* 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 second semi-finalists! We will continue to announce one semi-finalist with each Four or Five to Fall, and then our second and first place winners will get full reviews at the end of the month! These upcoming semifinalists will be listed in no particular order.

Still twenty books left standing, so it seems to be high time to cull the field a bit more. As we state every time, reading is very subjective, so what didn’t work for us might be exactly what others love, so if any of these sound good to you, please look them up!

And don’t forget to read to the end to meet our next semifinalist!

Phased by Tori Tecken

According to the Department of Domestication and Assimilation, Val and Lyla Blackwood are the most dangerous kind of werewolves.

Raised in the wild, their trueblood heritage has made them little more than experiments for years. Now, their freedom depends on their ability to become as human as possible, thrown into an assimilation school with humans and werewolves who have never known what it means to be wild.

Trapped in a world where they don’t belong and fighting to stay one step ahead of the horrific past that chases them, any wrong move could send them back to those stark white cells, losing their last chance of freedom.

Two werewolf sisters who have been aggressively trained in a special facility are now trying to find their way in a human school. This had quite the promise for friction and troubles, and had us intrigued early on!

Sadly, the daily school chaos did feel all too familiar, and while we enjoyed the banter this just didn’t stand out enough for us so we had to let it go.

The Moss Dragon of Brittlekeep by Ashley Capes

When Penny stumbles across a dragon’s tooth beneath the city cemetery she unwittingly becomes a target of the Brittlekeep’s master and his dark magic.

Worse, Lord Masamor seems to know about her Fire-Hands—a magic he wants to possess.

With only her talking locket (the mysterious Bear) to rely upon, Penny tries to flee the city but when she encounters a group of rebels, she realises that Masamor is not the only one seeking her.

Faced with flight into the unknown or capture by those who will stop at nothing to harness her power, Penny must walk a perilous path to freedom.

An intriguing start had us interested, and we were looking forward to this coming of age story. The tone and voice were able to quickly draw our judges into the story and there’s a nice mystery as well as magical abilities to be discovered.

Unfortunately, it felt a bit rushed, and at times we thought there were whole chapters missing. Assumedly that’s done on purpose to speed up the pace, but for us the story had a disjointed feeling. So, while we enjoyed it overall, we’ll have to let this go.

The Castle of 1,000 Doors by Kenny Gould

King Crow isn’t having a very good day.

The Empire’s most famous athlete suddenly finds himself convicted of treason and sentenced to the Hunt, an annual event where the city’s most undesirable prisoners are sent into a dungeon filled with treasure, magic, and… bloodthirsty monsters.

Crow didn’t commit the crime, so why is he in the dungeon? Who set him up? And why—for the love of god—is his only weapon a fast-talking, sapient, electromagnetically charged potato named Spud?

This is a quick, funny, and really silly LitRPG. If you’re looking for depth, you’re definitely wrong here, but if you’re looking for some comedy and pure fun, this might be ideal! If a sentient potato with a big mouth sounds like something you’d enjoy, give this a look!

We did enjoy the banter and action a lot, and the prose was easy to follow. Sadly, the ending did not feel like an end, but rather like the story is simply cut off.

Despite being well entertained, other books worked better for us, so this is a cut.

The Hummingbird’s Tear by C. M. Kerley

“There once was a time when the world did not exist.”

In the high towers of Castle Kraner the King has chosen to hide away, leaving his kingdom undefended, open to attack from men, monsters and magic users.

His loyal son Prince Orren, despairing of his father’s willful ignorance, is doing all he can to gather the men and women he believes can help him avert the war before it starts, to save his land before it needs saving.

Brennan and his young brother Calem find themselves drawn to Kraner; as their innate powers begin to manifest. As they are woven into the mad schemes of rulers and invaders they must decide what to believe, who to trust, and how far they’re willing to go to fight an enemy they can’t see.

After an intriguing start this story seemed to turn direction, and what we thought would be a grim story turned into a long boat trip with a mysterious stranger. For us the pacing just was too slow, and there was not enough happening, so the story felt a bit bogged down by description.

With a bit more tightening up this has quite some potential, but as it is we sadly have to let it go.

– – –

This Week’s Semifinalist

Dyer Street Punk Witches by Phil Williams

Kit hung up her brass knuckles, but the shadows of her past always lingered. Now they’re back to claim her.

Kit “Fadulous” Hamley, magazine editor, activist, and former punk rocker, is a well-known loudmouth in St Alphege’s. She works tirelessly to hold local authorities to account. Some say she’s making up for her criminal youth. Others spread rumours of witchcraft. Only a handful of people know how dark her secrets really are.

When an old friend warns Kit that a former rival has resurfaced, those secrets start to resurface as well. People have gone missing, with body parts and strange symbols left behind, and someone is stalking Kit. The gang she abandoned are scared stiff and her magic-wielding bandmates are long gone. Kit herself is a target, and if she can’t unravel exactly how this new feud connects with her past mistakes, it could kill her.

Decades older, a little wiser, and contrary as ever, Kit’s going to remind them all what a punk witch can do.

Witches, magic, spells and curses, and all of it mixed with a troubled past, occult mayhem and also some gang rivalry, with no romance!

We especially enjoyed a good urban fantasy with a female lead, that is quite small scale and self-contained in the area, while still feeling like a big story.

The characters are all flawed, and there’s hidden depths to their past as well as mysteries all around. Shades of grey instead of an easy good versus evil sort of cast.

The background of being a punk, a rebel, a feminist, someone trying to change things for the better—all while not always really being that great a human herself, made Kit a fascinating protagonist to follow. Headstrong Kit and Aaron who is prone to overthinking make for an interesting dynamic.

While Kit was really well written, some of the side characters and enemies weren’t as well fleshed out and could have used a little more work. This caused some of our judges to not connect with the characters as much as they would like, while it didn’t bother others. In fact, despite it not clicking with some of us, it also was the number one pick for one of our judges.

The beauty of a big team is that even we will have to wait and see how our semis will fare compared to the others in the end!

Quote from Adawia:

“Kit is the consummate, anti-establishment hardarse who takes crap from no one. In her tireless efforts to give back to the community and make up for the sometimes tragic mistakes of her youth, she reveals secrets that have consumed her, and uncovers more that almost destroy her. And I love her—even when I wanted to shake her and force her to calm down, ask for help, and maybe just share a little.”

– – –

Congrats to Phil Williams for making our Top Five! Keep checking back to see who will move onto the finals!

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 Jennie Ivins, via DM (Facebook/Twitter).

Title image by Ksenia Makagonova.

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