Reign and Ruin by JD Evans is a Romantic Fantasy novel published in 2020 that won the 2020 SPBO Competition. It is 420 pages long and is available in print and on audiobook. It revolves around 2 characters who wield magic in the Middle Eastern inspired lands of Tamar and Sarkum and their budding relationship and their attempts to unite the two countries that have been divided for hundreds of years in the face of an existential threat to the survival of magic.

Reign and Ruin

After a long break Cameron is back with his new version of the podcast. He is still reviewing mostly indie fantasy novels but he’s now doing it in his tractor. Cameron spends way too much time in said tractor and figured that since he was listening to a lot of audiobooks but had almost zero time to record episodes with his wife and friends like he used to he would put some of that tractor time to use and record podcast episodes again.

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This episode gives a quick rundown on my top 8 books of 2023!

My favorite books of 2023.

Small Gods is one of the two standalone novels in the Discworld series. I had never read anything by Pratchett and before I dove right in I decided I'd dip my toes in. Small Gods centers around a single PoV character named Brutha who is the one true believer in the Great God Om who remains. As a result of a dearth of true believers, despite being the only god allowed in a rather large empire, Om is now trapped in the body of a lowly turtle and will need a nobody named Brutha to help reclaim his place in the pantheon of gods.

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

This episode talks about the 4 book Sol's Harvest series by MD Presley. This review is spoiler free and only talks about the plot details of book 1. The series is an analogue to the American Civil War with a religion loosely based on the Abrahamic view of a God and a Devil.

Sol’s Harvestby MD Presley

Murder at Spindle Manor by Morgan Stang is a SPFBO 9 finalist that was published in 2022 and clocks in at 249 pages long. The book is a gaslamp murder mystery with a lot more of the fantasy element than I expected.

Murder at Spindle Manor

The Last Ranger by JDL Rosell is the first book in the Ranger of the Titan Wilds series. It is a finalist for SPFBO 9. It is 462 pages long and came out in December of 2022. The book is an epic fantasy adventure story that evokes imagery of the Horizon Zero Dawn video games.

Reign and Ruin

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