#SPFBO Finalists: My first book
6 January 2018
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Alex Perry, SPFBO '17, The War of Undoing
Below is a round up of the ten finalists that have been put forward in this year’s SPFBO (Self Published Fantasy Blog Off). A link with more information about the competition can be found here.
I’m really looking forward to reading these and if previous years are anything to go by I would suggest you pick yourselves up copies too.
My first book, chosen randomly will be The War of Undoing. This book was put forward by Pornokitsch and their review, which has certainly piqued my interest, is here – a little more about the book below:
The War of Undoing by Alex Perry
‘My name is Tay Raining, and this is my brother Ellstone. I wonder if you’ve heard of us … I have a birthmark shaped like a question mark on my hand, I think it might mean something but I’m not sure what. My brother is probably important too, though I can’t imagine how. I’m rambling now, sorry. The point is … the point is, we are the Rainings, and we’re here to save you.’
War is brewing in Kyland, as the shadowy, spell-weaving vumas rebel against the human government, but both sides have secret weapons at their disposal. The humans’ secret weapon: a plan that could be the undoing of the world. The vumas’ secret weapon: three young humans abandoned in the smog-shrouded town of Tarot – Tay, Ellstone and Miller Raining. The Rainings could be the key to winning the war, but first they’ll need to work out whose side they are really on…
The War of Undoing is the first book in the Kyland Falls fantasy series, and is Alex Perry’s debut novel.
Books and travelling with Lynn 
That must be difficult to choose only one :O I will add it to my wishlist, I bought Devil’s Night Dawning after Kaitlin rave review so I am nos suprised she chose it at her first pick! ^^
Hi – just to be clear (because I probably wasn’t very clear) this is my first book – I will be reading all nine books (the tenth being my own finalist) – the idea is that we (the ten judges) all read the other nine books and score them out of ten and hopefully an overall favourite will emerge during the process. So, yeah, this is just my first book out of the nine. Hopefully, I’ll be reading a book every two weeks or so and posting my reviews.
Lynn 😀
Oh okay, I thought it was your first choice xD I will be looking forward to the other reviews then!
Wow, how much time do you have to read these? It seems like a daunting prospect. But I’m so curious to see who comes out on top!
Thankfully the contest is over 12 months and for the finalises we have six months left. So it’s not too intense really.
Lynn 😀
Intriguing! I love a good mysterious birthmark or scar, it usually means there’s some sort of prophecy involved. And I’m loving the cover for Where Loyalties Lie!
I’m hoping for good things from these finalists. Last year there were some excellent books.
Lynn 😀
I hope you enjoy them! I will be following along to hear your thoughts. 🙂
I have my fingers crossed. Last year there were plenty of great reads so hopefully..
This sounds interesting: I can’t wait to hear what you think of this one.
Happy reading! 🙂
I’m looking forward to all these finalists. I’ve heard some very good things.
Lynn 😀
Looking forward to your thoughts on this and the remaining books. Good luck with this stage of the competition. 🙂
Thanks 😀
This one looks really interesting and I hope you enjoy it – this is quite a prospect!
It is – and thanks 😀
These ten seem like a great demonstration of the importance of a publisher in shaping the presentation of a book for sale. Because other than maybe “Devil’s Night Dawning” (the name is a seemingly meaningless tongue-twister, but the cover’s pretty and the whole thing seems vague enough that I’m not sure what it’s going to be like), every one of those has something in the title or the cover that would stop me from buying it. Some of them get one thing right (“The War of Undoing” isn’t a bad title, even if it is a bit too homage-y; “Where Loyalties Lie” has a pretty painting on its cover), but overall… nope. That’s no criticism of the books, per se, but it shows how mistakes at this seemingly trivial level can undermine anything good between the covers. And a bunch of these I’m sure wouldn’t have gotten through a professional marketing department.
Of course, some published novels have terrible covers or titles too…
True. I wasn’t fond of the cover for the book that I put forward but thankfully the content was very good.
Lynn 😀
This is the first time I’ve seen the list of ten finalists. What an interesting collection, I’m looking forward to your thoughts on them! The only one I’ve read is Where Loyalties Lie – I had a feeling that one was going to make it to the final round! I think you’ll like that one, it’s grimdark on the high seas with pirates 😀
Excellent – can’t wait.
Lynn 😀
[…] ‘must read‘ books from last year and also written a post about the next stage of the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off competition. So, not too much on the reading front but I’ve been catching up from a very lazy blogging […]
A really interesting bunch of titles – I look forward to hearing what you think of them. 🙂
I’m excited to pick them up – last year was so good.
Lynn 😀
I’m really interested in following your reviews about the finalists. I’m currently reading Sufficiently Advanced Magic and really enjoying it, (I’m about 60% in) as Mogsy said, there is a good chance you might enjoy Where Loyalties Lie – James from FBR x
Thanks James. Yeah, I’m really excited about the finalists. I’m hoping for some good reads. I’ll be following your reviews too 😀