If you love fantasy books as much as I do, I think you’ll be thrilled to find out about the Magical Readathon from Book Roast.
This is a fantasy readathon mashed up with a bit of a role-playing game where Book Roast has created an entire magical world taking us on a journey as we read fantasy books.
This month, we’re introduced to Orilium & begin on the Novice Path. If we choose to continue into next year, we then create a character to join the Orilium Magic Academy & read even more fantasy books.
How cute is this map Book Roast created?
Here’s how it works
This month, you’ll become acquainted with Orilium. You can then follow along on Twitter, YouTube, or Discord. There, Book Roast will also be hosting a fun (optional) reading sprint & announcing a “choice all novices must make.” Muahaha!
By September 30, you’ll then need to read at least 2 books from the reading prompts (check them out below along with my suggestions for global reads).
If you choose to continue into next year, you’ll craft a character any time between now & April that will join the Orilium Magic Academy. The academy will be a team-based fantasy readathon taking place next year. To get to the academy, you’ll create your character based upon additional reading prompts you select & what you’re drawn to in terms of character traits. Book Roast includes full character sheets for you to check out detailing the different people of this magical world like the violet skin of the Skaimorn & it's affinity with demonology, or the dry humor of the dwarf & the defensive properties of the pressured emeralds embedded into its armor.
Ready to Get Started?
1. Watch the intro video below or read the transcript from Book Roast here.
2. Determine how you’ll follow the Magical Readathon: Twitter, YouTube, or Discord.
3. Choose which books to read this month for the Novice Path based upon the prompts.
Note: Book Roast provides a Google Drive of Orilium resources included here. But to make things easier & also provide some global book suggestions, I’ve listed the reading prompts below. You’ll need to choose at least 2 prompts to read.
4. Once you’ve read a book for a prompt, you’ll log it here by Sept. 30.
5. After you’ve finished your prompts, you can decide whether you want to join the Orilium Magic Academy next year. If so, you can then begin crafting your character.
The September Reading Prompts & Some Global Book Suggestions
The Novice Path Entrance - Read a book with a map
Any book with a map will work, but I suggest this bestseller from Germany. It’s fantastic! I’ll be reading book 2 in the series for this prompt which also has a map in it.
For countless millennia, the dwarves of the Fifthling Kingdom have defended the stone gateway into Girdlegard. Many and varied foes have hurled themselves against the portal and died attempting to breach it. No man or beast has ever succeeded. Until now. . .
Abandoned as a child, Tungdil the blacksmith labors contentedly in the land of Ionandar, the only dwarf in a kingdom of men. Although he does not want for friends, Tungdil is very much aware that he is alone—indeed, he has not so much as set eyes on another dwarf. But all that is about to change.
Sent out into the world to deliver a message and reacquaint himself with his people, the young foundling finds himself thrust into a battle for which he has not been trained. Not only his own safety, but the life of every man, woman and child in Girdlegard depends upon his ability to embrace his heritage. Although he has many unanswered questions, Tungdil is certain of one thing—no matter where he was raised, he is a true dwarf.
And no one has ever questioned the courage of the dwarves.
Ashtorn Tree: a book that keeps tempting you (or top of your TBR)
You can read any book that’s been tempting you, but unless you’ve somehow missed all the frenzy, I bet the 1st Witcher book (from Poland) has intrigued you. I adored it!
Geralt the Witcher—revered and hated—holds the line against the monsters plaguing humanity in this collection of adventures, the first chapter in the NY Times bestselling series that inspired the hit Netflix show and the blockbuster video games.
Geralt is a Witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary killer. His sole purpose: to destroy the monsters that plague the world.
But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good…and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.
“Like a complicated magic spell, a Sapkowski novel is a hodgepodge of fantasy, intellectual discourse, and dry humor. Recommended.” —Time
“The universe of The Witcher is one of the most detailed and best-explored in modern fantasy, offering endless opportunities for fresh ideas. Complex character relationships enrich this already complex world; this is the sort of series fantasy fans will cherish.” —B&N
“Delightful, intense, irreverent, and compelling....you have to read The Witcher books because they are rife with all of the elements that make you love fiction, and especially fantasy, in the first place....In a word, The Witcher delivers.” ―Hypable
The Mist of Solitude: Read a standalone
Any standalone novel will meet this prompt, but I plan on reading this vampire fiction from Sweden which has been recommended to me a number of times.
The international bestselling book which was named Best Novel in Translation…
It is autumn 1981 when inconceivable horror comes to Blackeberg, a suburb in Sweden. The body of a teenager is found, emptied of blood, the murder rumored to be part of a ritual killing. Twelve-year-old Oskar is personally hoping that revenge has come at long last—revenge for the bullying he endures at school, day after day. But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind.
A new girl has moved in next door—a girl who has never seen a Rubik's Cube before, but who can solve it at once. There is something wrong with her, though, something odd. And she only comes out at night.
Spectacular faves have been lavished on both the book and the film which swept top honors at film festivals all over the globe.
“It's easy to compare Lindqvist to Clive Barker and Neil Gaiman.” —Dagens Næringsliv
“Absolutely chilling. This page-turner grabs you from the onset and just won't let go.” —L. A. Banks
“A brilliant take on the vampire myth, and a roaring good story.” —Kelley Armstrong
Ruin of the Skye: read a book featuring ghosts/haunted house, or other supernatural elements
Any supernatural book will fit this prompt, but I recommend this ghostly mystery from Germany which is just plain fun & also great as an audiobook too.
