For the past couple of weeks I’ve been testing all the SPFBO 4 (2018) finalists books by reading them for an hour. I’ve already done this with SPFBO 5 and it worked really well to let me see which of the books I would want to read more of. I’ve also made a master list of SPFBO books here if you would like to look into the book choices.
Part 1:
Part 2:
My “Try a Chapter” challenge means that each week until this years SPFBO 6 goes into the semi-finalists phase, I’m going to read an hour of each of the finalists from previous years SPFBO. My system for the finalists is that I’m reading them based on the ranking they had for SPFBO. Where I start with the least liked and finish with the winner of that year. I will be reading all the books on my Kindle as the majority of these are on Kindle Unlimited, which also has a 2 month free offer right now for first time users (so now is the best time to trial it here!).
Sowing – Angie Grigaliunas
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Sowing is about two sisters who feel very differently about living under the militarized Hulcondans, where Ariliah feels safe with order and safery and Rabreah joins a resistance against them.
However, both the Hulcondans and the resistance have good and bad people. This makes it even harder for each sister to know who to trust, which causes their worlds to fall apart. The blurb definitely tells us a basic outline of what we should expect from the plot.
I’m mostly curious about how the sisters react towards one another, and how this affects either side. I definitely have assumptions as to what will happen, like they pick sides, realise they messed up and reunite, however I’m hoping there’s some twists and turns as well.
First impressions:
The books starts of with a quick prologue of the posters being put up around the city but then quickly jumps to our main characters. Ariliah is really timid and scared, and is trying her best to meet the standards set by the Hulcondans. On the other hand Rabreah is more headstrong and has recently joined the rebels.
The first 10% really focuses on exploring these two women and their current every day lives. Ariliahs’s day really stresses how she works hard, and is a bit of a pushover for both her friend and mother. Her mother being awful and abusive to Ariliah specifically is a strong point too, although we’re not told much backstory.
Rabreah has been busy getting herself in with the rebels, and is excited to start learning code words. She has a bit of a backstory with a Hulcondan guard too, but there’s not too much information about her at first. We don’t know yet why she’s joined the rebels, or if she suffers the same as Ariliah.
This book was revised about a year ago, to remove what I believe was torture and rape which there’s no sight of in the first hour of the book. However there is a lot of talk about slavery which I know some people may feel uncomfortable reading about. There’s also the term mix-breeds for children of Itzalin and Huldoncans which doesn’t sit right for me. I’m hoping the prejudices and propaganda towards the Itzalin is discussed more and improved upon.
We didn’t manage to get to the pick up of the plot, but I assume Rabreah is going to get more involved in the rebellion side of things, and Ariliah is going to take the side of the Hulcondans. I think there’s going to be a lot that revolves around the Itzalin and the propaganda built up around them.
There’s some hints that the history of the Hulcondan and Itzalin are being wrote by the victors. There’s been fighting and slavery on both sides apparently, where Itzalin are now slaves because they’re seen as barbaric and less than human. I feel like there’s a lot of information that’s being kept for later in the book about this though.
Would I continue reading? Probably… I think because it has been revised that I hope they’ve fixed any huge issues there are, plus that it would create discussion around the prejudices and slavery. However, I wouldn’t say it’s a huge priority read for me.
The Anointed – Keith Ward
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From the blurb we’re told that Xinlas believes he’s a hero but now he has to prove it. I’m interested to find out if he’s actually a hero, and a hero in the eyes of others as the blurb isn’t clear on this.
There’s also a lot of questions that can be formed from the blurb which makes you want to find out more. I’m curious about what the resource is that can be used to conquer lands – is it magic? A weapon? A resource? Who knows! And also how is the village hidden?
Then there’s the mention of a nameless girl. Who is this girl… will she be introduced as more than her orange hair…? I am already worried about how women are represented in this book from the blurb so I hope I’m wrong.
First impressions:
So nearly straight away, I wasn’t enjoying this book. The characters aren’t great, the world isn’t the best, and the plotline just isn’t fun from what I’ve read. I want to state a trigger warning now if you need to skip to the next book on our list, there’s baby death in this book.
First up let’s talk about out main character Xinlas. He’s unlikeable, cocky and arrogant and still acts like a child. As a baby he died and was somehow brought back to life, which is why he believes he’s a hero with a story to tell. This kind of behaviour was awful, and his parents should have stamped that down much earlier I think. He even has disdain towards his “lesser” siblings.
