It’s that time in the contest where I have to break a bunch of hearts and choose which book to put forward. This is never an easy decision for me or for any of us involved, I am sure.

Before we continue, I’d like to thank my group of authors for submitting their books and remind everyone- these are only my opinions, likes, and dislikes, so take them as you will, but hopefully not to heart (unless it was something that made you feel good).

I apologize in advance for the length of this post. I still haven’t mastered cutting my word count down in these things, even though “easily be shorter” is probably my number one criticism.

Here we go! In reading order; I give you my group:

The Lowest Healer and The Highest Mage by Hiyodori

Pub date- Feb. 11 2022; pages- 234

Cover Designer- n/a

Genre- fantasy- lgbqt f/f

Series- The Clem and Wist series

I was so curious about this one! Such a neat cover. Goodreads has no summary but luckily, Amazon did.

*

Asa Clematis has thirty days to figure out why Wisteria, aka. the Kraken, the highest mage in the country (and the woman responsible for Asa’s imprisonment) has lost her magic and cure her. Earning Asa, an early ticket out of jail- if she succeeds.

Told from Asa’s pov. as she tries to mend Wist’s magic; which has been pretty much ripped from her body, leaving her the weakest mage in the country. With no memories of how it happened Wist, doesn’t seem inclined to care to fix it either.

*

A little about the magic- Magic is centered in the torso of the body and branches from there, and I quite literally pictured it as the root-ball of a plant at its “core” and the plant itself the branches of its growth. (It’s possible it was described that way, as well, and I don’t remember)

The use of magic twists up a mage, becoming more painful with time and use. Asa’s gift as a healer helps to unknot the ball, and branches, to keep things running smoothly and pain-free. Every mage has an assigned or bonded to them, healer, to help with this problem (The Kraken is an exception as she refused to bond).

Because Asa is one of the few healers that is also able to take away a mage’s magic for a period of time, they believe she is the best candidate (they hope) to help return Wist’s magic. But, between Wist’s bad attitude, and grappling with her own feelings for the other woman- which range from hatred and anger over her betrayal, to love and regret, Asa, has her work cut out for her.

*

The world can be quite dangerous at times, with wild magic, and portals that spring up to other worlds- some of which could suck you in, or even spit out a monster or two. For the most part, though, it’s kind of in the background as the larger portion of the story takes place at the tower.

The tower though, is quite cool with its many random and occasionally booby-trapped rooms. The building comes to life like a crazy rpg dungeon- rooms and floors added with magic as needed, or at times feeling almost like storage for the memories and the whims of its creator. Making the tower as much an exploration of Wist’s psyche as the story itself was.

*

The world was neat, and the politics etc. helped to give it more depth. There were a few unexpected turns plot-wise, some of which seemed a bit out of the blue and I felt could have been better telegraphed. The biggest highlight for me in the story though, was the exploration of the women’s relationship. I liked them. I wanted forgiveness and the happily-ever-after for them.

Because this is from Asa’s pov we get to know her quite well. Occasionally I wished for more from Wist’s side, but I also think this worked well for getting to see all of Asa’s journey of healing, and the working through the steps of grieving a relationship- from letting it go, to realizing you are willing and able to forgive them and try it again. Nicely done.

They call me Princess Cayce by P.D. Ball

Pub date- Jan 19 2022; pages- 215(kindle)

Cover design - darksouls1

Genre- fantasy/progression/litrpg inspired/

Series- The Broken Throne #1

The best part of not having summaries for some of these books is the surprise body-switch.

My Name is Princess Cayce, surprised me in the first few pages by having our main male character wake up in the body of a teen princess, confused as heck and unsure of what happening or where he is.

Cayce, as he is now called, finds being a young princess means he has no power at all. His plans to make a difference and be the next Joan of Arc, are constantly being derailed by others, who are older, higher-positioned socially, and much more cunning than he is.

*

Despite not quite being the right audience for this story, I found it very quick and quite humorous at times, as Cayce learns about the world around him and is outraged by the medieval practices that can get you killed by disease alone. (I had quite a few chuckles over the commands for the water to be boiled and especially everything to do with the lead sugar)

I had thought this might be a good starter fantasy story because it explains a few things about medieval life, weapons, armour types, etc. with touches of magic here and there, but doesn’t get into it too much. This gave it a younger audience feel but the language and some other things- like an attempted rape etc. made it feel geared to an older audience.

