What is SPFBO 9?  This is  a competition where authors of self-published fantasy can enter their work. The objective to find a winner out of the 300 entries submitted.  Ten judges (or judging teams) each receive 30 entrants.  Each judge/team will eventually submit one finalist to the second round where a winner will eventually be decided upon. Check out Mark Lawrence’s post here to look at this year’s entrants, judges and allocations list.

My introduction post can be found here and also the Critiquing Chemist recently posted their first elimination post.  I posted my first ‘cuts’ last week.   My second elimination post can be found here.

This week I will be aiming to post a review a day (7 in total) followed by the announcement of my Semi-Finalists.

These reviews are in no particular order and have been randomly selected.

My second review is for Dark Innocence by PJ Alexander.

This is a book that I was very curious about as other reviewers mentioned it has Wizard of Oz vibes.

As the book begins we meet Liylah, living in hiding in a basement along with her sister Rorah, her best friend, and her boyfriend.  We soon learn that civil war has taken place leaving many casualties, the quaint village that the girls and their friends came from has been destroyed and they’ve been left orphans after the death of their parents.  Liylah has become responsible for her sister and seems to take on the burden of leaving the hideout to search for supplies for the others.  The sisters have a difficult relationship and after an argument Liylah leaves the basement.  She’s heard of dark magic and has decided to investigate. Unfortunately, her search leads her to a warehouse that is raided by security forces and during her arrest a strange magic transports Liylah to another place known as Sojor.

Regrettably, Sojor is also in the throes of unrest, dark forces are rising and nowhere feels really safe.  Liylah must make her way to the mountains so that the mystics who live there can help her get back home.

So, you can see the Wizard of Oz references.  An unhappy young woman (Dororthy), wishes to be anywhere else (apart from Kansas) and finds herself in an unfamiliar and strange new world that she must travel across (Oz), gaining companions (Scarecrow, Tin man, Lion) along the way, surviving dangerous situations and hopefully returning home with the help of magical beings (the Wizard).  And, whilst she isn’t accompanied by Toto she does have a soft plush dog that she carries with her constantly.  Also, something is following her, it wants what she carries (the Wicked Witch of the West and the ruby slippers).  There are other references sprinkled in but those are the main elements.

This isn’t a retelling of the Wizard of Oz though so much as a homage with nods sprinkled here and there.

There are two settings. The place that Liylah originated from.  This is a contemporary setting, there are buses, coffee shops, mobile phones, etc.  Civil war has taken place and strict control is maintained by harsh security forces.  Sojor on the other hand has magical creatures, horses that communicate telepathically, blood hounds that are under the control of a malevolent shadow person, violet mist, etc,  On the face of it the two places are very different but scratch the surface and their troubles are very similar.

I did have certain issues with Dark Innocence.  I didn’t really connect with Liylah which is a shame because she’s the central character. I found the relationship she had with her sister, for example, a little affected, they bickered but there was no real substance if you follow me.  The other issue that I had was you really have to go with the flow with this book.  For example, why was there a civil war?  Why does the modern world have dark magic?  It felt like things were thrown in and left very vague but I think that’s the nature of this type of story.  I also did have a pacing issue during the middle of the story, I think things could have been tightened.

Fundamentally, this is a story about family and friends.  Liylah is on a voyage of self discovery by the end of which she recognises many home truths that she couldn’t see until she’d undergone the journey.  I think this would appeal to a YA audience, particularly given the close character spotlight and the age of the MC.

I received a copy courtesy of the author for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

Here’s my first review for Of Thieves and Shadows (The Heart of Quinaria #1) by BSH Garcia.