.

In addition to these books, I will be continuing to tackle the Mythical beast known as the TBR and bringing you reviews of the books that I have read. Starting with Blood, Metal, Bone by Lindsay Cummings. I need to write it first because I have only just finished it.

This year, I am determined to start my journey in The Banished Lands. Many of my book blogging compatriots have been telling me for ages that I need to read this as John Gwynne's books are excellent. So as a bit of a motivator, I went and bought the first two books yesterday, along with Northern Wrath by Thilde Kold Holdt.

Vikings on my mind!

So, In the inimitable words of a famous cartoon rabbit.

That's All Folks!

So, what plans do you have? 

Are you taking part in any readalongs or buddy reads? Have books that you plan to read? 

Whatever they are, I wish you all good luck and will hopefully see you back here again soon!

Happy Reading!