First, we want to thank each and every one of you who took the time to participate in the contest. We sincerely appreciate it, and we had a great time reading all of your entries. After getting through the batch of thirty books, we’ve picked six semi-finalists, each for a different reason. We’ve enjoyed all of them, and the prospect of sawing off another five entries held no appeal to us. Unfortunately, SPFBO rules require us to make tough decisions. Such is the harsh reality of this bloodbath contest.





Our semi-finalists represent various subgenres, from epic fantasy to steampunk. We can’t advance them all to finals, but you can read them, and trust us, it'll be time well spent. Here are our choices in the order they were announced.







At this stage we had to decide how to evaluate one good book against another and whether it is at all possible to come to some sort of fair and objective decision. We tried to base our choice on following criteria (listed in alphabetical order):


Each of these titles had their own strengths and a few drawbacks, which were touched upon in our reviews. After long and tumultuous discussions we’ve agreed to pick the finalist amongst the three following titles:



If you think, for a second, that things got any easier after the initial narrowing, you’re wrong. We strove for a degree of objectivity in our discussions, but all of us were swayed by visceral reactions to each book. We wanted to reach a unanimous decision, but couldn’t. That’s why we’ve offered the place in the finals to the author who offered us the highest bribe.

Joking. Just joking.

In reality, we’ve discussed each entry, tried to keep things civil and failed. Then tried again. And again.

Despite their awesome premises and strong execution, each entry had some minor issues. Shadowless is unique in its episodic structure and deliciously dark. As a result, some will love it, others not so much. Plus, we’ve identified some unwelcomed POV’s switches mid-scene. Pursuit of Shadows is an exciting page-turner, but we feel the resolution of the conflict comes way out of left field. While it works as a standalone, we feel readers who’ve read the first book in the series will appreciate the ending more and catch more nuances than those who start their adventure in The Keeper Chronicles's world here. Beggar’s Rebellion is an exciting start to the series but could use some additional polishing and, maybe, fine-tuning Tai as a character. Plus, Jacobs is clearly in love with Sanderson’s writing (not a bad thing, just slightly limiting).

Focusing on those issues helped us to reach some agreements but we still couldn’t decide. We asked ourselves which of the three will appeal to most readers and judges? This question helped us to pick our winner. We strongly believe our finalist, while drawing from the classics and flirting with tropes, breaks the mold to bring readers fresh ideas, exciting plot and strong execution.












Beggar’s Rebellion has it all: fencing, accounting, fighting, torture, revenge, chases, escapes, true love, miracles, magic-inducing plants, and more. We’re excited to see where the series go and we encourage you to join the party.

Official SPFBO rating: 8/10