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Buy Daughter of No Worlds

FORMAT/INFO: Daughter of No Worlds was traditionally published by Bramble Romance on October 14th, 2025. It is 512 pages long and available in hardcover and ebook formats.


OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Tisannah is a woman with a rare gift of magic, but that matters little when you're a slave. For years she's been nothing more than a prized possession, using her gift to make pretty illusions for her master's parties. But when betrayal ends in bloodshed, Tisannah flees for her life to the one place she's always dreamed of: the Tower of the Orders. She believes this magical organization can give her the resources she needs to return to her home and free the rest of her fellow slaves. Unfortunately before the mages will lift a finger, Tisannah needs to become a member of their Orders herself. That means completing an apprenticeship - and the only mage available is the reclusive Maxantarius, who absolutely refuses to be of any help to the Orders for reasons he won't talk about. But Tisannah's sheer determination eventually wears down those walls, exposing her own heart in the process.

Daughter of No Worlds is a perfect blend of epic fantasy and romance, a slow burn love story nestled into the heart of a tale of intrigue and politics. My favorite romances always focus on the developing relationship between two characters. I'll take enemies to friends to lovers over instalove every day of the week. Daughter of No Worlds is one of those stories.

Maxantarius (who goes by Max) is bitter, reclusive, and stubborn. Tisannah wears her heart on her sleeve and is tenacious in fighting for those she loves. Which is why she's not going to be prevented from learning magic just because her mentor Max refuses to teach her (or anyone for that matter). What follows is a butting of heads that eventually softens to begrudging respect and more. Every beat feels earned, and I am absolutely rooting for these characters.

But that's only half of Daughter of No Worlds' plot. The rest focuses on the increasing instability of the kingdom that is aligned with the Orders as war seems likely. The politics surrounding those tensions give Tisannah a unique window to bargain for the fate of her people - if she can figure out something to offer the right person. The politics of the story aren't overly deep or intricate, but there's definite power players at the table that Max and Tisannah have to deal with to achieve their goals, and I appreciated this counterbalance to the romance. This is the beginning of a saga; we'll be following Max and Tisannah across the full trilogy, and the author does a good job getting us invested in this world.

Daughter of No Worlds is definitely a top tier romantic fantasy. You can come for magic, for war, for harrowing backstories. But running through all of that is a wonderful slow burn romance that hooked me in. It's a romance of respect and partnership and I cannot wait to see where things go in the next book.

 

 

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jim Butcher is the author of the Dresden Files, the Codex Alera, and a new steampunk series, the Cinder Spires. His resume includes a laundry list of skills which were useful a couple of centuries ago, and he plays guitar quite badly. An avid gamer, he plays tabletop games in varying systems, a variety of video games on PC and console, and LARPs whenever he can make time for it. Jim currently resides mostly inside his own head, but his head can generally be found in his home town of Independence, Missouri.

Jim goes by the moniker Longshot in a number of online locales. He came by this name in the early 1990′s when he decided he would become a published author. Usually only 3 in 1000 who make such an attempt actually manage to become published; of those, only 1 in 10 make enough money to call it a living. The sale of a second series was the breakthrough that let him beat the long odds against attaining a career as a novelist.

All the same, he refuses to change his nickname.

Publisher: Ace (January 20, 2026) Page count: 463 p Formats: audiobook, ebook, hardcover 

I’ve been reading The Dresden Files for a long time now. It’s one of the very few long-running series I’ve stuck with. It’s had highs and lows, but Twelve Months shows Jim Butcher in excellent form again.

After the relentless escalation of Peace Talks and Battle Ground, this book slows down. It basically follows a year of Harry’s grief, fallout, and rebuilding.

Harry is hollowed out. Chicago is barely functioning after the Titan’s assault. Food is scarce. Infrastructure is wrecked. The supernatural world has been exposed, and fear is spreading. On top of that, Harry is juggling Thomas’s looming death sentence, training a new apprentice, navigating White Council politics (again), and preparing for an arranged marriage to Lara Raith under Mab’s orders.

The real conflict here is internal. For once, the greatest enemy in the book is grief. Harry struggles to eat. To sleep. To focus. His magic wavers because his control wavers. This is a far more introspective Dresden novel than we’re used to, and it works.

That doesn’t mean it’s dull. There are fights. There are ghouls prowling Chicago. There are political landmines, tense confrontations, and a climax that absolutely delivers. But the action feels more personal this time.

The biggest surprise for me was how well Butcher handled the relationships. Harry and Lara could easily have fallen into forced tension or cheap drama. Instead, their dynamic is layered and unexpectedly thoughtful. There’s distrust, yes, but also honesty and even vulnerability. It feels like growth.

Old allies step up too. Molly. Michael. Maggie. Even Mab, in her own severe way. The book reminds you how deep this cast is after eighteen installments.

Some readers will call this a transitional novel, and they’re not wrong. It’s a recalibration. A pause before the Outsider endgame looms closer. But it doesn’t feel like filler. After years of escalating power and misery, Butcher pulls the story back to its roots: Harry Dresden the man, not just the wizard.

For me, it might be some of the best writing in the series. More mature and more controlled. Less snark-for-snark’s-sake. The humor is still there, but it shares space with reflection and wisdom.

If the series needed a reset, this was the right way to do it.

The competition continues! This is my first year as a judge and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.

