I decided to skip from previous years SPFBO finalists to start reading some of this years SPFBO 6’s entrants. 2020 has brought a whole range of fantasy books to the table, but here’s 3 that caught my attention early on and then two that were randomly selected using a number generator. If you want to see a list of the entrants, check out the master list.
Emissary – E.B. Brooks
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So after reading the blurb I’m interested in the world that Emissary is set in. Adventuring and questing is no longer a thing, with the Church taking money from Ewan every time he dies. So it’s a more futuristic world where people have evolved to not fully die.
I don’t have much info on Ewan or Treanna who are the main characters, but they each have different skills. This means they nee to learn to depend on each other in order to move the plot forwards. Plus, I’m interested to know about the secrets the Church is keeping from the people, and how Treanna knows these things.
First impressions:
The prologue of Emissary starts off with focusing on a hero of this world, Maximillian where the bad guy calls out heroes actions as less than righteous. This also sets up the world our protagonist lives in as this is the point where the world changes and a lot of people want to be heroes like him. It develops the world as a place where as a reader you’re quite cynical of the heroes, and waiting for the ball to drop.
Our main character Ewan is trying to be an adventurer without working for the church as he disagrees with their rules. His sister and close friend is a crafter and they help one another become better with loot for crafting and crafted items for protection when adventuring. I enjoyed the tight knit family unit that Ewan has with his sister and parents, and liked that they were all supportive of each other.
As we get into Ewan’s story I was so intrigued because the book reads so similar to a video game. When you “die” you actually respawn to your binding spot with the help and payment towards the church. Fully dying is called being logged out, and only happens if you’re not connected the the respawn point. There’s also inventories, which you can simply transfer items between characters and a way to IM through your head.
As someone who loves both video games and reading, I’m so on board with the style of writing. I’m unsure at this point as to whether it will turn out that they’re actually in a video game or not but the mystery wants me to read more.
Ewan meets Treanna and almost instinctively helps her despite putting himself and family in a bad position. Treanna also has some secrets and disappears from the world at one point, which further pushes me to the video game idea. But I’m so interested to see how Treanna grows as a character and whether she starts to teach Ewan things as currently he’s telling her a lot.
This book feels very SFF rather than just fantasy. Ewan’s world is very much based on fantasy elements, however there is a lot of tech folded into it which does make it more interesting. I’d already assumed I’d be reading the entire book in July but I will for sure continue reading this ASAP.
The Assassin’s Gift – Claire Boston
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Between the cover and the blurb, I was so intrigued by The Assassin’s Gift. Our main character is Princess Lien who has been trained to be an assassin and is then betrothed to her target. There’s talks of betrayal but Lien is loyal to the emperor so I’m interested to find out whether it’s a plan or not.
There’s lots of talks of deceit, so I believe there’s gonna be a lot to unravel and I’m excited. I will be doing my one hour first impression, but I’m thinking this is a book I can get into and read the whole thing this month too. I just want to know who the bad guy is, and also more about the fact they have pet dragons!
First impressions:
So our main character Lien is extremely naive and whilst she’s been trained as an assassin… I just don’t think she’s been educated properly. Just in the first 10% there’s so many red flags about the emperor, and Lien has basically been brainwashed into undying loyalty. I’m guessing that the book is gonna take time to develop her character away from this later on, but at the moment our main character can be frustrating.
This is further explained by the propaganda which surround her people, the Bonamese and the clan Rhuran. The Bonamese are a patriarchal society with an emperor and Lien has been told they’re the most civilised, strongest, most educated etc. Whereas the Rhuran are barbaric, uncivilised and ruthless warmongers. The world building focuses heavily on these supposed societal difference’s, and then the actual culture and differences when Lien meets Temur. So I liked the inclusion, although it would have been good to see a bit more of the Bonamese.
Speaking of Temur, he’s the Khan of Rhuran and his leadership style is very hands on. He’s not a feared leader like the emperor, and he’s much closer to his people and his family too. He’s the perfect introduction character for opening Lien’s eyes to who the Rhuran are and this causes a lot of internal conflict for her, because of her loyalty.
Not a lot really happens because of Lien at the start of the book, instead things happen to her which are really fast paced. This gives us a lot of information, but I do think it could have been more impactful if we’d spent more time in the palace. Showing more of the court and how Lien acts within it could have given more depth to her loyalty as currently she’s not done anything that she’s been told to do.
The actual storyline also felt like it was going through steps, without really expanding or diverting from them which is currently making it predictable. I am interested in finding out more and seeing if this improves later in the book though. So I will be reading the rest of The Assassin’s Gift.
