Buy Kill the Beast
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: All faeries must die. That's the creed Lyssa lives by as she makes her living slaying all manner of faerie creatures. It's a task she's pledged herself to ever since her brother was killed by a faerie monster known as the Beast. She's spent over a decade trying to track this elusive creature, but she's never been able to find it - until one day, she's approached by an eccentric dandy named Alderic. Alderic recently stumbled across the Beast's lair, and having also lost family to the monster, he's willing to pay handsomely for its death. Unfortunately for Lyssa, she'll need to bring the hapless Alderic along to collect the ingredients she needs to forge a weapon capable of killing the Beast. But as the two slowly bond over their past losses, Lyssa may find friendship in the most unlikeliest of people.
Kill the Beast is an excellent story of friendship, love, grief, and loss, all told while fighting monsters. This is all grounded in its two central characters, Lyssa and Alderic. They are complete opposites, clashing over how to handle almost every aspect of their quest. Lyssa is competent, efficient, and stubborn, the kind of person who believes force is the most expedient way to solve problems. Alderic, meanwhile, delights in life's pleasures, and prefers empathy and conversation (and occasionally large sums of money) to overcome problems. Alderic would be so easy to dismiss as useless if there wasn't often some wisdom in his actions. His compassion and willingness to simply talk to people opens more doors than Lyssa can break down, and with far less collateral damage.
I absolutely loved watching Lyssa and Alderic learn from each other and slowly, ever so slowly open up to each other. This is a slow-burn enemies to friends to lovers story (no spice) that earns every step along the path. It isn't without some heartbreak along the way, but I was never mad at the story or thought that any bumps were unnecessary. In fact, those bumps often WERE necessary to break through the last few walls preventing emotional growth.
There was one thing I didn't love, though it largely has to do with personal preference. There is an element in this story that I don't think will take many people long to figure out, and I think the author is aware of that fact. But I HATE being ahead of a character when it comes to discovering information. I fully realize that the structure of the story demands things get revealed when they do, but I personally was impatient for everybody to finally be on the same page.
Kill the Beast is a lovely standalone tale that I highly recommend. It has action, mystery, and romance, with two characters I adored. It's an excellent debut and I will definitely be back to see what the author writes in the future.
3:00 AM | 
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Caitlin G. |
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Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alexander Darwin is an author living in Boston with his wife and three daughters. Outside of writing, he teaches and trains martial arts (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu). He’s inspired by old-school Hong Kong action flicks, jRPGs, underdog stories and bibimbap bowls.
Outside of writing fiction, Alexander has written for publications such as Rolling Stone Magazine. His latest piece, The Lost Diary of Anthony Bourdain, was a featured piece in Rolling Stone’s January 2022 Issue.
Publisher: Orbit (December 3, 2024) Page count: 411 pages Formats: all
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: In Angel City, there are two forces of power: the Lumines and Grand Central. These two secret factions are rival groups of alchemists, magic users with the ability to transmute elements. But their crowning achievement is sand, a drug that enhances the best - and worst - aspects of any person who takes it. With everyone from politicians to pop stars clamoring for the underground drug, control of the sand trade is vital. As the Lumines and Grand Central draw closer to outright war, two childhood friends find themselves on opposite sides of the battle line. Will their own personal needs for power and control outweigh the love they have for each other?
Red City is a gripping tale of two people caught up in a tangled web of conflicting loyalties as feuding magical cabals get ready to wage war. This isn't Romeo and Juliet; that's a love story of two relative innocents trying to escape the conflict around them. Ari and Sam are far from innocent. They each commit dark deeds and are fully complicit in the violence breaking out in the city, all while trying to reconcile their complicated feelings for each other.
The author does a fantastic job of building up Sam and Ari's relationship in the first third of the book. We spend quite a bit of time seeing their quiet solidarity with each other before life's pressures drive them apart. While the way they join their respective alchemical faction differs, their reasons for doing so are similar: they are isolated, lonely children who find themselves at far too young an age weighted down with the responsibility of protecting their respective families. Power begins as a means to create safety; only far too late do Ari and Sam realize the cost that comes with that power.
Because the alchemy factions keep secrets on pain of death, Ari and Sam don't realize they are caught up in the same conflict until the story jumps forward several years, when tensions between Angel City's top two factions are about to erupt into a full scale war. By that point, they've both become critical members of their factions and believe they should do basically anything to protect their faction and its interests.
