Winter Magical Read-A-Thon 2019 | December Wrap-Up

It's that time of year again, when Hogwarts is covered in glistening white snow and the halls are empty and eerily quiet. With the lack of children around and the professor's having little reason to watch over the small group of students who have stayed at the castle for the holiday season. It was the perfect time to create a little mischief and to see what was hidden behind the ancient walls of this magical castle.

While some of us chose to go against school policy, and wander about the school walls past curfew. Others decided to drinks loads of warm hot chocolate made from semi-sweet melted chocolate frogs. Sitting cozy by our common rooms fire, while catching up on our non-school reading. Watching the snow-storm through the frosty window of our common room, creating a white blanket that covered the entire school grounds. A few friends gathered around to participate in a magical read-a-thon hosted by the lovely Gryffindor prefect, G, the Book_Roast. Every Sunday, we would gather around the Great Hall for breakfast and open up a new chapter to make a variety of choices. In order to figure out last years mystery of who was petrifying the new first-years.

In Chapter One, we meet Dobby the House Elf and have to make the choice of either; to falsely promise him that we won't go back to Hogwarts so that he leaves, or make no promises and try to continue to calm him down to not make a scene in front of the Dursley's and their guests. Obviously, I try to continue to talk him out of making a scene. Clearly, that was the wrong move and Dobby continues to make a ruckus, so the smart thing to do was to leave the situation at hand as the Weasley's save the day in a flying car to help get me out of this mess. We fly all the way to the Weasley's Burrow, but are in deep trouble for flying the car without the Weasley's permission. But since I am guest at the burrow, I have a couple of choices I can make since I am not the one who broke house rules. However, I of course would much rather spend time with the Weasley brothers and grab a snack to play a little game of Quidditch. Instead of de-gnoming the the garden for Ron's punishment or stay up chatting about muggle nit-bits with Mr. Weasley. Alas, I get my first reading prompt which is to read a book that features a game or competition.

Fence Vol. 1 by C.S. Pacat

Synopsis:

Fence is a graphic novel series that follows Nicholas, the illegitimate son of a retired fencing champion, is a scrappy fencing, wunderkind, and dreams of getting the chance to actually compete. After getting accepted to the prodigious Kings Row private school, Nicholas is thrust into a cut-throat world, and finds himself facing not only his golden-boy half-brother, but the unbeatable, mysterious Seiji Katayama... Through clashes, rivalries, and romance between teammates, Nicholas and the boys of Kings Row will discover there's much more to fencing than just foils and lunges.

My Thoughts:

I wasn't sure what to expect with this graphic novel, because I hadn't heard of it until I was recommended the series by my roommates. I didn't have a lot of books with competition or games that were on my TBR, so I decided to pick this one up. Which has a lot of fencing tournaments and competition. I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed this graphic novel, all though, I am still figuring out how to rate my feelings on graphic novels, as I haven't read too many in the past. However, I enjoyed all the characters in this graphic novel and thought there was a lot of great representation and diversity. As most, if not all of the boys in this school represented the LGBTQ+ community. Which is actually something I've come across a lot lately in the graphic novels that I have read. So, it was great to see that representation in this form of reading. I thought the fencing aspect of this book was represented pretty accurately, even though I don't know much about fencing. But the competition layout reminded me a lot of what I did know about the sport.

Final Rating: 3.5/5 Stars.

While I enjoyed most of what this graphic novel had to offer, the art style wasn't my favorite and I thought the first volume ended kind of abruptly.

Now, we've reached Chapter 2, and as the new school year is approaching we have to get a good night's sleep. Since my bones are aching a little bit from playing Quidditch with the Weasley brothers, I decide to curl up in bed all nice and cozy at the Burrow. After, a good night's rest, we are at Kings Cross station at Platform 9 3/4, ready to head over to the Hogwarts Express. I notice Hermione off in the distance and since the Weasley's seem to not need any more help with their luggage, I head over to Hermione. Stopping before the barrier to the Hogwarts Express, and receive my next reading prompt.