This is a short story and part one in a series. I was left with lots of questions on why or how our character ended up in Cayce’s body and wished for a little more filling out of the story in regards to that but as a serial it’s a great hook. Because Princess Cayce reads more like straight-up fantasy (there are no stats and/or leveling up sequences- as of yet) I never could decide if it was going to be litrpg or something else. Though his thoughts do imply that it is, with mentions of thinking he has woken in a game, and a couple of other things. I also felt it could easily fall into parallel world territory as well.

Either way, it’s safe to say that it’s a blend that worked better for me than most, since I find all the stats and leveling-up in litrpg rather tiring after awhile.

Bones to the Wind by Tatiana Obey

Pub date- March 1 2022; pages 474 (kindle)

Cover designer- Asur Misoa

Genre – Fantasy/ coming of age

Series- A Forging of Age #1

Bones to the Wind had a very strong start. I knew right off this was going to be a fun story.

The cover is amazing and I can say it fits the story perfectly.

The world felt unique- it was obvious that a lot of thought had been put into the working’s of it.

It's a desert world, where the people of Grandkull have made their life beside the bones of a once great dragon.

I loved everything about the world, it is a little bit of a drop-in and learn as you go style- especially when it comes to some of the terminology but for the most part, I found it quick to understand (other than the time).

There are all kinds of dangers just from the environment alone- dragons and giant scorpions, and of course, the heat. Food is scarce; rationed and shared by all members of the community. It’s a harsh way of living and everything about the story feels it.

Every year there is a Forging where the older kids/teens go out to hunt and prove themselves. There is a huge amount of pressure for these kids/teams to return from their hunts successfully, because if they fail, they’re kicked out and have no support from the community, home, food, etc. The forge-failed have to either rely on their families to split their rations with them, or leave entirely.

A lot of these people end up in the Tents. and other little communities of misfits and thieves, that have sprung up from the kids and others that have been displaced for whatever reason from Grandkull.

There are quite a few characters through the story but the three most important are Nico, Kai, and Rasia. I really enjoyed all of the main pov’s (Zephyr had no pov that I remember but was also a favourite for me).

The opening bone-throwing contest showcases all three of these pov’s personalities perfectly.

Nico will be an Ohan after the forging. Becoming Ohan gives Nico the opportunity to vote on the council and make real changes to better the communities and relations between them. But she is putting that all on the line to help her sibling succeed in the forging so their family can stay together. Nico is a bit tough to like sometimes because she is so rigid. Her heart is in the right place but her animosity towards Rasia, starts to cloud her thinking after awhile, making her choices less about Kai, and his needs, and more about winning. I could understand her though because she had a lot riding on this gamble of getting them both through the forging.

Kai (Nico’s sibling) has failed the forging several times. This is his last chance to get it right.

I liked Kai. Loved seeing him blossom under Rasia’s tutelage and her no-nonsense manner. Rasia, expects people to do their part, she doesn’t baby them or allow for excuses because of size or perceived disabilities- you either do it or die trying. She was exactly what Kai needed to find his self-worth again.

Rasia manages to be endearing while being brash, proud, and excessive in everything she does. I think she pulls off this personality that would normally drive me crazy, partly because you can tell underneath she needs some love, and partly because she is darn good at just about everything she does, so some of that cockiness is well-deserved.

The story-

Succeed at the forging, is the simple version. The relationships though are where this story gets really complicated.

If you didn’t guess, this is a coming-of-age tale with hot-blooded teenagers. Arguments and sex abound. But along with that comes some very important life-lessons. I applaud the messages- everything from positive reinforcement and body image, sexuality, eating disorders, pregnancy etc. this covered a lot of topics without a qualm- all things that should be talked about without the taboos associated imo. It was rather refreshing in its openness and I liked that there was a lot of very real-life feeling moments, dealing with common misconceptions around some of these topics.

So back to the story and a few of the hiccups I had within it. Most of which, were to do with the way the story took a turn about halfway in, just when you think it’s going to take off- it stalls out for a time to get Kai up to form, and address some of the relationships, etc.

We also don’t get Nico’s pov for quite a while at this point. After switching between the three for nearly half the book, it was very noticeable to me when her pov disappeared for quite a few chapters and we focussed only on Kai and Rasia.