For those who love to revel in soapy, toxic relationships, this book will be absolute catnip. Ari and Sam are children when they become caught up in extremely manipulative relationships that will mold them into adulthood. That means that when sex enters the scene, while it is always between two consenting adults, it is by no means part of a relationship that is in any way healthy. (And yes, there are explicit scenes in the book.)
Don't come to this story looking for a sweeping romantic tale. This is full of dark actions and morally compromised characters. Practically every relationship in RED CITY is jagged or broken in some way, but characters care for each other despite that. Unfortunately, each character has too many conflicting loyalties for a juggling act to be possible, leading to inevitable heartbreak.I did like that the author sometimes gave the audience a peek into other characters' lives that the two main characters are never privy to; the protagonists don't magically get to learn everyone's motivations by the end of the story. It creates the tragedy of knowing the real reasons some side characters make the choices they do, reasons our protagonists will never know.
To top it all off is the fantastic magic system that relies on manipulating the very atoms that make up everything. Alchemy is as much science as magic; alchemists have to know the atomic structures they are working with, how to transmute something from one element to another in a balanced way that doesn't cause an explosion or some other unstable reaction. But for those who master it, your imagination is the limit. It means that fight scenes are full of people pulling knives from brick walls or conjuring a shield from air molecules. It's fast-paced and fluid and cinematic and I loved it.
The only quibble I had with this book is sometimes I found the prose a little too overdone. There were certain scenes that were flowery enough that I found it took me out of the story instead of pulling me further in. Thankfully, the characters are engaging enough that
Red City is here to be your next dark fantasy soap opera read. It's the kind of novel where characters are morally grey at best, where everyone has done something truly evil at least once. If you need joy in your next read, this is not for you. If you're looking for complicated relationships that are heading towards heartbreak fast, this needs to be on the top of your TBR.
Buy Dungeon Crawler Carl
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Carl never would have guessed that chasing his ex-girlfriend's cat outside in the middle of winter would be the thing that saved his life. As fate would have it, however, that's exactly when aliens showed up and wiped out most of the human race, and only being in the wrong place at the right time kept him alive. But if Carl wants to stay alive, he has no choice but to enter the 18-level dungeon the aliens have erected underground. It's part of an internationally broadcast gameshow, one where fans and sponsorships can make all the difference in whether or not you live until the end. Can Carl, along with the cat Princess Donut, survive the gauntlet of death long enough to gain a following that will help them win?
Dungeon Crawler Carl is a fast-paced bingeable adventure that I found hard to put down. Despite a rather bleak premise (what with most of humanity being wiped out and the rest being put into a deadly televised game show), the book itself leans into the absurdity of the situation. One minute Carl is chasing a runaway cat, the next he's trying to outrun a bunch of goblins in a tank and being awarded loot boxes for surviving the situation. The author manages to keep things light-hearted most of the time, without fully losing sight of how dire the stakes are. An in-game counter, for instance, keeps a tally of how many humans are remaining on the planet - and that number is steadily dropping all the time.
Underpinning this whole story is the LitRPG architecture of the narrative. Upon entering the dungeon, Carl is given a virtual interface that acts much like a video game UI. He can see everything from a mini-map to enemy health to his own stats. All of these elements are a critical part of how the story gets told. There are lengthy discussions about the minutiae of the game, everything from how the menus work to how to grind experience to level up abilities.
You'd think a stat heavy story would be dry as dust, but I found myself thoroughly engrossed. Now admittedly, I'm part of a prime target audience. I'm a gamer who enjoys watching D&D actual plays, who doesn't fast forward when players are doing the "boring" level-up part of the game. So in many ways, I found sections where Carl and his new tutorial guild master go over stats and loot boxes and how everything works extremely soothing.
But I think for the mainstream audiences, there's some drama in figuring out how this works because it's literally life and death. If Carl can't figure out a build for the game, if he can't figure out how to use potions and weapons and the difference between a neighborhood boss and a city boss, he's dead. Sure, having a familiarity with games in general will help get you invested, but I think the stakes keep you invested as well, even if you aren't an avid gamer.
I will say, I did chafe a little bit against some of the chauvinistic writings for the "in-game" descriptions of achievements and lore. I understand that they're supposed to be written by an AI that doesn't have an ounce of political correctness in its coding, but the AI was already crude and condescending enough. It didn't need that element thrown into the mix on top of everything else.
I can't end the review without shouting out the narrator for the audiobook I listened to. Jeff Hayes has a great range of voices that helped keep things entertaining. It's a testament to both the story and the narrator that I got through this audiobook in a mere 10 days; normally a book of this length would take me 6-8 weeks on audio!