That was to read an urban fantasy, which usually contains a magical world hidden from the muggle world.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

To find out how I felt about this amazing book, you can check out my in-depth review at the link below.

https://chynnaw16.wixsite.com/thecwtorch/single-post/2019/12/15/The-Starless-Sea-by-Erin-Morgenstern-Review

Final Rating: 5/5 Stars

Chapter two continues on the Hogwarts Express, and I decide to chat to Hermione about my summer reading plans. She actually informs me of a book club, after gushing about all the Gildroy Lockhart books she read over the Summer. Offers me to join the book club, and of course I take any opportunity that will allow me to read more books unrelated to school. So, I decide to join the book club and receive another reading prompt. Which was to buddy read a book or to read a book that has been picked by an online or local book club. My intention was to read Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson, however, with all the required school reading I had to do, time did not allow me to finish the book chosen by the Read Rate Review club. Thankfully, our prefect, G, wasn't strict on us finishing all of the books for this Read-A-Thon. So, I was still able to move onto the next chapter without being docked any house points.

It was the first morning at Hogwarts in Chapter 3 and we had the choice of what breakfast we wanted to chow down on. I of course, decide that I needed some protein if I wanted to make the Quidditch team, choosing a nice plate of eggs, bacon, sausage, and buttered toast. After we eat breakfast we head off to our first class which was Herbology and during that class I was invited to Nearly Headless Nick's 500th deathday party. Where I receive my next prompt, which was to read a paranormal book or a book that has ghosts.

The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken

Synopsis:

The Dreadful Tale follows the story of Prosper who is the only unexceptional Redding in his old and storied family history -- that is, until he discovers the demon living inside him. Turns out Prosper's great-great-great-great-great-something grandfather made -- and then broke -- a contract with the malefactor, a demon who exchanges fortune for eternal servitude. And, weirdly enough, four-thousand-year-old Alastor isn't exactly the forgiving type. The fiend has reawakened with one purpose -- to destroy the family whose success he ensured and who then betrayed him. With only days to break the curse and banish Alastor back to the demon realm, Prosper is playing unwilling host to the fiend, who delights in tormenting him with nasty insults and constant attempts to trick him into a contract. Yeah, Prosper will take his future without a side of eternal servitude, thanks. Little does Prosper know, the malefactor's control over his body grows stronger with each passing night, and there's a lot Alastor isn't telling his dim-witted (but admittedly strong-willed) human host.

My Thoughts:

Unfortunately, as excited as I was to read this book, I didn't quite enjoy it as much as I was hoping to. I've come to realize that I don't like a lot of middle grades, probably since my reading tastes are maturing. I've been trying to get into the genre because there are so many books that I actually want to read, that are considered middle grades. However, I found that middle grades tend to be a bit too immature for my tastes. Not in the subject matter, but in the fact that the plots aren't developed enough. I like plots that make me think and resemble real life situations, but in unorthodox ways. Some middle grades do that, but this book was just a bit too simple for my taste. I felt like this book was more about the relationship between Prosper and Alastor. But, I wanted to learn more about the supernatural and magical elements of the plot. Since, that is what I love about paranormal books, but I felt that we didn't get enough of that. While, I didn't like the plot, I loved the atmosphere of the setting as it reminded me a lot of the movie Halloweentown and the middle grade series, A Series of Unfortunate Events. However, the atmosphere wasn't enough for me to want to continue on with the series, so I gave it a 3/5 stars.

At the Deathday Party, I notice that Nearly Headless Nick seems to be upset for receiving a rejection letter to join the headless huntsman. So, I decide to cheer him up instead of speaking to Moaning Myrtle. After giving him a little pep in his step, we have come to realize that there is no food at this party for ghosts. My friends and I are absolutely starving, so we head over to the Great Hall for dinner, and luckily, in Chapter 2 I did not receive detention. But, before making it to the Great Hall, I hear a slithering voice, I think it's Myrtle trying to spook someone, but the voice continues, and as I follow it I notice something written on the castle walls. "The Chamber of Secrets Has Been Opened, Enemies of the Heir, beware." Flitch's cat is found hanging from the wall, petrified. Snape quickly points his finger at me, but thankfully, no one else is that quick to blame me. While the professor's wait for the Mandragoras to heal the petrified cat and students, I try to figure out who is responsible for harming these innocent people.

