We… really struggled with this. Like…really struggled. As mentioned in our opening post, we at The Fantasy Inn SPFBO team sought to make this year nice and easy for ourselves with a simpler system that meant a bit less reading and, well, we failed. We had too many good books. That shouldn’t be a problem, but in a competition like this it kinda sorta is. So we had eight books in need of extra reads from the team to whittle down our batch to a manageable size. Getting to the four semi-finalists wasn’t too difficult with a few extra reads all around, but any sense of satisfaction at making it to that point quickly evaporated.
From there it didn’t seem to matter how we scored, graded, listed, allocated points according to favourites, argued, and SERIOUSLY CONSIDERED COIN FLIPPING THERE FOR A BIT, we kept coming up with ties. Even when we eventually got down to two books…we managed to tie. With five readers having read them both. Five. You know, an odd number. Truly we were stumped. Reaching a final decision took days. DAYS.
So… which book did we pick? Before we tell you, it’s time to stall a bit and look back at the four semi-finalists in contention — in the order we announced them:
Flight of Sorcery and Shadow by Meg Cowley
An adventurous fantasy full of fun vibes, interesting characters and A TALKING GRIMOIRE THAT CAN TURN INTO A PUPPY. Light on plot progression, but most of us really didn’t care because we were having fun. There’s zombies and dragons and the beginnings of an enemies-to-lovers romance, but… did I mention the talking puppy?
On Lavender Tides by Travis Riddle
Another vibe filled fun ride (seems to have been our jam this year) mashing together lit-rpg style world building with slice of life ease, this Pokémon-esque fantasy has a world so full of detail and life you’ll feel like you’re tasting it. Especially with the number of food descriptions.
Mysterious Ways by Abbie Evans
Another vibes heavy book from our batch, Mysterious Ways is a rollercoaster of a ride that’ll have you smiling as it wrenches you this way and that along an unexpected journey. Occasionally unsure whether it wants to be humorous or philosophical or both, there’s chaotic enemies-to-lovers romance, more demons than you can poke a stick at, and proof that the only use for magical phones is to organise hook ups.
The Woeling Lass by Dave Dobson
A fantasy mystery, this inquisitors’ guild novel has a lot going for it from twisty turns and turny twists to a lived-in world, conspiracy galore, and a splash or two of dark magic. Some of the action takes place off the page, but the snarky asshat of a protagonist more than makes up for it.
At this point, we want to again hammer home the point that this was a ridiculously close decision. We aren’t just making shit up for dramatic effect here. Score-wise, these books were in an honest-to-goodness four-way tie. We tried multiple different ways of breaking the tie, and for a moment there it seemed like none of them would work. It was ties all the way down. Eventually, though, EVENTUALLY we came to a decision.
And so, we’re glad to reveal that the Fantasy Inn’s finalist for this year’s SPFBO, advancing to Phase 2 with a score of 7.5, is…
Click to reveal
Mysterious Ways by Abbie Evans!
Congratulations Abbie! And commiserations and thank-yous to the rest of our semi-finalists!
