#SPFBO : My Third Batch of Books
2 August 2020
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Andrew Marc Rowe, Jacob's War, James Alderdice, Jordan J Scavone, Mark Hood, My Third Batch of Books, Night Warrior, Patrick LeClerc, SPFBO, Spitting Image, The Hammer of the Gods, The Story of Evil, The Usurper, Tony Johnson
The 1st of June marked the start of the sixth Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (details here.) My Introductory post is here. You can find my first batch of books here and my update here, and my second batch of books and update here and here.
As with previous years I’m hoping to read a batch of books each month. I will read at least 30% and hopefully will choose one or two books from each batch to roll forward and read fully and review before choosing semi finalists and a finalist. My book list is chosen randomly and the six books I will be reading this month are outlined below:
Spitting Image by Patrick LeClerc
Immortal Sean Danet can heal others with a touch. Over centuries he’s learned it’s safer to hide in plain sight, moving and changing his identity often, but finally, after too long as a rootless vagabond, he’s found a place he belongs. Friends he can trust and the love of an intelligent, beautiful woman. The life he dreamed of and never expected to attain.
When a sinister new adversary targets him for his abilities this tranquil existence is overturned––he finds himself unable to trust those closest to him, unable to trust what he sees. Can he untangle the mystery and outwit his latest foes? Or is his only hope of safety to return to a bleak and lonely fugitive existence?
Spitting Image is a tense, twisting, face-paced adventure which finds Sean confronting both deadly enemies and the consequences of his decisions as he chooses once and for all what is worth defending.
Website:
The Usurper (Brutal Saga #0.50) by James Alderdice
When a tyrant wears the crown, a hero must become an Usurper…
The Fates weave a tapestry of life and death for young Gathelaus the Sellsword. Now an unexpected opportunity presents itself for the famed mercenary, he has but to claim the blood red crown…
But once you wear the crown, how long can you hold it until that power is turned against you? Follow Gathelaus on a journey through a life of magic, action and intrigue; battling gods and monsters across a mystic realm …
The Usurper is an action-packed heroic adventure in the vein of classic pulp fiction and heroic fantasy. If you like Conan the Barbarian, The Witcher and Logen Ninefingers along with vengeful sorcery, savage duels, larger-than-life characters, and witty humor, then you’ll love James Alderdice’s barbaric tale.
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Night Warrior by Jordan J. Scavone
When a bolt of lightning strikes seventeen-year-old Viranda’s home during a severe thunderstorm, she awakens, dazed, to find a strange blood-covered man sitting calmly on her bed. This man claims to be Cillian Balor, The Night Warrior, the same character Viranda herself had created in her novel. Cillian believes Viranda to be the Goddess of Fate from his homeworld of Lingard. However, Viranda claims there is no Goddess of Fate in Lingard; she should know, she did create it after all. When other characters from her book begin to appear in her world, Viranda fears what would happen if the likes of Finn Razorclaw, a deadly werewolf and the arch-rival of Cillian, or the feared witches of The Black Cat Clan arrived as well. With the help of her best friend Bee, and a protection gnome named Mo, Viranda and Cillian must discover the secret to Cillian’s existence and prevent catastrophic damage by powerful supernatural beings.
Jacob’s War by Mark Hood
Meet Jacob Williams.
A survivor of the First World War, forever changed by his experience. Now he’s facing down the terrors that conflict unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.
Weak spots have always existed between our world and that of the Fae; stone circles help to keep the most dangerous sealed shut. But now Stonehenge is failing…
It falls to the members of the Fae Defence Society to repair the ancient monument, protect humanity from the terrors it holds back and prevent another disastrous war.
Jacob and his wartime comrade Harry are on the front lines in a supernatural battle which threatens everything.
Website: https://www.thefairieswantmedead.com/
The Hammer Of The Gods: So You Want To Be A Star (The Druid Trilogy #1) by Andrew Marc Rowe
Pitted against a perverse pantheon of warring deities, Gudleik Sigbjornsson and Rosmerta O’Ceallaigh are two dreamers living worlds apart, hoping to create a better life for themselves by following their dreams. It won’t be easy: Gudleik’s soul is the battleground between two gods of Asgard. And Rosmerta is supposed to do as her parents have done: offer her life to the service of an ancient Celtic fertility god. But the gods are only half of it… the biggest foes the two will face are to be found within their own minds.
Can Gudleik overcome the ugly blessing of a trickster god and prevent Ragnarok? Will Rosmerta find the courage to forge a new path? Will there be a whole load of dirty jokes and comments on the human condition?
Yes, yes, there will be… to that one, the third question.
Also, check dis out: there is a bunch about Merlyn and King Arthur of Camelot, a Goblin King, an ancient fell jellyfish god, encroaching Christian zealots, characters whose proclivities are too crude to mention here, because, well, gotta make the advertising copy pop, you know?
An epic fantasy comedy as blue as the cover art, get your copy of The Hammer Of The Gods today!
Website:http://www.andrewmarcrowe.com/
The Story of Evil – A Hero’s Downfall (#1) by Tony Johnson
During an entertaining jousting tournament, a mysterious villain attacks the capital with his army. Because of this disastrous event, Stephen Brightflame, a nineteen-year-old who aspires to become a knight, embarks on a quest to save the kingdom from further destruction. He joins up with a convicted felon, an arrogant warrior, and a Halfling woman, but quickly learns their pasts are just as dark and disturbing as his own. Experience the first book in an epic fantasy trilogy that’s been called, “fascinating and captivating” featuring “well-rounded, enjoyable characters, intense action scenes, and riveting twists”
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Once again, good luck to everyone. If you’d like to visit my blog for a guest post, excerpt, etc, then leave me a note in the comments.
Books and travelling with Lynn 
Looks like quite a wide range of books this month. Good luck and I hope you enjoy them😁
I hope so too 😀
Good luck, Lynn! I hope you enjoy this batch! 😀
Me too 😀
The Usurper probably intrigues me the most from the descriptions posted, but good luck to all the books and authors of batch 3!
Yes, that one does sound intriguing.
Lynn 😀
Looks like another interesting batch, Lynn! Good luck with these and I hope you get some good reads out of it. 🙂
That’s what I hope too. 😀
Good luck and happy reading with this 3rd batch, Lynne… or maybe not too happy reading, because otherwise you’ll never be able to cut any books! 😅
Haha – yes, when I like a few at the same time it is very difficult.
Lynn 😀
[…] and my second batch of books and update here and here. I’ve now read and updated my third batch of books and also provided an update and today I will be outlining the fourth set of books that I […]
It’s lovely to see such a range of sub-genres within this batch – one of the reasons why Fantasy is so very popular:)). Good luck with the read-throughs, Lynn!
[…] of books here and my update here,,my second batch of books and update here and here and my third batch of books plus update. Today I will be providing feedback on my fourth batch of […]