SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Welcome to this unofficial challenge designed to help you make progress on and finish the series you’re reading!

In 2024, the Year of the Dragon 🐉, you can win dragon eggs in 8 different colors for reading a *sequel book* that matches their color, as well as a legendary golden dragon egg for reading sequel books in all the 8 colors listed below.

If you’d like an additional challenge, you can also win different habitats for these dragons to hatch and grow up in by catching up with or finishing *entire series/duologies* that feature the habitat described.

Collectible dragon eggs are: blue 💙, red ❤️, green 💚, yellow 💛, black 🖤, white 🤍, turquoise 🩵, and copper 🤎. Collecting them all gives you the right to also claim a golden dragon egg 🎁!

You gain a dragon egg by reading a book that is a *sequel* in a series/duology you’re reading that either features the egg’s color on the cover, features a dragon of that color inside the book’s story, or contains the color word in the title.

This is a flexible rule: if you want to count brown or orange on the cover to get the copper egg, or the word “sapphire” in the title to get the blue egg, that’s fine. The cover also doesn’t need to be e.g. completely red, just feature enough red for you to think that it counts for a red egg, etc.

The eight dragon habitats acquired by catching up with or finishing entire series are: sea 🌊, volcano 🌋, swamp 🌿, desert 🏜️, outer space 🌌, ice ❄️, jungle 🦜, and city 🌇. If you collect them all, the legendary golden halls 🕌will open their doors to you.

The flexibility rule applies here, as well: as long as this kind of location appears somewhere in the series you’re reading, is displayed on the cover of one of its books, or is mentioned in one of the titles or the series title as a whole, feel free to count it.

The dragon eggs match up with the habitats where they will feel the most comfortable. If you can’t finish the right kind of series for the egg you have, it will still be able to hatch but be a bit grumpy, so try to give them the right environment:

Blue dragons thrive in the sea, red dragons near volcanoes, green dragons live in swamps, yellow dragons in the desert, black dragons grow up best in outer space, white dragons like ice, turquoise dragons love jungles, and copper dragons thrive in cities. Your golden dragon will want to be surrounded by the treasures of the golden halls, of course.

Cute and a fun tie-in ^^ Thanks for doing this again!

This looks super fun Eva! Thank you for setting up the guidelines again.

One question, can a book count for both a dragon egg, if it has the right color, and a habitat, if it is a final/catch-up book?

Definitely, it can count for both! ☺️

Yay I was eagerly awaiting this! Thanks for setting up this challenge again, it's so creative. I totally gave up last year but I am motivated and ready to try again!

thank you, thank you, now I have to put on my thinking cap to figure out what will fill the prompts. Can we use Silver Dragon for white?

I am reading a yellow dragon on the cover book: Servant of the Crown which I think, since yellow = desert habitat and it's the last book in the trilogy will also get me Desert Habitat? The habitat in the books is mountains/farmland/cities so maybe it should be Cities?



and can one book count for two prompts like that? Or should I just count it for the Habitat since it is the end of the Trilogy?

color me a tad bit confused (as per usual)

Yes, it’s all flexible! You can count silver for white, and the book can count for dragon and the same series that contains that book can count for a habitat.

It’s enough for the habitat to be featured in the series, so you can count a series that features various different kinds of habitats for any of them. No double-dipping, though: each series can only be counted for one habitat.

I hope that makes it clearer, if not please feel free to ask me questions. 😘

that's way clearer as it sounds like I can do the yellow dragon and the cities habitat on the one book. Most of my others won't work that way.

Thanks, Eva! I have 4 series (9 books, some of them whoppers!) I really want to finish this year. Collecting dragon eggs and habitats will make it even more fun. 🐉🥚

And I'll be starting The Dandelion Dynasty Boxset to add another large series to my list.

Images of the dragons to collect:
(view spoiler)[


(hide spoiler)]

Habitats:

🌊🌋🌿🏜️🌌❄️🦜🌇🕌

Also added emojis above!

Those dragons are so cute! I haven't been doing great about continuing series recently, but I'll try to put a little more effort into it this year.

Cheryl, I have been meaning to read the second Dandelion Dynasty book for years, although at this point I think I'll need to start over from the beginning. Let me know if you'd like to do a BR for the series!

Kaa wrote: " Let me know if you'd like to do a BR for the series!"

We are doing a BR for the series, which is supposed to start February 19. Let's see if I can add at least the URL for the BR: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Oh, I managed to totally miss that, I will definitely try to join. Thank you!

Eva wrote: "Images of the dragons to collect:"

Omg! They are so cute!
I’m working on the white one and a city 🌆 habitat.

I love your challenge! Fun and creative.

I just added to my list, which involves a dragon, so it's perfect. It's the first, so not a finish-the-series project, but is a duology, so not a hard one to finish. I guess the one that will count for this is the second book, . I'll see what habitat it involves when I read, but for now, the colour would be blue (cover) or red (from title of first book).

