The first full round is here! I am so so excited – I adore G @bookroast‘s magical readathons so much!! They’re a hell of a lot of fun, and feel so immersive! The world that G has created is absolutely amazing too – I am in awe.
The premise is that we’re all attending a floating magical academy, Orilium, and we will read books to complete our exams for our chosen callings (i.e. degree). The exams happen in April and August each year, and what calling you choose in April, will also be the same for August – with August’s prompt list being a bit more challenging volume-wise. There’s also been some set-up before this round of the readathon, where we have created characters, been sorted into guilds, picked our conduits, and reached the academy in a mini-readathon when G first announced the world. It has already been so much fun building up to this point! I definitely recommend checking it out – it’s really laid back, and you don’t need to do all the little bits I mentioned before starting this month’s readathon.
Anywho, I’m going to stop gushing, and start telling you what I’ve picked.
There are various callings to choose from, and after much deliberation (as it was so hard to choose one, they all super appealed to me), I’ve gone with demonologist.
For April, this calling has 6 prompts, which is ideal for me, as my reading has been rather hit and miss lately. So even if I don’t pick up a book for half the month, I should still finish!
School of Magic: Elemental Studies
Course Focus | Basics of air dynamics (read a book under 100 pages)
It’s been a while since I’ve read a classic, so I have decided to look there for a short book – after looking around on Goodreads I’ve settled on The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde. I’ve loved the other works by Wilde that I’ve read so far, and from the blurb on Goodreads, it sounds like another winner for me – and clocks in at 60-70 pages, depending on the edition according to Goodreads.
School of Magic: Shapeshifting
Course Focus | Formation: Claws (a creature with claws on the front cover)
You can’t see the claws, but dogs definitely do have claws – and there is one on the cover. For this one, I’ve chosen a book I have been meaning to pick up since it was released (and I actually pre-ordered, I am terrible) – Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Another author who hasn’t done me wrong yet – and a neo-noir book about vampires? Definitely sign me up.
School of Magic: Spells & Incantations
Course Focus | Anti-gravity spell (short story/stories or essay/essays)
All Systems Red by Martha Wells is a book that seems to always get away from. It’s been on countless tbr’s I’ve set myself, but I never seem to get around to it -hopefully this time I will finally meet the sassy AI murderbot I hear such good things about.
School of Magic: Conjuration
Course Focus | Conjuring of light (a source of light on the cover)
Another book that seems to keep getting away from me, and although it’d probably be perfect for autumn (although I feel most my tbr probably would be haha), I’m choosing The Haunting of Aveline Jones by Phil Hickes. It’s a middle grade that I keep hearing amazing things about – and it depicts a girl (I assume Aveline) holding a torch on the cover. Perfect!
School of Magic: Demonology
Course Focus | Shadow demons (the word shadow in the title)
This is turning in a theme, but how I haven’t read this one yet still blows my mind. But I guess it’s worked out well, as I stared at my bookshelves for way too long looking for something I hadn’t yet read that has “shadow” in the title… I’ll finally be reading The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne. I have super high expectations for this, and book two comes out in April, so I suppose I’ve saved myself a super long wait ahaha.
School of Magic: Lore
Course Focus | Myths most known (a mythology-inspired book)
The lovely Celine @stuffcelinedoes gifted me a copy of A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haymes last year (I said my reading hasn’t been great…) when I won a little competition for her bookclub The Bookwanderers (you should totally check it out btw – there is an ongoing readathon [mar-may] with the theme Beauty in Bloom). This prompt for Orilium is the perfect excuse to finally get around to reading it! It is another I have high expectations for loving.
The Bookworm's Feast 
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