#SPFBO5 Round 1 Update - Final Batch of DNFs & My 8 Books Left Standing

It appears that I have finally gone through all 30 of the titles that were assigned to our team and have identified my final three DNFs as well as the eight books that I will finish reading in full, write official reviews for, and assign a point rating out of 10.  The highest-rated out of the eight remaining books will be my personal semi-finalist choice(s).  But first, here are the final three books in our group of 30 that didn't make the cut for me:

RAVEN'S EDGE by Alan Ratcliffe - In the end, there just wasn't enough there there for me with this book.  I thought that the beginning was fairly strong, but as the book got into the halfway point and beyond, the plot dragged to a crawl.  It became a never ending quest that didn't have a lot else happening for large chunks.  I ultimately felt like a semi-finalist should have a bit more punch and so I decided to abandon it about 55% of the way through.
(My Score: 5/10)

DRAGON'S PRICE by Daniel Potter - I normally love books about dragons.  This one just didn't connect with me for some reason though.  I thought that the plot was a bit rushed with incredibly short chapters, which I'm not really a fan of.  I also felt like the side characters weren't sufficiently developed enough for me.  I wanted more explanation about the history behind the events that were taking place and that was really the theme throughout I'm afraid. I simply craved more than what the author gave me.
(My Score: 4.5/10)

THE BASTARD PRINCE by Patty Jansen - First of all, let me say that I loved the non-traditional main character as a 50 year-old woman.  We don't get to see enough older protagonists in fantasy books these days and that aspect of this book was really refreshing.  That being said, this book was really slow in my opinion.  It took a long time for any real plot to develop and then when it finally did, it didn't interest me enough to want to continue.  I felt like I was forcing myself to read it at times and that didn't seem like the type of book that was semi-final worthy to me.
(My Score: 4.5/10)


And so with that I can now announce that these eight books are the ones that I have decided to finish reading and consider for my personal semi-finalist choice (they are in no particular order):

1. THE 19th BLADESMAN by S.J. Hartland

2. TAIKA TOWN by Drew Montgomery

3.  BELIEF'S HORIZON by I.W. Ferguson

4.  A SEA OF BROKEN GLASS by Sonya M. Black

5.  BOOKS AND BONE by Victoria Corva

6.  WHEN THE ELVES ARE GONE by J.B. Allen

7.  SCIONS OF NEXUS by Gregory Mattix

8.  HOUND OF THE MOUNTAIN by Stephan Morse


Please continue to follow my blog for daily updates if you wish to track my progress with these titles.  I will be posting full reviews as I am finished with each book going forward.  Also just a reminder that you can track our team's progress in phase 1 of the competition on Team RockStarlit Book Asylum's #SPFBO5 page.

That's it for now.  Happy reading!
-Nick