I felt a lot of the relationship drama could have been streamlined throughout the story to help keep things moving smoothly to the end, and alleviate the stall-out or at least shorten it. Here’s where I say a bit of cutting would have tightened up things a lot.

I had no concept of time. It was mentioned, but as in-world time measurement and it was not something I was able to figure out. It’s a minor thing and didn’t affect the story outside of it taking the urgency away when you don’t have a feel for the deadline of their forging date to end.

Some achievements weren’t exactly easy but still came a bit quickly (like Kai getting ship out of canyon)

Fights can be brutal with them stabbing each other in legs etc. and I am not complaining about that because that’s what I love, but occasionally there were no consequences or follow-up with the injuries (other than Rasia’s).

There are some great scenes involving flying the windship (which seems similar to a sailboat idea on sand) and hunting with it. They were exciting and action-packed. Like the best popcorn type of read. Loved all of them. I think these were my favourite parts of the story and so well done! I know nothing about sailing and had no problems visualizing these. So much fun.

Bones to the Wind was a fun action-packed story. It got a little mired-down in places to address the relationships, but it was such a cool and unique world with great characters.

I had a great time with this book.

The Spider and the Scribe by Morgan Stang

Pub date- Sept. 1 2021; pages- 393 (kindle)

Cover designer-Fantasical Ink

Genre- fantasy

Series- n/a

If you liked A Simple Plan (’98 Raimi movie) or anything along that style, where keeping a huge sum of found money turns into a web (get it) of bigger and bigger problems - chances are you will probably like the Spider and the Scribe.

Harriet our mpov, is the sole provider for her aging parents, and younger siblings. Working as a scribe, her all-round position at Gabb and Barbary’s has her doing banking, bookkeeping, and even copying novels in multiples for sale. But she is accused of cooking the books and is let go from her position. Unfortunately for Harriet, she owes money. Lots of it. To everyone; even the local crime syndicate.

So finding a crashed carriage carrying the city’s tax payment; escort all dead…well, its an opportunity that is just too good for her to pass up.

The problem is that everyone- from the local crime gang, to the king’s Inquisitor, are looking for the gold.

*

This was a madcap story that not only has a twisty plot but also does a nice job of twisting a few genres together as well. There’s a bit of dark fantasy, darker humour, and crime, mixed-in with a lot chaos.

Parts of the story even have a dark fairy-tale feel; especially in the beginning with the tale about not wandering off the path; giving me vibes of Benedict Patrick’s Yarsnworld series.

While the story did have some good creepy moments, it loses that fairy-tale feeling very quickly and becomes a plotty game of who is the best at maneuvering opportunities to their own advantage- as all involved are doing their own investigations trying to be first in finding the loot. Harriette, of course, is just trying to not be found out.

*

There is a fairly large number of characters and would almost have been overwhelming, if they hadn’t been separated the way they were- they’re mostly broken into four groups and nearly all the characters were memorable in some way with stories or quirks; which helped a lot for keeping them straight in my head.

Harriette and her friends- I really liked that they were just kind of normal. There are no special skills and they’re getting by on pure luck and greed as each party is only giving enough to make it look like they’re cooperating. I was just waiting for it all to fall apart when someone gave the right information to the wrong person.

I also liked the darker-humour in some of their arguments while everything was hitting the fan. I thought it was pretty funny but will likely be a hit of miss with some just because of the tone.

The Inquisitor and the Misfit- The Inquisitor, grew up in the area and we learn a little about her past life and she her connection to the Count through his mother.

The Misfit, is a very strange and kind of scary assassin/bodyguard insect person that is made by the priests of Kantorr by using some sort of ritual. I couldn’t help but think of the movie The Fly (even though she seemed to be more spider than fly) and you do not want to piss this woman/bug off because it will not end well for you.

The Misfit works for the King as well, but her mission is not quite the same as her partner’s.

The Cobbler and crime syndicate- Enjoyed them especially finding out where the name came from.

The Cobbler, is quite mad in the head. I liked her underlings.

Count Mort, Lady Matricia (his advisor) and Captain Nordis- They are counting on a past precedent of the King, to forgive them the seasons taxes after the theft- which would allow them to skip payment in the case of a loss but unfortunately for them… precedents change.

I didn’t enjoy my time with the Count’s group as much – the sub-plot with the relics wasn’t my favourite. And they were all rather unlikeable but no doubt, that was the point.

