Melissa Widmaier’s The Wind at Oak Hallow, CM Caplan’s The Fall Is All There Is, Niranjana Siva & Archana Sujai’s The Missing Piece of History, Jason Link’s Angel from Rust, Dustin Porta & DK Holmberg’s The Dragon’s Hide, TR Peers’s The Zero Destiny, Jill Chard’s The Relic Thief, Charlotte E English’s Gloaming, EL Lyons’s Starlight Jewel, Jacqui Davis & Katy Grierson’s Sul NOTE: This is a backlog of my notes from my readthrough of the openings of all 300 entries into SPFBO9 (the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off).
Day 78
- Melissa Widmaier @mawidmaier, The Wind at Oak Hallow
A boy who would prefer to lie naked in the boughs of the forest gets in trouble again for fighting with his village nemesis.
This NA fantasy has an almost Disney fairytale flare to it. The oversized nature of the forest reinforces this, as does the boy’s massive father, and all-knowing mother, who chide their son for fighting again.
There is also something usual about our miscreant boy. He isn’t bad, but he’s a bit strange and wild. There might almost be something magical about him. I can’t tell. He seems to feel things differently than others.
Some more clarity here might have been good to draw me into the story, because I can’t tell if the little hints are actually hints or just creative eccentricities on the author’s part.
I do like the pastoral setting, and the specific, non-cliché detail of father and son needing to deliver bushels of beans.
I can’t guess at the greater story. So far this seems like it will be about the characters in and around this village. But the dialogue has felt to the point, theres conflict, and things are moving along.
I suspect some romance for our wild youth. Probably more than a little soap opera nonsense (nothing wrong with that).
I may have some qualms about the style, but so far it seems like an active, light read. I would read more just to see if this can stay active. This passes my humble test.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125626229-the-wind-at-oak-hollow
- CM Caplan @newcmcaplan, The Fall Is All There Is
A derelict aristocrat gets a threatening letter from his siblings demanding his presence at a coronation, leaving him desperate for his injections to survive the confrontation.
Damnit. Sometimes you just read something and you say, There it is. There it is. That is how you start a book. THAT is a story.
The voice, the voice, the voice. This reminded me very much of Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth. It has a character-driven 1st person voice, and is packed with sizzling details that punch right off the page, quickly grounding you in the world.
Sci-fi & fantasy collide in the wonderfully weird setting with ghost fogs, a stronghold built into the skeleton of a giant lizard, and injections that transform our physically weak MC into an athlete.
This detail (along with the court/familial conflicts) reminded me of Moorcock’s Elric, who needs powerful drugs to make his weak body function.
The dialogue is every bit as driving, quick, and revealing of character as the narration. And also creates distinct characters all on its own.
What more can I say? This establishes what it needs to immediately, and builds and builds, page by page, coloring and filling in the characters, conflict, and world. It’s a thrill to read.
I’d buy it if I didn’t already have it. I may well be buying it again in paperback. Some books you just want a physical copy of. Buy it now and read it now so you can say you discovered Caplan before the world did. I’m in. I think I couldn’t get out if I tried.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77779740-the-fall-is-all-there-is
Day 79
- Niranjana Siva, Archana Sujai, The Missing Piece of History
This starts with a decided Sci-fi bent to it. I’m not a SPFBO judge, so I’ll hardly hold that against it. The genres can blend and blur, but the writing is stilted.
I don’t want to sound dismissive of it, but it’s hard to know what to say other than it seems a bit amateurish. The descriptions generalize. Characters are named, but given no further detail.
Amateurish is a vague assessment. The language is simple, not very descriptive, and at times redundant.
When the dialogue starts, it does read like people talking, mostly. It is chatter tho, is expositional and not very interesting, unfortunately.
I have no sense who the characters talking are, and so there is no promise to get me to read on. If instead of “character X” this introduced “Commander X, veteran of over 50 battles at scarcely the age of 22, lounged on the grass” that might have been something.
As is, this just doesn’t do enough well enough to compel me to read on. I have to pass.
