Wyrd and Wonder 2022 Wrap Up

We’ve come to the end of another month of fantasy celebration, so it’s time to wrap up the Fifth year of Wyrd and Wonder. There’s a lot to get through so I’m just going to jump right into it. First up is a summary of the books I read this month!

This post is part of the annual fantasy event, Wyrd and Wonder, hosted by Imyril, Lisa, Jorie, Annemieke, and Ariana.

Note: the book covers are linked to Bookshop using affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure for more information.

What I Read

I spent the beginning of this month wrapping up finals, and the latter half recovering, so I wasn’t really in the mood for big, epic fantasy books. Instead, I binged a few graphic novel and anime series.

1. Heathen by Natasha Alterici, Volumes 1-3

The first series I read was Heathen by Natasha Alterici, a Norse-inspired fantasy series about a young lesbian. After being banished from her home, Aydis decides to go head to head with the god whose corrupt beliefs condemned her. Her first step is to get help from the cursed Valkerie, Brynhild.

Heathen is a unique storyline that had the potential to become an epic fantasy, but since it’s confined to three short graphic novels it falls a bit short. Besides that, it’s still a creative and fun series that I thoroughly enjoyed.

2. Demon Slayer by Koyaharu Gotouge, Volumes 12-23 (Starting from where the anime left off)

The second series I read was Demon Slayer by Koyoharu Gotouge, which follows Tanjiro, a young boy whose family was slaughtered by a demon. He and his younger sister, Nezuko, were the only survivors, except Nesuko was turned into a demon. Now she’s cursed to immortality, never being able to walk in the sun again and always hungering for human flesh. Tanjiro will stop at nothing to turn his sister back into a human again. Even if it means headbutting every demon and demon slayer that stands against them.

Honestly, I was a little disappointed in this series as well. Demon Slayer had the same problem as Heathen in that it was too much story crammed into not enough chapters. For demon slayer, it was even more obvious because there were so many characters! They all had the potential to be amazing, well-developed characters, but because the plot was so rushed all most characters got was quick explanations of their backstories and a few (admittedly epic) fight scenes. I would have been much happier with a smaller cast of characters or at least twice as many chapters for the series.

But I don’t have too much to complain about. It was still a fun and epic series with loveable characters. Tanjiro and his closest friends, Zenitsu and Inosuke got plenty of character development. Plus there were a lot of funny moments that had me laughing out loud. In the end, Demon Slayer was entertaining enough to make me want to read it again despite its flaws.

3. Jujutsu Kaisen by Gege Akutami, Volumes 8-15 (Starting from where the anime left off)

Jujutsu Kaisen is a comic, dark fantasy series about a boy named Yuji who recklessly eats a powerful cursed artifact in order to save his friends. Little does he know, that eating the cursed artifact will give Sukuna, the notorious King of Curses, a chance to resurrect himself by inhabiting Yuji’s body. Now Yuji is faced with a grim choice. He can choose to be executed now and prevent the King of Curses from resurrecting himself or he can consume the rest of the cursed artifacts with Sukuna’s power in order to get rid of him forever. Neither option is ideal, but at least by ridding the world of Sukuna forever, Yuji has the chance to save others from him.

While Jujutsu Kaisen it’s still fast-paced, it didn’t feel as rushed as either Demon Slayer or Heathen. Also unlike the others, I haven’t finished Jujutsu Kaisen because it’s an ongoing series! The story is dark and often tragic, but there’s some unexpected comedy that always makes me laugh. The protagonist, Yuji, is a loveable and hilarious cinnamon roll that could brighten any dark story. Jujutsu Kaisen is just one of those stories that has me feeling all kinds of emotions. It’s definitely looking to be one of my favorite series!

What I Posted

This month I managed to complete *almost* all of the posts I planned. I didn’t finish the discussion post I’d planned for “Step Into Another’s Shoes” for which I would talk about the fantasy character I would trade places with. Unfortunately, I realized that most fantasy characters have very tragic lives, and I would much rather observe them from a distance.

Fantasy Top Five Posts:

• Fantasies Since Last May: In this post I share my favorite fantasy reads from the past year.
• Forest Fantasy Recommendations: For my second top five post I listed my favorite fantasy books with a forest setting.
• Fantasy Books Featuring the Wyrd and Wonder Mascots: For the third promt, I chose five fantasy books featuring the Wyrd and Wonder mascots.
• Standalone Fantasy Books: For this post, I interpreted “fantasy one-shots” to mean standalones.
• Comic Fantasy Novels: For my last top five post, I shared five from my favorite fantasy subgenre.

More Wyrd and Wonder Posts:

• Uchiha Itachi and the Good All Along Trope: *this post contains Naruto spoilers* White I was watching the anime classic, Naruto, I was impressed by how well developed Itachi’s story was. He was such an easy villain to hate, but he ended up becoming one of the most beloved characters in the series. How is that possible! In this post I talk about how Itachi’s development as a villain made him a perfect candidate for the Good All Along Trope.
• 10 Cool Fantasy Settings: For the Fantasy Landscape prompt I decided to talk about 10 of my favorite fantasy settings from the classic forest to an unconventional science lab.

Conclusion

I didn’t end up participating in either of the read alongs this month (see my earlier point about reading mostly graphic novels this month); but I did manage to 8 posts! Considering one of them was an in-depth character analysis, I’m very happy with everything I’ve accomplished this month.

Next month I’ll be going back to one post a week. Two posts per week require just a bit too much brainpower for me to keep up with.

What was your favorite fantasy read from this month?