In this world, you can gain extra years of your life through proxies. Proxies are babies, where 99 day old babies who are female are the best and they don’t survive the transfer. There’s also the Marking which pre-determines your life span, which you find out when you come of age. The concept of knowing your death age and being able to transfer time is cool, I hated the proxies part of the book though.
The good thing is… there are characters, particularly Danak who is the stepmother, who are actively against proxies and is fighting against it. The bad thing is Xinlas, his sister Imbis and his father don’t see an issue, and I believe we’ll see at least one person have a transfer in this book.
Xinlas and his two siblings were actually kidnapped as babies to be proxies as well, which of course you’d think would make them despise it. However, Xinlas survived the transfer process as a baby which has given him a lot of self-importance. But I truly don’t believe this is a good book for mothers or anyone trying to conceive.
On top of the clear disregard for babies, and more specifically female babies, the female characters aren’t written well either. Imbis is clever and strong, however seems to be undermined by her brother. Even when they get inheritance gifts, her brothers get presents that are expensive and specific to their desires in life… and she get’s some pretty jewellery.
Then there comes Greengrass, who is defined on the blurb by her orange hair. She wants to be able to explore past the village she lives in and see the wider world. But that was about it, from the section I read I assume that Greengrass is a write in for a romance sub-plot for Xinlas but not for much else. Of course this is assumed and subjective from me, but it’s not a good look.
Overall there’s lots of different elements that I would love to read about such as the transfers, and the not being able to float on water, and even the world building of having a hidden village. However, this book does all this but makes a world where women and children are lesser with limited push back from any of the characters we meet. With all of this, I don’t think I’d be able to continue reading.
Out of Nowhere – Patrick Leclerc
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So Out of Nowhere is definitely urban fantasy, even if I hadn’t checked the genre when looking up the book. Our main character Sean is an immortal healer and now paramedic so it’s a real world setting.
Honestly the blurb doesn’t make this book stand out at all compared to most other urban fantasies. There’s going to be a big bad, and our POV will be trying to save everyone they love. But as it somehow made it into the top 10 finalists… it must have something.
First impressions:
As soon as you read the first page you’re thrown into action. This was actually quite confusing as it’s like a little prologue with not our main character. But when the character gets hurt a paramedic is called and our main character appears and heals them. This sets up the start of the book like the blurb says.
After this, the action dies down quite a bit. The writing style uses a lot of description, especially when listing out everyday activities like getting ready to sleep and cooking. This made the book very hard to get into, especially after it had such a fast start.
The concept of our main character being immortal, whilst being unsure if he doesn’t age or just ages really slowly is not unique. It’s a common trope in urban fantasy, and not much about him is outstanding to be honest. He uses his magic to heal as many people as possible without getting caught, and that’s nice. I like that he does genuinely want to help people.
However, I just couldn’t get past the awful way women are depicted throughout the book. Women are completely described but only on how attractive they are. At least they were also described as smart, capable and could hold their own… but it wasn’t the best. Sarah Deyermond is a “cool girl” character like in Gone Girl, and is treated as insanely hot but hasn’t been told enough (and is therefore attainable). I definitely will not be able to continue reading this book.
Ruthless Magic – Megan Crewe
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Ruthless Magic is a book I’ve heard of before, but I can’t quite put my finger on how or when or why. It’s all about teen mages who now need to take a vicious exam in order to keep their magic. The exam sounds a little bit Hunger Games like, but also like the competition in the Wizards of Waverly Place film.
Rocio and Finn are two of the entrants, and I assume they will be a couple. They have very different backgrounds and I’m hoping this is discussed between them at some point. Rocio definitely feels like the character I’ll be more interested in story-wise though.
First impressions:
The world we’re in is a future America where mages have come out of hiding. We’re mainly set in New York, which is familiar ground but we’re set predominately within the magic community. This shows of families of old magic, how Granduncle Raymond was able to pull strings for Finn, and how there’s prejudices against “new magic” people. This plays off similar to muggleborns in Harry Potter.
In order for anyone magical to attend the North American Confederation of Mages they must be chosen or they will be dampened. It’s assumed that most legacies or old magic are automatically chosen, and shown that new magic’s are often sent to be dampened despite high skill due to suspcions they’ll turn against the confederation. There’s the ability to opt for the exam which will allow you to be “chosen” if you were selected to be dampened. However, the exam can be vicious and this pulls us into the books plotline.