We make it to Chapter 4, still wondering what the saying written on the walls meant, luckily, I have read a little bit about the chamber of secrets in the Book Owlery Club. With the little reading I did on the Chamber of Secrets and learned that Salazar Slytherin actually created the Chamber of Secrets. But before he left Hogwarts, he made sure that the Chamber of Secrets couldn't be opened unless the true heir came back to school. Once the heir came back to the school, the Chamber of Secrets would be opened and a monster would be unleashed and would purge the students who Salazar deemed unworthy. Ron believes that the only person in Hogwarts that could possibly be the heir of Slytherin, is Malfoy. But the only way to find that out was to use a bit of Polyjuice potion to turn into his closest friends. Since, I didn't want to stay in the bathroom to stir the potion or even think about retrieving hairs from Crabbe and Goyle, I decide to grab the necessary herbs from Snape's cupboard. Where I am granted my next reading prompt, which was to read a book with plants on the cover.

Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw

Synopsis:

Be careful of the dark, dark wood... Especially, the woods surrounding the town of Fir Haven. Some way these woods are magical. Haunted, even. Rumored to be a witch, only Nora Walker knows the truth. She and the Walker women before her have always shared a special connection with the woods. And this special connection that leads Nora to Oliver Huntsman -- the same boy who disappeared from the Camp for Wayward Boys weeks ago -- and in the middle of the worst snowstorm in years. He should be dead, but here he is alive, and left in the woods with no memory of the time he'd been missing. But Nora can feel an uneasy shift in the woods at Oliver's presence. And it's not too longer after that Nora realizes she has no choice but to unearth the truth behind how the boy she has come to care so deeply about survived his time in the forest, and what led him there in the first place. What Nora doesn't know, though, is that Oliver has secrets of his own-- secrets he'll do anything to keep buried, because as it turns out, he wasn't the only one to go missing on that fateful night all those weeks ago.

My Thoughts:

I surprisingly, really enjoyed this second novel written by Shea Ernshaw. At first, it was difficult to get through and there were times where I thought it was extremely childish. I was afraid it was going to be very similar to her first novel, The Wicked Deep, just sent in a different town with different characters. While there were many similarities, I actually enjoyed this book much more than The Wicked Deep. I thought the plot was much more interesting and was really invested in the mystery this time around. It was almost too slow-burning in the beginning, but the end took a dark and twisted turn that I really enjoyed. Once, I got to the halfway point, I couldn't put the book down, and was captivated by the dark, mysterious romance. I realized, I love Shea Ernshaw's settings, as they remind me of The Secret Circle books by L.J. Smith. You could tell she is really inspired by her hometown of Oregon, and when reading her books I am instantly pulled into the foggy, seaside town cursed by dark magic. So, I earned this book a 4/5 stars, because I thought it was developed and much more crafted than her debut novel, The Wicked Deep.

After, finishing the Polyjuice potion, it was finally time to drink up and turn into Crabbe and Goyle. Something happened with Hermione's mix, so Ron and I made our way to the Slytherin Common Room. Clearly, we were great actors, because Draco didn't seem suspicious at all, until I speak a bit longer than what Draco is used to from Goyle. Unfortunately, I did not speak to Mr. Weasley about Draco's home, and because of that I am forced with another reading prompt. Which was to read a friend's recommended or favorite book, and one of my fellow Hufflepuff's recommends me The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin. Unfortunately, I do not have enough time to read it, because I am spending too much time figuring out who the real Heir of Slytherin is.

As we try to get more out of Draco, the Polyjuice Potion effects start to wear off. So Ron and I run out of the common room, pretending to feel ill and in need to rush to the hospital wing. Coming across a petrified Nearly Headless Nick and since I don't want to risk getting in trouble again, I run off. But I make note of where the victim's are being found, and on my way back to the bathrooms, I get hit with a bludger. It keeps attacking me as if it's cursed and I have to cast a spell against school rules, to protect myself from this bludger and cast Reducto. I find out that it was Dobby all along trying to attack me with the bludger. Realizing that he's been the one trying to get me out of school this entire time.