- Jason Link @epicjlink, Angel from Rust
The Founders of Olympus, a three-mile space station housing millions who sleep, plugged into the Dream, wake and bestir their frail bodies to sentence a murderer to death.
Is this Sci-fi? Yes. But it’s going to blur the lines with fantasy soon enough, as the story shifts to the 600-year-post-apocalyptic earth’s surface.
The details are beautiful. The physical degeneration of the ancient sleepers is horrible and wonderfully described. The prose in this opening doesn’t miss. It is immersive, expressive, and exact. In a word, it’s brilliant.
The story emerges steadily from the eerie, sterile world of the space station full of sleepers, as a murderer is led to his summary trial – little more than a minute to take the vote to sentence the condemned. Thousands died. The verdict is plain: death.
While our ancient sleepers were perhaps too energetic in their speech at times, that is hardly a criticism when measured against everything that is incredible about this opening.
The 3rd person close narration is colored by the sentiments of our focal character to give this opening a great sense of voice perfectly tuned to the otherworldliness of this space-station, so distant in so many ways from humanity.
I can’t wait to see where this story goes next, and to find out how this immensely talented author handles the next phase of this highly imaginative fantasy-Sci-fi. If the novel can maintain this level of artistry, this is Finalist material. I’m in.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/67776903-angel-from-the-rust
Day 80
- Dustin Porta, DK Holmberg, The Dragon’s Hide
A young assassin draws power from his arrogant pseudo-dragon familiar to survive an attempt on his life!
This reminded me very much of Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos series with its witchy fantasy assassin and tiny dragon familiar. This starts in a pastoral setting, is in 3rd person and so less snappy, but is much more magical from the outset.
I can already tell the authors have devised some very creative magic that will be useful in this story. Our MC can borrow the speed and sight of his familiar to enhance himself – who knows what else he can do.
Glyphs triggered by command words can be variously combined to alter their effects, which our young assassin finds himself on the receiving end of.
The magic here is thrilling and empowering as our MC struggles to survive, getting in and out of trouble by the skin of his teeth.
This is immediately active. The dialogue is sharp and revealing of character. The narrative doesn’t try to explain everything at once, but is immersing me in the world of the story, with a tantalizing reference to an assassin school at an abbey.
This was another title that, reading it, I thought, This has to be a semi-finalist, and I was thrilled to find it was.
I can’t wait to see more of the world of this story and find out why our young assassin has been targeted. This is great stuff, and a series starter (1/4) I’m in!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123504938-the-dragon-s-hide
- TR Peers @Majere613, The Zero Destiny
A huge, powerful, beautiful tribal woman comes to the dark empire city looking for a tower, and pinches a little demon-nightmare thing by its stitched-on ear for directions.
Heady, comic, pedantic, playful, this was somehow both totally unique, and at the same time a throwback, like I was reading Heavy Metal (the film) meets Terry Pratchett in a dark fantasy wonderland.
This is a fun, funny, unserious, subversive, self-referential trip of an opening. It’s gawdy and oversized and self-indulgent in the best way.
The names here are a scream. Death Scream in particular is our current MC. She’s looking for the Malapros tower. The name of her spear sounds like ‘hole poker.’ What a lark.
Ever see Cool World? It reminds me a little of that too. Anything well enough done will feel unique, but this would feel that unique even if it was in shambles, which thankfully it isn’t. I’m in.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75645009-the-zero-of-destiny
Day 81
- Jill Chard, The Relic Thief
A girl and her two sisters flee a distant city, speaking with their hands as they pass from pastures to arid, blowing desert, until an invisible force stops them and their pursuers catch up.
I think this is one of the best prologues I’ve read. It explains little, but immerses the reader in the experience of its fleeing MC and her sisters. The world is detailed. There is a great sense of design.
The word mystery box gets thrown around a lot these days, usually pejoratively. This presents us with many intriguing questions that, in the hands of this talented writer, are a promise…
Who are these sisters? Why are they fleeing? Why are they pursued? What secret power lays within our MC that allows her to pass through the desert barrier? What is this strange intelligence active in the desert?
The promise that these questions will be answered as I read on and the world of the story expands before me keep me glued to the page and eager for chapter 1.