Dungeon Crawler Carl somehow takes the end of the world and makes it an utterly consumable adventure. Carl only completes the first few floors in this adventure, but there's enough teases about what lies on the lower levels that I'm eager to see how the game keeps evolving. Hang in there Carl, I'm rooting for you!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Morgan Stang lives in the humid part of Texas. He graduated from the University of Houston with a BBA. By day he works in accounting and by night he sleeps, and sometime in between he writes in a wide variety of fantasy genres, ranging from dark fantasy (The Bartram's Maw series) to gaslamp murder mystery (The Lamplight Murder Mysteries) to cozy fantasy (The Bookshop and the Barbarian). He is a fan of all things nerdy, and lives with an immortal ball python.
Publisher: Morgan Stang (August 26, 2025) Length: 369 pages Formats: ebook, paperback
Published: February 19, 2019 by M.L. Wang Length: 651 pages (Kindle) Formats: Literary awards: SPFBO Award for Best Fantasy Book
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Christopher Moore is an American writer of absurdist fiction. He grew up in Mansfield, OH, and attended Ohio State University and Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA.
Moore's novels typically involve conflicted everyman characters suddenly struggling through supernatural or extraordinary circumstances. Inheriting a humanism from his love of John Steinbeck and a sense of the absurd from Kurt Vonnegut, Moore is a best-selling author with major cult status.
Publisher: William Morrow (May 13, 2025) Length: 400 pages Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: J. Zachary Pike was once a basement-dwelling fantasy gamer, but over time he metamorphosed into a basement-dwelling fantasy writer. By day Zack is a web professional and creative-for-hire, but at night he returns to his lair to create books, films, and illustrations that meld fantasy elements with offbeat humor. A New Englander by birth and by temperament, Zack writes strangely funny fiction on the seacoast of New Hampshire.
Published: November 28, 2012 by Michael McClung Length: 362 pages Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback Literary awards: SPFBO Award for Best Fantasy Book Series The Dark Profit Saga
ŁUKASZ
Some reviewers have compares Orconomics to Pratchett novels. A bold statement if you ask me. As a fan of satires, I needed to experience and verify it myself. And I liked it.
It’s funny and uplifting but also serious and sad in some places, as every good satire should be.
On the world of Arth, adventuring is the industry that drives the economy. Groups of battle-hardened warriors hunt and kill Monsters and Shadowkin (Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds) and claim their hoards. These loots are bought and sold by corporate interests to plunder funds long before the hero’s guild attacks. You’ll easily see similarities to Goldman Sachs in Goldson Baggs operations.
The story follows Gorm Ingerson - a fallen dwarven hero whose hero’s license has been revoked. His clan disowned him, and he lives as a rogue. One of funds forcibly recruits Gorm to undertake an impossible quest with a team of similar fallen heroes. If he succeeds, he may win back the fame and fortune he lost so long ago.
His new team includes colourful and fun cast of characters– a goblin squire (who brings a lot of comic relief), clumsy and naïve prophet of a mad goddess, an elf warrior addicted to alcohol and drugs (healing potions in the book), two mages who are at each other's throats, a thief who claims to be a bard (even though he can’t really sing) and a warrior seeking his own death. They start the quest to find Elven Marbles. As we follow the story, the plot gets a little more complicated and nuanced.
I always appreciate a well-plotted and solid high fantasy tale with humour woven into the plot and the world. The world building mixed seamlessly into the story impressed me. The characterization doesn’t disappoint - even characters that seem very archetypical get significant development by the book’s end. The pacing is just right. It speeds up and slows down in all the right places.
The humour made me laugh. Obviously, no author should be compared to Sir Terry Pratchett - simply because no one stands a chance. In no way is this book on par with Pratchett’s novels. It is, though, a superb fantasy satire.
Thanks to mostly uplifting tone, Orconomics works as a well-deserved rest from dark books in which characters you love die, become evil or destroyed. On the other hand, it’s not all sunshine and roses. After finishing the book I’m impressed by Pike’s skilful blend of humour and tragedy. I mourn one of characters. Every good satire needs to contain a level of tragedy and Orconomics delivers both.
The ending of the book set ups for the sequel I will definitely read once I sort out my reading schedule.
MIHIR
Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike is one of my favourite books to have come out of SPFBO. Zack Pike’s debut was just a fascinating mix of epic fantasy tropes, satire & some brilliant but biting commentary on the foibles of unbridled capitalism.
“Gorm was a veteran of waking up in a strange place with a surplus of questions and a shortfall of memories.”
