By Dann: The sixth Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO #6) began with the submission of self-published fantasy works on June 1, 2020. The first 300 author-submitted works were accepted into the competition. The major qualifiers were that the book must be self-published, must be currently available for purchase, must be a work of fantasy, and must be either a stand-alone novel or the first book in a series.
The works were then divided into ten groups of 30 with each group being assigned to one of ten volunteer sites/organizations that provide reviews of works of fantasy. Each site read their 30 assigned works and promoted one book into the finalist round.
Once the finalists were identified, each review site read, reviewed, and rated the nine remaining finalists. The winner will be the book with the highest average rating from the ten review sites.
SPFBO #6 is quickly coming to a close. Most of the reviewers have read most of the books. Twenty out of 100 reviews are yet to be completed. The following table (data from April 19, 2021) provides the ratings as well as (1) links to the books, (2) links to the authors’ websites, (3) links to the review blogs, and (4) links to their specific reviews (click on the score number).
Use the slide at the bottom of the table to bring the right half into view.
| Score | Fantasy-Faction | Fantasy Book Critic | Lynn’s Books | Booknest | Kitty G | The Weatherwax Report | Fantasy Hive | Queen’s Book Asylum | Critiquing Chemist | Fantasy Inn | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Fall of Erlon by Robert H. Fleming | 6.10 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6 | 8* | 4 |
| The Lost War by Justin Lee Anderson | (8.35/6) | 7.5 | 9* | 9.5** | 8 | 9 | 7 | ||||
| Black Stone Heart by Michael R. Fletcher | (8.15/9) | 8.5 | 8** | 8.5 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8* | 7.5 | 6 | |
| Voice of War by Zack Argyle | (7.85/6)) | 8 | 8* | 7 | 7.5 | 8 | 8.5 | ||||
| Shadow of a Dead God by Patrick Samphire | (7.75/8) | 8* | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 7 | ||
| Darkness Forged by Matt Larkin | (7.30/7) | 6 | 6.5 | 8 | 7.5 | 8* | 6.5 | 8.5 | |||
| Last Memoria by Rachel Emma Shaw | (6.95/8) | 7 | 7 | 6.5 | 7 | 6 | 8* | 6.5 | 7.5 | ||
| Wind From The Wilderness by Suzannah Rowntree | (6.95/8) | 7.5 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 8* | 7 | 5 | ||
| The Combat Codes by Alexander Darwin | (6.15/9) | 3.5 | 8* | 4 | 8.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | |
| Nether Light by Shaun Paul Stevens | (5.65/7) | 4 | 5 | 6.5 | 6 | 7 | 3.5 | 7.5* | |||
| Blogger Average Score | — | 7.0 | 7.2 |
* = Blogger chose this finalist.
** = Blogger’s top book.
Mark Lawrence noted that a number of the blogs/reviews reduced their scores for The Combat Codes on the basis that it wasn’t fantasy.
Mark recently announced that SPFBO will return for a seventh season on June 1, 2021. One of the ten review sites will not be participating in SPFBO #7. Any reviewer(s) that would be interested in committing to the full reading/review process should contact Mark directly via one of his publicly acknowledged channels.
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Thanks for this Dann, the SPFBO is a really worthwhile endeavour and although I don’t follow it too closely I’ll probably check some of these out.
My first (shallow) impression is that the quality of the cover designs is much higher this year.
@rob_matic
Glad to be of service. In addition to writing great books*, managing SPFBO, doing book promotions for other authors, contributing on Reddit, and being a family man, Mark Lawrence runs a SPFBO page on Facebook. They frequently do a cover competition on the Facebook page.
*Seriously, very good stuff. I’m partial to his Book of the Ancestor series and his Impossible Times series. Mark has a PhD in mathematics and it shows….in a good way.
Regards,
Dann
‘There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running around with lit matches.’ Ray Bradbury
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