* Disclaimer *

Everyone is different and likes and dislikes different things. Reading is no exception. One person’s all-time favorite might seem too bland or too high stakes for another. That being said, the opinions of our judges in this contest are just that: opinions. Just because we let a book go, doesn’t mean it isn’t good. It could be your next favorite, who knows?

However, since this is a contest, there can be only one winner. Hence it is necessary to work our way down to our favorite from our batch of thirty titles. We will be letting books go four or five at a time. These groups are being let go in no particular order. So, the books we say goodbye to today are not worse than books we let go in the next batch. They are just the first ones we read that didn’t quite click with us as a group.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can learn more about the contest here.

We are also announcing, our fifth semi-finalists! We will continue to announce one semi-finalist with each Four to Fall! These upcoming semifinalists will be listed in no particular order.

It’s getting close to the end! Who will be our finalist? We still don’t know! But we will soon, so stay tuned for another reveal this week! And don’t forget to read to the end to meet our next semifinalist!

Shadow Debt by William Ray

Glynn Sorley is sheriff of Keat’s Field, a tiny settlement in an otherwise lawless frontier. With the discovery of diamonds, her town is flooded with fortune-hunters looking to strike it rich. It’s also a target for competing colonial powers, savage goblin tribes, and outlaws.

A rustler on the run from the law stumbles across his father’s mysterious legacy—a weapon of immense magical power. He uses it to ravage across the territory as the notorious outlaw Gentleman Jim.

But the weapon’s power comes at a terrible cost, and Keat’s Field may just have to pay the price.

“A tiny settlement in the midst of goblin territory, Keat’s Field has previously been known for only two things: the discovery of diamonds there, and the town’s temerity in appointing a woman as their sheriff.”

There’s a great number of typical western tropes in this story, from a gang of raiders, a train robbery, stolen cattle, and more up to the naive newcomer just arrived in town. Having goblins, big monsters and magical, or cursed items turns these around a bit, to give it a fantasy slant. It’s set in a bigger world, but you can read it as a standalone without noticeably missing any important information.

We liked the different perspectives of a rather unadventurous journalist, and an awesome female sheriff who takes no bullshit (even whilst working in the gender confines set by the town’s ruling enclave). This definitely helped to shake up the story and made it feel fresher.

One judge enjoyed the glimpses of industrialization and technology, while another judge found the mix to just not completely bond well. Overall, we found some other books in our batch stronger, so while it was an enjoyable read, we’ll have to say goodbye.

The Legend of Tawhiri by J. E. Purrazzi

There is a legend in the Archipelago. Long ago, the ocean grew weak, and feared for his heart. He took to the form of man and walked among the people.

Tawhiri was a gift from the ocean. Plucked from the waves as an infant. The people of the Islands know the Ri, spirits of the ocean, abandon unwanted half-breeds on the shore. These demigods are destined to return to the sea and leave ruin in their wake. It has happened many times before.

Tawhiri has no interest in spirits or ruin. He loves his village, but as long as the elders forbid him from entering the ocean, he cannot pass the tests which will allow him to be seen as a man and a full member of the tribe.

When Kai’Ali, a friend whose twisted foot has held her back along with Tawhiri, passes the test and leaves him behind, the seeds of longing begin to grow in Tawhiri’s heart. Then the ocean begins to call to him.

We really enjoyed the start of this book, and especially adored the setting of the Pacific Islands! Sadly, we couldn’t click as well with the main character, who didn’t seem to have much agency of his own, and just felt stoic and unbothered, even though his life was very unfair.

The middle of the book felt less rounded, and while the pace did speed up, it lost our interest instead of hooking us ever deeper.

The end did turn for the better again, but overall, it simply didn’t hold up to our expectations, so we had to let it go.

Herald of the Storm by Richard Ford

Welcome to Steelhaven.

Under the reign of King Cael the Uniter, this vast cityport on the southern coast has for years been a symbol of strength, maintaining an uneasy peace throughout the Free States.

But now a long shadow hangs over the city, in the form of the dread Elharim warlord, Amon Tugha. When his herald infiltrates the city, looking to exploit its dangerous criminal underworld, and a terrible dark magick that has long been buried once again begins to rise, it could be the beginning of the end.

There are approximately seven points of view here. A foreign “trader”, an unready princess, an assassin who won’t kill his target, a young mage, a swordswoman, and a thief, as well as pirates, slavers, priests, and priestesses. They are all in different parts of a large capital city, some are there to start wars—civil and international—and others are there to stop them. Having a large number of characters can often be intimidating or confusing but this wasn’t an issue here. The majority were well written, and you knew exactly who it was when the POV changed.

Character action and interactions are definitely not to be taken at face value, nothing is as it seems but slowly as each person is forced to deal with what’s thrown at them, the threads of military and magic start bringing all forces into play against each other.