The main plot begins with Gorm Ingerson, a disgraced dwarven ex-hero who has long tried to run from his shameful past. Things have been rough for him for a few years but he’s finally been given a chance to redeem himself. Soon a motley band is formed with Gorm, a goblin, an elf named Kaita and a scribe named Niln. The team is later joined by a couple of mages who are semi-mortal enemies and hilarious with their bickering. The plot follows up it’s the normal fantasy trope of an epic journey and it’s herein where the author plays his first trick.
J. Zachary Pike lulls the reader while giving us a very characteristic and trope-filled story but the worldbuilding and story details are what make the story so unique. Firstly this is a world wherein adventuring and all the other details have been presented in a very financially-oriented way. The author does a brilliant job in setting up the reader with all the details of how this fantasy world operates. From quests wherein villages pay to have their surroundings cleared up to adventurers having to pay for their own upgrades. Imagine a fantasy world run by Mckinsey consultants & Disney’s accountants, this in a nutshell is a such a world. While there is a fun vibe to the story, but as a reader you can see the veneer of avarice beneath the trappings of it all.
Even though this book is more than a decade old, its message about greed, corporate avarice and the dangers facing humans are just as true now as they when it was published. This book’s message is quite grim and kudos to the author for writing such a darkly brilliant story within a fun, satire mold. The story while following all the known Tolkienistic tropes, quite cleverly subverts them. I enjoyed this aspect and the humour within is of the sly kind which had me chuckling all throughout.
The book has some truly dark aspects to it from character backgrounds to the rigid societal structure to the financial burden that’s yoked to most of the creatures. The author has however folded humour as much as possible so the dark aspects while significant don’t overpower the story. This way the main plot stays funny & satirical all the way till the end.
I wouldn’t be lying if I say Orconomics is one of the most brilliant written stories to come out of the indie fantasy genre, however it wouldn’t be entirely accurate. The truth is Orconomics is one of the most brilliant stories to ever come out of the SFF genre. Give it a read and then read the sequels too (as the trilogy is complete). This way you can truly appreciate one of the best fantasy trilogies to have been gifted to us readers.
SPFBO CHAMPIONS' LEAGUE RATING FOR NOW
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Celia didn't mean to curse her brother. Unfortunately, her magic awoke the day she discovered he was leaving her behind, causing grief-filled words to doom him to a life without love. As the years go by, Celia searches for a way to undo the curse. But in a land caught in an unending cycle of war, can love ever find a way?
The Summer War is a pleasant fairy tale about the power stories have to change the real world narrative. Although Celia may be the first sorceress in generations, undoubtedly the more important characters in this world are the traveling minstrels known as song-spinners. Time and time again, we see them wield stories to share information and to shape public opinion. They have the power to spread truths and propaganda in equal measure, and only a fool overlooks their importance.
I also loved the portrayal of the Summer Lands, inhabited by the fae-like summerlings. Within the borders of the Summerlands, stories have a near-magical power, with the expectation that lives and conflicts will unfold according to familiar patterns and beats of archetypal narratives. Once again, power comes from knowing how to move with and within those stories, and how to use them to achieve your own aim.
But while The Summer War is charming and I certainly enjoyed it, I wouldn't say it is overly memorable. It's a definite recommend for someone looking for a short read with fairytale-like qualities. You can easily read it within a day and have a charming time. But I don't know that it or its characters will stick with me past the length of a summer.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of several novels, including Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau. She has also edited a number of anthologies, including the World Fantasy Award-winning She Walks in Shadows (a.k.a. Cthulhu's Daughters). Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination.
Publisher: Del Rey (July 15, 2025) Length: 368 pages Formats: audiobook, paperback, ebook
Purchase Voidwalker
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Fionamara is a smuggler of exceptional skill. A childhood accident gifted her the ability to see Curtains, the thin places between planes where a person can cross between worlds. Fi uses her gift to smuggle contraband between the four Season-Locked planes, gifting the proceeds to her village so that they don't ever need to call for aid from their rulers. For the humans of all planes are ruled by the daeyeri, immortal beings whose bargains almost always require a human sacrifice. But when Fi is unwittingly made part of a coup against her territory's ruler, her village is put in the crosshairs. To save her people, she strikes a bargain with ousted ruler Antal to get his throne back - a dangerous alliance that could cost her everything.
Voidwalker successfully threads the needle between dangerous and sexy, a thrilling adventure mixed with romance that had me thoroughly invested from start to finish. And while this promises to be the first in a "new fantasy universe," I'm happy to report this is a standalone installment, without a cliffhanger in sight.