A few notes on my review process: for a semifinalist, I wanted to find a book that I'd personally rate 3.5/5 or better. To me, that rating signifies a book which has some notable flaws, but whose flaws (for whatever reason) didn't stop me from enjoying the novel. In general, a novel isn't a 3.5/5 for me unless I'm actively interested in reading a sequel. If and when I bounced off a book in the opening pages, I typically put it down for a few days before giving it another try. I didn’t set any hard rules for myself about when or if I could drop a book, except that I wanted to give every book a fair shot on its merits.

My batch (in randomly-determined reading order) included the following six books:

1. Carrion Saints by Hiyodori
2. Legacy of the Crown by Tim Wilbur
3. Let Sleeping Gods Lie by Ben Schenkmann
4. Rise of the Phoenix by Brendan Arnold
5. The Butterfly Koi by A Sherman Karlsson
6. The Sound of the Supernova by Jordan Butler

Without further ado:

The Butterfly Koi by A. Sherman Karlsson
Published October 6, 2025; 591 pages (Kindle edition)
Genre: Cyberpunk Fantasy, Alternate History

The Butterfly Koi follows six POV protagonists, most of whom are involved to greater or lesser degrees in the criminal and magical sides of the novel’s slightly-futuristic Tokyo setting. There’s Eika, a celebrity and socialite who wants to use her influence to change the world for the better; Misora, a magitech engineer with ties to organized crime; Taehyun, Misora’s celebrity boyfriend; Cameron, another magitech engineer and American expat; Hatsumi, a journalist driven to uncover certain secrets others want to keep hidden; and Kenji (far and away the most entertaining character), a low-level criminal in the Tokyo underworld.

For starters, while I do think this book is technically fantasy, it’s not traditional fantasy fare. That’s not disqualifying, but it’s something readers should know going in. Although the story revolves around magical technology, the magitech doesn’t feel particularly magical – the kind of magitech we see most often is basically a modern cell phone.

There are some real positives here: each of the six POV characters is well-realized with a distinct internal life that feels psychologically real. The prose is good, and the slightly-futuristic Tokyo setting is richly envisioned. I’ve never been to Tokyo so I can’t speak to its accuracy, but it feels like the author both knows and loves the city and wants to share that love with the reader. These strengths kept me reading and enjoying The Butterfly Koi all the way to the end.

Unfortunately, the story has some pretty severe flaws. For starters, I think the book would’ve been much better if 2-3 of the 6 POVs (all of whom exist in each others’ orbits) had been cut. Of the 6, only 1 (Kenji) got what I’d consider a completed plot arc, while 2 could be cut as POVs without any loss to the overall narrative. The author has a frustrating habit of backtracking chronologically at the end of many chapters to retell the events of the prior chapter from a second character’s POV. This slows the story’s progression and stops it from building momentum. It felt like the author only wanted to convey a person’s internal experience via present-tense first-person perspective, rather than via recollection or another character’s observations. Also, the author places several of the POV characters in opposition to magitech-related social ills (mostly related to how a minority of the population lacks the innate ability to use magitech effectively). In my opinion, the author needed to demonstrate more clearly why the reader should share the characters’ concerns.

Let Sleeping Gods Lie by Ben Schenkman
Published October 27, 2025; 268 pages (Kindle edition)
Genre: Urban Fantasy

I'd call Let Sleeping Gods Lie as an urban fantasy or paranormal mystery set in New Haven, Connecticut. The story follows adjunct anthropology professor Corbin Pierce as he digs into some mysterious magical oddities that begin popping up in town. He investigates and faces threats to the local people, the local spirits, and the local environment, all while trying to figure out what’s behind it all. The magical lore and worldbuilding place a strong focus on Native American history and culture.

There’s a lot to like about this novel. To start with, it wins my personal award for Most Unique Animal on a Fantasy Cover! I've seen dragons, wolves, lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!), but a raccoon? That's a first for me. As for the content, the story reminds me of Wildbow's serial Pale, as well as the early novels of the Dresden Files. Schenkman has a knack for infusing real-world settings with magic, making it feel like the supernatural might be hiding under our noses in real life as well as in fiction. The prose is straightforward and readable, with a nice bit of humor coming through in the narrative voice. In contrast with Butcher's Dresden (a small business owner working closely with the police), Let Sleeping Gods Lie takes a distinctly progressive perspective (activism, environmentalism, a focus on Native American heritage). I found Corbin a tad self-righteous at times, but not enough to interfere with my enjoyment of the story.

I really had only one issue with the book, but it's a big one. A mystery needs at least a little complexity to keep the reader in suspense: multiple suspects, red herrings, misdirection. Here, we don't really get that. The focus of the novel is the mystery behind the dark happenings in New Haven; it feels like the reader is supposed to be wondering who's responsible and why. But the list of potential villains is tiny, so much so that the mystery loses any suspense. The major plot moments are interesting on their own terms, but each resolves a little too quickly and neatly. I feel like this novel would've been greatly improved by another hundred pages of story — just enough to add the layer of extra complexity and misdirection the mystery needed.

Rise of the Phoenix by Brendan Arnold
Published May 24, 2025; 274 pages (Kindle edition)
Genre: High Fantasy

Rise of the Phoenix, which I’d categorize as YA high fantasy, follows Will Tavner, a teenage blacksmith’s son in the kingdom of Arulean. Arulean suffers under the rule of its tyrannical king and queen. Will and his closest friends Seb and Aylise live quiet, ordinary lives until Will begins to manifest strange symbols on his arms and strange magical powers to go with them. After which, cue the chaos.

