After much deliberation we have come to our picks for our Round One semi-finalists! This year was tricky, because each judge picked a different book as their overall favorite, meaning our second place book is actually two books! This is a review for one, you can find the review for the other here.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can learn more about the contest here.
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Seasons of Albadone by Élan Marché and Christopher Warman
Four seasons.
Four stories.
An aspiring enchantress searching for a way to lift a terrible curse.
A drunken father makes a dangerous wish.
A foreman tilting the balance between nature and progress.
A mother traveling with her dying child in search of a healer.
Four paths merge.
Four destinies intertwine.
Below are some selected thoughts from our judges on Seasons of Albadone.
Jennie Ivins
This story surprised me. I expected it to revolve around a typical group of fantasy characters, living in a typical fantasy forest, facing some sort of outside evil. But the evil in this story comes from within the village and from the people themselves. The magic in the story leans in the direction of fairy tales, but the paths the story takes fall into the realm of grimdark, harkening back to a time when fairy tales didn’t usually have happy endings and were intended to keep children inside after dark rather than lulling them to sleep. Fantastic twists and great writing make this book a must read for any lovers of the old stories where the forest was to be both respected, and feared.
Kartik Narayanan
This short book with four stories linked together, has memorable characters, excellent writing and imaginative worldbuilding. The style is reminiscent of Patrick Benedict i.e. an adult fairy tale with dark and realistic themes and outcomes.
Kerry Smith
I absolutely loved the setting of this book and it contained lots of little twists that were extremely enjoyable. I loved how each season was connected through different characters and though this is a fantasy setting it highlights the destruction man has made upon nature all in the name of greed. The forces coming back to protect the age old forest show there will be protectors, and though Blighted and changed, nature may hopefully win.
Lynn K.
Presented in four seasons, are four entwined tales that introduce a main thread pulling them together. Each story represents a facet of the key elements that threaten the destruction of Albadone and its people. Dark creatures, the guardians of the blood of the land, are returning to protect it from the hubris of mankind. An entertaining tale with a dark tone that is quite thought provoking.
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Congratulations to Élan Marché and Christopher Warman for making it second place in our semi-finalists for this year’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off! If you are fantasy fan and love dark stories and fairy tale magic, Seasons of Albadone is well worth the read and we highly encourage you all to check it out!
Our judges this year are A. A. Freeman, Julia Kitvaria Sarene, Kartik Narayanan, Kerry Smith, Lynn K., 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 me, Jennie Ivins, via DM (Facebook/Twitter).
Title image by PublicDomainPictures.
Julia Kitvaria Sarene