I’m currently taking part in the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off – details of which are here.  I’m going to write a few updates as I go along regarding the books I’ve so far attempted.  Some of the books just simply won’t be my cup of tea but I’m going to give a short write up for those because they may work for others and try and make sense of why they didn’t work out for me. Some I might not finish  Some I might finish but won’t necessarily be carrying them foward.  There are 27 books on my list, I won’t be fully reviewing all of them but I want to be fair to the books and the authors so will give some kind of synopsis plus links to the books and, if it was a book that didn’t work for me, try and outline briefly why not.

Books read so far:

1. Amanda McCrina – His Own Good Sword – review here
2. Wayne Miller – The Dung Ball Chronicle – DNF
3. Steve Thomas – Klondaeg the Monster Hunter
4. Jack Kerr – Tommy Black and the Staff of Light – DNF
5. T.C Pearce – Into the Aether – DNF
6. Kal S Davian – Naming the Bane

His Own Good Sword by Amanda McCrina – This was my first read and a good start.  My review is above.

The Dung Ball Chronicle by Wayne Miller 

Unfortunately I didn’t finish this particular story.  It’s an unusual tale and I’ve cut and paste part of the description from Goodreads: ‘The narrator is John Densch, a frustrated husband, father and low-level technocrat who starts the whole ball rolling with a joke about a “bog monster.” We meet his wife, Doreen, who wants so badly for John to move beyond the imaginary ensnaring him, but finds that everything comes with a price; Bollum, a voice in young John’s head that told him tales of alien abduction and of a technological utopia for humanity, albeit one with an expiration date; and Derek, an abductee trapped on Bug World, at first a character in Bollum’s tales, but in time an alternate existence for John.’

As I said this was an unusual story.  Unfortunately it just didn’t quite work for me, it could be a mood thing on my part but I was simply unable to become absorbed in the story and I was doing that thing where, when you’re not really loving your current read, you become really ambivalent about picking the book back up.  I must admit I don’t like giving up on a story but sometimes you simply have to acknowledge that the book isn’t working for you and that was the case here.  I probably read about a quarter of the story.

Klondaeg the Monster Hunter by Steve Thomas

Klondaeg is a dwarf with revenge on his mind.  When he was a young dwarf his parents were killed by a monster and now he wants to rid the world of all other monsters.  He carries with him a split personality, talking axe called King’s Rest.  In case you were in doubt this is a bit of a tongue in cheek collection of short adventures starring Klondaeg.  Klondaeg flits about from one mini adventure to the next killing all manner of monsters along the way.  He ends up with a strange collection of characters joining him on his travels as he tries to uncover the monster that killed his mother and father and even visits with a God in an attempt to reverse a prophecy.

This was okay and I did complete the book – I’m not going to say I loved it or that I had no issues but it was a lighthearted story with the emphasis more on fun.  If you want to scrutinise the finer detail or are looking for something a bit deeper or with more character development then this probably isn’t for you but if you want a tongue in cheek, fun adventure with a bit of a madcap character then you may like this one.

Tommy Black and the Staff of Light by Jack Kerr

I would describe Tommy Black as a coming of age story – probably aimed at middle graders.  Tommy travels through a number of adventures whilst coming to terms with the existence of magic and his own inheritance in that respect.  Tommy has lived in ignorance of magic, protected by his grandfather.  At the start of the story he’s about to have his eyes opened and from there things are going to become very strange very fast.  Whilst I didn’t actually finish this I will say it shows quite a lot of promise.  I don’t think I’m really the target audience and therefore for me personally I found myself with a few niggles – I read almost half so there’s always the possibility that these could have been all wrapped up by the conclusion but like I said I don’t think I’m really the target audience for this one.  I think my main issue here was that we have Tommy – and then we have people with knowledge that they could pass to him but instead of doing so there was a sort of ‘we need to talk’ statement – usually followed by ‘after you’ve slept/I’ve slept, we’ve eaten’, etc, If that was me – no, you’d be having that talk now.  Like I say, that’s just me, and doubtless that would have been cleared up later in the story but, it wasn’t as though the ‘talks’ were being delayed because everyone was running for their lives, that would be fair enough but to constantly put things off when there seems to be plenty of time to discuss them just feels a bit like a clunky plot device because the author doesn’t yet want to relate those things to the readers – like I said, above – not really aimed at me so my niggles may be unfounded and as I said this shows a lot of promise.

Into the Aether by T.C Pearce 

This is an original storyline that brings together quite a few different elements.  We start with a young girl who can walk into and out of people’s dreams.  We meet a man on a plane who seems to be of interest to more than one different party and finds himself being almost abducted by something that is a bit demonic and we meet another woman who seems to have premonitions of future events.  There’s a lot to tie together with a strange world living hidden alongside our own.

I got off to a good start with this but then ultimately found myself struggling a little – I’ve read just under 50% so I do think I’ve given it a good shot.  I don’t dislike it and in fact may read on just to satisfy my curiosity but I’m finding myself irritated with certain things and they’re just giving me a mental block.  For now, I’ve put it to one side just simply because of the issues that I was finding irritating but I may pick it back up and give it a little more time.  This certainly isn’t a badly written story and it has a fairly original (to me) concept.  I think my main issue is the way that some of the people act which doesn’t always come across as believable but simply convenient for the plot – Lara’s mother is a prime example of this although I sometimes feel that the parents in YA books can often be a bit unreal.  Again, as with the Jack Kerr book above I don’t really think I’m the target audience here so my irritation could be simply that. Like I said I might pick this up later on in the challenge just to see how it finishes and if I do so I will give it a fuller review.

Naming the Bane by Kal S Davian

Daggis is a man cursed from birth and, in a world where the Goddess hunts and kills those that are cursed, his life hasn’t been easy.  At the start of the story Daggis is travelling with his wife and daughter as part of a caravan with other cursed and misfits.  Their life is one of constant movement evading capture until the army finally catches up with them and all hell breaks loose.

I quite enjoyed this and think it shows a lot of promise.  I did have issues with it but I completed it quite easily in one sitting.  However, this is only an excerpt from the world created by Davlan and as such I found myself not satisfied!  I think personally I would prefer to have read a larger instalment where I can get a proper feel for the characters and world and make a more balanced judgement.  As it is we only see a small snippet and whilst things are alluded to they’re not really cleared up here.  I do think this is an interesting world and I’m curious to know what these curses are exactly.  There’s plenty of action and no lack of imagination.  In terms of criticisms I think this could have been strengthened.  There were certain scenes that were too quickly brushed over where I wanted to feel a bit more emotion.  As it is, I thought this was a good introduction to the world – I just wanted to feel more for the characters and didn’t really have a chance to make that connection.

I can’t say I enjoy eliminating books from this challenge but at the end of the day there can be only one.

This is a recap of my progress on the SPFBO for March.  I would like to thank all the authors for allowing me the opportunity to review their books.