April is already very close by and so it is again time for the Magical Readathon!
It’s the spring equinox and all the students of the magical Academy of Orilium are expected back at school to resume their classes.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Bookroast, the creator of this readathon, eplains the entire concept from A to Z here. For the announcement of the upcoming edition in April, watch the video below.

This year is the third year that the readathon has been organized in this form and also my third year of participating. While in the beginning I only had a very vague idea of my character and what direction I wanted to go, it is now gradually taking shape.

Up to now

Meanwhile, my character has received a name: Liriope, an elf from the province of Kerador.

During her entrance exam to the University of Orilium, she was chosen to join the guild of the Mind Walkers, who focus on magic of a cognitive nature, such as the art of illusions, divination, spells & incantations and psionics, ranging from extrasensory perception to telepathy and psychokinesis. They also do not believe in the linearity of time and so the guild taught Liriope to perceive the Multiverse, which is very useful for making choices. With time and practice, she will even learn to go back in time!
The guild also helped her find a magic conduit that suited her, and that’s how she found her beloved dagger.

In her first year at university, Liriope chose the career Mage Hunter, the detectives and police of Aeldia. In the meantime, she has already completed two successful years and can proudly call herself an Apprentice.

During her first year, she did not want to overdue herself, but thanks to her successful exams for her chosen career and her helpfulness in a number of quests, she still gained quite a few reputation points with her guild.
She took that a step further in her second year. Not only did she successfully complete her exams for her career, she also obtained her pharmacist certificate, successfully summoned both a Celestial Moon impling and a spirit of a fox to keep her company, helped the Alchemy professor out, receiving in exchange a key granting her free access to the classroom and got invited to the illustrious secret society The Lunaries.
This allows her to start her third year with a whopping 690 guild reputation points! This score does mean that she has completed the easiest point level and has to start again in a more difficult level, and therefore cannot take advantage of certain advantages when taking her exams.

Year 3 – Spring Equinox

The Orilium academy offers a total of 14 subjects. Depending on your chosen career, some of these are mandatory. In the spring, only 1 exam or book reading is required for each of these mandatory subjects. Everything else is optional!

Required subkects

Liriope decided to continue her chosen career path and thus again follow the direction Mage Hunter in order to hopefully reach the level of Master this year!
For this she has to take four compulsory subjects, which is equivalent to reading four books according to the prompts per subject.

School of magic	Course Focus & Reading Prompt	TBR
Conjuration	Blinding Prism – Colour wheel: deep orange	Young, Adrienne – The Unmaking of June Farrow I bought the Fairyloot edition of this book this year and this was the first cover I thought of when the colour wheel gave me the colour deep orange
Elemental studies	Call lightning – Source of light on the cover	Abercrombie, Joe – A Little Hatred This is the February/March book of the #firstlawalong, which I have not yet started. Ideal for this prompt! Just like all previous First Law books, I’ll be reading this as an audiobook.
Restoration	Regaining Consciousness – Book you think could cure slumps	Hashem, Sara – The Jasad Heir This book was featured a while ago in an Illumicrate and is also the March/April pick for the A Frolick Through Fiction Patreon Bookclub. Moreover, Regan from PeruseProject recently read this book in a vlog and she was so passionate about it, that I immediately wanted to pick it up too. So I really hope this book will prove to be effective against reading slumps!
Spells & Incantations	Spell: Quick Count – Random number generator title length : [5-25]=17	White, Frances – Voyage of the Damned This was the Illumicrate pick of January and the title has exactly 17 charachters (excluding the spaces), which is perfect for this prompt and fits in my intention to read my subscription books more quickly!

Extra credit

Whilst choosing my TBR for Liriope’s required subjects, I hoped to include as many of my book club books as possible. Unfortunately, this didn’t work: there are four books that I definitely want to read in April, and I could only fit two in the required prompts. That’s why I looked further at the other prompts and also filled in the rest for fun.
Chances are extremely slim that I’ll get through all of these books in April, but choosing and planning before the start of a readathon has always been a big part of the fun!