From its opening pages, Voidwalker makes one thing abundantly clear: in this universe, humans are prey. The ruling daeyeri are strong, ruthless, immortal, and have a craving for human flesh. Only a pact keeps the daeyeri's appetites in check, with villages promising to routinely send people as sacrifices in return for their rulers not hunting them for sport. Antal, the ruler of Fi's territory, is unusual in that he doesn't require routine sacrifices - unless the humans ask for help. If they need daeyeri technology fixed or any other kind of aid, a sacrifice must be made.
So when Fi is forced to team up with Antal, there's a real sense of danger. This creature has eaten people before and would have done so more frequently if Fi's smuggling hadn't helped sustain her village from needing to ask for a boon. But faced with a new daeyeri ruler who is going to be much more strict about demanding sacrifices, Fi decides to support the lesser of two evils.
But just because Fi is prey in this world doesn't mean she's helpless. Fi is bold and stubborn and demands to be taken seriously. She will put herself toe-to-toe with her enemy out of sheer spite, the kind of person who insists on going down fighting - though she usually tries to have a trick up her sleeve to ensure she's always got a way out.
So when Fi and Antal eventually start to have chemistry, it's fueled by the spark of verbal sparring and the feeling of two equals clashing, even if their strengths lie in different places. Fi may be physically at a disadvantage, but she's got the willpower to push back at Antal's demands, to negotiate for her own terms. And that tenacity and force of will is what appeals to Antal, the satisfaction of finding someone who will stand her ground against him.
While this is a spicy romantasy, it's a slow burn to get there. At nearly 600 pages, Voidwalker takes its time building up the chemistry between the two characters. This is a plot-forward fantasy romance, and there's plenty of adventure to be had, all while our two leads start to bond. There's also plenty of character development, especially with Fi as she wrestles with past traumas that she's never reconciled with.
I do have one small but notable complaint: the sheer number of times the author utilizes a hare/rabbit metaphor to evoke a feeling of being prey. Early on, it's an effective comparison. By the end of the story, it is incredibly overused. Perhaps this will be reduced by the publication of the final version, but in the ARC copy I had, it drove me a bit crazy.
CONCLUSION: Author S.A. MacLean is two for two in writing fantasy romances I have absolutely adored. While The Phoenix Keeper was a cozy, slow-burn, no-spice affair, Voidwalker is an action-packed sexy delight. I absolutely loved the feistiness of Fi and the way she pitted herself against Antal. I love that Antal comes to trust her as an equal and fully respects her own strengths. And I loved this strange universe of different planes all connected by the Void, a universe of endless places to explore. If there's more stories to be had in this world, I will be the first to sign up.
Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
Buy The Will of the Many
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Three years ago, Vis Telimus was orphaned when the Catenan Republic invaded his homeland and killed his family. Since then, he's been on the run and in hiding, doing his best to avoid taking part in an integral part of Republic society: the ceding of Will. It's a tradition aided by technology where a person literally gifts part of their willpower to another, giving the recipient enhanced strength and speed. Vis has avoided this fate for years - but an offer from a mysterious stranger may change everything. Vis is offered the chance to go undercover at the Republic's elite academy, in exchange for solving a murder that took place there. But more than one faction wants to use Vis for their aims, and it will take all of Vis's cunning to keep himself alive as he dives into the maze of secrets hidden on the academy's island.
The Will of the Many is a well-executed, if familiar, story of intrigue and plots at a nation's elite academy - familiar, that is, until a jaw-dropping finale. For most of the book, I always had a rough sense of where the plot was going. It's your classic scrappy orphan underdog who gets thrown into the deep end of a special academy, where competition is cut-throat and sometimes deadly. It's a trope I love quite a bit, so I fully enjoyed that aspect of the story.
The thing I bumped against is that Vis is not your true underdog. Because of his background, he is actually fairly well-educated in everything from rhetoric to combat; what he doesn't know already, he easily picks up without too much issue. He seems to easily read people and knows how to manipulate them, and we rarely see him make a true misstep.
I am a person who loves competent characters. But I love them when they exist in conflict with actual friction in the plot. I want to see them on their back foot, or for things to go horribly wrong. And things never TRULY go horribly wrong for Vis. He might be in danger, yes, but you know there's always another ace up his sleeve. It just seemed like a lot for a seventeen-year-old to be good at, and it took me out of the story a bit.
But even so, I did like the layers of intrigue in the story. There are multiple factions all exerting pressure on Vis. He has to figure out how to walk the fine line of giving everybody just enough of what they're asking for that he doesn't fully commit to their cause, but they leave him alone so that he can pursue his own goals. That was where the most tension came from, and were some of the parts of the story I enjoyed the most.
