OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Duchess Anne of Brittany knows that she will never marry for love. As the ruler of a small duchy, she understands that any marriage she enters will be purely for political reasons. So when faced with marriage to the king of France, her resistance is purely political: marrying the king will end the independence of Brittany. Anne needs to find another marriage option without the king knowing, a task made all the harder due to the fact that the king's diviners can spy on a person at any time. But Anne knows of a nearby forest where the magics interfere with a diviner's gifts. In a desperate gambit, Anne announces a grand unicorn hunt in the forest, an event that will hide her real intent: to secretly marry a different king, one who won't require her to give up her duchy's independence. But the forest in question borders a fantastical realm known as the Lost Lands, and it isn't long before Anne realizes her actions have caused the Lost Lands to bleed into the mortal realms, threatening everyone she loves.
The Unicorn Hunters is a historical fantasy that has a wonderful blend of court politics and fairytale adventure. Loosely based on the real Anne of Brittany, much of the story has to deal with real world intrigue. Anne must deftly navigate advisors in her own court as well as envoys from two different royal courts as she tries to stall one marriage long enough to secretly arrange for the second. Through multiple POVs, we see the political chess moves of different characters, each trying to trap the other with clever words and polite decorum.
But woven throughout all the mortal intrigue is a fairytale adventure. Anne accidentally unleashes entities from what is essentially a fae realm known as the Lost Lands. It is a realm that operates by its own rules and logic. As the borders of the Lost Lands expand, the more fantastical things start to occur in the mortal world. The result is a story where Anne has to survive a political dinner in one scene, and figure out how to navigate a hall of endless doors in another. The two sides of the story blend together well and kept me thoroughly engaged in the story.
The one thing I bumped against in this story is that it often felt like problems were resolved too easily. A character could be kidnapped and rescued in a mere few pages, while a seemingly brutal political loss was turned into a victory in a mere blink. I'm all for competent characters, but I felt like some of these dangers needed to last longer to have their weight fully felt. Instead, we race from one problem to the next, which keeps the story moving, but also makes the dangers feel somewhat less threatening.
But overall, I loved the tone and writing of The Unicorn Hunters. It leans into the medieval, fairytale feeling of the story, feeling both real and surreal in equal measure. It was a wonderful adventure and another excellent release from Katherine Arden.
3:00 AM | 
Posted by
Caitlin G. |
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Craig Schaefer writes about witches, outlaws, and outsiders. Whether they’re weaving tales of an occult-shrouded New York in Ghosts of Gotham, the dimension-hopping adventures of Castaways, or the gritty streets of a noir future in the Neon Meridian series, their protagonists are damaged survivors searching for answers, redemption, or maybe just that one big score.
Publisher: Aethon Books (May 19, 2026) Page count: 358 pages Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback Genre: Urban Science Fantasy
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Publisher: St. Elmo (July 14, 2024) Length: 385 pages Formats: ebook
Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
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OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: When Isako's boss unexpectedly retires, she knows she's at the end of her career. Afterall, what is a longkniveswoman without a contract? But an expected offer comes in from a rival executive for one last job - one that will allow her to retire on her own terms. The contract: successfully find dirt on one of the most powerful executives at the Company and stop him from joining the Board of Directors. But as soon as Isako starts poking around, she starts finding a bigger conspiracy than she anticipated - and all roads lead back to Martim, the last person Isako ever took on as an apprentice.
The Last Contract of Isako is an atmospheric mystery set in a bleak, harsh world that offers little comfort to the reader or those who live in it. By far the highlight of this story is the world-building. The author has created a pressure cooker of a city, where everyone's value is determined by whether or not they're deemed useful to society. Every element of this world boils down to the fact that it is a resource scarce colony. If you aren't contributing to the colony's survival, then you're a drain on resources. But of course, the people who determine what is useful are the elite who will almost never have to face the consequences of the society they've created. And like the frog in the slowly boiling water, the rest of society doesn't realize it's already cooked.
I've found myself calling this a cybernoir book. There's elements of cyberpunk, with one giant corporation controlling everyone's lives, technology integrated into bodies, and a big disparity between the haves and the have nots. That melds nicely with the noir aspects, where the world is hugely weighted against you unless you have stacked the deck yourself and solving a mystery doesn't necessarily mean justice is achieved.
