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  Read FBC's First SPFBO9 Update Read FBC's Second SPFBO9 Update Read FBC's Third SPFBO9 Update Read FBC’s Fourth SPFBO9 Update As you, folks have already seen with the past four FBC updates’, each of us have read through our lot of six books. With this being my ninth year, I was very excited to see what titles would fall into my lap. These were the six titles, which I got, and I was very excited to see the diverse genre mix:   -  Night's Reign   by Daan Katz  -    The Cataclysm  by Aaron Jackson  -  The Daughter Of The Ice  by Luis Filcao de Magalhaes  -   The Girl And Her Demon  by M.X. Walker  -   The Legend Of Black Jack  by A.R. Witham  -   The Sparrow and The Oak Tree  by Jamie Jackson I read the blurbs and picked out the order that I wanted to read them. Before I jump into each of them, a bit of a housekeeping. I read nearly 25% of all titles before de...

Official Author Website Order Sons Of Darkness over HERE   Disclaimer: I did receive an ARC from Head of Zeus however this has in no way influenced my review   OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Sons Of Darkness is a game changer.   If any reader is aware of Indian history and mythology, they will know of the embarrassment of untapped riches awaiting fantasy readers. We in the west are yet to rediscover some of the greatest stories in human history.   It is Mr Mohanty ’s unenviable challenge to bring us along this journey and scale the heights of the legendary Mahabharata . With great aplomb, Mohanty thrusts the reader into a dark and enticing political landscape.   Krishna , the name perhaps most familiar to western audiences, is a farm boy risen to rebellion, and now ruler of the Mathuran republic. The former ruler of these lands, the Magadhan monarch, is very visibly unhappy at such a loss, especially when one considers his secretive general’s tactics of catapulting d...

 Book Review: Ruins of Smoke by João F. Silva Official Author Website Buy the paperback of Ruins of Smoke here This ebook is freely available on signing up to the author's newsletter OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFORMATION: João F. Silva was born in a small town in Portugal but now lives in London, with his three feline co-workers/bosses. He writes Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror and has been on the jury for the 2020 and 2022 editions of the Best Newcomer Award at the British Fantasy Awards. His short fiction was published in Grimdark Magazine and Haven Speculative. OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB:  The Usharian Empire rules the Known World with an iron fist. Imperials protect their world from the tainted hand of the Deceiver, but he is back with an avatar capable of breaking the Empire and grounding humanity into ash. JEHA is a sentinel of the Empire, willing to fight and die for kinship and duty. AGOR is an imperial general. Disgruntled by the darkness he sees seeping into everything...

Book Review: The Phoenix King by Aparna Verma Buy  The Phoenix King  here -  U.S.  |  U.K. Official Author Website Read an interview with the author along with the cover reveal here OFFICIAL BOOK INFORMATION: In a kingdom where flames hold magic and the desert hides secrets, an ancient prophecy comes for an assassin, a princess, and a king. But none are ready to face destiny-and the choices they make could burn the world. "If we carry the burdens of our fathers, we'll never know what it means to be free." For Elena Aadya Ravence, fire is yearning. She longs to feel worthy of her Phoenix god, of her ancestors who transformed the barren dunes of Sayon into a thriving kingdom. But though she knows the ways and wiles of the desert better than she knows her own skin, the secrets of the Eternal Flame elude her. And without them, she'll never be accepted as queen. For Leo Malhari Ravence, fire is control. He is not ready to give up his crown-there's still too muc...

Book links: Amazon , Goodreads ABOUT THE AUTHOR : After graduating from the prestigious Parsons School of Design, Brian Wood spent several years in video game design with Rockstar Games, most notably for the Grand Theft Auto franchise before moving full time into writing. Brian’s comic book work has been published by DC Entertainment, Marvel Comics, Image Comics, Dark Horse, Boom! Studios, and others. Publisher: OniPress I loved it. The Massive is an excellent post-apocalyptic comic book series that revolves around environmental themes. It's set in a world where a global environmental catastrophe known as The Crash has occurred and drastically changed the world. Humanity witnessed wildfires raging, urban decimation, and complete global communication blackouts. Water became scarce. In other words, trouble.  The story centers around the crew of an environmental activist ship called The Kapital led by Captain Callum Israel.  The crew embarks travels across the oceans, se...

  Official Author Website Read a review of Book 1, NOPHEK GLOSS Buy Ethera Grave HERE OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: Essa Hansen grew up in beautifully wild areas of California, from the coastal foothills to the Sierra Nevada mountains around Yosemite, before migrating north to the Canadian Rocky Mountains. She has ranched bison and sheep, trained horses, practiced Japanese swordsmanship, and is a licensed falconer. She lives with her cat in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a sound designer for SF and fantasy films, her credits can be found on IMDB. FORMAT/INFO: Ethera Grave released on July 18th, 2023 by Orbit Books. It is told in third person from multiple POVs, including Caiden, Leta, Abriss, and Threi. It is available in paperback and ebook formats. OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS:  Time is running out for the multiverse. For millennia, existence has been made up of countless small universes existing side by side, each with their own laws of physics and unique beings and materials. But the p...

  Read FBC's First SPFBO9 Update Read FBC's Second SPFBO9 Update Read FBC's Third SPFBO9 Update After sitting out for a couple of years, I’m thrilled to be back judging SPFBO for the third time. Thanks to the amazing and talented team at Fantasy Book Critic for bringing me on board so I can sing the praises of this contest that has become more varied and competitive each year. I’m pleased to share that my initial batch of six was quite strong – there were several books that were fighting to be my semi-finalist, and the decision wasn’t an easy choice. Below I have reviewed all six books in the order I read them. I’ll then share my pick as to which semi-finalist will move forward. Let’s jump in! Rada  by Tracy M. Jones Rada was the first book I read out of my batch of six, and it set a high bar for all remaining entries. The story is a political fantasy focused on two recently allied countries a short time after their war ended. The neighboring nations lived in a time of...