Hello, hello!
Today, I’m here with short reviews for all of SPFBO XI books I’ve read so far but haven’t published a review for yet. I’m just one reviewer and these are my personal thoughts. They don’t represent the entire team or any cuts, etc.
So without further, adieu, lets get started!
The Dragoneers of Longbourn and Pemberley by Chloe Cahenzli
Mini Review: This is a really fun read that has all the vibes of Pride and Prejudice mixed with Bridgerton, but with dragon riders! I love Jane Austen, so I was excited to try this one!
There are enough differences between Austen and this book so that it’s not a paint by numbers retelling, and I grew to love the characters. My biggest criticism would be that, as a retelling, I knew what plot points to expect, meaning the story sometimes lacked tension for me.
I absolutely need a dragon like Lelantos. He’s the real MVP!
All in all, a solid read, and something for then Austen/Julia Quinn fan who also loves some cozy fantasy.
Bolted to the Bone by Bart Carroll
Mini Review: Bolted to the Bone has incredibly strong world-building and one of the cooler settings I’ve experienced in indie fantasy/sci fi. It got off to a strong start, and I found myself really intrigued.
As the book went on, I struggled with the pacing as well as the narrator intrusions. Things seemed to stall, and I was struggling with motivation to continue, though I will say the book picks back up again.
Let’s be clear: this is an incredibly well done book that will work for a lot of readers. Unfortunately some parts didn’t quite hit for me.
I’d recommend this to anyone who loves crazy-cool worldbuilding!
Shadow of the Sword by C.J.R. Isely
Mini Review: This books starts strong and I was interested to see where things would go from there. Unfortunately, I found that the story began to stall after the main character was captured. Ezrin, one of the captors, was by far the most interesting character (and I realized afterward that the main series is apparently based on him, which makes sense).
That’s probably the biggest issue with the story. It’s a prequel story, and doesn’t stand alone all that well.
The protagonist lacked agency for much of the story and his insistence that Ezrin was his enemy even after Ezrin continually helps him had me screaming at him.
On a technical level, the writing is good and the world is well-built. In the end, I think this would be a solid read for fans of the series, but as a standalone, it didn’t quite work for me.
Riyati Rebirth by Kai Zeal
Mini Review: Riyati Rebirth is a new adult contemporary novel set in the modern day US, following several teenage narrators. I thought the author did a great job making the teen characters seem like teens, which is not easy to do. The writing is well done and easy to read, and Zeal obviously has a good handle on voice in first person narration, though I did find the various narrators did blur together somewhat for me at times–I was missing something to really ground me in the story. I did struggle with context and felt the characters often just did things without context, which does fit with teens, but is a tough ask on readers. There’s definitely a lot to like here and I’m sure fans of contemporary fantasy will enjoy this one! I’d recommend it to people who are looking for New Adult reads with a lot of great LGBTQ representation and honest depictions of teens. Unfortunately, as I’m judging in a competition, I put this one aside at the 27% mark.
When the Stars Alight by Camilla Andrews
Mini Review: When the Stars Alight has a lot of things I love in a book: romantic fantasy in a well-structured gaslamp fantasy setting, courtly intrigue, and some enemies to lovers goodness. While Andrew is certainly a talented writer, I found the prose was often flowery to the point it pulled me out of the story. There are some seriously beautiful descriptive passages here, but at the same there are other parts that just feel overdone, and I struggled to get fully immersed. I also found myself struggling to connect with the characters, and things seemed to be happening without any cohesive threads. I’m a character focused reader, and I just want to love some characters, but I just couldn’t connect here. As I said, there’s some amazing prose in here, and I’d recommend this book to people who love lush descriptions, gaslamp fantasy, and lots of morally gray characters. In terms of SPFBO, I put this book down at 33%.
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