Once Upon a Time II Quest Complete

This year, I once again joined Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge. And this year, I completed it!! Gosh, it feels good to complete a challenge!



The Journey

This is really as simple as the name implies and is to Once Upon a Time as the experience was to The Sci~Fi Experience. It means you are participating but not committing yourself to any specific number of books. All reading is a journey, perhaps none more so than reading fantastical fiction. By signing up for The Journey you are agreeing to at least read one book within the four categories during March 21st to June 20th period. Just one book. It has always been of utmost importance to me that the challenges that I host be all about experiencing enjoyable literature and sharing it with others. I want you to participate. Hence, The Journey.

Quest the First

Read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time II criteria. They might all be fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology…or your five books might be a combination from the four genres.

Quest the Second

Read at least one book from each of the four categories. In this quest you will be reading 4 books total: one fantasy, one folklore, one fairy tale, and one mythology. This proved to be one of the more difficult quests last year merely because of the need to classify each read and determine which books fit into which category. I am not a stickler, fear not, but I was fascinated watching how folks worked to find books for each category.

Quest the Third

Fulfill the requirements for Quest the First or Quest the Second AND top it off with a June reading of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Love the story, love the films, love the idea of that magical night of the year and so this is my chance to promote the reading of this farcical love story.

Three is a magical number, a number of portent in fantastical tales, and so three quests seems about right.

I choose Quest the Third and here are the books I read:

Fairy Tale Fantasy:

• Tithe by Holly Black
• White as Snow by Tanith Lee
• Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
  

Mythic Fantasy

• Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint

Folklore Fantasy

• 20th Century Ghosts

Fantasy (of any sub-genre)

• Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
• Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

My least favorite read was definitely White as Snow. Just didn't do it for me. I'd be hard pressed to pick my favorite, because I truly enjoyed all the rest. But if I had to choose I'd say either Neverwhere or Memory and Dream.

Once again, I just wanted to thank Carl for hosting the best challenge!! And I really can't wait for the fall and the RIP challenge!!