First published on: April 5, 2020
Updated on: September 15, 2020
So, for 2019, while I ended up cramming in a lot of books during the last two months of the year, it was not without sacrifices (of time and health lol,) the only good outcome was that I was out of the slump, and it got me back to seriously thinking about organizing this blog. At the end of 2019, I decided to plan a bit for 2020, and enlisted help from fellow GR readers with the following poll:
Okay, I also think this is probably a good time to give a little background info about myself bahahaha. TBH, I don't see myself as a (high) fantasy person; I like magic and superpowers, don't get me wrong, but I prefer a world set in one not sooooooo different from ours, I'd like a dash of magic that I'd love to imagine possible for me to actually be a part of (coughs, typical Harry Potter fan, much?) And this preference is shown in my earlier reading days, Harry Potter, Inkworld, and Sookie Stackhouse. Then 2015 happened, The Lunar Chronicles and Dangerous Creatures eventually led to me getting a GR account, and that basically blew my whole reading world wide open (unsure if this sentence makes any sense but anyways lmao.) That with the combination of frequent Wikia/Fandom use, I became aware of books that are apparently pretty big deals for... whoever that reads. Just so you know, TLC was actually a leap of faith because it's set in a distance future; I honestly only gave it a go because I'm big on fairytales. If there's for some reason people who are vaguely aware of my reading habits, you'd probably noticed that for the longest time, Septimus Heap, was the only series that was remotely close to having a world-building that's very un-relatable to our own. The next was Loom Saga, and though I admit, the ratio of this genre has definitely risen, I think it's still safe to say "I'm not big on it."
Now, why the need for stating all this? Mostly because I'm afraid for people who only became aware of my existence in 2020, they'd likely mistaken me as some fantasy nut due to the type of series I'm suddenly binge-reading one after another. I think it should be noted that the fact that they are all first-reads; it should show that I previously held no interests, and um, kind of still don't lmao. It was precisely because of the results of the poll above, that I decided, heck, if I'm going to read those fantasy books, I might as well read those apparent hotshots and big-guns, the ones people talk about, the ones that seemed so hyped.
It's funny how one thing could lead to countless others. I executed my first plans exactly the way I imagined, the two "historical -ish" series, done, and moving on. But then there's the fantasy one. I managed to secure a buddy-read partner for Study, and I was going to read Glass and Soulfinders after that, and likely get onto what's actually the selections in the poll, but not long after, I was prompted to might as well finally try The Shadow and Bone Trilogy (The Grisha Trilogy) and The Six of Crows Duology, and then that's when an option, Frostblood Saga to be more specific, where this whole ordeal originated from, first got prioritized and actually be read. But the streak obviously does not end there; I did not really imagine that, by April, I'm STILL reading fantasy! (Oh, it should be noted that, I came up with the plan in late January, and everything I wrote could have been written not long after that because I did follow my plan; it's just everything after that are more recent updates; I penned this summery blog post in early April, and will keep updating it.)
The only real slight game changer, was the announcement of Battle Ground; originally, I was going to wrap up the fantasy stuff no later than early April; in fact, the "no later than early April" was already an afterthought and compromise, a decision only made for the inclusion of a trilogy that has an upcoming companion book, aka Fire and Thorns; then I was going to move onto series that has worlds collide, like having a separate fantasy world alongside our real world, then series set in alternate history with supernatural/paranormal elements, then finally the "supernatural/paranormal (ish?)" batch, to connect with Peace Talks that comes out in mid July. Battle Ground changed this because I no longer need to get through all of the above by July but late September instead, since there's no way I can stand reading those 2 books separately when I could just easily binge-read them together.
That said, it's not to say I want to unlimitedly prolong this fantasy binge-read (because I don't lmao.) So far, I've already finished more than a handful of series that weren't originally in my plan, so I'm writing this down and hopefully it wouldn't escalate any further. Sans Fire and Thorns mentioned above,I located one more duology that I previously didn't think to read but fit the bill, though decided to fit it in the second half of the year, then the last item in the poll selection of this genre. (By May, the latter was also decided for the second half of the year.) There's another 3-book series that I'm trying to determine if it's a trilogy, and if yes, THAT should be it, I think, unless my blog suddenly have viewers participating in commenting and recommending me to must-read something lmao. So 3 (at most 4) series in this genre then I'd be moving onto my next plan. (All statements will be rephrased to name the actual series titles upon realization.)