It’s a classic fantasy novel setup. Unfortunately, I bounced off of this one a few times before putting it down at the 40% mark. Nothing here really bothered me, but nothing caught my interest either. Will and his friends felt bland as protagonists, and likewise with Arulean’s rulers as antagonists. The prose and dialogue both felt a little wooden.

Legacy of the Crown by Tim Wilbur
Published March 11, 2025; 295 pages (Kindle edition)
Genre: Coming of Age

Legacy of the Crown follows Aislynn, an immortal tired of her eternity, on a quest to end both the world and her own existence. The story is about her, the hunter Wraith she encounters by chance, the relationship they build between them, and how their quest fits into the prophecy devised by the titular undead Crown, the world’s last wizard.

This book was entertaining enough, but nothing really wowed me. The worldbuilding is what I think of as “DnD style” – many worlds, races of people, and types of magic, all of which coexist without a unifying conceptual foundation. Two of the novel’s primary settings (Wraith's village and the city of Keshet) feel a little generic. We get a broad outline of politics in Keshet and a glimpse of the city's underworld, but what about their economy, religious and cultural practices, local foods and music, style of architecture, and so on? For the setting to feel properly real instead of fantasy-standard, I think we needed more of those little details that differentiate one culture and location from another. And frankly, Aislynn’s POV isn’t nearly as bleak as it would need to be to justify her rather unheroic goal of ending the world.

My favorite parts of the book were the prologue and the chapters spent in The Beyond. Wilbur is at his best when he’s going for atmospheric eeriness, I think, since the story hits those notes quite effectively. Unfortunately, this is just a fraction of the book. Much of the story instead focuses on (1) a romance storyline and (2) a political intrigue storyline. The former didn't give me the sense of chemistry I wanted and didn't feel emotionally powerful until the In-Between. The latter crammed a book's worth of machinations into just a few chapters, so it all felt much too simple, as though major political change is just sitting there for the asking.

The Sound of The Supernova by Jordan Butler
Published July 4, 2025; 472 pages (Kindle edition)
Genre: Coming of Age

Sound of the Supernova begins in the fictional island setting of Kamini, whose people seem to live happy lives. Unusually happy, since, by virtue of the magical Nova traded to them by a foreign power, they can never get sick. In exchange for a steady supply of Nova, all they're required to trade away are some some (apparently) worthless weeds – a plot hook which intrigued me. The protagonists are three young islanders and friends: Jonah, Luca, and Amaya.

Unfortunately, I was only able to get about 10% into the story before I had to put it down for good. This book needed several more rounds of editing before publication. Each page had several grammatical errors and awkwardly-phrased sentences and the tense kept flip-flopping between past and present, which was especially jarring. I was a little sad to DNF, since it seemed like the plot was about to take some interesting turns, but the prose issues made it impossible to immerse myself in the story and I couldn’t see this book as a possible semifinalist.

Carrion Saints by Hiyodori
Published January 3, 2025; 589 pages (Kindle edition)
Genre: Dark Fantasy

I really can’t describe this story better than the author does on Goodreads: “Carrion Saints is a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance between an immortal saint and a severed head.” Now, romance isn’t my favorite subgenre, but talk about a hook! The author sets that romance in a delightfully creepy postapocalyptic setting. The world is slowly eroding into the void, human civilization is in shambles, and immortal monsters of every variety prey on the survivors. 

Enemies-to-lovers is such an easy trope to do badly. I feel like the most common approach is to base the initial opposition on a misunderstanding which the author can resolve to set up a reconciliation. That’s the easy path, which the author does not take. Instead, we’re treated to the fascinating complexity of an evolving relationship between two beings who are genuinely, fundamentally at odds. This is the most screwed-up, manipulative, psychologically twisted relationship I’ve seen since the TV show Hannibal. And it’s so well done.

The story is structured like a travelogue, which often bores me, but the author makes it work. I think it’s all the little details of the setting. Did the pasta in that village need to be shaped like a human ear? Did the tea in that other village need to be brewed from pink beetles? Of course not, but congratulations, you have my undivided attention.

The story is an extremely slow burn. It’s not always clear where the story is going, so the book demands a fair bit of trust from the reader. All I can say is that it all pays off in my favorite sort of ending: beautiful, bittersweet, and deeply existential. 

Verdict

Our next semifinalist is:

Carrion Saints, by Hiyodori!

Not only was this my favorite book of the batch, it’s one of the best books I’ve read in the past year. I doubt a sequel is in the cards, but I’m definitely going to pick up something else from this author. Congratulations to Hiyodori and my thanks to all of these authors for their submissions!

