General Housekeeping:
First and foremost, thank you to the authors again for sharing their literary world with The Critiquing Chemist and the Bookish Boffin!
This is our fifth year participating in SPFBO and our fourth year partnering with the lovely and wonderful Lynn’s Books. Every year, this stage of the contest gets harder and harder!
With these SPFBO eliminations, The Critiquing Chemist and her Bookish Boffin, along with Lynn’s Books, are working their way through Phase One. Elimination posts, such as this one, will serve as a general announcement regarding the titles to be cut with a short spoiler-free overview included for each novel. Within this post, you’ll also find a list of the semifinalists from our batch of 30 books. From there, we’ll soon have our finalist!
Without further ado, our final set of eliminations can be found in the next section. Please keep in mind that these titles are in no particular order or ranking, whether within this post or the rest of our Phase One cuts.
Ohlegan’s Treasure: Search for the Runes by Brian Gardner
SPFBO Status: Cut
Blurb:
Nall spends his days fishing, sleeping on the beach, and reminiscing with his childhood love interest on the peaceful island of Clearwater. But, despite his easy going life, the young man has an inexplicable urge for adventure.
On the morning of a festival, a ship arrives at port. As Nall listens to the captain’s incredible stories, his thirst for adventure increases. Following the shocking death of one of the sailors, Nall finds the opportunity to leave the island. While at sea, he meets other travelers who seek a famous treasure.
Nall learns of Ohlegan, an explorer who marked his place in history as charting the known world. Legends say a mysterious treasure—four runes—was responsible for his rumored destruction of the Lost Continent. Nall’s new companions tell him the treasure comes with a mystery—how did Ohlegan discover the four runes, and why did he give up his exploration and scatter them across the world?
Together, the treasure seekers battle monsters, solve ancient puzzles, avoid traps, sail oceans, cross burning deserts, and traverse Mount Noleta, the last known location of Ohlegan himself.
However, unbeknownst to our heroes, someone else searches as well…
General Thoughts:
Nall loves the life he’s built on Clearwater Island, full of fishing and friends, but after listening to the <tall> tales spun by those around him, he longs for more. When space opens up on a visiting ship, Nall jumps at the chance to explore what lies beyond his shores. Unfortunately, this means leaving those he loves behind (for now, anyway). After landing in a city on the Southern Continent, Nall meets two travelers, Bright and Steiner. As treasure hunters, they’ve seen wondrous things, but their white whale is Ohlegan’s treasure. Legend has it that centuries ago, Ohlegan discovered four magical runes in a futuristic city while exploring the world. Upon taking possession of these runes, lives were lost, and the continent was destroyed. Given what happened, Ohlegan decided it would be best to separate and hide the runes in some of the most remote and dangerous locations he’d encountered to prevent future calamities. Bright and Steiner think it’s time to seek them out again after acquiring Ohlegan’s journal. It also helps that Nall unknowingly happens to already have one of the runes. Together, the three venture off to find the remaining runes. What they don’t realize is that they’re not the only ones looking…
Search for the Runes is the first book in the Ohlegan’s Treasure series by Brian Gardner. Inspired by JRPGs, it is a wild ride from start to finish. It kicks off with a character rebuilding after the unthinkable happens in their village, with only the promise of retribution to sustain them. The tale then shifts to Nall’s upbeat perspective and his longing for adventure. As more characters came into the mix, my spidey sense kept suggesting that something would go wrong based on how much trust Nall seemingly had in others. That said, I did really enjoy getting to know this group of explorers, especially with the banter and shenanigans that transpire from the late addition to their crew. Gardner’s worldbuilding is also extraordinary, with each continent experiencing different climates and inhabited by vastly different creatures and cultures. While problems tend to be overcome (or brushed aside) fairly quickly, Gardner effectively introduces mysterious aspects through Ohlegan’s journal entries, Nall’s dreams, and the outsider point-of-view to keep things fresh. The quest feels similar to something from Indiana Jones because it relies on ancient knowledge and ingenuity to bypass long-forgotten obstacles. Although they’re not out of the weeds in the end, I’m excited to find out where Gardner leads them next!
Rise of the Forgehearts by Emily Huffman
SPFBO Status: Cut
Blurb:
R-0’s existence has always been dedicated to one simple directive: protect the king. Like all the constructs, they complete their orders without thought or feeling. But when a magical phenomena sweeps over Haiden, the constructs transform from mindless metal to fully sentient beings.
Now R-0 sees the world through new eyes. Beauty, curiosity, and endless questions that used to be out of reach now overwhelm them. Despite their potential, not everyone views the change favorably. The organics they used to serve fear what the constructs have become and what they may be plotting. When constructs begin disappearing, Haiden’s council sees it as proof of the constructs’ nefarious intentions and threatens to decommission them all.
While navigating their newfound thoughts and feelings, R-0 must solve the mystery of the missing constructs–even if the truth may put the king they’ve sworn to protect in danger. Because if they fail, the constructs’ lives could be over as quickly as they began.
