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 an announcement of my Semi-Finalists.

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

My fourth review is for The First and Last Demon by Hiyodori

This is going to be an odd type of review for me because I’d like to share with you as little as possible about the actual story.  I found this such a unique read, the writing is good, the author pulls you in immediately and provokes a strong interest in finding out more and I think I’ve only read a few books that manage to successfully bring together so many different elements and defy pigeon-holing.

So, what exactly can I tell you without actually telling you anything.  The basics.

As we begin the story we immediately meet our main character Char. Char has been awakened from a form of magically induced statis. Her only companion seems to be Vesper, a demon that she shares a magical bond with. .Char and Vesper together are what you might call a force of nature.  A living weapon and the hero of Jace.  The two are rolled out (if you will) whenever their nation is under threat (the demon can wield incredible power and Char is her human host (or I liked to think of her as a gateway and tether).  In between times they sleep.  In this way, Char is granted long life, the bond to the demon provides her with a certain level of protection and slows the aging process and the enforced sleep means she spends years at a time in enforced slumber, timeless.  Therefore although Char has been alive for centuries she’s probably about 20 years of age. The two find themselves in Glorybower City.  It’s different from how they remember and not just by way of the usual changes a city experiences.  The place is abandoned, nature is taking back control, strange creatures lurk and a protective bubble seems to encase the centre of the city, nothing comes in and nothing goes out.  On top of this, Char’s memory is a thing in tatters.  She rarely remembers past events beyond a brief spattering of who and where she is.  On the flip side Vesper does remember everything, and lets just say she’s in a bad mood.  A very bad mood and, of course, Char hasn’t the faintest notion why.  And Vesper isn’t interested in sharing what the latest mission is or why she’s so furious.

A complicated conundrum, you’re not quite sure what’s going on because the MC isn’t quite sure what’s going on and you are absolutely compelled to keep reading.

In terms of characters, this may be one of the smallest casts that I’ve read, Predominantly, and for a large portion of the book we deal with Vesper and Char. Two further characters join the fun and games (Wist and Clem) they come from a part of the world that would normally make them the natural enemies of Char and Vesper.  The two are very confident, sometimes helpful, sometimes watchful in a way that reminds you of a cat watching a mouse. One of these characters has powerful magic – you’re never quite sure if they are adversaries or friends.  They almost come across as guides – pulling or pushing their agenda.

You could almost liken this to a locked room mystery because the scope of the story remains fairly small being contained to a small portion of the city.  The small cast of characters also plays into this, it feels intimate and at the same time unreliable.  And there’s the mystery of why Char and Vesper have been awakened, and why the city is in such a state.

I liked the writing. The author treds this fine line where you’re on the cusp of thinking where could this possibly be going next, and then things get shaken up, you’re maybe thinking can these two characters carry the whole story and then, what do you know, like a mind reader the author introduces a couple of unexpected characters that really test the boundaries.

Magic, demons, contemporary setting, elements of sci fi (this is a modern world after all), a run down abandoned city, a small cast of characters, moments of absolute horror and a twisted ending that left me shocked.  Is grim-gothic a thing?  Oh, an a slow burn romance.  Did I miss anything?  Oh yes, that title *cue a round of applause*.

This is a book that took me by surprise and effortlessly held my attention.

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.

Here’s my second review for Dark Innocence by PJ Alexander

Here’s my third review for The Bone Spear by Alexander Layne