From the images, I want the blue dragon - so cute.

the volcano is thwarting me in making my list

Love this idea! Always more dragons needed (and excuses to finish the many series I've started...)

I've started on my black dragon with Slaves of the Mastery 😊🐉🖤

One question. Can I mix eggs and habitats? Or should they be from the same series?

CBRetriever wrote: "The volcano is thwarting me in making my list".

That 's actually the first, and so far the only, one that was easy to solve for me. Volcanos feature prominently in the Broken Earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin. You might have read it already?

a.g.e. montagner wrote: "Volcanos feature prominently in the Broken Earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin. You might have read it already? ."

no I haven't - goes off to look at it

ooo, pricey right now

Yes, of course you can “mix dragons and habitats”, in terms of e.g. getting a blue, red, and copper dragon from the individual books in a series while counting the whole series for a desert habitat.

The Dragon's Promise heavily features an underwater dragon kingdom, so this series would be perfect for the sea habitat, and the book itself could be used for various egg colors since so many differently colored dragons appear in it. 😊

A few more series that feature volcanoes or volcanic planets/landscapes or eruptions (linking to the first book of each series):

The Fellowship of the Ring, Dragon Wing, Unsouled, The Lightning Thief, The Lost Hero, The Hidden Oracle, The Storm Runner, The Fifth Season, Aftermath, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Jade City, …

That’s all I can think of at the moment, but I’m sure there are many more (hopefully, I didn’t want to make this super challenging)!

Eva wrote: "A few more series that feature volcanoes or volcanic planets/landscapes or eruptions (linking to the first book of each series):"

Genius!

I need a challenge for "how many series did you start this year by accident" haha >>

Eva wrote: "The Dragon's Promise heavily features an underwater dragon kingdom, so this series would be perfect for the sea habitat, and the book itself could be used for various egg colors since so many differently colored dragons appear in it. 😊"

Oooh, nice! Thanks for the tip.

Eva wrote: "A few more series that feature volcanoes or volcanic planets/landscapes or eruptions (linking to the first book of each series):

The Fellowship of the Ring, [book:Dragon Wing|28481..."

thank you - I'll check them out

and The Birthgrave by Tanith Lee starts in a volcano, but, like LOTR, I've already read that series.

aha, got it. The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne is a sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and other Classic Novels and (view spoiler)[portrays the end of Captain Nemo on a volcanic island (hide spoiler)]

now back to the swamp but I already have a continuation book that has a swamp in it

Blue -> Sequel book in series (Color on Cover) = The Song of Homana by Jennifer Roberson = Large amount of blue on the cover and Book 2 in the series


Red -> Sequel book in series (Color in Title) = The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan = Crimson in the title of Book 2

Green -> Sequel book in series (Color in Series Title) = Salvage by R.J. Theodore = Peridot - a Green gem and this is book 2 in the series

Yellow -> Sequel book in series (Color on Cover) = Servant of the Crown by Duncan M. Hamilton = Yellow dragon on cover plus there's a gold dragon in the book and Book 3 in a trilogy

Black -> Sequel book in series (Color in Title) = Blackthorn Winter by Liz Williams = Black in the Title and Book 2

White -> Sequel book in series (Color in Title) = Track of the White Wolf by Jennifer Roberson = White in the Title and Book 4 in the series

Turquoise -> Sequel book in series (Color on Cover) = The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart = Turquoise on the cover and Book 2 in the series

Copper (Brown or Orange count) -> Sequel book in series (Color on Cover) = Sword-Bearer by Roberson, Jennifer = Coppery/Orange Fire background on the cover and book 8 in the series


Gold -> All of the above

Sea -> Finishing series = A Curse of Krakens by Kevin Hearne = Krakens and a ship voyage in part and it's the last book in the series
Volcano -> Finishing series = The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne = This book is the sequel to 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and covers the end of Captain Nemo and there's a volcano
Swamp -> Catching up = Mage-Guard of Hamor by L.E. Modesitt Jr. = part is set in a swamp and book 15 in a series - I'll consider it as part of catching up unless I run across a better book for this slot *** see Note
Desert -> Finishing series (maybe) = Sword-Bearer by Jennifer Roberson = Continuation of series and most recent book and set in a desert - book is used for Copper in Colors
Outer Space -> Finishing series = Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee = Last book in series and set in Outer Space
Ice -> Finishing series = The World Raven by A.J. Smith = Ice Giants and Ice Halls and last book in series
Jungle -> Finishing series = Esrahaddon by Michael J. Sullivan = Part of book is set in a jungle and last book in series
City -> Finishing series = Servant of the Crown by Duncan M. Hamilton = Book 3 in a trilogy and a good percentage of the book is set in a city - book is used for Yellow in Colors

*** -> otherwise The Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne followed by Skullsworn by Brian Staveley which is set in a swamp.

