We’re back again with another semifinalist and a few more cuts! This is our second to last semi-finalist and second to last post with cuts! Here are the cuts: Blind Chaos: Budding Rhythm by Crimcat What the judges had to say: Isabelle: Blind Chaos: Budding Rhythm by CrimCat is a LitRPG book with a big […]
Fantasy
Cover Reveal: Crypt Currency: A Lesson in Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike
KICKSTARTER DATE: April 14th, 2026FORMATS: Hardcover, paperback, eBook and deluxe collector’s edition (Kickstarter) SERIES: The Dark Profits Saga (standalone adventure)COVER ARTIST: Agustin Marceillac COVER DESIGN: James T. Egan of Bookfly DesignKICKSTARTER: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jzacharypike/crypt-currency Blurb On Arth, the future of finance revolves around deep politics, hidden interests, and dark magic. Notably absent is actual money. Crypt currency is the future. The enchantments are […]
Review: Shadow Reaper by Lynette Noni
Synopsis: NEVER BARGAIN WITH A REAPER. The city of Aravell is in peril, plagued by a deadly blackmist that kills all it touches and reapers who roam the streets, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. Seventeen-year-old reaper hunter Viridia Solace has made it her life’s mission to capture their leader―the man who murdered […]
Review: Innamorata (House of Teeth 1) by Ava Reid
Synopsis: Once there was an island where the dead walked the earth, and seven noble houses ruled by the arcane secrets of necromancy. A conqueror’s blade brought them low, burning their libraries, killing their lords, and extinguishing their eldritch magic. But defiant against the new order stands the House of Teeth and its last living […]
SPFBO XI: A Third Semifinalist and more cuts!
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Books That Ought to Go On the Same Charcuterie Board as THE TRIDENT AND THE PEARL
A guest post by Sarah K. L. Wilson about the inspirations and compliments to THE TRIDENT AND THE PEARL.
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 […]