TBR Risk #1: The Game of TBR Domination

Hello friends! I have a super exciting post for you today! I am starting my own TBR Game! The Game will be called TBR Risk: The Game of TBR Domination. My game is based on the game Risk. I did some googling and I couldn’t find any other games like it, so hopefully, this is a unique game.

I am a serial mood reader, and because I started doing (and hosting) the Read Better Challenge, I need to focus more on what I choose to read.

If you don’t know what Risk is, I highly recommend watching this video. In short, the idea is to take over the entire world. So the idea of TBR Risk is to take over my entire TBR.

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How TBR Risk Works

We basically start off with 5 “players” on the board, each a different colour. The players are randomly spread out across the continents, each with 25 pieces of infantry. Each month I will be playing a different colour to keep it exciting.

You’ll see that I’ve renamed some of the locations to bookish locations. (Ukraine became Ravka, China became Nikara etc). So if you want to suggest a location, please leave it in the comments!

The aim is for one colour to take over the entire world. For this month, I have decided to be purple, so I will play the first round as an explanation.

Round #1

For the first round, I have decided to attack Northern Europe from Ravka. There were two blue troops in Northern Europe and I am attacking with four purple troops. The red dice are the attacking dice and the white dice are the defending dice.

For the first roll, purple lost a troop and blue lost a troop. The highest defending dice is paired with the highest attacking dice, and because I am attacking with more troops I get to use more dice.

Blue only has one troop left in that territory so blue loses a dice. Blue only defends with one dice now. On the second roll, purple won. Which means blue loses the territory because they have no troops left, and purple gains the territory.

Since the colour I am playing won, I get to pick a positive (green) TBR card.

The prompt on the card is Fantasy, so I can choose any fantasy book I want. For this prompt, I chose The Archive of the Forgotten (the second book in the Hell’s Library series).

What’s it about?

The Library of the Unwritten in Hell was saved from total devastation, but hundreds of potential books were destroyed. Former librarian Claire and Brevity the muse feel the loss of those stories and are trying to adjust to their new roles within the Arcane Wing and Library, respectively. But when the remains of those books begin to leak a strange ink, Claire realizes that the Library has kept secrets from Hell–and from its own librarians.

Claire and Brevity are immediately at odds in their approach to the ink, and the potential power that it represents has not gone unnoticed. When a representative from the Muses Corps arrives at the Library to advise Brevity, the angel Rami and the erstwhile Hero hunt for answers in other realms. The true nature of the ink could fundamentally alter the afterlife for good or ill, but it entirely depends on who is left to hold the pen.

Round #2

For round number two, I decided to take two purple troops to Southern Europe. I was swiftly defeated with higher defending dice. A defeat means I pick a negative (blue) TBR prompt.

I picked A-Z. Which means I ask Siri to choose a letter between A-Z, and I have to read a pick a book starting with that letter. Siri chose C, so I decided to put The Cousins by Karen M. McManus on here.

What’s it about?

Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah Story are cousins, but they barely know each other, and they’ve never even met their grandmother. Rich and reclusive, she disinherited their parents before they were born. So when they each receive a letter inviting them to work at her island resort for the summer, they’re surprised… and curious.

Their parents are all clear on one point—not going is not an option. This could be the opportunity to get back into Grandmother’s good graces. But when the cousins arrive on the island, it’s immediately clear that she has different plans for them. And the longer they stay, the more they realize how mysterious—and dark—their family’s past is.

The entire Story family has secrets. Whatever pulled them apart years ago isn’t over—and this summer, the cousins will learn everything.

Round #3

Round number three was just awful. My troops fought valiantly for the Congo but were utterly defeated once again. The negative prompt I had to pick was 500+, which means I need to read a book with 500+ pages.

So I decided to throw To Sleep in a Sea of Stars on my TBR. It is a chonker with 878 pages. Yikes.

What’s it about?

Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds. Now she’s awakened a nightmare. During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first, she’s delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn’t at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity’s greatest and final hope…

Round #4

Morale is definitely low amongst the troops. Since I decided that each month I would play four rounds, I had to suck it up and send my troops off to battle. We tried taking over the Northwest Territory, but once again failed spectacularly.

Our punishment was a TBR Vet, chosen randomly from a jar containing all of the books that have been on my TBR for a year or more.

I pulled out The Boneless Mercies, so we’ll see if I actually get to this.

What’s it about?

A dark standalone YA fantasy about a band of mercenary girls in search of female glory.

Frey, Ovie, Juniper, and Runa are the Boneless Mercies—girls hired to kill quickly, quietly, and mercifully. But Frey is weary of the death trade and, having been raised on the heroic sagas of her people, dreams of a bigger life.

When she hears of an unstoppable monster ravaging a nearby town, Frey decides this is the Mercies’ one chance out. The fame and fortune of bringing down such a beast would ensure a new future for all the Mercies. In fact, her actions may change the story arc of women everywhere.

My final TBR Risk Stack

And there you have it. The first round of TBR Risk is done and dusted. Please let me know what you think of this game, and leave some prompt or name suggestions down below!

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