Golden Halls -> All of the above

Great challenge Eva thanks for creating. One quick question. The dragon eggs have to be a book 2 and the habitats have to be a last book or last in series so far, it that correct?

you can win dragon eggs in 8 different colors for reading a *sequel book* that matches their color

I used books 2, 3, 4 and 8 in different series

Awesome plan, CB! You’re already so organized!

Kieran: sequel BOOKS count for dragon eggs, and SERIES count for habitats. You can treat them as two completely separate challenges. :-)

You can fill the habitat prompt if
1. you finish the series or catch up with a series that isn’t yet complete in 2024,
and 2. the series features the habitat at any point (in any of its books, could also be the first), either in content, titles, or covers.

(Due to Goodreads making it hard to link to entire series, people usually link to the last book instead, but that doesn’t mean it’s the book that counts.)

Ok thanks Eva & CB. I will setup my challenge tomorrow on the PC. Nearly everything I read seems to be part of a series, so I should be OK.

Another cheat sheet for those having trouble locating series that feature swampy habitats somewhere in them: (linking to first book again, but meaning the series):
The Black Prism, On the Edge, Swamp Thing, Vol. 1: Saga of the Swamp Thing, the Witches series in Diskworld, starting with Equal Rites (book 3 features swamps), The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, The Ninth Rain, Theft of Swords, Age of Myth, The Stone Knife, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (even a portable swamp!), The Fellowship of the Ring, A Natural History of Dragons, Daughter of the Forest, The Dragon Keeper, The Emperor's Blades, The Red Sea, The Red Knight, Annihilation, …

By the way, any wetlands count for this - bogs, fens, or marshes! And any swamplands on planets count, of course, so you could count any Star Wars series that mentions Dagobah.

my problem was more finding series/books that had swamps and volcanoes that I hadn't already read

My plan is to just read whatever I want, and when I accidentally stumble upon a sudden volcano mention, I’ll just use that series for that habitat.

Eva wrote: "My plan is to just read whatever I want, and when I accidentally stumble upon a sudden volcano mention, I’ll just use that series for that habitat."

that's cool too - I just enjoy the planning part of the challenges as well

Eva wrote: "Yes, of course you can “mix dragons and habitats”, in terms of e.g. getting a blue, red, and copper dragon from the individual books in a series while counting the whole series for a desert habitat..."

Nice!

Year Of The Dragon Series Project

1st Jan - 31st Dec 2024

Dragons 🐲

🤎
🤍
🖤
🩵
💙
💚
💛
❤

🏡 Habitats
City

Desert

Sea

Outer Space

Ice

Swamp

OK, finished Servant of the Crown by Duncan M. Hamilton



for Yellow and City. I started this in December so I'm off to a bit of a slow start this year

Was I waiting for someone else to finish a book first so I didn't do it wrong? Absolutely! 😉

Finished Slaves of the Mastery for my black dragon!
🖤🐉

This sounds so fun! OK, I'm rereading the whole of the Murderbot Diaries in prep for reading the newest book. Do rereads count?

Sure!👍

finished my Volcano

Volcano -> Finishing series = The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne = This book is the sequel to 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and covers the end of Captain Nemo and there's a volcano (view spoiler)[which plays a big part at the end of the book (hide spoiler)]

I used Nightborn: Coldfire Rising by C.S. Friedman (published 22 years after the end of the original trilogy!) to complete turquoise and outer space!

As for the book itself, I don't know that it adds a ton to the original trilogy, which is a huge favorite of mine.

Jacqie wrote: "I used Nightborn: Coldfire Rising by C.S. Friedman (published 22 years after the end of the original trilogy!) to complete turquoise and outer space!

As for the book itself, I don't know that it ..."

it's sure pricey though. I'll get it when the price goes down a bit.

1. I read Blackflame - 3rd in the Cradle series (it's 12 books long.... who knows if the library will get the rest?!), for a black dragon - the dragons are long dead, but their power remains, and has been resurrected in our protagonist. It's desribed as a black and red power, so either could go here, but I think overall, it fits black best.
🖤
2. I started The Kingdom of Copper - 2nd in the Daevabad Trilogy - which features green and copper on the cover, and copper in the title. The green cover is pretty, but the copper dragon goes better with the dangerous ambience of the story.

The environment of the series is mostly desert, with some river and lake involved. I'll probably go with desert, since I've got water as environment for my planned duology later.
🤎🐫🏝️ (Arabian desert, so no cactii)

* I dropped this book/series, so will have to look elsewhere for my copper dragon.

Sounds great! By the way, I can highly recommend the fantastic audio versions for the Cradle series, which are very cheap if you have Kindle Unlimited (the books are free on KU).

White dragon claimed with The Bands of Mourning! 🤍🐉