Wyrd & Wonder 2025 - Sunday Funday: Week 1 Update

Happy Sunday Funday  and welcome to my first weekly update for Wyrd & Wonder! Wyrd & Wonder 2025 is a month long celebration of all things fantasy co-hosted by Lisa @ Dear Geek Place, imyril @ There’s Always Room For One More, Ariana @ The Book Nook, Annemieke @ A Dance With Books, and Jorie @ Jorie Loves A Story (artwork by Yuri Arcurs Photography).  Normally, I'd post this update on the first Sunday of the challenge, but since the first of the month was a Thursday I figured I'd wait until now to really get into this portion of things.  Anyway, this is always such a fun monthly challenge to take part in and I think I've made some great progress so far.  Keep reading to see what I've gotten up to since this monthly event began:

My Wyrd & Wonder Posts So Far:

Announcement & TBR

Books From The Backlog: King's Dragon (Crown of Stars #1) by Kate Elliott

The Friday 56 (With Book Beginnings): Shadows of Self (Mistborn #5) by Brandon Sanderson

Movies and TV Shows I Want To Watch This Month

Music Monday: Agatha All Along (2024)

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Fantasy Books I've Read Since Last May

Books From The Backlog: Stone Blind by Natalie Hayes

The Friday 56 (With Book Beginnings): Sword Catcher (The Chronicles of Castellane #1) by Cassandra Clare

What I've Watched So Far:

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The Wheel of Time, Season 1 (2021) is a series I've been putting off for way too long.  I've watched the first five episodes of the season so far and I'm already pretty hooked. I've only read the first book in the novel series.  I liked it well enough, but I realized I wasn't quite into enough to continue on with this.  Even though I've only watched the five, I can say that it definitely starts to find its footing as it goes on.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how they wrap up the season.

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I've never seen the American remake so I had no particular expectations for Il Mare (2000) going into it, but I was absolutely hooked by it. Romance movies aren't usually my thing, but as far as I'm concerned this one is a must watch. I do think that Eun-ju should have sent Sung-hyun things like a Sports Almanac and winning lottery numbers through the mailbox once they both figured out what was going on, but the fish thing was pretty cool.  I like that it looks and feels like a dream, the epistolary style of the story, and our two leading actors anchor it well.  I can't say I've ever seen Lee Jung-jae younger before, but I could really recognize his voice. Also, I didn't realize until later that Jun Ji-hyun also starred with Lee Jung-jae in Assassination (2015) which was a great WWII thriller and that she also played Ashin in the tv series Kingdom and Kingdom: Ashin of the North. 

My review is also on Letterboxd.

What I've Read So Far:

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The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro had been sitting on my shelf for ages and I'm glad I finally checked it off my tbr. I'm always interested in something that's Arthurian in some way. While I wouldn't quite call this a favorite, it's still worth trying if you're interested in  stories that feel like dreams, Arthurian retellings, or Susana Clark.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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Unholy Ghosts (Downside Ghosts #1) by Stacia Kane sounded like an urban fantasy series opener that would be right up my alley, but it just wasn't what I was hoping for.  I was hoping for more from the ghosts but they're more flat than anything.  I also wasn't terribly impressed by out main character either.  I don't think I'll be back for the rest of the series at all.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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Shadows of Self (Mistborn #5) by Brandon Sanderson is a new favorite fantasy novel.  I mean, I thought book four was my favorite of the series, but now I know better.  As far as I'm concerned the series is just getting better and better.  One thing that I especially loved in this was looking at the newspaper clippings.  I loved the detail that went into them.  I can't wait to try book six.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

Are you taking part in Wyrd & Wonder?  Have you seen watched or read these things?  As always, thanks for visiting and perhaps even commenting down below!