This book is set in one city but there are hints of a much larger and more exotic world. We’re looking forward to learning even more about the setting and politics in the sequels, as the reader is given just enough to keep one’s interest and not be bogged down by it all.

While we really enjoyed it, it just felt a bit too similar and well known to be a finalist for us. It’s a good read and had us engaged but lacked something to really set it apart.

Tracking Trouble by Aldrea Alien

Before a routine job brought him to the love of his life, Tracker’s world had two facets: Hunting spellsters and entertaining strangers in his bed. There’s no doubt he’s good at both, even if only one is considered acceptable amongst the King’s Hounds.

But there’s something off about his current tasks. The spellsters he typically finds aren’t usually this powerful or anywhere near as dangerous to a man untouchable by magic. It’s as if someone is releasing them with an eye to weaken an already harried kingdom. Can he find out who before they run out of hounds?

We really adored the diversity in Tracking Trouble, to be more exact the main character who seems to be not just be bi, but pansexual. While we see more sapphic or uranian romance, pansexuality is something we haven’t come across a lot, so we liked that aspect a lot!

On the other hand, Tracking Trouble definitely was more graphic in its spice than what our judges typically prefer. Especially as it wasn’t just the main character who is open to sex with pretty much everyone, but it also seems mostly everyone makes a move on them, which threw us out of the story a bit.

Tracker is a sympathetic character with a lot of empathy for the underdog and the ill-treated, and we enjoyed his character a lot. The story about rogue spellcasters and children who are sent to a Tower to learn magic and then become Trackers, Chasers, Hunters who find more and either bring them in or kill them was very interesting and managed to hook us quickly!

It is well written and strong enough to draw us into the mystery of the fast paced plot. While it didn’t manage to snag a semi-finalist place for us, this book would definitely appeal to those who enjoy a high level of wish fulfilment spice in their fantasy.

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This Week’s Semifinalist

Salt in the Wound by Benjamin Aeveryn

Our world is lost to time. Only our myths remain.

Centuries after the rain turned, civilization is a distant memory. Once rain was a symbol of hope and harvest. Now it brings only death. Shadowy rainwights form in rainfall, hunting for victims with their long teeth and claws.

Humanity survives in sheltered cities and canvas-covered towns. Travel between these patches of limited safety is rare and dangerous. It’s what Galahad lives for.

While seeking a lost cache of salt—a fortune he plans to use to build a shelter over his hometown—Galahad is betrayed by the friends he holds dearest. They leave him for dead. Unfortunately for them, he lives.

Torn between seeking justice or revenge, Galahad knows one thing for certain: that treasure is his, and he’ll do anything to reclaim it.

Quote from Adawia:

“I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Intriguing characters, captivating plot, and interesting world, but I have a few questions.”

A dystopian novel set in a rather different future version of the Cotswolds, where rain has become deadly, and while there’s some things like plastic shelters and mossy cars left, most of society seems to have devolved to mostly mediaeval style lifes.

The worldbuilding split our judges up a bit, with some being absolutely intrigued and dying to know more, while others found it a bit too vague to really settle fully into the world. We suspect the slow drizzle of info is intentional by the author, as to not bog the story down, but rather leave some enticing mysteries. However how well that worked differed a lot between us. We all definitely wished for some more questions to be answered by the end.

The main problem in this world is rainwrights, some type of mysterious monster who kill anyone outside when it rains. And we learn basically nothing about the why and how and what happened to any other place than the midlands.

There’s some reminiscing about the past, so we jump between the now and the before, and this again did work better for some of us than for others.

One thing all judges agreed on was how much we loved the diverse cast of this book. There’s not just LGBT+ characters, but also a character going through becoming disabled, another character who struggles with addiction and intrusive thoughts that make life almost impossible. We thought these were handled and written really well, which is a joy to see!

We liked how nature and the environment was a big thing in this changed world. If you get caught out by the rain, you’re dead. And you better pay close attention because all sorts of mythical creatures or monsters could also try to shorten your lifespan a lot!

We’re looking forward to learning more about it all in sequels!

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Congrats to Benjamin Aeveryn for making our Top Five! Keep checking back to see who will move onto the finals! And our finalist announcement on Monday (October 30th)!

We would like to thank all the authors for letting us read their work! We congratulate you on having the courage to enter the contest and wish you all much success in the future!

Our judges this year are Adawia Asad, Agatha Lopez, Blake Skelton, G. R. Matthews, Lana Taylor, Julia Kitvaria Sarene, Kerry Smith, Robert Max Freeman, Yaniv Rosenfeld Cohen, and Jennie Ivins (me). If you’d like to learn more about us, including our likes and dislikes, you can read about them here.

Any queries should be directed at Jennie Ivins, via DM (Facebook/Twitter).

Title image by Tengyart.

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