Shortlisted for Germany's Friedrich Glauser Prize for best crime novel.
Coroner is the perfect job for Dr. Martin Gänsewein, who spends his days in peace and quiet autopsying dead bodies for the city of Cologne. Shy, but scrupulous, Martin appreciates his taciturn clients—until the day one of them starts talking to him. It seems the ghost of a recently deceased (and surprisingly chatty) small-time car thief named Pascha is lingering near his lifeless body in drawer number four of Martin's morgue. He remains for one reason: his “accidental” death was, in fact, murder.
Pascha is furious his case will go unsolved—to say nothing of his body's dissection upon Martin's autopsy table. But since Martin is the only person Pascha can communicate with, the ghost settles in with the good pathologist, determined to bring the truth of his death to light. Now Martin's staid life is rudely upended as he finds himself navigating Cologne's red-light district and the dark world of German car smuggling. Unless Pascha can come up with a plan—and fast—Martin will soon be joining him in the spirit world. Witty and unexpected, Morgue Drawer Four introduces a memorable (and reluctant) detective unlike any other in fiction today.
Obsidian Falls: read a thriller or a mystery book
There are tons of thrillers & mysteries which will fit this prompt, but this unique cyberpunk/urban fantasy mash-up set in an alt Johannesburg from a South African author is pure magic.
Multi-award winner including the Arthur C. Clarke Award & Publisher's Weekly Best of the Year Sci Fi & Fantasy among others
A unique cyberpunk/urban fantasy mash-up set in an alt Johannesburg where murderers and other criminals have magical animals mystically bonded to them for their crimes.
Zinzi has a sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit, and a talent for finding lost things. When a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, Zinzi’s forced to take on her least favorite kind of job—missing persons.
Being hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a teenybop pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions live in the shadow of hell’s undertow. Instead, it catapults Zinzi deeper into the maw of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she’ll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives including her own.
“This book is a must read for lovers of South African fiction and urban fantasy alike. It is edgy and pacey. Like a rollercoaster ride, it sweeps you up, spins you around, turns you upside down and dumps you out on the other end, heady and breathless and yearning for more.” —Exclus1ves
"At times, the witty and lyrical prose is sheer magic, the story captivating and the characters exotic, cruel and beautiful while the backdrop of Johannesburg seethes with hidden, lurking dangers around every corner, Zoo City is quite simply captivating.” —SciFi & Fantasy Books
“Beukes’s future city is as spiky, distinctive and material a place as any cyberpunkopolis, and quit a bit fresher. The narrative is brisk and well turned, but the great achievement here is tonal: atmospheric, smart and memorable work.” —Locus
Tower of Rumination: read a five star prediction
Any book you think will be a 5-star read will work for this prompt, but this series from an author born in Kazakhstan who now lives in Russia has been rated 5 stars by many including me.
“Night Watch is an epic of extraordinary power.” —Quentin Tarantino
“Brace yourself for [an adult version of] Harry Potter in Gorky Park. . . . The novel contains some captivating scenes and all kinds of marvelous, inventive detail.” —The Washington Post Book World
They are the “Others,” an ancient race of supernatural beings—magicians, shape-shifters, vampires, and healers—who live among us. Human born, they must choose a side to swear allegiance to—the Dark or the Light—when they come of age.
For a millennium, these opponents have coexisted in an uneasy peace, enforced by defenders like the Night Watch, forces of the Light who guard against the Dark. But prophecy decrees that one supreme ‘Other’ will arise to spark a cataclysmic war.
Anton Gorodetsky, an untested mid-level Light magician with the Night Watch, discovers a cursed young woman—an Other of tremendous potential unallied with either side—who can shift the balance of power. With the battle lines between Light and Dark drawn, the magician must move carefully, for one wrong step could mean the beginning of annihilation.
“An international bestseller [as] potent as a shot of vodka. . . . [A] compelling urban fantasy.” —Publishers Weekly
Orilium Academy Arc: book with a school setting
You can choose any book set in a school for this prompt, but I recently loved reading this book from Sweden (& I’m not really a YA fan so that’s saying a lot).
Minoo wakes up outside her house, still in her pajamas, and is drawn by an invisible force to an abandoned theme park on the outskirts of town. Soon five of her classmates—Vanessa, Linnéa, Anna-Karin, Rebecka, and Ida—arrive, compelled by the same force. A mystical being takes over Ida’s body and tells them they are fated to fight an ancient evil that is hunting them. As the weeks pass, each girl discovers she has a unique magical ability. They begin exploring their powers. The six are wildly different and definitely not friends . . . but they are the Chosen Ones.
In this gripping first installment of The Engelsfors Trilogy, a parallel world emerges in which teenage dreams, insanely annoying parents, bullying, revenge, and love collide with dangerous forces and ancient magic.
An international sensation across 26 countries, The Circle is razor-sharp and remarkable from start to finish.
“What a stunning novel. Raw, real, smart, very thrilling and very, very wicked. The Circle is Twilight by way of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” —Lev Grossman, bestselling author of The Magicians
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