Ruthless magic focuses a lot around it’s characters, and there’s even more introduced just before the enter the exam. I said Hunger Games-esque when I read the blurb, and it’s a similar cast of characters but with two POVs.
First we have Finn Lockwood who is old magic but not very good at it. He enters the exam after a bit of a tantrum about nepotism, and he wants to prove his magical prowess to everyone but most importantly, himself. His friend who is new magic but got declined from the school is a lot better than him, but also in the exam. I enjoyed how this immediately shows him this difference between old and new magic, and it displays a tension as even she tells him he’s wrong for giving up his assured place.
Rocio on the other hand is highly skilled at magic but is new magic. Her brother was similar and ended up dying during the exam in a previous year. This give Rocio a stubborness to do well, but it also gave us as a reader an instant knowledge of how dangerous the exam can be.
Overall it’s a pretty quick read, and reads more urban fantasy. I managed to read 18% in an hour and defintely wanted to read more.
Aching God – Mike Shel
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Aching God sounds intriguing and a little bit more high fantasy than other books on this list so far. It definitely feels more like a “me” book because of this and I’m ready to jump in.
First thing to note is that the Barrowlands sounds super familiar but I’m not sure where from. It being haunted and having a ancient civilization backstory does give it a lot of intrigue though.
Plus, as the title suggests there’s going to be a God in this book which the blurb says will be the villain. A retired warrior vs living god sounds like a strange match up, so I’m excited to see how everything plays out.
First impressions:
So Aching God starts off with a nightmare, which I’m not mad about. It instantly gives us backstory to Auric, and we understand his grief, loss and motivation later on in the book because of it. Plus, because the scene was very action orientated it immediately pulled me in.
Auric is in his 50’s which is different to a lot of the books I read, and he’s retired for a more quiet life away from the Syraeic League. He has a dog called Margaret and a Horse calle Glutton which I loved. However he’s called away from retirement to help save his daughter, who’s also in the Syraeic League.
The world building is very orientated around the religion and culture of this land. We learn early on that there’s multiple Gods and people pray to different ones. There’s The Mother, Belu; King of Gods, Marcator; God of War, Varic; God of Harvest, Chaeres; God of Forges, Velcan and The Trickster God, Timilis. Plus, there’s a bit of religous dissaray in Boudan, the closest city, and many gods have empty temples.
Another little aspect I noticed was that the city walls in this world were graffitied. The fact that this was mentioned, and it’s a common fantasy time period just added a little bit of depth to the world. I felt like it was competely natural, and it shows there’s people off page who do things not related to the storyline at all.
We learn that Auric has been to the Barrowlands before which helped cause his nightmares. So the fact that he’s gonna have to go back there is super interesting. We unfortinatlet didn’t learn much, but there’s undead spirits or something that are viscious and malevolent. Honestly I’m so excited to read and find out more.
Symphony of the Wind – Steven McKinnon
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Symphony of the Wind follows two POVs who are hunting for the assassin that killed their loved one. From the blurb, it’s not clear whether it’s the same person for both of them, or whether it’s two assassinations, but either way the vengeance plotline sounds good to me.
Out of vengeance also comes the discovery of other secrets that Tyson and Serena aren’t supposed to know. I think these secrets will be much bigger and darker than the two of them, and they’ll need to work together to unravel more of the story.
The blurb also mentions magic powers, steampunk airships and monsters – so overall it has a lot of elements I can’t wait to read about.
First impressions:
So Symphony of the Wind has beautiful world building from the very first page when it talks about sky ships. There’s a job/task of being raincatchers, where the ships go to spires to pick up water I believe (pretty much catch rain). Then there’s the description of these spires having concentrated storms. Let’s just say I was pulled in.
On this raincatcher we have two stand out characters. The first is Serena who is our POV, and is really only described based on her green hair and how she’s grew up in an orphanage but wants to be a captain. She’s quite tough, doesn’t always follow orders, and I’m sure she’s going to get herself into trouble one of these days.
The other interesting character is Captain Fitzwilliam who has given a chance for Serena to be part of the crew. He welcomes old age and I believe has a bit of a drinking problem. My first thought was that he was going to die, and give Serena control of the ship, however he does have a right hand and other crew members he likes too.
The chapters on the raincatcher also gives us some insight in the Fayth Codex, which is the religion in this world. There’s both greater and lesser gods, and the orphanage was run by the church. There’s not a huge amount of info, but I believe the church may come into play later in the book.
