We’re a little late in getting this post out, for which we apologise, but now we’re back with our second round of cuts! Unfortunately, only one book from our pile of thirty can progress to the next round, which means it’s time to wield the scythe again.
The following books will not be progressing to Phase 2. But that doesn’t mean that something here won’t strike a chord with the right reader, so be sure to check out our mini-reviews to see if anything catches your interest!
If you want to check out our first round of cuts, check here.
War of the God Queen by David Hambling
Reviewer: Kopratic
Finished or DNF: DNF
This is a Cthulian story about a woman displaced in time and space, who finds herself in a group of prehistoric nomadic people. They think her to be sent from the heavens due to her arriving shortly after their leader prays for someone to aid them. Meanwhile, in the present-day, the woman’s friends discover strange writing from ancient times — her writing in fact.
This is definitely a case of the book not being for me. I really tried to enjoy it, but I just didn’t really care for any aspect. The writing was good. The characters and their development were good. I liked how the MC became less judgemental of the nomads as she got to know them better. But the general plot just didn’t interest me, unfortunately. There’s a large focus on cosmic/Cthulian horror and strange monsters. And in the end, it wasn’t my cup of tea. I think people who like Lovecraftian/Cthulian mythos books might really enjoy this one, though.
Store links: Get a copy
Of Shadows and Blood by J.T. Williams
Reviewer: Kopratic
Finished or DNF: DNF
Yet again, it’s a case of the book just not being for me. It’s just a plot I don’t really care for, but I do think the character work is really well done here. Something that bothered me a bit was I felt the dialogue and prose in general felt stiff at times and unnecessarily unnatural at times. For example, it felt that every time something like a grey sky was mentioned, it was “a sky of grey” or “a cloak of black.” And a lot of the dialogue felt like the characters were talking in riddles. While it harkened back to older fantasy, it did bother me to be honest.
But really, vampiric dark elves is a really interesting concept. And like I said, the character work is excellent. Everyone was distinctive and fleshed out, and the world itself was also great. But again, the overall plot just didn’t interest me, and I never felt motivated to keep reading, which is why I ultimately DNF’d it.
Store links: Get a copy
The Last Benediction in Steel by Kevin Wright
Reviewer: Travis
Finished or DNF: DNF
Sir Luther and his friends are caught between a rock and a hard place, fleeing for their lives and forced to shelter in a place that could be even more dangerous than what’s pursuing them. And by “more dangerous” I mean dead bodies in the streets, crazed religious fanatics whipping themselves in public, and some sort of ancient monster that in a bit too fond of murder.
There’s a lot to love about this book. The setting is quintessential Grimdark, the characters have an endless supply of witty banter, and the prose lends the story an almost noir detective feel. At the same time, I expect this to be a divisive book. While technically a standalone in the sense that you don’t really need the previous book (Lords of Asylum) to understand the plot, I was left with the distinct impression that you’d need to have read it to invest in the characters. One of Sir Luther’s friends is dying but that’s all I knew about him, and the various side characters run together. The witty banter was highly enjoyable but so prevalent that it helped the cast blend together.
The first book did quite well in SPFBO 4, and this feels like a similarly well-written story. If this had been our finalist I think multiple judges would have rated it quite highly.
Store links: Get a copy
The Demon in the Metal by Blake Michael Nelson
Reviewer: Tam
Finished or DNF: DNF
I didn’t make it very far in this book. The premise of the book seemed very good, however I was unable to get very far in it as, in my opinion the prose was overly descriptive and the author could have done with cutting out some of the description to keep the flow of the story going.
Store links: Get a copy
The Swordsman’s Lament by G.M. White
Reviewer: Tam
Finished or DNF: DNF
I loved the idea behind this book, a swordmaster caught up in palace intrigue. The prose was well written and overall was a reasonably good book, unfortunately, I wasn’t a huge fan of the main character as I found him to generally be overly competent at swordsmanship, which made any action scenes quite quick. Which overall isn’t a huge issue because the book really isn’t about the sword play as much as the mystery and court intrigue.
Overall, I would say this was quite a good book, it just didn’t personally work well for me.
Store links: Get a copy
Atonement by J.L. Rothstein
Reviewer: Hiu
Finished or DNF: DNF at 20%
In Atonement, there are guardians sent by heaven to protect humans from the nefarious interfering of demons from hell. These demons can manifest in a way that allows them to whisper into the ears of humans, causing them to dwell on dark thoughts. The O’Mara family, including Genevieve, have protected humanity for hundreds of years.
There were some things I liked about Atonement, such as a focus on healing from trauma, but unfortunately I really couldn’t engage with the writing. In particular, I disliked how certain pieces of information or backstory were conveyed to the reader, which was often in an “oh, and by the way…” sort of manner. A lot of the time this was contained within a character’s dialogue or thoughts, which had the feeling of really in-my-face infodumping. Looking past my frustrations, though, I think there could be the bones of an emotional, family-driven story here for some readers.
Store links: Get a copy
The Void Revealed by Stephen J. Ethier
Reviewer: Hiu
Finished or DNF: DNF at 21%
I was intrigued by the promise of interesting worldbuilding coming into this book, but unfortunately it was another that I couldn’t connect with. The premise is that human life was almost wiped out years before by a fire called the “Fury”, which we witness in the first chapter. Afterwards, what life remains is contained to a settlement (Windhold) on top of a mile-high column of rock (the Spire).
At the beginning of The Void Revealed, there is a habit of opening chapters with numerous pages of exposition or dialogue-free description. I found that this made the book very hard to pick back up once I’d put it down, and the amount of info-dumping made it hard for me to sink into the story or get to know the characters. I thought that it took too long to introduce me to the plot or engage me with character motivations or conflicts, and so in the end my frustrations won out.
Store links: Get a copy
The Five Trials by Mike Truk
Reviewer: N/A
Status: Requested Elimination
The author of this book messaged us letting us know they wished to bow out of the competition. We respect their decision and wish them the best.
Store links: Get a copy
Patch and Max: A Grimdark by Richard Switzer
Reviewer: N/A
Status: Disqualified
Unfortunately, this book has been disqualified due to being submitted in the wrong format. We wish the author the best.
Store links: Get a copy
Once again, commiserations to anyone bowing out of the competition at this point! We currently have three of our four semi-finalists decided, and these have all been read by the majority of the judges. We’ll be announcing our semi-finalists in quick-fire fashion as soon as we can get those posts written up, and by then it’ll be around time to determine our finalist!
We also want to make clear that there is there is scope for books within our batch to become semi-finalists outside of their originally assigned reviewer. Books that have shown promise but weren’t a good fit for a particular reviewer have been offered to another, as have books that may have narrowly missed out on semi-finalist status within one reviewer’s initial batch. Think of this as an internal, Fantasy-Inn-specific senlin net. To avoid confusion, we will be making clear when a book has been passed on to another judge, and when it has been eliminated.
Check back for more updates, or check out our SPFBO6 Hub page to check our standings at a glance.
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