General Thoughts:
R-0 is what’s known as a construct, a machine created by technomancers to serve the Hadrian bloodline (the rulers of Haiden). Until recently, R-0 had done exactly what was asked of them (and only what was asked of them). Typically, that revolved around protecting the king. However, after the event known as The Corruption (or The Awakening, depending on how you feel about it), constructs all over Haiden have become sentient overnight. Not only that, but many have gone missing. Fearing an uprising, the council wants answers as their people (also known as the organics to constructs) are feeling the strain from having to complete jobs and fill roles previously held by constructs. Now, R-0 finds it harder to pay full attention to their directives as nascent thoughts and feelings infiltrate their once unflappable mind. One thing that hasn’t changed is their resolve to keep the king safe. With his crown on the line, King Hadrian must figure out the best path forward that restores his people’s faith in him (if not the connection that bonds the constructs to him). Will R-0 be able to uncover what’s happening with the missing constructs in time and convince people of their benevolence before all constructs are decommissioned? Will R-0 be able to work through their feelings without them interfering with their job?
Rise of the Forgehearts is the first book in the Shackled Steel series by Emily Huffman. It follows R-0, a royal construct whose purpose is to follow orders from the king and his staff. Since the event, R-0 remains loyal but now can’t help but question what’s going on around them. They develop concerns regarding the sanctity of life where once they’d kill on command. They worry about their mortality and what comes next. It was interesting to see R-0 evolve into their selfhood and learn to recognize their new emotions. And although they’d been working side-by-side with organics for years, this new back-and-forth communication leads to humorous misunderstandings surrounding sarcasm and figures of speech, as they tend to take everything at face value. Throughout the story, Huffman illustrates how delicate the political landscape is and how fragile the alliances can be when constructs can no longer be controlled or trusted (allegedly). Despite having to wait to uncover the how and the why behind the missing constructs, I picked up on who was behind it pretty early on from the clues being dropped. That said, Huffman still surprised me with some twists at the end that are absolutely heartbreaking. Overall, Rise of the Forgehearts is a thought-provoking tale that leaves you with a feeling of hope.
Tabby Swain by Sithia Queen
SPFBO Status: Cut
Blurb:
A visionary, genre-bending coming-of-age novel about a group of friends with one thing in common: they’re shape-shifting monsters. If that wasn’t bad enough, they must also navigate the angst of high school, first love, and heartbreak.
Matthew Stroud wants nothing more than to live a normal life, but that’s easier said than done with cat ears on his head and a cat tail attached to his lower back. Only two people know he’s a cat boy: one is his best friend and fellow monster boy, Mark Koenigsegg, and the other is Mark’s human mother, Ashley Koenigsegg.
Shortly after starting high school, Matthew develops a crush on Emily Thompson, a human who worms her way into his tiny friend group. She quickly senses something’s wrong with her new friends, from their secretive behavior to their animallike appearances, especially when they befriend another boy, John Woodcock, who seems oddly unbothered by everything weird about them.
As her suspicions deepen, Matthew must do everything in his power to keep Emily off of his scent, even as he continues to fall for her, because everything will fall apart if she learns the truth.
General Thoughts:
Matthew and Mark have been best friends for years. And as the new school year kicks off, they add another member to their small crew, John. While they all experience the typical growing pains that come from being teenagers, what bonds them together is their animal alter egos. Each of them has the ability to shift into a different animal form, complete with fur, scales, tails, etc. This also means that they go through things that are similar to their animal counterparts, like shedding skin and feeling the need to prepare for hibernation. Although they’re normally able to stay relatively dormant in public, certain situations and emotions can trigger them to go active, which is less than ideal when the rest of the world doesn’t know your kind exists. So, on top of hiding who they really are, they’re also dealing with situations like having parents with certain expectations about the future, how to handle a parent dating someone new, and what to do when falling for a human. While they’re always there for each other as they navigate life’s challenges, there’s always the fear that the wrong person will uncover their secret, causing everything to change. But that would never happen, right?
Tabby Swain is the first book in the Monster-Boy Bromance series by Sithia Queen. As the point of view changes each chapter, it’s easy to see how complex the main characters are and how well thought out their stories are. I’d also argue that these characters are very good at communicating what’s bothering them and what they need from each other without the fear of judgment. These heart-to-hearts also include serious topics like body image and mental health. Overall, Queen’s writing style is easy to follow and feels more like literary fiction that happens to include fantasy aspects. As a result of this heavy focus on the day-to-day events of each character, I did end up putting this book down at 34% (about 200 pages in), but that comes down to personal preference. Tabby Swain is a story about a group of friends in North Carolina who are still figuring out their place in the world, usually hiding in plain sight.
Overall, we enjoyed something from each of the books in our batch and hope that the SPFBO contest continues to connect them with more readers. Having gone through all 30 books, it’s time to announce this year’s semifinalists for Lynn’s Books and The Critiquing Chemist! We’ll review each of them and select a finalist by the end of October.
Click here to reveal our semifinalists!
By a Silver Thread by Rachel Aaron
Smile and Be a Villain by Yves Donlon
Touched by Magic by Celine Jeanjean
The Enchanter’s Counsel by Thalib Razi
Through Blood and Dragons by R.M. Schultz
The Critiquing Chemist 
[…] we are reviewing By A Silver Thread, which was Lynn’s Books & Critiquing Chemist’s pick for this year’s Self-Published Fantasy […]
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