S&S Bingo Challenge: April

April and its craziness is finally over! I finally have time to breathe and read and write reviews and it's amazing! I'll be looking through a lot more of my fellow book bloggers' posts now too, so if you have any posts you want me to see, hit me up in the comments!

I read more in April than in March, but not too many of the books fit the challenge. I've honestly just been reading books I want to read and hoping something fits somewhere on my bingo card. As we get into the second half of the year, I'll probably start actively searching for books to fill my bingo squares.

If you want to join in the Bingo challenge at any time, you can find the original card and instructions here. You can fill out one line to make a bingo, or try and fill out the whole card. This is mainly geared towards Science fiction and Fantasy, but you can use whatever genre you want!

Here's my progress for April:

1. Fairy Tale Retelling: The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson

This was a fast, entertaining retelling where the swan princess, Odette, also happened to be a bow-and-arrow wielding vigilante. I really enjoyed the concept and the historical/medieval feel of the story, and it was fun to piece together elements of both Robin Hood and Swan Lake. The characters fell a little flat for me, but overall it was enjoyable.

2. Epic Fantasy: The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley

I LOVED this book! It's different from most epic fantasy because there's no quest or one chosen hero who will save the world. Instead, three siblings are flung across the lands, each trying to survive in their very different worlds in the aftermath of their father's assassination. Did I forget to mention that their father was the emperor? Lots of epic showdowns, great world-building, and unique characters that I am looking forward to reading more about.

3. Dragons: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Another fairy-tale-esque book that I loved. The Dragon in this book is one of the main characters, but he's not actually a dragon. He's a magical being who takes a girl from a neighboring village every 10 years and keeps her locked up in his tower. For such a sinister character, I was surprised by how lovable he was. This book is beautiful and poignant, especially since Agnieska is no poised heroine who has always known she will save the world. She's a backwards village girl who is terribly clumsy and stubborn, but also very brave.

4. Published before 2000: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (vol 1)

I love Sherlock Holmes and the retellings/adaptations, so I figured I should give the actual books a try. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was kind of disappointed. Sherlock Holmes is an amazing concept, but somehow I didn't connect with the original characters. I was annoyed by how condescending Holmes was, and even worse, how Watson just adored him like a kicked-around puppy. I did enjoy some of the short stories though!

Books I have planned for May:

I recently started an audiobook reread of Name of the Wind, a book I had very mixed feelings about the first time around. I'm also planning on reading an Isaac Asimov novel for my classic SF/F category (not sure which one, but I love his short stories and I remember liking I, Robot in middle school). If I can get my hands on it, I'd also love to read Fortune's Pawn next month for the space travel category.

Are you working on your own S&S bingo card? Any recommendations for classic SF/F? Link me in the comments!