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Shen Tao immigrated to Canada at an early age, and grew up inspired by both Chinese and Western stories. She has wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember. The Poet Empress is her first book.
Publisher: Bramble (January 20, 2026 ) Page count: 393 Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback

I picked up The Poet Empress because several reviewers I trust wouldn’t stop talking about it. When that many sensible readers agree, I pay attention.
They were right. This is an excellent debut.
Wei Yin is a starving peasant girl in a famine-stricken empire. When she hears the heir to the throne is seeking concubines, she tries her chances. Not for romance or luxury, but for rice and hope for her family and village. So she volunteers to become a concubine to Prince Terren, a man known for cruelty.
The gossip wasn’t wrong. Prince Terren is indeed cruel and has little redeeming qualities. He tortures and then uses magic to heal the wounds he inflicts so he can begin again. The palace and other concubines are no better - jealousy, hate, and danger force Wei Yin to grow fast. Or she’s dead.
Wei’s plan is desperate and dangerous. She must learn to read and write in secret. She must craft a poem powerful enough to kill a prince. And to fuel that spell, she must understand him, perhaps even love him.
The Poet Empress does not flinch from abuse or violence. There are scenes that hurt and Tao doesn’t make Terren tragically misunderstood. He is monstrous despite his tragic backstory. As Wei uncovers fragments of his childhood and the fractured relationship between the princes, the story gains momentum and shows a brilliant, heart-wrenching family drama.
Wei herself is not a chosen one who is preternaturally clever. Tao never forgets that she is a peasant girl thrown into a political machine built to crush people like her. She makes mistakes, misjudges people, and learns slowly. That’s what makes her transformation so much better. The hopeful village girl doesn’t survive court life unchanged. She has to adapt and harden, and start playing the same ruthless games because the alternative is death.
For a debut, it’s remarkably assured. If this is Shen Tao’s starting point, I can’t wait to see what she does next.

 

Buy Green & Deadly Things

FORMAT/INFO: Green & Deadly Things was published on March 3rd, 2026 by Tor Books. It is 368 pages long and available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: In days of old, the Grim Lords ruled the land, nearly destroying their world with their dark necromantic powers. Although the Grim Lords have faded into legend, remnants of their magic remain, and the Idallik Knights exist to destroy that power wherever it lingers. But when a new threat faces the kingdom, novitiate Mathaiik wakes a Grim Lord in a desperate gambit to save the fortress where he trains. But waking Kaiataris reveals even more problems. This land is trapped in a cycle of raising chaos and order - and if Mathaiik and Kaiataris can't work to find a way to balance those forces, life across the continent will be wiped out.

Green & Deadly Things is a cinematic thrill ride that lacks fully developed characters to back it up. On the plus side, I can fully see the movie version of this book. There's a creepy plant enemy, an order of knights that uses elemental magic, and a whole lot of great action scenes. The author knows how to keep the plot moving, zipping you from one end of the country to the other as our heroes try to find a way to deal with the multiple threats facing the nation.

But with the snappiness of an action film comes the flimsiness of action characters. Most people you encounter along the journey are fairly flat, reduced to one or two traits. There's no real depth or history for most people outside the two main characters, and even they are fairly thin. The main villain is just out to rule the world; even with the stakes as high as the end of all life, I found myself simply not caring by the end of the book. The stakes just weren't personal enough. Even the romance felt by the numbers at best.

Green & Deadly Things is a great book for those who want a plot driven adventure. If you want to dash about a magical world from fight scene to chase sequence to fight scene, this will fit the ticket nicely. As someone who values characters over plot, I struggled a bit with this one, even though I've enjoyed the author's past works immensely. At the end of the day, this feels like a movie script adapted to book instead of the other way around, and as much as I enjoy a popcorn flick, this just didn't quite work for me as much as I'd hoped.

 

FORMAT/INFO: Enchanting the Fae Queen was published on January 27th, 2026. It is 304 pages long and available in paperback, audiobook, and ebook editions.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: For years, the chaotic Queen Lorelei has flirtatiously sparred across ballroom floors with General Gerard de Moireul, the hero leader of a rival kingdom's army. Lorelei believes that underneath the stiff exterior and strict rule-following is a man who wants to do good - he just needs Lorelei to give him a little shove. So when tensions between the two kingdoms reach a breaking point, Lorelei does the only logical thing: she kidnaps Gerard to finally seduce him away from his king. As the two get caught up in a deadly fae tournament, they realize that their opposite personalities make them a perfect match - and only together can they stop Gerard's kingdom from spreading its cruel ways across the continent.

Enchanting the Fae Queen is a solid fantasy romance bolstered by the madcap energy of its lead heroine, Queen Lorelei. She's one of my favorite character archetypes: a person of seemingly pure whimsy and chaos who secretly has a crafty plan underneath. Her unpredictability and randomness mask her true actions and goals, outwitting many of her opponents until it's too late. I absolutely loved watching her work and found her a definite highlight of the book.

General Gerard is a great foil, exceedingly polite even while adhering to his unwavering moral code. Due to some past trauma, he believes he cannot put a single toe out of line, lest he bring dishonor on his family name. It takes the whirlwind force of Lorelei to force him to confront that goodness and blindly following the rules don't go hand in hand.

Although the characters themselves are enjoyable, I thought the romance itself was simply serviceable. I find it's hard to pull an audience into a romance where the characters have already been building romantic tension before the story begins. I like watching the build-up of a relationship, but here they're already halfway in love when we meet them - they just don't realize it yet. It made the story a pleasant escape, but not a romance that swept me away.

So far the Queens of Villainy romance stories have been a delight: powerful women refusing to be "put in their place" and finding men who whole-heartedly support them on that journey. I'm definitely looking forward to the upcoming third and final installment - a sapphic story no less!

 

 

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Lord Z. B. Steele (as seen in his gracious avatar above) has deemed us worthy to take part in the cover reveal for book 2 in his debut series Song Of The Damned. Checkout the amazing cover below...


OFFICIAL BLURB: My execution draws near...
The noose beckons. My days dwindle. And still, my story is unfinished.
Tears are left to be shed. Blood has yet to be spilled. Lend me your ear once more to hear of sins and failures. Of swords and shadows. Of violet lightning and black blood.
For it was I who began the war of the gods.

