By Kate Keehan

Posted on December 26, 2018 in Books, Fantasy, Fun Stuff, News, Science Fiction, Young Adult with tags

It’s the mooost wonderful time of the year!

 

No, not Christmas. It’s that glorious time in between Christmas and New Year’s Day when you get to look back on the year just past, make plans for the year to come… AND your house may just be full of leftover tasty things that need polishing off. I love preparing for the New Year – busily buying fresh stationery, setting goals and swearing that, come the 1^st of January, I will be a New Woman who wakes early for morning yoga and eats salad by choice.

All right, so some New Year’s resolutions just aren’t realistic for me. But somehow, I always manage to set achievable reading goals for myself (uh, maybe because reading is way more fun than salad?) and one of the things I love best is choosing an exciting new reading challenge to follow throughout the year.

This year, we’re excited to launch the first Hodderscape Reading Challenge, to help bring some sci-fi and fantasy flair to your reading life in 2019! With just one prompt a month, we hope it will be fun and easy to stick to, and most importantly will help you discover your next favourite SFF read. We’ve included some favourite suggestions for each challenge (but feel free to choose your own!) and a handy dandy printable checklist, which will look marvellous pinned up on your wall.

1) A book based on mythology or folklore

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
American Gods by Neil Gaiman

2) A non-fiction book by a SFF author

On Writing by Stephen King
In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood
The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley

3) A work of sci-fi or fantasy in translation

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
A Planet for Rent by Yoss
The Core of the Sun by Johanna Sinisalo

4) A book being adapted for movie or TV in 2019

Pet Sematary by Stephen King
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

5) A novel featuring dragons

His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

6) A work of sci-fi by a female or non-binary author

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

7) A book told from multiple character POVs

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
The 100 by Kass Morgan

8) A book with a non-human protagonist

The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Emily Eternal by M.G. Wheaton
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

9) A retelling of a classic fairytale

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue
The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross

10) A book set in a dystopian future

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Dead Lands by Benjamin Percy
Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill

11) A book set on a different planet or space station

Light Years by Kass Morgan
The Martian by Andy Weir
Red Rising by Pierce Brown

12) A book inspired by real-world history

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Songwoman by Ilka Tampke

Don’t forget to download your printable checklist here and share your progress with the #HodderscapeReadingChallenge hashtag!

Happy reading, Hodderscapers!