As for the "worlds-collide" and "alt. history" books, there's roughly 5 trilogies in total (a little hard to be certain which batch the trilogies should be in without actually reading them.) For "supernatural/paranormal (ish?)", sans the four items in the poll, I should also be finally reading 2 "big-deals" lol, plus 1 trilogy I've been interested in reading, and possibly 1 hexalogy that's long overdue (though I'd only have access to physical copies, and I read those way slower.)
All of the above was penned before I read Fire and Thorns, and boy, had that trilogy and its companion book made me so... happy with what I've read, and just lazy and content for not reading anymore lmao. I'm serious, this paragraph and what comes after, is penned in September because I realized if I don't get this out, then there's no point in getting it out as the year is somewhat close to ending lmao. The irony is that, I'm now not totally certain about what "worlds-collide" and "alt. history" books I had planned to read. (I'm so horrible lmao.) I am unsure if I'm counting Oversight Trilogy as one of those but I'm just going to assume I did because it looks like I may not have all the resources for the others I might have possibly planned, or that, due to time constraint, I don't currently feel like prioritizing. Hating myself a little for being secretive, sighs, because I feel like it's prossible that I've eliminated some of what I currently think to have fit the bill, so I really can't be certain which "5" I meant. In order to not repeat the same mistake, here goes: Noctis Magicae, The Mapmakers Trilogy, The Fourline Trilogy and Kingdom on Fire, and I'm going to count Oversight Trilogy because I can't think of anything else at the moment. I'm also debating about The Diviners, but am not certain if I can fit that in. Am not certain if I can fit any of them to be honest.
For "supernatural/paranormal (ish?)", I know what the "1 trilogy I've been interested in reading, and possibly 1 hexalogy that's long overdue" are, and firmly so, so I'm going to risk once again being mysterious lmao. (Updates: the underlined part has basically been decided to be withheld for next no later than October.) That said, again not entirely sure about the "2 big-deals", because I've def. played around with the idea for quite a few of those. I may however end up reading this batch all after Battle Ground, as it really is near publication as I penned this update. Life is just so full of surprises bahahaha.
This blog post may continue to be updated, because, for people who have been paying attention, you'd notice that I have quite a few in my mind to read "close to the end of the year." lol I'm just going to post this and see how it turns out for what I've already laid out for now. Feel free to share thoughts on the matter, do you read with a theme? What books are you reading? Even if it's well after the year has past, comments are, as usual, very welcomed. =D
Updated on: September 15, 2020
So, for 2019, while I ended up cramming in a lot of books during the last two months of the year, it was not without sacrifices (of time and health lol,) the only good outcome was that I was out of the slump, and it got me back to seriously thinking about organizing this blog. At the end of 2019, I decided to plan a bit for 2020, and enlisted help from fellow GR readers with the following poll:
Okay, I also think this is probably a good time to give a little background info about myself bahahaha. TBH, I don't see myself as a (high) fantasy person; I like magic and superpowers, don't get me wrong, but I prefer a world set in one not sooooooo different from ours, I'd like a dash of magic that I'd love to imagine possible for me to actually be a part of (coughs, typical Harry Potter fan, much?) And this preference is shown in my earlier reading days, Harry Potter, Inkworld, and Sookie Stackhouse. Then 2015 happened, The Lunar Chronicles and Dangerous Creatures eventually led to me getting a GR account, and that basically blew my whole reading world wide open (unsure if this sentence makes any sense but anyways lmao.) That with the combination of frequent Wikia/Fandom use, I became aware of books that are apparently pretty big deals for... whoever that reads. Just so you know, TLC was actually a leap of faith because it's set in a distance future; I honestly only gave it a go because I'm big on fairytales. If there's for some reason people who are vaguely aware of my reading habits, you'd probably noticed that for the longest time, Septimus Heap, was the only series that was remotely close to having a world-building that's very un-relatable to our own. The next was Loom Saga, and though I admit, the ratio of this genre has definitely risen, I think it's still safe to say "I'm not big on it."
Now, why the need for stating all this? Mostly because I'm afraid for people who only became aware of my existence in 2020, they'd likely mistaken me as some fantasy nut due to the type of series I'm suddenly binge-reading one after another. I think it should be noted that the fact that they are all first-reads; it should show that I previously held no interests, and um, kind of still don't lmao. It was precisely because of the results of the poll above, that I decided, heck, if I'm going to read those fantasy books, I might as well read those apparent hotshots and big-guns, the ones people talk about, the ones that seemed so hyped.