The time has come to make choices. Not always comfortable, not always happy for all concerned, but such is the nature of this bloodbath competition.
FBC Judging Process

Our judging process is straightforward. Each of the five judges is assigned (randomly) six books and can select one of them as a semi-finalist. We then evaluate each other's semi-finalists and assign ratings. The book that receives the highest score is chosen as the finalist. 
Each judge determines their own approach to reading their set of six books. This year, I made sure to read a minimum of 25% of the books assigned to me. 
If you're interested, a few words about my preferences. I love genre-bending books and character-driven stories. I love good pulp fiction, too. My pet peeves include unnecessary wordiness, redundancy, and blocks of exposition (I don't care about the world or magic if you won't hook me with your voice or make me care for characters, first). 
Before I wrap things up, I want to emphasize that SPFBO's main strength and addictive nature lies in the wonderful community and process of discovering and discussing books. Submitting your book to a contest takes courage, and I applaud all of you for doing so. 
Getting involved in the community is one of the best things any self-published author can do. I encourage you all to follow the contest and engage with bloggers and other authors regardless of the outcome of this round of cuts. I hope my mini-reviews will allow potential readers to pick books that may appeal to them. 
Here is our first batch of six books (in alphabetical order). Let's take a closer look at each of them.



Amoran by Debra KoelherPublished August 28, 2025; 424 pages (Kindle edition)Genre: Romantic Fantasy, Portal Fantasy
Amoran was a nice surprise. It’s very readable from the first chapter. Kerrin Scott is juggling work, marriage, kids, deadlines, and mild existential dissatisfaction when a strange pink letter appears in her house and refuses to be either read or ignored. Soon after, a grumpy dwarf-like guardian shows up, followed by elves, vortexes, and the revelation that Kerrin is far more important to the fate of two worlds than her calendar currently allows. 
Kerrin lands on Amoran, a strange, colorful world tied to ours through an energy vortex that is slowly destabilizing. If the vortex collapses, both worlds are done. Not ideal. The complication is that Kerrin was supposed to remember who she really is, and due to an unfortunate toilet-related incident, she doesn’t. The rest of the story builds around that missing knowledge, Kerrin's training and light romantic tension. All with a touch of humor. Well, actually, more than a touch.
Humor is everywhere. Sometimes a bit too much. The jokes are good-natured, in character, and generally pleasant. They fit Kerrin’s voice and never feel out of place, but they tend to pile up. Moments often go like this: something happens, Kerrin reacts, explains why it matters, reassures herself, then cracks a joke. As a result, scenes last longer than they need to, emotions are explained, and internal monologue often repeats what the scene already showed. 
Anyway, this is clearly meant to be a feel-good portal fantasy. Stakes exist, but they’re softened by humor and reassurance. Nothing feels truly threatening, and the tension comes more from logistics and timing than from genuine unpredictability. Readers looking for a fun, comforting story with an enjoyable heroine, a warm tone, and light romantic tension will likely have a great time here. 
That’s ultimately where Amoran lands. It’s competent, comforting, and easy to sink into, but it doesn’t push hard against its genre boundaries. The tension comes more from logistics and timing than from genuine unpredictability. 
Overall, Amoran is a smooth, accessible start to a fun portal fantasy series that cares more about readability than innovation. If you like gentle humor, likable heroines, and fantastical world, you'll enjoy this one. 


A Sharper, More Lasting Pain by Alex Harvey-RivasPublished November 1, 2024; 282 pages (Kindle Edition)Genre: Dark Fantasy Horror
A Sharper, More Lasting Pain is dark, explicit, and emotionally heavy. It’s also clearly written by someone who knows what they’re doing. 
The characters carry the book. Simone is controlled and distant, while Nadia is sharp-tongued, self-destructive, and spiraling, but never written as helpless. Their relationship is intense and unhealthy, and often uncomfortable. The supporting cast (Etienne, Chantal, Luc) feels functional, not just there to fill space.
I mostly liked the writing, which is confident and effective. With one caveat - it doesn’t know when to stop. Metaphors stack up, emotions get spelled out, and scenes sometimes end past the point where they’ve made their impact. For a book this short, it drags more than it should.
Structurally, the story overpromises. The prologue hints at something bigger ( monsters, dangerous research, deeper magic), but what follows is a very narrow, character-focused story set almost entirely in one place. A dark-academia mystery teases itself into existence and then mostly refuses to develop. Many of the more interesting ideas are introduced and left untouched.
Basically, this is a tragic sapphic romance about illness, addiction, and self-destruction, and that part works. Everything around it feels underdeveloped by comparison.
Worth reading if you’re here for characters and atmosphere. Less so if you want plot momentum, mystery payoffs, or world-building that actually goes somewhere.

Empire of Ash and Blood by Matthew ThompsonPublished January 13, 2025; 433 pages (Kindle Edition)Genre: dark science-fiction dystopia
This is an ambitious, angry book. It follows Matias, a long-lived bloodman who has suffered deeply and wants you to understand exactly how and why. 
Matias is bitter, thoughtful, and shaped by loss. His relationships show how faith, violence, and love pull him in opposite directions. The plot sounds great on paper, since it contains escape, rebellion, forbidden relationships, and the looming threat of imperial power. Sometimes, it works well, sometimes it has a serious self-control problem.
The novel, you see, explains everything. Then explains it again. Then pauses to make sure you understood the moral implications. In other words, there are moments when backstory overwhelms forward motion. Whole sections feel like they exist because the author didn’t want to let them go, not because the story needed them right then. And so the book feels longer than it needs to be and heavier than it has to be. 
Still, there’s no denying the commitment here. Empire of Ash and Blood makes a serious statement about power, freedom, and who gets to define monstrosity. Whether it succeeds will depend on how much patience you have for monologues, ideology, and backstories.