The Race to the Blackened Nevers – Douglas Bain
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So from the blurb I want to know what actually is the Blackened Nevers? and why are the Gods careening towards it? But in general the blurb just doesn’t tell me anything about the book. I don’t get any character names, there’s 5 different plots mentioned and I don’t even know what to expect. This was totally a cover choice.
First impressions:
The book starts off with a glossary of the Gods, drudges and mortuants. This is probably super helpful when reading a physical copy as there’s so many different POVs and characters, but on an ebook it’s harder to flick back and forth.
The three characters and stories that stood out were Rothesay, Connachen and Madrigan (I can’t read my own handwriting so that may be wrong). Rothesay is tricked and blackmailed into freeing some Gods in the first chapter, who I assume are in the race towards the Blackened Nevers. Connachen is a high ranking military man who has prophecies or seeing the future – there’s a scribe writing down all the details whilst he’s in a trance so it must be important. Then there’s Madrigan who is trying to buy shiney coffinfit which is like a drug that allows you to gain magic and see things.
I honestly don’t have any idea of how any of the characters fit in with one another though, and after and hour I don’t think you see enough of each of them to understand either. This may be a downside of me trying these books for an hour, however none of the reviews currently mention character names so… I kinda believe there’s not a huge focus on characters.
Overall I don’t think we’ve learnt much more than what the blurb says, and I don’t think we’ve seen all the POVs either. Honestly I don’t know if I will continue reading – there’s nothing bad about the book, but I just don’t think I have enough info yet. This will be a non-priority but I may come back to it.
MidLich Crisis – Steve Thomas
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Darruk Darkbringer is a Dread Wizard who’s struggling with a mid-life crisis and wants to find a new purpose in life. This sounds like it’s going to be a funny fantasy rather than taking itself too seriously and I’m intrigued to see if makes me laugh. I’m also interested in whether Darruk is actually evil or not as he is trying to redeem himself, but has apparently done some bad things.
First impressions:
So first impressions…. this book isn’t quite for me. It’s a super easy read and the premise is so interesting but I just don’t care for humourous fantasy books as much as as I love epic fantasy. Darruk is a sad and lonely wizard, who after one more death realises he should change as a person to be less evil. I actually liked that our main character was technically the bad guy and had mixed motivations… he didn’t want to be evil, hated the word evil, but still acted poorly towards everyone.
There’s also Lillina who is his estranged arranged marriage wife (who hates him) and his nemesis Brynn Brightstorm. These two set up Darruk’s personality and backstory, however there’s a time skip early on in the book so I’m not sure how much they’re in it. I like how he was set up as being shown to do (or not do) things which are deemed evil, rather than us just being told he’s evil.
This book also contains a lot of fantasy elements, and includes kobolds as a creature. I’ve not read any books that have included these (they’re fron D&D originally) and this peaked my interest. It was just something a little different, plus Princess the mother was a devious and interesting character. These creatures allowed the humourous element to be played up too, as they clean up as pranks for people. Another creature is Sleepy the Carnivorous Horse, which felt both at home in this book and something out of left field.
Overall it had a lot of unique aspects, but I wasn’t really getting along with the humour. I might come back to it, but it won’t be a priority and with how many SPFBO 6 entrants there are… I won’t be surprised if I don’t jump on it.
The Owl at the End of the World – Stas Rolla
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The Owl at the End of the World is a dystopian setting where our main character is a lone wanderer. She tries to travel south to avoid the worst parts of the dying land, including volcanoes and storms. However the story of the Owl follows her where she goes, where it’s said a Great Owl imprisoned beneath the land will rise and return to the stars from where it came. However, she is a descendent of the owl and all stories have some truth.
First impressions:
I got 30% into the book and I have no idea what is happening. We learn that our main and only character is Gray who is a traveler, artist, and not entirely human. She’s a child of the owl which makes her different (however I’m not sure exactly how different?).
The world we’re in is fully dying with volcanoes erupting, most of the land turning to desert and the water is starting to be poisoned as well as dry up. The book contains a lot of description describing the world Gray is in, and also bits about herself. The clothes she wears and makes is described in vivid detail, as is the art she paints.
Unfortunately, there’s no plot at the moment and I can’t tell where it’s going. By 30% in Gray had traveled south, which she started before the story and she hasn’t really gotten anywhere. We find out she tattoos herself as art, and can us oil or ink from dead things to do this… but not any momentum with what will happen. This is a bit of an issue, and so I probably won’t continue reading.
So two out of five books that I definitely want to continue reading isn’t too bad at all. I’ve already started reading more of Emissary and I’m really getting into it too. So I’m happy so far with SPFBO 6’s entrants, if you want to read any alongside me then I’ve created a full master list which I’ll link in the description below. But hopefully you enjoy these first impressions videos and I’ll see you for the next one! Thank you for watching!