But hands down the best part of the book is the absolutely bonkers final pages of The Will of the Many. It's safe to say I genuinely have no idea how the story is going to play out in the sequel. It's possible that the author purposely kept this a fairly familiar plot to onboard the readers into this world before veering into a wildly different kind of story. It's safe to say that this is one of those books where how things go in the sequel could have me revising my opinion of The Will of the Many, for better or for worse.
CONCLUSION: The Will of the Many is an excellent story for those who love an academy trope. It's got mystery, intrigue, rivalries, and a deadly competition. But above all else, what's got me coming back is the ending because I truly cannot wait to see what happens next.
Buy What Fury Brings
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: In a kingdom where most of the noblemen were killed in an uprising several years ago, it’s become common practice for royalty to kidnap husbands from neighboring kingdoms. Princess Olera is one such royal member. To secure her position in line to the throne, she needs to prove she can tame a proper husband. She’s decided the meek poet prince of a neighboring kingdom is an ideal candidate. But a drunken prank sees the prince swapping places with his brother, and Olera unknowingly ends up with warrior prince Sanos instead. Sanos has to hide his identity long enough to escape - but the more he gets to know his bride-to-be, the less he’s sure of what he wants.
What Fury Brings is a bit of a muddled romantasy, caught between trying to be a sultry romance and an exploration of gender dynamics. The author is very clear with her intent on writing this book, starting with the author's note where she bluntly states she's taken cis men and women's normal gender roles and reversed them, so that men are the ones who are supposed to be seen and not heard, look beautiful for their spouse, treated as weak soft things that exist to pleasure the opposite gender. While the female-led kingdom of Amarra is more progressive about sex and gender identities than its neighboring male-led countries, it is not free from cruelty, exploitation, or slavery. Olera vows to make changes to her kingdom to do away with much of this - a fact she tells to the man she literally kidnapped to further her political ambitions.
This premise is definitely targeted at those who like a dominant/submissive relationship, and requires you to be onboard with a kidnapping trope. Female main character Olera is clear that she will not force herself on male lead Sanos, but the fact remains that he spends much of the book imprisoned and in chains until he decides he’s fine to marry this woman. If you find that off-putting, bounce along to the next book. For me, I came fully on board and ready to see what the author did with the premise.
What Fury Brings is a book that leaves me perplexed with what to do with it. It is a sledgehammer of commentary by saying "Hey, by reversing normal gender roles, can't we see how terrible this situation is?" It is also using those reversed roles to unabashedly lean into dominant/submissive kink. It both uses the power imbalance to titillate the audience, while also lecturing that the power imbalance is bad. In short, it wants to have its cake and eat it too. Which just leaves me with a bit of whiplash: am I supposed to find this arousing or offputting?
CONCLUSION: There's no denying that What Fury Brings is bingeable candy, a story of light court politics and intrigue that you can read in fairly short order. But What Fury Brings also has aspirations of being more than that, and in dealing with weightier themes, the story stumbles. What I came to realize is that just because the societal gender power imbalances are reversed does not mean I now suddenly enjoy the societal power imbalances. I'd rather read a fantasy story without the imbalance at all. Maybe if this had been a story that put the genders on equal footing and then found the pleasure in an imbalance, I would have liked it more. I fully understand the drive that caused the author to write this story, but at the end of the day it just didn't work as a romance for me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Having served in a hundred different offices as a keyboard monkey Rob J. Hayes finally decided to follow his life long passion of daydreaming. After writing a small horde's worth of short stories, he released his debut dark fantasy trilogy "The Ties that Bind" in 2013 as an indie publication and followed it up with the steampunk caper "It Takes a Thief to Catch a Sunrise" in 2014.
In 2017 he released his piratical duology, Best Laid Plans, and in 2018 the first book, Where Loyalties Lie won Mark Lawrence's Self Published Fantasy Blog Off.
Rob has now tried his hand at Science-Fiction (Drones, 2018) and Military Fantasy (City of Kings, 2018), and even East-Asian influenced fantasy (Never Die, 2019).
Published: May 24, 2017 by Rob J. Hayes Length: 376 pages (Kindle) Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback Literary awards: SPFBO Award for Best Fantasy Book (2017)
LUKASZ
Historically, it was my first book by Rob J. Hayes. And not the last :)
Our main guy, Drake Morrass, is a classic sociopath who finds immense pleasure in bending others to his will through manipulation, coercion, threats, and violence. I can't help it—I like the guy. Drake has an ambition: he wants to unite the pirates of the South Seas and build a nation. Also, claim a crown for himself. The thing is, he's not exactly the most popular or neighbour-friendly pirate around. Everybody knows Captain Drake Morrass is only out for himself. That’s why he needs allies to help him gather other captains into his fleet. He reaches out to Captain Kellin Stillwater.
