They told us that it’d be hard to narrow down our picks, but I don’t quite think we anticipated how close it would be. Each of us have said that we’d be happy with any one of our semi finalists going through, but unfortunately we can only pick one.
We’ve seen some really enjoyable books in our first year in SPFBO. While we only have three semi-finalists, we’d still like to give a few honourable mentions to books such as Death of the Tree Path by Timothy S. Curry, Legacy of Bones by Kirk Dougal, and The Nothing Mage by J.P. Valentine. Each of these books have something that the right reader could fall in love with.
But with that said, the day belongs to our semi-finalists. Here are a few final words on each before we reveal which will be passing through to the next round:
Travis’s Thoughts: There’s not much to say that I haven’t already said. RADIO is wildly inventive and the most unique of our semi-finalists. It’s also the darkest, exploring topics like suicide, addiction, and mind control. After a bit of a slow start, the book never let up. I think a lot of SPFBO readers would love this one.
Kop’s Thoughts: While I’m not sure what other might think, I would describe this book as a grimdark urban fantasy. The concept behind it is great, and the main character + main minor characters are pretty well fleshed out. I mean, I still absolutely hated the MC to be honest — completely unlikable, arrogant, rude. But he seems to be intentionally written that way. This book had a lot of highs, but it also had some lows for me. I felt a couple of scenes were unnecessarily graphic (CW for suicide in chapter 1). I also felt that a couple of decisions in the end came sort of out of left field. Overall, though, what a strong entry into this competition!
Hiu’s Thoughts: If one of the things you look for in a good book is a distinctive narrative voice, then I think Radio might be something worth looking at. It’s the most “voicey” of our final 3, and has bit of an original flair to it. I mean, how many urban fantasies set in 1920’s Paris have you seen before? I found Marduk to be a bit of an unlikeable protagonist — which I guess comes with the whole body-stealing territory — but there’s a few charming side characters that kept this going too far in that direction for me. My biggest complaint with Radio is that there’s a significant development in the final third that in my opinion was probably introduced a little too late. Were this factor introduced earlier, then I feel some vital page time could have been dedicated to hammering home character growth in the endgame. But I don’t want to be too picky. I really enjoyed this book, and it was an early favourite for our finalist spot for a reason.
Nether Light by Shaun Paul Stevens
Kop’s thoughts: I still really like this book. It was the first one I finished back in…June? May? Months ago regardless, and I can still remember so much about it. I will say, though, that time does funny things. This book isn’t perfect, and there are definite content warnings for rape and scenery gore in places. The book as a whole doesn’t feel grimdark, but I’d still say it’s a dark fantasy novel. This book has both highs and lows like most, and I would still recommend this to others. I flew through it. Yet another strong contender!
Hiu’s thoughts: For being the biggest book in our batch, I finished Nether Light in surprisingly few sittings. Speaking honestly, the majority of the time I spent on this book was on the first 20%. I found it slow to start, a little unfocused, and there was nothing that really made me want to pick it back up once I’d put it down. But past the 20% mark, when I hit Part 2, Nether Light really kicked into life. The setting felt alive, with people living lives beyond what I saw on the pages. I appreciated the relationships that the main character had with some of the wider cast, and I loved how the conflict and political machinations seemed to unfold organically. That’s not to say that I didn’t still have some gripes — it had a tendency to tell rather than show, a scene with dubious sexual consent, and the inciting incident (and the protagonist’s primary motivation) seemed to be strangely forgotten for much of the story. But there were more than enough plusses for this to be a majority-positive experience for me, and this was probably (just!) my personal favourite of the three.
Travis’s Thoughts: One of my favorite parts of SPFBO is finding an incredible book with nearly zero previous reviews. Nether Light is a textbook example of the hidden gems the contest can shine a spotlight on. Building on what Hiu said, I think the first 100 or so pages could’ve been replaced with some exposition or simply choosing to start the book later in the plot. The inciting incident occurs around 20% in and then is mostly forgotten. I also felt that plot and character motivations could’ve been solidified. It took me most of the book to know what the overall plot was. That said, I had a hard time putting this one down. It hits a lot of the hidden magic and military/magic school tropes I love in fantasy. Despite being over 600 pages long, this reads like a much shorter book.
A Dream of Fire by J.R. Rasmussen
Hiu’s Thoughts: Like I said in my semi-finalist announcement, A Dream of Fire was a book I thought did very little wrong. It’s a book that knows exactly what it wants to be, and sticks to what it’s good at. I appreciated seeing a magic school from a slightly different perspective than usual, and there were enough fun turns in the story to keep me engaged. It possibly lacks a dash of the “spectacular” in my opinion, but this is a solid read, and probably has the widest appeal out of our three picks.
Travis’s Thoughts: A Dream of Fire consistently impressed me. It’s not groundbreakingly original in its conception, but it hits the “traditional” fantasy beats with skill and offers a few new twists of its own. It was also incredibly efficient, conveying a story in 350 pages that would’ve taken many books twice that. It’s a lot of fun, and I think many readers will enjoy this. I think it may even have an audiobook!
Kop’s Thoughts: This book was insanely readable and fun. It never took itself too seriously. I loved reading about a magical school setting from the perspective of a non-magical teacher, complete with dragon lore. That being said, I do wish the worldbuilding outside the school/land next to it was more fleshed out. I also felt that a lot of the characters felt pretty surface level. But all in all, this book’s lows didn’t ruin my enjoyment at all. And here we have another fantastic entry!
So there you have it. Or maybe not, if you just decided to skip to bottom of this post. We have three great books here, any of which we’d all be happy with pushing forward to the next round. But to quote Highlander: there can be only one.
So without further ado, our finalist is…
Have this one on my Kindle, glad to see it confirmed as an exciting ride