Life Remains  by Niranjan K.Published September 16, 2021 ; 202 pages (Kindle Edition)Genre: Romantic Urban Fantasy
Life Remains does almost everything right, even though its portrayal of vampires is far away from what I prefer. I like vampires to be about death. These ones walk in daylight, eat normal food, run society, and spend a lot of time talking about coexistence. 
The story follows several connected threads. Mabel, whose parents were killed by vampires, is forced to live under the protection of Frederick, one of their leaders. Ken, a human hunter (and Frederick’s lover), tries to help people without starting a war. Luke and Clint are two boys caught in the middle, owned by vampires who decide their fate without asking. Secrets, latent powers, old connections, and shifting loyalties slowly push everyone toward conflict even though most of them would really prefer to avoid one.
From a craft perspective, there’s little to complain about. The book is well paced, clearly structured, and easy to read. The chapters move quickly, action scenes are clean and understandable, and the story never gets bogged down in exposition. Characterization is solid across the board. 
That said, the plot rarely surprises. The intrigue is competent but most twists are easy to see coming. If you’re waiting for a moment that genuinely changes the game, it never arrives.
Overall, Life Remains is a well-written, dark urban fantasy with vampires who are more interested in control, politics, and relationships than blood and death. To be fair, they don't experience emotions the way people do. A good pick if you want a smooth, fast read and don’t mind your vampires being civilized.



Pilgrim by Mitchell LüthiPublished October 31, 2023; 693 pages (Kindle Edition)Genre: Dark Fantasy / Horror / Medieval
As a fan of dark fantasy and cosmic horror, I was stoked to check this one out. And it delivered.
Pilgrim is set in 12th-century Jerusalem, at the tail end of the Crusades. Dietmar, a broke and grieving German knight, is hired to smuggle a holy relic back to Europe. That’s the plan, anyway. Instead, a sandstorm drops him and his companions into a nightmare road trip through lost cities, ancient gods, and places that feel fundamentally wrong.
I can't imagine the amount of research that went into it. Lüthi is clearly a scholar, and it shows. Pilgrim pulls from Christian, Islamic, Arabic, and pre-Christian traditions and smashes them together. 
The vibe is bleak. Monsters show up often, but the real horror is existential and theological. It shows faith breaking down, reality bending, and the sense that God might not be what anyone thinks He is. Any moment of safety gets erased fast and hope is in short supply by design.
That said, it’s long. Like, 700 pages long. And you feel it. The structure starts to repeat: arrive somewhere strange, encounter a horrifying mythological entity, people die horribly, survivors move on, repeat. Not every encounter feels necessary, and some conversations circle the same questions about faith and evil without really moving things forward. I liked the ideas being explored, but there were stretches where it felt like a lot of words to cover familiar ground.
The characters are interesting, but not always fully developed. Dietmar’s grief and guilt drive the story, but his motivations feel a bit muddy. Razin, on the other hand, is fantastic. Lüthi’s knowledge of Islamic philosophy really shines through him. Still, it can be frustrating that Razin, who clearly understands more than anyone, constantly withholds insight. I get that uncertainty is a theme here, but sometimes I just wanted someone to try and put the pieces together on the page and for people to communicate.
Pilgrim has issues. It’s too long. It repeats itself and drags in the middle. It could’ve been tighter. But it’s also bold, deeply researched, and unique. I’m really glad I read it, and I’ll absolutely be checking out more from Lüthi.



Reflections of Lilje Damselfly by Natalie KeldaPublished June 23, 2025; 219 pages (Kindle Edition)Genre: Romantic Fantasy
Reflections of Lilje Damselfly has a solid idea. Lilje is a water nymph suffering from a chronic illness and constant pain. Her father sends her to an Edwardian spa retreat to live among humans and, hopefully, get better. This means learning human customs, clothing (important), and social norms. Some of this is played for gentle humor, and it mostly works.
Lilje is a likable protagonist. Her illness forces her to leave her family and familiar surroundings, and that sense of loss comes through. The book takes a warm, affirming approach to disability and chronic pain, and despite the subject matter, the overall tone stays light and comforting. There’s also a sapphic romance, which develops without much melodrama (well, there's just a bit of it). This is very much a feel-good story.
Unfortunately, the execution didn’t work for me. The stakes are close to non-existent, and there’s no real urgency to the plot. Things happen, but rarely feel like they matter much. The characters are pleasant but shallow, and most of them don’t develop beyond a single defining trait. Even at just over 200 pages, the book feels over-written*. There’s a lot of description, a lot of explanation, and very little momentum.
I understand the story is, above all, about coping with disability and it can be therapeutical. With that said, I wasn't impressed by writing about disability. Lilje tells us she’s in pain. Often. But we rarely feel it through the scenes themselves. Combined with the slow pacing, this made the reading experience feel flat.
If you’re looking for an easy, cozy read with a warm take on disability, self-acceptance, and finding love despite hardship and illness, this might work for you. If you’re hoping for tension, depth, or a tighter plotting, it probably won’t.
* After checking GR reviews, I'm definitely in the minority. Most readers loved lyrical writing.
*---------------*---------------*---------------*

Verdict

The books in my batch were solid, but, being perfectly honest, only one impressed me. So, without further ado, our first semi-finalist is:

Pilgrim by Mitchell Luthi. Congratulations to Mitchell Luthi and commiserations to the fallen.