Nothing is entirely black and white; While Drake’s motivations aren't fully clear or selfless, the situation on the seas makes pirating a risky job. The Pirate Isles are under attack from Sarth and the Five Kingdoms, who have no problem with collateral damage. The book opens with them burning a pirate city and all its inhabitants.
The story mainly follows the paths of Kellin and Drake, although other characters get some attention too. The characters are well written, and it's easy to root for them. I'm particularly interested in Aimi and T’rack Khan. The Black family is terrifying, and Papa Black could easily go head-to-head with Tywin Lannister when it comes to being cruel to his children. He might even surpass him.
I enjoyed the writing, worldbuilding, and pacing. The book grabbed me from the get-go, and I didn’t lose interest throughout. Sure, the plot was a bit predictable in places, but it was entertaining all the same.
Only the ending was a bit of a letdown. I couldn’t help but notice that almost all the (anti)heroes acted out of character. There's no satisfying conclusion - but I guess there shouldn't be. It’s a duology, after all. We're supposed to get the answers in the sequel.
Warning: For those of you looking for redeeming qualities or who are sensitive to language, it’s worth noting that the book contains graphic scenes of violence (including rape), sex, and a lot of swearing.
MIHIR
The main focus of the story is one of ambition, betrayals and plotting. All of this occurs via the characters and namely Drake Morass is situated in front and center of this story, Drake was a minor but important character in the previous trilogy and his background actions fueled a lot of the plot twists. This duology though stands separate from the events of the previous trilogy and while it shares a few characters from the previous work (who made minor cameos in the books). New readers can easily pick up these books and will be snared up in the events. Drake again is in the thick of things and we begin the book with him and we end with him as well.
The characters are what make this story come alive in a very visceral way, beginning with our two main POV pirate captains Drake Morass and Keelin Seawater. Who couldn’t be more different than each other, Drake is calculating at all times but can be bloodthirsty, enigmatic and certainly the most feared person on sea. Keelin on the other hand is driven by his past and will do almost anything except irrationally murder folks. These two characters are what fuel the narrative as we find out what reasons might force them to work together. Let’s be clear Drake is the biggest enigma of this series and possibly one of the biggest in this world wherein most things are unknown or hidden. Drake’s exploits while being legendary are also grim. They make him out to be a monster but a good-looking and charming one at that. In this book we get to see all of his personas. The cruelty, the tall tales (that sound implausible but hold more than a ring of truth), the vicarious nature of his plots which almost always pan out as he planned and his daredevilry at accomplishing his lofty goals (some of which are laid bare within this duology). He’s the main engine for the plot of this book and manages to be a scene-stealer all the way. On one level while the readers will be horrified by his actions, on a pure character note, he is impossible to ignore.
Keelin Stillwater has a lot to live up to and the readers will get to read all about his past as well as the internal struggle he fights. Keelin has previously appeared in a small bit in The Price Of Faith but unless one is eagle-eyed you will most likely not picked up on it. Keelin is a good mirror to Drake and it’s fun to compare them both. The biggest surprise is Elaina Black who along with Arbiter Beck and T’ruck Khan are the dark horses of this story. They start out as small characters but by their actions at the end of the book become core characters. The author has even written a short story focusing on Beck and Elaina Black which acts as a prequel (to this duology) and a nice introduction to the pirates. Every character introduced is someone that’s fully fleshed and you want to read more about them. I think that’s the hallmark of a good writer and Rob J. Hayes is certainly fulfilling that mark.
Another thing about this story is because it focuses on pirates, it also shines a light on characters that don’t always show the best aspects of humanity. This story is filled with violence, betrayals and visceral surprises. About the first aspect, truly no one is safe in this story and the violence is quite interspersed within the story and we get various scenes that will horrify readers but make sense within the confines of the story. However I must warn readers that there’s one scene involving Tanner Black and Elaina Black which will shock you beyond anything. It’s a very disturbing scene and one that’s present to showcase the terror and disgust. Tanner Black makes Tywin Lannister seem like a doting parent & that’s saying something. The action sequences are almost always over water or feature some terrific scenes of ship boarding. In the previous trilogy, the action was more on a personal level however with this book, Rob J. Hayes certainly exalts things to a grand level. The best action scenes are ones featuring T’ruck Khan and I believe he’s a character that will be imprinted a lot on readers’ minds.
