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.

Today I was originally planning to post my next round of cuts.  However, I realised that the seven remaining titles are books that I read fully, and I also recalled that I undertook to provide a full review for all the books that I read fully.  Therefore, today I shall be reviewing the first of those seven books and, all going to plan, I hope to review a book per day this forthcoming week followed by an announcement about my Semi Finalists next Saturday.

My apologies to the remaining authors, I’m sure this will be frustrating as I originally anticipated my announcement in this post – but, I figure writing the reviews after the announcement doesn’t make as much sense.

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

My first review is for Of Thieves and Shadows (The Heart of Quinaria #1) by BSH Garcia..

Of Thieves and Shadows is a very promising start to a series filled with wonderful world building and a fine cast of characters.  This is epic fantasy indeed and lovers of multiple point of views and settings that step away from western society with castles and the like, not to mention the inclusion of multiple species, prepare to be happy.

The world here is well thought out.  Quinaria is a world poised on the brink of war.  The tentative peace is beginning to crumble, the catalyst, the dwindling supply of Nevethium, a renewable source of energy that also promotes health and well being – basically, one of the nations is over using the supply and promoting war in a bid to take over areas where the supply remains  – okay, that’s a very ‘in a nutshell’ motivation, there are politics in play here plus greed and the lust for immortality.  The nations all feel unique with different cultures and ways.  Elaysia’s people, for example live in a complicated network of homes based atop the trees and traversed by bridges, ramps and ladders.  Clearly, much thought has been given to the world and the author very thoughtfully includes maps and other material which is a definite bonus.

As the story begins (following a rather dark prologue) we meet first Konor and then Elaysia.   Konor is Nyrian, a long lived race (I think he was around 500 years old).  Konor is an advisor to Elaysia, the next, and reluctant, heir of Netharem.  Elaysia’s parents and brother have all died and Elaysia feels unprepared for the role now being thrust upon her.  Two of Elaysia’s close friends are also POVs, a young man called Zavik, who has lived with her tribe since his own was eliminated.  Zavik has romantic inclinations towards Elaysia although he keeps his feelings hidden and strives to be helpful always.  Jakki, also has romantic notions towards her best friend, although again, she keeps these in check and strives to be a strong and confident warrior. Our final two characters are Lumira, a tough nut thief who is given a second chance and a soldier of Az zar, sent by the All Sovereign on an underhand mission.

The story becomes a mission of sorts. Elaysia is visited by a Goddess who tries to guide her.  She searches for long lost storm bird eggs and missing scrolls.  Of course, at the same time, Az Zar set their sights on the same prizes.  Underneath all this there is darkness stirring.  And, on top of this, not everyone is to be trusted.

This is an easy to read story, the writing is confident and there is plenty to pique the interest.

I did have a couple of minor issues.  Obviously with a book of this nature with epic scope and multiple POVs it takes some time for the initial set up and in that respect I think in this instance the page count could have been increased to give more depth.  And, I sometimes found myself incredibly frustrated with Elaysia. Okay, I appreciate that she’s young, she’s taking a role that she never expected and she has lost her parents and brother, but, some of her decisions were so difficult to comprehend.

Small issues aside I had no problem with this one, there are plenty of characters so it’s more than likely that readers will have their favourites and I feel like the characters will have plenty more opportunity to grow as the series progresses.

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