May 2022 TBR – Medievalathon Round 4

Hi everyone! I’m very excited about my May TBR, and that’s mainly because it’s round 4 of Medievalathon which is hosted by Holly over at HollyHeartsBooks on YouTube! This is my favorite (and only) readathon that I participate in, partly because I just love the way it’s set up, and also because I want to support Holly because she’s amazing! Without further ado, let’s get into the set up of this readathon and the prompts!

Medievalathon Set Up

This is a month long readathon where you rank up for each book you read to go from prisoner to emperor/empress. There are also professions that you can choose to do, which is where the prompts come in. I’ll leave a link to Holly’s Medievalathon 2022 video where she goes over all the rules and the different professions, and I’ll just be talking about my selections here in this post.

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I’m going to be attempting two professions because I couldn’t choose which one I wanted to focus on, so that means I’m going to be trying to finish 10 books in May, which hopefully should be doable but the most I’ve read in a month has only been 8, so wish me luck!

Bard Profession

Read a book with a great first line

Daughter of Redwinter by Ed McDonald is one of the ARCs that I have that I need to read next, and it fits perfectly for this prompt! The opening line is “The stories of this age begin and end with blood, and mine is no exception.” It sounds so interesting and makes me really excited to read this book! In this world, having the ability to speak to the dead is a death sentence. The main character has this ability and after rescuing a woman in the snow who escaped from the fortress called Redwinter, she realizes that her ability may be able to save a nation. It sounds interesting and I can’t wait to start reading it!

A book with a travel element

For this prompt, I chose the next book in the Veronica Speedwell series An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn. I’ve been listening to this series on audiobook, and it’s such a fun series and the narration is fantastic! This series follows Veronica and her friend Stoker around 19th century England as they solve mystery after mystery. There is almost always some sort of travel element in each book in the series, whether that’s going from one side of London to the other, or traveling to other parts on the country so I think it fits for this prompt!

A book title that’s a characters name

I’m choosing yet another ARC for this prompt! I’ll hopefully be reading Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy for this prompt. This is a debut horror novel, and the synopsis compares it to Midsommar, with a bit of American Psycho and I’ll Be Gone in the Dark mixed in. It follows a middle aged woman named Mary who can’t look in a mirror without passing out and voices in her head start telling her to do unspeakable things. Then she realizes that these experiences are connected to an infamous serial killer.

A book over 400 pages

A lot of the books I’m reading this month (hopefully) are around 400 pages, but since we aren’t supposed to use one book for multiple prompts, I’m going with Rise of the Mages by Scott Drakeford, which is a book that I’ve wanted to read for a while so I’ll finally be getting around to it now! This follows a guy who wants to be a weapons master, but finds that he is a powerful mage and must embrace his powers to rescue his enslaved brother.

A book with multiple authors

I don’t have many books that have multiple authors, and one of the other ones that I have I’m actually using for another prompt, so I’m choosing The Ravens by Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige. All I really know about this book is that it’s about a sorority that is actually a coven of witches, which sounds interesting.

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Blacksmith Profession

Read a book with gold, silver or bronze in the title or cover

For this prompt I’m choosing The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah. I actually had this book on a previous TBR because originally I thought it came out in May but then when I was going through Goodreads it had it listed as releasing in March, so I thought I was behind but then Netgalley has it listed as May, so I don’t really know why Goodreads has been having different release dates recently. This is inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, and I’m very excited about it!

A book you’re scared to read

The book I’m choosing for this prompt I’m scared to read because I don’t know at all what to expect from it. I’ve heard people rave about it, and I’ve heard people say it’s terrible so I really don’t know what I’ll think about it. For this prompt, I’ll be reading Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon which is a spicy scifi romance with blue aliens, which could really go either way for me, but I’m curious to see what I think of it!

A book with a weapon on the cover

I’ve been wanting to read this book ever since it was recommended to me and I just haven’t had a chance to get around to reading it. For this prompt, I’ll be reading Song of Blood and Stone by L Penelope, which is a fantasy about two kingdoms that are separated by a magical veil, and a woman who has the gift of Earthsong who is thrust into a war between the two kingdoms. I feel like I haven’t heard anyone talk about this series, but I’m very excited to read it!

A hardcover

I decided to go a little easier on myself with this prompt, and I chose Gallant by V.E Schwab because it seems like it’ll be a fairly quick read. I have the Illumicrate edition, and it’s a hardcover! This was by far the easiest prompt to choose a book for. From what I’ve heard, Gallant is about a girl who is invited to live with her family at an estate where some weird things start happening. I’ve seen a lot of people say that this is more middle grade than YA, but either way, I’m very excited to read it because in general I really enjoy Schwab’s writing!

A series finale

The final book I’m choosing for this readathon is Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I was able to read the other two books in this series within a day, so I’m thinking that will be the same for this one. This is also a series that I’ll be unhauling but I wanted to finish the final book before I did that. This is set in space, with a corrupt corporation who is trying to coverup their plans, kind of like your typical sci-fi.

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And finally, here’s a look at the spread I made in my bullet journal for the readathon, which I really enjoyed making!