 

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Raymond St. Elmo is a programmer of artificial intelligences and virtual realities, who has no time for literary fabrications of fictitious characters and world-building. And yes, that was meant to be ironic. 

A degree in Spanish Literature gave him a love of Magic Realism. Programming gave him a job. The job introduced him to artifical intelligence and virtual realities; as close to magic as reality is likely to get outside the covers of a book. And yes, that was meant to be cynical.

The author of several first-person comic-accounts of strange quests for mysterious manuscripts, mysterious girls in cloaks whose face appears SUDDENLY IN THE FLASH OF LIGHTNING. And yes, that was meant to be dramatic.

Publisher: Raymond St. Elmo (January 18, 2026) Page count: 181 pages Formats: ebook, paperback

I'm always looking to see what Raymond St. Elmo creates next. I dig his imagination and playful turn of phrase. Goth the Wanderer is, I think, his shortest book, and it’s pretty unique.

It has a strong Alice in Wonderland vibe. Except, Goth has a long knife, a battle pack, is hard-headed, bossy, brave, and likable. She sets off on a quest to recover her stolen shoe and quickly gathers companions, forming what becomes the Questers of the Shoe. Along the way she’s joined by a conversational wolf, a ghost girl, a candle that talks (mostly in exclamations), and a Very Large Mouse, who is absolutely not a rat. At some point even the shoe thief herself joins the party, which complicates things nicely.

Because it’s short and light on stakes, Goth the Wanderer reads quickly. As expected from the author, the ideas and imagery are vivid and odd, and the tone sits comfortably in cozy-adjacent territory. Don’t expect epic consequences or world-shaking revelations. Do expect wild imagination, whimsical writing, and the pleasure of watching a bossy eleven-year-old charge boldly into the unknown. The story maintains dreamlike wonder with just a hint of menace.

While it works as a standalone, expect nods to the previous Wanderer stories. Night Creep, for example, plays an important role here. The author’s own drawings appear throughout. They're simple, slightly rough, but they suit the book perfectly.

In short, Goth the Wanderer is imaginative, odd, and fun. A bold little quest with strange companions and unlikely places led by a girl who refuses to wait for permission.

 

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Philip Fracassi is the Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Award-nominated author of the novels Don’t Let Them Get You Down, A Child Alone with Strangers, Gothic, and Boys in the Valley. His upcoming books include the novels The Third Rule of Time Travel, The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre, and Sarafina.

Publisher: Tor Nightfire (September 30, 2025) Page count: 416 Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback 

I loved this book. 

The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre is, basically, a slasher horror set in a retirement home. 

Rose DuBois is a fantastic protagonist. She’s in her late seventies, but still sharp, and tired of nonsense. She's also a little lonely, and carrying a lifetime of quiet damage she doesn’t talk about much. When residents at Autumn Springs start dying, she first mourns her friends. That's the thing with a retirement home - people die there all the time. But with deaths piling up, Rose decides to investigate.

The book is quick to read thanks to shot chapters and brisk pacing. I also enjoyed the setting. Life in Autumn Springs revolves around schedules, medications, compromises, and small social ecosystems. People know each other’s habits. They notice when someone doesn’t show up. They also know how easy it is for a death to slide by unquestioned. That tension between community closeness and institutional indifference plays an important role.

Since it's a slasher, you know there'll be violence. It's not extreme or gratuitous, but characters you'll root for will die. The violence isn’t goofy or exaggerated. It’s ugly, abrupt, and often sad. The story switches between cozy-ish mystery and slasher brutality. The investigation side, mostly driven by Rose and her friend Miller, is fun and their relationship adds warmth without tipping into sentimentality. Then the killings arrive and snap that comfort in half. The violence isn’t goofy or exaggerated. It’s ugly, abrupt, and often sad. I'll emphasize that Fracassi respects his characters too much to treat them as fodder. Most deaths sting, true, but they're well written.

The mystery holds together. You’re given enough to speculate without being led by the nose, and suspicion moves as new information comes out. The eventual reveal makes sense. There’s a light supernatural touch to it that some readers may wish were either pushed further or cut entirely. 

You’ll like this if you prefer horror character-driven and if you enjoy mysteries where character matters more than clever twists, and if the idea of a slower, observant final girl appeals to you. 

Buy The Trident and the Pearl
FORMAT/INFO: The Trident and the Pearl will be published February 24th, 2026. It is 464 pages long and available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: With a storm threatening to wipe out her people, Queen Coralys strikes a desperate bargain: she will marry the first person to step foot on her island's pier, in return for an end to the disaster. Unfortunately, the first person to arrive is not the hoped for prince from a neighboring kingdom, but a lowly, smelly fisherman. But Queen Coralys honors her word, marries the fisherman, and sails off to her new home. What she doesn't know is that her new husband is actually the god of the sea - and he believes Queen Coralys is the key to stopping a dark threat facing mortals everywhere. Unfortunately for the sea god, Queen Coralys may have obeyed her bargain, but she secretly harbors revenge in her heart against the gods themselves.