Enter Isako, a woman in her fifties who has been working in corporate life for decades. Her job is something of a cross between a consigliere and a bodyguard; she helps plan her boss's corporate strategy and she also defends his life. Isako understands she's a cog in a system; she has a role to play and she does it well, even if it means sometimes doing terrible things. Her life is dedicated to serving her Principal, and that means following their orders. But now, faced with the end of her career, Isako is also facing that big existential question: in the grand scheme of things, what did her work and her life mean? What legacy will she leave behind?
I understand some of the misgivings of people looking for the next GREEN BONE SAGA. I've seen a few comments that people missed having a sprawling cast of complex characters. But bear in mind this isn't a grand sweeping trilogy with 1500 pages at its disposal. This is a standalone (if still a hefty one) that is getting through a complex story. There's only time to build out a few characters with true depth. You'll get to know a few people really well, and some you'll only see the surface of, but that doesn't detract from the overall story.
As a result, the ending is a quiet gut punch. Jade Legacy may have left me a bawling mess, but The Last Contract of Isako had me just staring into middle distance, unpacking everything that happened in the last 50 pages and what that meant for the characters. It's an ending that somehow manages to be both tragic and hopeful and not at all where I thought things would end when I started the journey.
The Last Contract of Isako is not here to fill you with sunshine and it's not quite here to stomp on your heart. Instead it leads you through a world that is completely unbalanced, slowly filling you with existential dread. Surely society can't be this uneven, surely there's a way out. Surely a life will have meaning when all is said and done. But if you're looking for those reassurances, The Last Contract of Isako is not here to offer them.
Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cameron Johnston is a Scottish writer of fantasy and lives in the city of Glasgow in Scotland. He is a member of the Glasgow Science Fiction Writers' Circle, loves archaeology and mythology, enjoys exploring ancient sites and camping out under the stars.
Publisher: Angry Robot (April 14, 2026) Page count: 328 pages Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback
TODAY IS THE DAY!
We have chosen our champion, and we’re excited to announce the winner and runners-up.
First, we want to thank all SPFBO participants. We sincerely appreciate your involvement in the process.
After getting through the batch of thirty books, we’ve picked five semi-finalists. Here they are in alphabetical order:
CARRION SAINTS by Hiyodori - In its authors words "Carrion Saints is a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance between an immortal saint and a severed head." And that's it, in a nutshell. We highly appreciated Hiyodori's unique take on the trope, bitter-sweet ending and excellent writing. If you like character-driven conflict, this one sticks.
PILGRIM by Mitchell Lüthi - Dust, faith, politics, and people making difficult choices for reasons that make sense to them. It’s immersive without feeling like a lecture, and the amount of research into various cultures, religions and traditions must've been insane. Not fast, but worth checking out.
THE INHERITED BLADE by Jye Sorensen - it connects two storylines: one with lots of running for survival, one about inheriting unwanted responsibilities. It takes a bit to balance, but when it does, it clicks nicely. Good if you like character contrast and gradual build.
THE SINS OF STEEL AND SHADOW by Steve Pannett - Fast, scrappy, and very aware that most problems can (unfortunately) escalate into violence. Bail is a great guide through a cruel city, and the book rarely slows down long enough for you to get bored. Not deep, but reliably entertaining. Most of us will read the sequel as soon as it hits the shelves.
THE UNNAMED by M.S. Masood - It has a rich world, and skillfully pictures a slow unraveling of belief. The tension comes from watching someone realize their entire worldview might be wrong and not liking that realization one bit. Heavy at times, but well-written and engaging.
CHOICES CHOICES
At this stage, we had to decide how to evaluate one good book against another and whether it was at all possible to come to some sort of fair and objective decision. We tried to base our choice on the following criteria (listed in alphabetical order):
- Characterization
- Editing
- Personal Enjoyment
- Plotting
- World-building
- Writing Style
You can almost hear the drumroll, can't you? Or is that just the sound of SPFBO followers holding their breath?
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Without further ado (because we know you're just dying to know), the story that has danced its way into the finals is
Congratulations to Hiyodori , and good luck in the finals!
We're sending Carrion Saints to the finals with a rating of 8.0/10.