The pace of the story and the plot twists will keep the readers hooked and engaged throughout. One of the things that surprised me about this book was the love story within it. To be fair there’s two love stories going on (neither of them in the classical way) but if you really want to get down to brass tacks, they can be called as such. Let me be clear, the romance isn’t the focus of the story in the least. As a reader I just happened to notice it and found it funny to compare both those threads. The book ends on a solid note and because this is a duology, we can expect the next book (The Fifth Empire Of Man) to end things in a brutal manner as all the plots come to a head.
Drawbacks to me were next to none as this is the first volume and I felt that this book can serve as an excellent starting point to Rob J. Hayes’ violent & exciting First Earth saga. I must point out that this book is quite grim (but not bleak) and very, very violent. There’s one really graphic sexual violent scene that’s sure to raise hackles for some but it’s not there to titillate and makes sense from a story & character point of view. Overall I feel that this book is one that explores pirates quite unlike any other fantasy books I’ve read so far in the genre.
SPFBO CHAMPIONS' LEAGUE RATING FOR NOW
SPFBO Champions' League Interview: Michael McClung, the Author of The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble's Braids
Buy Pearl City
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ling Ling Huang is a writer and violinist. She plays with several ensembles including the Music Kitchen, Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra, Shattered Glass, and Experiential Orchestra, with whom she won a Grammy award in 2020. Natural Beauty is her first novel.
Published: April 4, 2023 by Dutton Page count: 272 pages Formats: audiobook, ebook, hardback, paperback
Published: May 14, 2024 by Azimuth Length: 374 pages (Kindle) Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback Literary awards: SPFBO Award for Best Fantasy Book (2024) Series Land of Exile #1
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: With Lore and her allies scattered across the world, all hope seems lost. King Bastian reigns under the influence of an evil god, making deals with despots and undoing the reforms made in the last few months. But destiny has its own plans. Even scattered, Lore and her friends have one last chance to thwart the god trying to reshape the world, one last chance to steal his power back. It may just unfortunately take their own lives to pull it off.
The Nightshade God is the kind of finale that lands the plane competently, but without much pizzazz. It isn't a BAD book, but it lacked tension and failed to make me invested in the personal stakes for the characters. As an example, look no further than the central plot of the story. Book two ended with our characters scattered across the world for various reasons, and early in The Nightshade God, they all learn of objects that have been hidden for centuries that are important to defeating the central villain. Rather conveniently, there's one of these hidden objects in each of the locations these scattered characters ended up. While there's some attempt to explain this as destiny, it felt instead like it was giving the characters a thing to do before bringing them all together for the finale.
The characters themselves also really have very little growth to go through. There's still pining and angst between the characters but nothing that we hadn't seen previously. The one new romantic pairing that was introduced honestly left me baffled. Worst of all, the finale felt like it betrayed the themes of the entire series and the very lessons that the characters were supposed to be learning.
CONCLUSION: All that being said, I was never in a place where I was hate-reading The Nightshade God. It was simply that I was never excited to pick the book up, never dying to know what could possibly happen next. Every plot point was simply a hurdle to overcome fairly quickly in the journey to the inevitable conclusion. It's a book that I can honestly say I walked away from simply....whelmed.
Official Author Info: Nicholas W Fuller has been writing all of his life. He began writing his first novel while still in fifth grade—a science fiction story featuring an alien race inspired by his neighbor’s basset hounds. While that work remains incomplete, Nicholas has worked on various blogs and stories over the years, including publication in JCM Berne's Grimdwarf Magazine and earning an honorable mention from ElegantLiterature.com. Nicholas also started a youtube channel in early 2023 where he posts videos talking about books and other fun nerdy things as well as his interviews with authors and other creatives.
SPFBO Champions' League Review: The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble's Braids by Michael McClung
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael McClung was born and raised in Texas, lived in Southeast Asia for twenty years, and currently resides in Poland. He has published nine novels, a novella and a short story collection. His first novel was published by Random House in 2003, and in 2016 he won Mark Lawrence's inaugural SPFBO contest with The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble's Braids. He goes by @mcclungmike on Twitter, but doesn’t do the Facebook anymore, because reasons. He occasionally talks about stuff on his blog at somethingstickythiswaycomes.blogspot.com if you're interested in, uh, stuff being talked about.
Published: November 28, 2012 by Michael McClung Length: 208 pages (Kindle) Formats: Literary awards: SPFBO Award for Best Fantasy Book (2015) Series Amra Thetys #1