A few months later, we hear good news from Professor Sprout that the antidote to save the petrified students and victims is almost ready for use. So, with that news, we celebrate in the dorms and I decide to sneak in some butter beer. Surprisingly, Neville asks for my help to calm down the Mandagora's in the green room. But, find that they are more chaotic than the two of them could handle on their own, so we make our way back to the castle. As we enter the castle, I hear another whisper and find another note on the wall. "Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever." A group of professors walk up to the note on the wall as I hide in the corner, curious to what that note could mean. Professor McGonagall reveals that Ginny Weasley has been left in the Chamber of Secrets and that the heir of Slytherin has returned to the castle walls.

I can't believe what I heard and take a few minutes to gather myself, wondering what all of this means. Since, I did not make a false promise to Dobby, he takes me to the Chamber of Secrets. Where it is extremely dark, so I cast Lumos to see what's around me. Nothing but a pile of bones is ahead and a fork in the road, so I decide to turn right.

Something hits me, which I assume to be a bat, but it's actually an annoying Cornish Pixie that tries to stop me in my path. But, luckily, I learned the charm in Defense Against the Dark Arts to stop them, and cast "Immobulus." Once the Pixie's have stopped moving, I walk towards an ornate brass door and without second-guessing, I ask for it to open. It opens automatically, and I see Ginny lying on the wet ground, I think dead. But before I can pick her up to save her, someone speaks to me. I look up to see a handsome boy of about sixteen, unassumingly, alive or dead who reveals himself as Tom Marvollo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort. He sends a Basilisk to try to kill me, and unfortunately, I am here by myself. But, thankfully, Fawkes the Phoenix appears out of nowhere and attempts to attack the Basilisk. As I try to fight the beast off with my wand, I am revealed another prompt, to read a book that was shorter than the last book I read.

Fence, Vol. 2 by C.S. Pacat

I continue to read Fence Vol. 2 in the hopes that it would teach me how to defeat the Basilisk and how to save Ginny. I quickly read the second volume of this graphic novel series, and enjoy it immensely. But since I don't want to reveal the secrets it taught me, I continue to fight off the Basilisk and rate it a 4/5 stars.

I remember all that I learned from my studies and that I can cast the spell Reducio, to shrink the Basilisk into a mere garden snake. Tom Riddle is surprised, but it doesn't stop him from trying to kill me, luckily, I spot his diary by Ginny's arm. I then see the Basilisk's fang, and without hesitation grab the fang and stab the diary. Thinking that somehow this will stop Tom Riddle, and surprisingly, it does. Right before my eyes, Voldemort explodes into a ball of golden light, disappearing into thin air. The curse seems to be lifted as Ginny wakes up, and Fawkes flies us out of the Chamber of Secrets back to the castle.

I rest for a few days, exhausted from my attempts to save Hogwarts and all the victims affected by the Basilisk. Even though, I made a lot of risky decisions to save my friends throughout this Read-A-Thon, Dumbledore awards me 100 house points for courage and bravery. The students and victims who were petrified are now awoken, Dobby was even freed by his awful master, and everybody within the school walls heard about what I did in the Chamber of Secrets. All is well again, after completing this tumultuous journey, and we feast in the Great Hall to celebrate the end of the year. During my rest, I even had enough time to read one more book to celebrate the end of the year.

Fence, Vol. 3 by C.S. Pacat

This one was all about competition and reminded me of my duels in my second year of school. It was very fast-paced and an easy read, but thought it moved almost too fast. Not a lot happened, even though there was some development and growth from a few characters. Even new friendships grew throughout the competitions. But it didn't effect me as much as the second volume did, which is why I only gave this one a 3/5 stars.

Thank you all for joining in my journey of the Winter Magical Read-A-Thon, 2019. I can't wait to see what 2020 has in store for us, in regards to the Magical Read-A-Thon's that lay ahead.

This is Chynna Williams from @TheCWTorch, signing off.

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Twitter- @chynnaw16

To learn more about the magical read-a-thon, click the link below which will lead you to the magical website that G from Book_Roast has curated.

https://www.magicalreadathon.com/