Our other POV character is Tyson Gallows who is a street kid turned policeman. He reminds me a bit of the detective novels my parents read, he’s got a past but he’s a bit uptight too. The city he’s in, Dalthea, has a strict curfew too which creates a very strict authoritative vibe.
Tysons chapter also talks about the poison veil that hangs over the sea, and will burn your organs if you try to pass. So I’m feeling that Tyson and the other citizens are very trapped, and I was intrigued about the history behind this veil.
Would I continue reading? Maybe… I read this is two lots of 30 minutes and I just wasn’t interested to go back for that second lot of 30 minutes. I read about 6% and it did feel like a bit of a chore. Plus, I can’t tell how these two stories are going to connect. So it’s a maybe, but probably not compared to the rest of my TBR.
Sworn to the Night – Craig Schaefer
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Sworn to the Night is another urban fantasy book that from the blurb, has impressive backstory and world building. Marie’s other lives, Nessa’s witchy powers and a long lasting curse are all parts that I can’t wait to read more about.
A key part is who cast the curse on them, and who will be the villain in this story. This lack of info helps pull me into wanting to read more too – and I’m interested to see if backstory and flashbacks are used to introduce us to the villain before the present time.
First impressions:
So the prologue basically tells us that the entire book is a story narrated by Carolyn Saunders who is under interrogation. We also find out that she’s an author in this world. I’m curious about whether she’s going to be a reliable narrator, and how this affects the book as a whole.
We then meet our first main character, Marie, who is a detective who’s hell bent on saving as many people as possible. Who meets our other main character, Vanessa, early on in the book when she’s interviewing Vanessa’s husband about a crime. Vanessa is in a loveless marriage and is and artist and witch. The set up of both characters is done well to lead them to meet, but also shows how they’re distinct as people.
When they do meet there’s an instant recognition although neither can piece together how or why. I’m not someone who likes insta-love, and find it annoying but this instant recognition does make sense for the story being told. These characters are very much tied together by fate, and I’m intrigued to see how their relationship does develop as they haven’t spoken properly yet.
I particularly like Marie as a character as we do seem to be following a mystery/crime in her chapters. This isn’t just a fantasy book, it has hints of a detective thriller wrapped within in and I hope it links directly with the storyline.
On top of these two we meet characters called The Mourner, Dora, and The Lady in Red. These seem very inspired my Shakespeare’s three witches or The Fates in mythology. They’re hunting down artefacts in order to free Marie and Nessa I believe, but I may be wrong. If I’m wrong, they may be the bad guys, but if not we’re not sure on who the antagonist is at this point.
I definitely want to know more so I will be continuing to read Sworn to the Night at some point.
We Ride the Storm – Devin Madson
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We Ride the Storm has actually be re-released by a publisher last week and I’ve already got a copy. The book follows three POVs who have very different backgrounds and backstories.
I’m personally most interested in Miko who’s a Kisian princess prisoner in her own castle. There’s also Cassandra, a Chiltae assassin who keeps hearing voices of the dead, and Captain Rah who is being forced to fight a war. All of these characters seem to have their own story arc they need to go on, so I’m interested to see how they meet up.
First impressions:
So the first part of We Ride the Storm is very focused on building up the three POV characters and also world building. First we meet Miko who is a princess in a land where the emperor must choose an heir. In theory, her brother should be the heir because of blood but there’s a lot of political tension and behind the scenes whisperings which lead to multiple assassination attempts. I loved the depth Miko had as a character, she’s learned how to behave in public and how she can act around her family is different. She’s extremely clever, often portraying her skills like archery as lesser to make her look like less of a threat, plus her thinking around a possible arranged marriage is written really well.
The POV then goes to Captain Rah who is part of the Levanti who travel in herds of people. There’s some backstory that’s still missing, but I assume we’ll see more later on in the book. They’re mostly warriors and they’re looking for Gideon who is the 1st Sword of Torin, which is an important warrior title. His chapters give us a lot of information on Rah as a character, but also a lot of questions about his people and culture.
We then have Cassandra who is an assassin with a voice in her head (who’s quite judgemental). She’s offered a job by a confident stranger and in return she’ll be given the location of The Witch Doctor who can remove the voice. We know the least about Cassandra at this point, but I assume she’ll be crossing paths with Miko more than Rah at first.
The book seems very character focused at first so I’m still not totally sure on the plot. But I like how these chapters have set up different factions, some mysteries and really makes you want to find out more. I’ll definitely continue reading and add it to my TBR for July.