*

The world feels like every fantasy town but there are mentions of ogre fairies etc. and pre-cataclysm tech stuff (relics), which I found kind of weird. It’s rather vague at first, but there was enough to realize there was some event way in the past that set the world back. A lot of it comes together in the end- though I can’t say I know how it fits in to the rest of the world. The relic plotline almost made this feel like a story that was written to work into an existing universe, or to open up the world for follow-up books. I assumed the latter because of the reveal of certain things to do with the relics, but from what I can tell it isn't (unless it’s a thought for later)? Either way it felt out of place in such a narrowly focused story.

Anyway, because I was lukewarm on the relic plot, I found it kind of messed with the pacing for me since most of that storyline, revolved around the Count’s group and I didn’t find them as interesting as the rest. I think in some areas of the story… it just tries to do too much; like Harriette’s background story and everything to do with the relics.

That said- I loved everything to do with the finding the crashed-carriage and gold, and how we don’t find out until near the end its clever hiding place. I loved the way the story gets more complicated each day as more people get involved.

There were some choices that were made that surprised me, and a couple that felt really off, and I think I understand where one choice from the Inquisitor in the end was coming from, but the Kantor’s- not at all.

I enjoyed the twisty storytelling in this one.

The epigraphs tell a tale: it’s actually a letter and gives the history you don’t know you want, or need to know, until you realize you do. I do enjoy that sort of thing when it adds to the story. In this case I’m not too sure if it worked for me but I do appreciate that it was also written in its entirety at the end, so if you were skimming or forgetful, you don’t need to try and remember.

The fact this is set in winter surprised me. I don’t know if there were very few clues or reminders in passing or if I just missed them all, but the fact its freezing hard enough to make the ground solid- escaped my attention.

The Black Parade by Kyoko M.

Pub date; July 1 2013 pages 321(kindle)

Cover designer- n/a

Genre- fantasy/urban

Series- The Black Parade #1

I was excited about this one because it sounded like a mash-up of one of my favourite k-dramas; Mystic Pop-Up Bar (where she has to save a certain number of souls to make up for the death of someone important) and one of my other favourite long-running tv shows; Supernatural (though in this case only the use of angel lore is similar).

Jordan is a seer. She has had a pretty rough life. Orphaned young and sent to live with an aunt; who wasn’t the most maternal woman on the planet. Jordan has built herself up a pretty crusty outer-shell to deal with the crap life has thrown at her. So, when things go from bad to worse, and her penance for the death of a rather important person, is to help in escorting lost souls to cross over to the other side; she takes it in stride as just another day of her kind of luck.

The story is separated into three books and picks up near the end of Jordan’s sentence. In each book we learn a little more about Jordan and her past; how she landed this current side-job as ghost escort, and what happened to her mom and how it all ties together with the events in the present.

The plot moves along quite quickly and occasionally can feel a little predictable- this is partly because of the shortness of the stories as we get a mini crash-course learning about Jordan and what she does (this does get better as it starts delving into the lore more, and the what’s and why's of what was going on) and partly because of a whole lot of years of reading, television, and of angel lore on my part. Your mileage may vary here- depending on how familiar you are with angel lore etc.

Some key information to do with the mystery around Jordan’s mother gets told/explained in “bad guy” speeches or letters- which I wasn’t a big fan of, but I really liked how everything tied-together with the past events with her mom being interconnected with the now stuff (trying to stay vague here for spoilers).

The cast is relatively small but diverse.

I really enjoyed Jordan- she is funny; a mix of dry and self-deprecating humour. I found her to not be too over-the-top, and I enjoyed the banter and the tension/attraction between her and Michael.

There were some neat histories and relics (I love stuff like that) that are being searched for and I enjoyed all the lore that was built around the angels.

I liked the little touches that helped to flesh-out the world and make it more unique to this story; like ghosts having no feet, the seers being the only ones able to see the true eyes of the demons- which look like snake eyes (creepy creepy), and how her seer-blood opens a channel to inhabit an angel.

This is not an overly-complicated story but it is a fun one; easy to understand, lots of action, great character interactions, and a nice little mystery to keep you interested.

Definitely worth checking out.

Kingdom of Essence by Holly Karlsson

Pub date Oct. 25 2021; pages- 376 (kindle)

Cover designer-Tanya Anor

Genre - fantasy

Series- Kingdom of Essence #1

Review-

Elitsa has become jaded in her job at The Tower, where she works as a Guild Reclamation Agent- retrieving relics that are rented for use in collecting essences and not returned. She sees the greed behind the Guild, and how the organisation could be helping others but are only contributing to the hardships and poverty.

