Mythothon Round 4 – Announcement and Prompts

This theme is a little bit different from previous rounds. Instead of Greek, Norse or Celtic mythology, we’ll be looking at something a bit more specific. Mythothon Round 4 is inspired by Arthurian legend.

When?

Sign-ups are open now and will remain open throughout the readathon (latecomers are welcome!).

The readathon itself will run from 1st to the 30th April in your own timezone.

Please feel free to post Twitter updates, reading sprints, Instagram photos or just generally share how you’re getting on with the readathon using the hashtag #mythothon 

Follow and tag @mythothon for updates, info and retweets.

Any questions, just let me know!

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Sign-ups.

Create a full or partial TBR on any platform that suits you — YouTube, Twitter, blog post, Goodreads etc. — and leave a link in the comments of this post to join up.

That’s it!

Optional: Use the official readathon spreadsheet to track your progress.

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The Rules.

If it can be added on Goodreads, it counts. Novellas, graphic novels, audiobooks etc. are all fair game.

You can double up on prompts if you want.

Your TBR can change over the course of the readathon.

To be clear, the books you choose DO NOT need to be mythology related to count, they just need to fit the prompt. For anyone who really wants to max their #mythothon game and work more Arthurian retellings and mythology-inspired books into their TBR, I’ll have a list of suggestions for you to look out for in the coming weeks.

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The Teams

You have the choice of three teams in this readathon — one of three magicians:

Morgan le Fay, Merlin or Nimue.

Each team has a group prompt of their own to read.

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Morgan le Fay — Read a story about a villainous, misunderstood or morally grey character.

Merlin — Read a book with a witch or wizard.

Nimue, the Lady of the Lake — Read a book set at sea.

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The Quest

Once you’ve decided on your magician (and therefore your team and first prompt) you can move onto your quest!

Gather together King Arthur and whichever knights of the Round Table you choose by reading the twelve prompts around the outer circle.

Once you have assembled your allies, save Camelot by reading the final prompt.

Track your progress and that of your team-mates using the readathon spreadsheet, here.

King Arthur — Read a book featuring royalty.

Sir Lancelot (Arthur’s greatest companion) — Read a book from a favourite author.

Sir Gawain (Known as the Green Knight) — Read a book with the colour green on the cover or in the title.

Sir Percival (the original hero in the quest for the Grail) — Read a book with a shiny cover.

Sir Bors (Arthur’s successor) — Read a sequel. 

Sir Lamorak (one of the best knights but overlooked in the chivalric romance genre) — Read a book you think is under-hyped.

Sir Kay (Arthur’s foster brother) — Read a book with a significant sibling relationship.

Sir Gareth (the youngest knight) — Read a recent addition to your TBR.

Sir Bedivere (returns Excalibur to Nimue) — Read a book with something pointy on the cover.

Sir Galahad (“the most perfect of all knights”) — Read a book with a title that starts with a “G”.

Sir Tristan (falls in love with Isolde) — Read a book with a romance that should be legendary.

Sir Gaheris (“the least well spoken of all his peers”) — Listen to an audiobook or read part of a story aloud. 

**   Camelot — Read a book set in a place you’ve never visited.   **

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Group Book

Finally, we have a group book for this round. This is not compulsary — so please dont feel pressured if you can’t get a hold of the book or if it doesn’t appeal to you — but I thought it would be nice for us to have something in common and on-theme. There’s not going to be an official discussion or anything but, of course, you can use the #mythothon tag to share your thoughts.

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

This is a 2020 release. It’s a YA contemporary-fantasy retelling with Black and queer rep. It’s (currently) got a 4.5 star rating on Goodreads, which is incredible, so I’m very excited to read it with you all. As far as I’m aware, the audiobook is available through both Scribd and Audible but this might well vary by location.

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.

A flying demon feeding on human energies.

A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down.

And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.

She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.

If you have any other questions, please comment or contact me via twitter 🙂

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