School of magic	Course Focus & Reading Prompt	TBR
Alchemy	Transmutation circles – Circle on the cover	Jensen, Danielle L. – A Fate Inked in Blood High time to read books from my Fairyloot Adult subscription again after my lament about what blocked me to continue reading these books. This book was the February 2024 pick and fits the prompt perfectly, with the large shield front and center on the cover. It still feels a little awkward that I would be reading the February book, while I still haven’t read the January one, but thanks to the fact that I already posted an unboxing, I feel less obliged to have to read this books in order of receipt. An additional reason why I wanted this book for a prompt, is because it was chosen as the very first book club pick for my guild of the Mind Walkers!
Animal studies	Pebble Ducks – Yellow title	Kaner, Hannah – Godkiller Illumicrate scores well for completing these prompts! This is also an Illumicrate pick, from January 2023. Looking at the cover, it could also be chosen for the previous assignment, but I selected it for its yellow (or gold) title. By the way, I’ve heard nothing but positive things about this relatively short book, considering it’s a fantasy, so I’m very curious.
Art of Illusion	Shadow Play – Word ‘game’ or ‘play’ in title	I can’t immediately find a book for this on my physical or virtual bookshelves, so I’ll leave this one open for the moment.
Astronomy	Constellation 3 – Zodiac recommendation: Virgo	Bennett, Robert Jackson – The Tainted Cup With my birthday at the end of August, I have the zodiac sign Virgo. I have gone through many recommendation lists for the different zodiac signs, but I could not or did not want to read a single recommendation for Virgo: either I had already read the book (haha, when I go through those lists, it seems that I actually do read like a typical Virgo), or the book was not on my TBR, which was an extra condition I set myself. However, for the characteristics of the recommended books, I often saw mysteries or books with a puzzle to solve. I even saw series such as Sherlock Holmes or authors such as Agatha Christie recommended for Virgo’s. Since this book is presented as a reinvention of the classic mystery story with an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson-esque duo, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, it sounds right op my curious and analytical Virgo brain’s alley, even though it’s not strictly speaking one that I saw recommended for people with my zodiac sign. Good enough for me!
Demonology	Pacts & Contracts – Book you did not pay for	Erm, I pay for all my books and I can’t immediately remember a gift or something, so I’ll skip this one!
Artificery	Lock & Key – Lock or key on cover or in title	Harrow, Alix E. – Starling House Another Illumicrate book perfectly fitting a prompt! Both the traditional and this unique Illumicrate cover have multiple keys hidden within the artwork.
Inscription	Practical: Typography – Write down 3 titles, fold it, then pick one	Hobb, Robin – Royal Assassin I still have not been able to fit the two remaining books I want to read in April into any of the prompts. In order to hopefully get one elected, two of the three papers were quickly filled. For the third one I chose the other Fairyloot Adult book that I already received this year. Robin Hobb won with the second part of the Farseer Trilogy, which I read for the Fitzalong of Literary Diversions. My review of the first part will be published soon, but now you’re already spoiled to know I’m continuing my read of the series 😉 Photo evidence of the drawing: [1][2][3]
Lore	INTERRUPTED – Reread the Legend of Dia	The Legend of Dia For this, Book Roast wrote a small story for the legend of this deity from her own invented world. A relatively easy assignment, which is topped off with a side quest. But more about this later.
Psionics & Divination	Clairsentience 2 – Prediction bingo	Jimenez, Simon – The Spear Cuts Through Water I wanted to get this book as part of one of the assignments and this is the only one where it could still fit. This book was chosen for Andrew Watson’s book club for april and may and it sounds very intriguing. If I manage to get around to this already in April, I’ll then create the required bingo, but it seems unlikely 😉
Shapeshifting	Mimics – Read from author who blurbed your last 5 star reads	The last two books that I gave 5 stars do not contain a blurb from another author, so I will skip this too for now.

ADDITIONAL SIDE QUEST

Here we come back to the Legend of Dia.
For this, a similar choose-your-own adventure structure will be developed in the dedicated Google Drive, as what we got for Alchemy last year. This time, however, the assignments would not always refer to a book to read, but would also contain other assignments. Exciting!
It is also good to know that this quest does not necessarily have to be completed in April, but can be completed at your leisure until the next semester in August. So for me this is certainly not a priority for April, but I am super curious about what Book Roast has come up with next!

Phew, and that’s it for my TBR. Many options for fantastic books, but a TBR that is certainly doable for me if I limit myself to the required books. And yes, that readathon is and remains a wonder, how I, who am already so enthusiastic about reading and books, can become even more enthusiastic!

Are you participating in this readathon? Do you have an April TBR?

Cheers,
Charlotte