Huzzah! We’re back again with our third semi-finalist, and a few more books that we have to cut. We’ll have five total semi-finalists, so there are still two more posts to come! Let’s start with today’s cuts: The Snatcher by Amanda N. Newman What the judges had to say: Arun: Interesting world but not fleshed […]
Fantasy
A Long And Speaking Silence (Singing Hills Cycle #7) by Nghi Vo
Synopsis Every story begins somewhere. On the banks of the Ya-lé River, the town of Luntien gathers to celebrate the start of the rainy season, but the celebration is marred by the arrival of refugees from the sea. Everyone has a story about the foreigners newly in their midst—lazy, violent, unwanted—while the refugees themselves grieve […]
Review: Priest of Lies (War for the Rose Throne #2) by Peter McLean
Synopsis Tomas Piety has been many things: soldier, priest, gangster…and spy. As Tomas’s power grows, the nobility better watch their backs, in this dark and gritty epic fantasy series. People are weak, and the poorer and more oppressed they are, the weaker they become–until they can’t take it anymore. And when they rise up…may the […]
Review: A Drowned Kingdom (The Drowned Kingdom #1) by P.L. Stuart
Synopsis Once Second Prince of the mightiest kingdom in the known world, Othrun now leads the last survivors of his exiled people into an uncertain future far across the Shimmering Sea from their ancestral home, now lost beneath the waves. With his Single God binding his knights to chivalric oaths, intent on wiping out idolatry […]
Steel Gods (Book Two of The Great Silence) by Richard Swan
***The Sunday Times bestselling Great Silence series continues*** THE EMPIRE OF THE WOLF TEETERS ON THE BRINK The true horror of the Great Silence has been revealed. As nation after nation succumbs to the mind-plague and Sova scrambles to enlist help from across the globe, Ambassador Renata Rainer has been given a simple task: save […]
Review: Mortedant’s Peril (The Trials of Irody Hasp #1) by R. J. Barker
Synopsis In a city of ancient automata, strange spirits, and sleeping gods, a cleric of death finds his own life on the line in this vividly imagined fantasy murder mystery from the acclaimed author of The Bone Ships and Age of Assassins. Irody Hasp is a Mortedant, a cleric tasked with reading the last thoughts […]
Review: This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me (Maggie the Undying #1) by Ilona Andrews
Synopsis: A page-turning, unforgettable fantasy set in a city peopled with ruffians, spies, malcontents and murderers. Experience out-of-this world adventure and dangerous politics as Maggie tries to survive waking up in her favourite fictional world. A heart-pounding epic from No. 1 New York Times bestselling author duo Ilona Andrews. When Maggie wakes up cold, filthy […]
Review: The Skald’s Black Verse (Dreadbound Ode #1) by Jordan Loyal Short
Synopsis When a shadowy creature appears on the long night of the solstice festival, Brohr is blamed for the grisly murder it commits. He flees the noose, one step ahead of his people’s otherworldly oppressors, into the hinterlands, where dark magic, family secrets, and a band of broken rebels await. Overhead, a grim omen spells […]
SPFBO XI Review: The Sorcerer’s Valley (Ferrian’ Winter #1) by Megan Leigh
Synopsis: Ferrian has been running his whole life. Running, because he has no choice. Wherever he goes, Winter follows. Wherever he sleeps, frost creeps at his door. From town to town he hastens, frightened, tired; forever trying to keep one step ahead of the cold, the snow and the devastating storms. It is a kind […]
Review: Villains Rule (Shadow Master #1) by MK Gibson
Synopsis This is the story of Jackson Blackwell, the Shadow Master, and the top villain adviser. Sadly, even the top villain occasionally gets double-crossed. Trapped in one of the fantasy realms, Jackson has to use his skill and wits to exploit the rules, points out the genre flaws, undermine godly authority, and win the day. […]
Review: Heroes Die (The Acts of Caine #1) by Matthew Woodring Stover
Synopsis Renowned throughout the land of Ankhana as the Blade of Tyshalle, Caine has killed his share of monarchs and commoners, villains and heroes. He is relentless, unstoppable, simply the best there is at what he does. At home on Earth, Caine is Hari Michaelson, a superstar whose adventures in Ankhana command an audience of […]
Review: This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me (Maggie the Undying, #1)
Synopsis: An unforgettable fantasy set in a city peopled with ruffians, spies, malcontents and murderers. Experience out-of-this world adventure and dangerous politics as Maggie tries to survive waking up in her favourite fictional world. A heart-pounding epic from No. 1 New York Times bestselling author duo Ilona Andrews. When Maggie wakes up cold, filthy and […]