It's funny how one thing could lead to countless others. I executed my first plans exactly the way I imagined, the two "historical -ish" series, done, and moving on. But then there's the fantasy one. I managed to secure a buddy-read partner for Study, and I was going to read Glass and Soulfinders after that, and likely get onto what's actually the selections in the poll, but not long after, I was prompted to might as well finally try The Shadow and Bone Trilogy (The Grisha Trilogy) and The Six of Crows Duology, and then that's when an option, Frostblood Saga to be more specific, where this whole ordeal originated from, first got prioritized and actually be read. But the streak obviously does not end there; I did not really imagine that, by April, I'm STILL reading fantasy! (Oh, it should be noted that, I came up with the plan in late January, and everything I wrote could have been written not long after that because I did follow my plan; it's just everything after that are more recent updates; I penned this summery blog post in early April, and will keep updating it.)
The only real slight game changer, was the announcement of Battle Ground; originally, I was going to wrap up the fantasy stuff no later than early April; in fact, the "no later than early April" was already an afterthought and compromise, a decision only made for the inclusion of a trilogy that has an upcoming companion book, aka Fire and Thorns; then I was going to move onto series that has worlds collide, like having a separate fantasy world alongside our real world, then series set in alternate history with supernatural/paranormal elements, then finally the "supernatural/paranormal (ish?)" batch, to connect with Peace Talks that comes out in mid July. Battle Ground changed this because I no longer need to get through all of the above by July but late September instead, since there's no way I can stand reading those 2 books separately when I could just easily binge-read them together.
That said, it's not to say I want to unlimitedly prolong this fantasy binge-read (because I don't lmao.) So far, I've already finished more than a handful of series that weren't originally in my plan, so I'm writing this down and hopefully it wouldn't escalate any further. Sans Fire and Thorns mentioned above,
As for the "worlds-collide" and "alt. history" books, there's roughly 5 trilogies in total (a little hard to be certain which batch the trilogies should be in without actually reading them.) For "supernatural/paranormal (ish?)", sans the four items in the poll, I should also be finally reading 2 "big-deals" lol, plus 1 trilogy I've been interested in reading, and possibly 1 hexalogy that's long overdue (though I'd only have access to physical copies, and I read those way slower.)
All of the above was penned before I read Fire and Thorns, and boy, had that trilogy and its companion book made me so... happy with what I've read, and just lazy and content for not reading anymore lmao. I'm serious, this paragraph and what comes after, is penned in September because I realized if I don't get this out, then there's no point in getting it out as the year is somewhat close to ending lmao. The irony is that, I'm now not totally certain about what "worlds-collide" and "alt. history" books I had planned to read. (I'm so horrible lmao.) I am unsure if I'm counting Oversight Trilogy as one of those but I'm just going to assume I did because it looks like I may not have all the resources for the others I might have possibly planned, or that, due to time constraint, I don't currently feel like prioritizing. Hating myself a little for being secretive, sighs, because I feel like it's prossible that I've eliminated some of what I currently think to have fit the bill, so I really can't be certain which "5" I meant. In order to not repeat the same mistake, here goes: Noctis Magicae, The Mapmakers Trilogy, The Fourline Trilogy and Kingdom on Fire, and I'm going to count Oversight Trilogy because I can't think of anything else at the moment. I'm also debating about The Diviners, but am not certain if I can fit that in. Am not certain if I can fit any of them to be honest.
For "supernatural/paranormal (ish?)", I know what the "1 trilogy I've been interested in reading, and possibly 1 hexalogy that's long overdue" are, and firmly so, so I'm going to risk once again being mysterious lmao. (Updates: the underlined part has basically been decided to be withheld for next no later than October.) That said, again not entirely sure about the "2 big-deals", because I've def. played around with the idea for quite a few of those. I may however end up reading this batch all after Battle Ground, as it really is near publication as I penned this update. Life is just so full of surprises bahahaha.
This blog post may continue to be updated, because, for people who have been paying attention, you'd notice that I have quite a few in my mind to read "close to the end of the year." lol I'm just going to post this and see how it turns out for what I've already laid out for now. Feel free to share thoughts on the matter, do you read with a theme? What books are you reading? Even if it's well after the year has past, comments are, as usual, very welcomed. =D
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