With only days left in her contract and unsure about renewing; she stumbles upon a mystery in the Guild. One that may give her the answers she needs to find her mother’s murderer- if she chooses to stay.

*

Kingdom of Essence may require a little patience, but it pays off in the end. The writing is fairly descriptive, enriching the world, but with that is the side-effect of slowing the story down.

We are in Elitsa’s pov only, which can be rather limiting. It takes a good half the book for her to naturally acquire the information that lets the story get moving. I sometimes wished for another pov with Cas or Pipene, just to round-out my understanding of the Guilds and the politics between them a bit better (and sooner) because so much hinges on later events to fill in the blanks for Elitsa (and us).

Elitsa is a thoughtful character and Holly Karlsson didn’t go the easy-route with her by relying heavily on the jokey sarcastic persona to make her lovable to us. She has that quieter personality, that can be a harder sell in a spov story. I liked her and how she seemed to care about friends, and others that she considers as close as family. I also really liked her interactions with Pipene and Cas, and wished they’d had more moments because they were fun and enlivened the story when either one of them was on screen with Elitsa.

*

The first part of the story felt geared more to the world and politics and is spent getting us up to speed with Elitsa’s past, current work and what it entails. How the relics and essence work. And the relationships between the Guilds (the two main ones mentioned are the Smoke Eyes and The Swans) and how they’re different from one another.

The world is quite a bit more complicated than it first appears as Elitsa looks for and receives answers that open up more questions, expanding the world and our knowledge of it at the same time.

Later as more conflicts arise, we get more of the magic and it’s uses and I loved everything to do with this!

The whole essence gathering and the relics, are the coolest thing about this story and it gets neater as it goes.

The essences are obtained from different things- plants, trees, insects…the list goes on and on, and held in the relics. They can be combined to do other things; like heal but only at the moment of their release. Or they can just be used like elemental-type magics; fire, wind, earth, etc.

I especially liked that they release a scent upon use- like burning wood (or other scent related to an element kind of idea). Scent is so underused in world-building imo. Anyway, relics can hold multiple essences but the material the relic is made of, matters a lot, as some materials are only capable of holding one essence, while others can hold multiple.

This all gets a lot more complex as the story goes when we start learning about Natural Relics and Bonding and how essences are alive, and need to flow (kind of feels like a Yin Yang work together with the environment idea).

I really wished this stuff had been sooner in the story, because it was neat and interesting, and it felt like it took a while to really grasp all that was going on with it, and the part it plays with the Guilds and the Mages, or the world in general for that matter.

*

There were a few minor things- the pacing was a bit on the slow-side for me at times, and there were a few things that I found a little frustrating- mostly to do with the spov and the way the info-flow had to happen. Also, the castle confrontation seemed to end very abruptly (though it was a very cool confrontation) deflating some of that energy it had built upon itself, when things just went back to the way they were.

This was a really good story, with neat magic, and some cool fights.

I liked that the story had a satisfying conclusion, while also opening the world to what looks like will turn into a very interesting series. I like the idea of the bonded magic. I really liked Pipene, Cas, and Elitsa, and the way this ended promises lots of fun interactions with them later.

This cover is amazing btw. I love how it has all the elements from the book- the swan, the smoke eyes, the castle, essence, smoke etc. Very classy.

So, there you go! My group was pretty freaking great, don’t you think? Each of them offered up something rather unique in itself- Body switching, Angels and Demons, Brash teens sailing the across desert battling giant scorpions, Stolen gold, Shifting Castles with incredible ladies, and Scented magic contained in relics- what an incredible array of tales!

Ok, I will keep the reveal short because I’ve said so much already in my reviews.

I narrowed my selection down to just two books.

Both were great reads- though totally opposite to each other in regards to style.

One contains a richly detailed magic system that I fell in love with, and the other- characters that were interesting and full; even the side characters that don’t make it for long had a story to tell.

In most cases, I would generally choose a character-driven story like Spider and Scribe over even the coolest magic system. But Kingdom of Essence, sported a solid character in Elitsa, and in the end, that combination of the two- strong character and cool magic- gave Kingdom of Essence just that little extra edge it needed for me to win.

I give you my finalist choice.