The Gods of Men – Barbara Kloss
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There’s a lot going on when reading about The Gods of Men. First up is the magic system and that it’s forbidden in the Five Provinces. Our main character has magic and has previously killed her sister accidentally with her powers. Because of this she exiles herself to avoid death and becomes a healer to help others in need. I like the sound of her character as there’s some depth already.
Something is hunting Sable, a spirit of the dead that’s been summoned by a necromancer. Something I want to know is why is the necromance trying to get to Sable, is she more important than we’re led to believe? I’m not sure but it would be good to find out.
Jos is another character that Sable both falls for and is trying to help. He’s part of the Five Provinces, but needs Sable’s powers to heal his father. I’m wondering whether he’s going to help Sable back or not, because it’s re-iterated that he’s from the Provinces and it will be dangerous for Sable to display her powers.
First impressions:
The Gods of Men starts off with a prologue that explains exactly how Sable killed her sister which is mentioned in the blurb. I enjoyed the backstory because it showed her relationship with the family she left behind, and it gave us extra grief and loss that she feels towards being family-less.
She moves outside of the five provinces where magic is banned, and moves to a place called Skarden (I think this is it, but I can’t read my own handwriting). This place has a warded wall to keep away the forest full of whisperings. The town itself is full of thieves and outcasts, mostly running from the provinces themselves. I really liked how this town felt so real because of the writing, you can picture the place, the wards, the people.
Sable is also a great character as we see she’s developed to be more tough than her upbringing, but she still cares about those she can help. She works as a healer and I loved the found family she’s found with some of the people in Skarden. There’s also some tension with other people due to prejudice, and this contrast also added a lot to our view of Sable.
We also have our other character, Prince Jeric, who’s main role is to hunt “scabs” in Corinth. Scabs are the people Sable is helping, which brings in the talk of prejudice again, and Jeric is extremely biased against Scabs. He’s also the second son in Corinth, where his father is falling ill and his brother is heir to the throne. He’s given a task to find a healer close to the end of my first impressions. We really don’t know much about Jeric at this point to form an opinion, but I hope that Sable is able to convince him that his bias is wrong.
13% into the book and we get to the part of the plot that the blurb is describing. Sable may have been found out and will have to go on this journey with Jeric, but I’ve not reached the departure just yet. I enjoy the character set up and the world building so I think I’ll pick The Gods of Men up again sometimes soon.
Orconomics – J. Zachary Pike (winner)
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Orconomics immediately shows itself as different to so many of the books on this list. It’s not just a fantasy but it has satire and comedic elements and uses a lot of tropes from fantasy books to push it’s story forward.
In Orconomics questing and being a hero is done for the fame and money you can get from it, and the questing feels very video-game like. Gorm is a disgraced hero who’s turned to thieving, but wants a second chance of fame and fortune. I like that this means our main character will probably have a lot of character depth, and won’t be another noble knight who saves the world.
First impressions:
Orconomics straight away isn’t anything like what I’ve read before. It’s a fantasy book that is taking a humorous and satirical take on the high fantasy LOTR-esque books. But I enjoyed it for what it was because it was quite unique.
It starts with an introduction about contracted heroes, where we’re following a hero on a contract. He then runs into Gorm, who robs him and we realise the hero isn’t a great hero and this world isn’t as noble as a lot of fantasy books make their good guys out to be.
Despite robbing the hero, Gorm is actually quite a moral character and shies away from needless killing. Gleebek the goblin was saved from being killed by the hero, so Gorm goes out of his way to the city where he can get Gleebek a pass. This pass means the goblin can’t be killed by a hero, as it would give the hero minus points.
Talking about points, The FOE or Forces of Evil are made up of Shadowkin and killing FOE can give the heroes points. Once they have enough points they can upgrade to bigger and better quests given out by the guild. The guild will also divy up the loot from any quests, and is basically capitalising on quests more than players who grind in Elder Scrolls Online.
This entire system is completely different to the good guys being good guys because of being noble and righteous. But I enjoyed it so much and I’m excited to see where it goes. I kind of get why it won 2018’s SPFBO because it is so different to the other books as well as being well written.
So the top four books of 2018’s SPFBO are all books that I really want to read plus two in the middle of the rankings. That means 4 of SPFBO 4 finalists have been knocked off my TBR, although 1 of these is still a maybe.
Are any of these books on your TBR? Or what are your thoughts if you’ve already read one?