The dialogue is sparse, but used to excellent effect in this opening. The narrative descriptions ground me beautifully in the setting. The prose is strong, but not always without fault.
The first paragraph is the weakest of this prologue – potentially of the whole book, and that’s a shame. It is unclear and disorienting. I might have stopped reading if I wasn’t doing this project. I’m glad I didn’t.
I disliked, also, that our MC remained “the girl” while her sisters are named. I don’t know why this was done if she does at this time have a name. It didn’t help my confusion.
At first I thought she was alone. Then I realized she had a sister running with her. Then I wasn’t sure just how many sisters there were. Eventually, finally, I understood that there were 3 sisters fleeing the city for the desert. That took too long.
But these are minor details in what is a truly remarkable opening. It is totally engaging, deeply immersive, character centered – in a word, it feels alive. This has shot up towards the top of my list. I’m in!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62982082-the-relic-thief
This has barely a handful of ratings on goodreads. I sincerely recommend it to your attention, readers and writers, if only for the example of its fantastic opening. It’s made my morning.
I just picked up the ebook for only 0.99c!
- Charlotte E English, Gloaming
A woman who works at an old manor house finds a mirror in the basement that takes her back in time to when the house was in its golden days.
That’s the prologue anyway. Ch1 follows a different MC. But the premise is definitely intriguing.
The prose was competent and easy to read. I didn’t get much sense of the life of our MC in the prologue. Her character and the lead up to her translocation in time read like summary.
The details that we do get, though, did a good job of establishing a sense of place for me. I don’t get a good sense of the character of that place, per se, but I expect I will learn more as this book goes on.
It did a good job of moving its story along. Things happen fast. For a light read, that’s a boon. It seems like it will be cute and fun.
It’s hard to fault a book too much for things that aren’t there. Tho this opening felt sparse, it did enough to pass my humble test, and left me wondering what would happen next. So, I’m in.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36299631-gloaming
Day 82
- EL Lyons, Starlight Jewel
A half-sprigan woman who passes for human as long as she keeps the sunlight from her eyes is on the run from her family, and takes care of her adopted little brother who cannot bear to be touched.
This has a steady, immersive start, opening on a morning in the port city where our MC has landed, for now. She wakes up in an alley and gets ready with her scamp of an adoptive brother.
The smells of food and the sounds of life intermingle in her heightened senses as we are introduced the prickling urgency that tells her it is time to be on the move again. She cannot stay in one place too long.
The details and descriptions of this were very good, and lent to story a strong sense of place and time. I liked all the names for places and characters.
The characters are well fashioned and unique. They feel like real people, and I found the boys trauma-response, autistic meltdown to being touched, and our MCs non-emotional reaction to it to be a interesting and unique story element.
It’s handled briefly, is revealing of character, and is a kind of humanizing trait that brings life to a good story.
The use of non-typical fantasy races makes this unique, in addition to the gifts of that race, which I’m interested to read more about.
I’m sure our MCs past is not far behind her and she is on a collision course with exactly what she wants to avoid. I’m eager to see how this story develops. I like it’s sense of place and sensibilities. The ebook is only 0.99c!
I’m in.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62347148-starlight-jewel
- Jacqui Davis, Katy Grierson, Sul
The King’s nephew, who’s a bit of a lush, is called in the middle of the night and tasked to name and travel north to a new land. Never mind that there are already people there…
This is a competent and lively, tho quiet beginning. The storytelling is steady, easy to read, and cast with diverse characters.
There is a somewhat south-pacific feel to the culture of Sul, with people expressing their age or cultural status through tattooing. I haven’t seen much of that culture yet, but this makes it stand out.
The dialogue is good and expresses character. The characters are well detailed, there are hints of worldbuilding along the way without stopping the story for long expositional passages.
There’s something nice about this. It’s easy to read. The characters are pleasant, mild, charming, and privileged & not sorry about it.
This is good steady storytelling so far, giving us characters and direction. I wonder if this is going to be a misadventure story? It’s working well tho, and I’m enjoying just reading it. I’m in.
Tom Mock 
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