Despite a strong start and lovely prose, The Trident and the Pearl completely flounders in creating romantic tension. That's quite a big thing to stumble over, given that this book is being marketed as a romantasy. While I could believe the sea god Okeanos had fallen for Coralys, I didn't for a second believe the reverse was true at any point in the story. Any tender moments towards the end of the story struck me as false.

I will give the book credit for having some high points that made me wish I liked it more. I was really pulled into the beginning of the story, with the initial introduction of Coralys's island nation, their culture, and the bargain she strikes with the gods. I enjoyed the turn the plot took at the midpoint, and thought it was taking the story into a genuinely interesting direction. The overall atmosphere is well done, and I loved the style of writing that felt appropriate for a story about a woman caught in the machinations of gods.

But overall, the plot just felt a bit of a mess. Characters refuse to divulge information to a frustrating degree, stalling out story momentum. Other characters seem deliberately obtuse. Even allowing for the emotions at play, the sheer refusal to consider evidence that they are being lied to or manipulated made me want to scream. The last third of the book felt scattered and meandering, and I ultimately lost interest in the plot.

I really wanted to like The Trident and the Pearl, and for the first several chapters it seemed like it would hit all the right boxes. Unfortunately, the plot completely stalled and characters behaved in a way that was frustrating to watch. I sadly cannot give this book a recommend.

 

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Publisher: Page count: Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback

I loved Ling Ling Huang’s Natural Beauty and couldn’t wait to read this one too. Sadly, Immaculate Conception didn’t fully live up to my expectations.
There’s a lot here that I admired. The ideas are strong and timely; we get cloning, AI replacing artists, art as commodity, art as theft. The obsessive dynamic between the narrator, Enka, and Mathilde is fascinating. That slow burn of jealousy and the way admiration curdles into resentment, guilt, and self-loathing is incredibly well written. Huang nails that emotional ugliness. 
Enka isn't likable, nor is she relatable. She makes selfish, cruel choices and justifies them badly. But she’s believable in her pettiness and envy. She want what others have instead of building something of her own and I know people like this.
Despite my appreciation for the ideas, the book felt very detached and emotionally distant to me. I finished it, but I never truly connected to Enka, to Mathilde, or to the story as a whole. I wanted deeper character development early on, especially for Enka and Mathilde, before everything spiraled. Their bond is supposed to be intense, but I struggled to feel it.
Huang is an excellent writer, though. The art discussions are fantastic. I actually went and looked up the artworks mentioned, and that genuinely improved my experience. The performance art sections, in particular, are powerful. 
To sum it up, where Natural Beauty pulled me in immediately, this one took effort. I was also, admittedly, hoping for a bit more weirdness and a little more unhinged energy. And while I appreciated what the book was saying, I think it could’ve been shorter.
In the end, I liked it more in theory than in practice. It's smart, thoughtful novel about awe, jealousy, and artistic obsession, but it kept me at arm’s length. Despite my reservations, I’ll absolutely pick up whatever Huang writes next.

 

Buy The Red Winter
FORMAT/INFO: The Red Winter was published by Tor Books on February 24th, 2026. It is 544 pages long and available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Twenty years ago, Professor Sebastian Grave killed the Beast. At least, that's what he hoped. But when word arrives that the Beast is stalking the French countryside once more, Sebastian resigns himself to returning to Gevaudan to finish the Beast once and for all. Returning to Gevaudan means facing the ghosts of his past, but also the chance to reconnect with an estranged lover Sebastian hasn't seen in two decades. But as Sebastian draws near to his destination, he realizes the situation is far more complicated than he realizes. As Frances teeters on the brink of revolution, can he slay the Beast without plunging the country into war?

The Red Winter is a fantastic reimagining of the story of the Beast of Gevaudan, one sure to appeal to fans of European-style monster-slaying adventures. It is fantastically atmospheric and does a great job of envisioning a supernatural layer to the world, creating a version of Europe closer to The Witcher in feel than standard history. There are ghosts and small monsters alongside powerful forest spirits who can grant boons - or curses. There are immortal beings who play power games from the shadows, using humans as pawns. And at the center of it all is Sebastian Grave, a man caught up in these power games by a quirk of fate.

And it is Sebastian Grave that I wrestle with the most as I wrap my head around how I feel about this book as a whole. On the one hand, Sebastian is your classic grizzled monster hunter character, one who is exceedingly good at his job and does it all with the wry weariness of someone who has seen humans be idiots far too many times in his life. But he is also morally gray, someone who proves that just because you hunt monsters, you aren't automatically a good person.

Sebastian is driven by a quest for power and by complicated feelings for a man he, despite everything, still loves. But as the book came to a close, I struggled with whether this was enough to make me interested in the character's fate. Sebastian wants power...and then what? Does anything else drive this man? There are moments in the book that raise this very question and suggest the purposelessness is part of the struggle of the character...but towards the end I found myself not quite caring.

I will also admit that I occasionally found it easy to get muddled over what events happened in which timeline. Large parts of the book take place in the same area with some of the same characters, just twenty years apart. Unlike a visual medium like film, I didn't have a constant reminder that a character has visibly aged and therefore we're in 1785, not 1765, or vice versa. It's a small note, one that is admittedly more of a personal problem, but it happened often enough I wanted to mention it.

The Red Winter is a well-crafted dark fantasy tale. Although I'm not sure how I feel about lead character Sebastian Grave, the fact that I'm still thinking about him weeks after finishing the book is a testament to how much this story got inside my head.