300 books           10 Judges            1 winner

The 1st of June marked the start of the sixth Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (details here.)  My Introductory post is here.  Stage 1 is now complete and the finalists can be found here .

During Stage 2 I will read, review and score the remaining 9 finalists as will the other judges until a winner is revealed.  As with previous years I have given each of the 9 books a number and randomly selected a reading order.  Today’s post is to highlight the fourth book I will be reading and provide information regarding that particular finalist.  The first finalist I read was Shadow of a Dead God by Patrick Samphire.  This was a great start to the finals and my review can be found here.  My second book was The Fall of Erlon by Robert H Fleming which I posted my review here.  My third book was Shaun Paul Steven’s Nether Light, my review for which can be found here.  Today’s post is to highlight the fourth book I will be picking up.

My fourth finalist will be :

Darkness Forged (Legends of the Ragnarok Era #1) by Matt Larkin is the finalist selected this year by Kitty G.  Kitty’s review can be found here and below is the description and author details:

Vengeance is Wrought. Darkness is Forged.

The greatest crafts on Midgard come from the dvergar realm of Nidavellir. Volund, a gifted smith and once apprentice to the dvergar, escaped their dark realm to find solace in the arms of a valkyrie.

Nine years of respite.

And then she was gone.

Volund will do anything to get her back. But his reputation precedes him, and a cruel king knows the weapons Volund forges can win his wars. Imprisoned in the king’s forge, Volund’s only hope to escape is to find his wife. If he can’t, more than the forge’s darkness will overtake him.

Author:

Matt was born and raised in Virginia, and graduated from the College of William and Mary there. His lifelong love of fantasy began with The Hobbit. This led him to start writing his own stories at a young age. His primary influences are mythology and history. He now lives in Florida with his wife.

Find out more at https://www.mattlarkinbooks.com