Here at the fantasy-hive we don’t like numbers, or stars, or quantifiable ratings – although we do admit we have to give out numerical scores for all of the eventual finalists.

However, rather than put a score on each semifinalist each of our judges is going to rank them as we go through our reviews – inspired by the process used in the SPFBO Champion of Champions contest.

The winning book and chosen finalist will be the one with the best average ranking once all the reviews are done and the judges have ranked all six books. (If there should be a tie on average ranking then the winner will be the one with the most 1st places, if still tied then it will be the one with the most 2nd places and so on.)

This will make for a more dynamic leader table as books can shuffle up or down the list all the way to the sixth and final semi-finalist review.

So on to our Fourth semi-finalist review of THREADS OF MEMORY where the judges will comment under the headings of worldbuilding, Prose, Character and Plot, before giving their pithy one line conclusions and fitting this week’s semifinalist into our overall ranking table.

Worldbuilding

Cat: This is what attracted me to this title in the first place. The idea of a world where magic is channelled by thread, with a seamstress as protagonist working her magic despite a controlling system seemed so intriguing and original! It certainly is, I’m glad to say, but unfortunately we never really see much of the wider world, other than the town the story is set in. There’s talk of The Realm and Kings, there’s a very standard fantasy-medieval social hierarchy, but nothing is told (or shown) beyond this.

Theo: For me the magic system is the standout feature of this book. The idea is that not just memories but also the souls of the dead linger around and are interwoven in the clothes that they wore, and that a skilled magical weaver like Amara can draw out those memories ‘making the cloth speak’ for good or ill. And – as is always the way with strange powers and gifts – there is a quasi-religious institution that seeks to corral, curtail and control unlicensed users of this magic. So the Guild that Caedric works for was another nice feature – a kind of cross between the Spanish Inquisition and the KGB within whose constraint Caedric seeks to navigate an ever narrowing moral path. Those features aside, as Cat has mentioned, the world is a fairly standard fantasy overlaid on a historic Europe style of setting.    

Vinay: This was quite an interesting book especially with the magic system – that felt really unique, thought I wish it was possibly explained a little better. A seamstress with interesting thread magic that she has to hide was pretty well done – I loved how and what the magic awakens and how people around her try to take advantage of it. Some do it in a sense of desperation, some from entitlement and the Guild does it viewing her as a menace or an asset. 

While most of the action does take place in a city, it is the other details even with that city that contributes to a lot of the worldbuilding elements of this book. The market areas, the guild, the narrow lanes all lend their own character and a sense of fleshing out of this city that the story takes place. 

Prose

Cat: Another well-written tale! The author is apparently a poet and it shows, with lovely flowing prose and evocative descriptions, especially of the magic. It’s easy to visualise the flow of souls connected to fabric, almost as if spells are carried on threads, and I really appreciated how unique this whole system is. The tension is constant too, with a sense of threat, exhaustion, being trapped and unsure where to turn… this isn’t an easy book to read, and that made for a challenge in returning to it sometimes, when the negative became a little overwhelming. It does make for a good conclusion though, and the action (when it comes) is excellent:

‘Around them, the chamber erupted into chaos, and seven years of institutional conditioning shattered against the simple human refusal to participate in evil.’

One trick I noticed throughout the book was that when a protagonist makes a statement, their words are immediately explicitly ‘corrected’ to hold a different meaning, in order to manipulate both them and their intentions. This propaganda-style tactic was interesting, especially with evil organisations controlling others through manipulation. Very Orwellian; no matter what you say, you’ll incriminate yourself somehow.

Theo: I really did love the prose in this book, I think my favourite of the semifinalists so far – judging by the number of ‘nice line’ notes I made for myself in my Kindle copy. There are so many lines I could mention but the prose’s great strength lies in its concrete sensory descriptions that help to capture a sense of a place or a moment. Evening had painted the streets of Deymar in shades of amber and shadow. Or The morning sun slanted across the market, but Amara’s stall remained untouched by its warmth. Or A bloodstained kerchief that whispered of a duel gone wrong. A child’s mitten that held the echo of snowball fights and winter laughter. A solider’s sash that reeked of smoke and rang with the clash of steel. Though this one has a nice resonance with our own troubled times.

The sound of her grandmother’s voice drifted up from memory. “Power is never a gift. It’s always a burden. The only choice is whether you carry it or let it carry you.”

Vinay: A book that is very well written, and has a rather tight structure to it. There is tension right from the start and the writing captures it well through short chapters and alternating view points. Our lead characters had their own distinct voices with their doubts and uncertainties creeping through well. While the writing in terms of the action and flow is straightforward, where it does shine is when it examines power – from the one who wields it to the one who controls it. The writing gets introspective and deep in those sequences and I found it extremely eye-catching and quotable on a bunch of occasions. 

“They’d made one crucial mistake – they’d used human voices, human pain, human memories. And memory always remembered what it had been before the torture began”

 

“You tortured them but torture isn’t stronger than love. Pain isn’t more real than joy. And the dead remember what they were before you tried to make them into monsters”

 

“The damage was done. Truth had been spoken, and truth had a way of echoing long after its source was silenced”

If there was one thing to quibble about in the writing, it was the sense of repetitiveness in terms of Caedric, the Guild hunter’s assessment & dilemma of Amara. His conflict in terms of what to do with Amara gets repeated far too many times – the book (while short that it was) could have benefited with a slight shortening of those dialogs 

Characters

Cat: I very much liked protagonist Amara, who stayed strong despite the multiple enemies ranged against her! There really does seem no right path for her to take, and as I said, that makes for a tough read sometimes, especially when she’s conjuring some deeply painful memories. Male lead Caedric seemed a little less well-drawn, slowly realising that the organisation he works for is Evil (how he could’ve missed this during training, I have no idea!), but he does his job well enough. Every other character seems to exist only to fulfil a function, with very few ‘good’ individuals and all of the ‘baddies’ being inescapably rotten. A bit more nuance would’ve been appreciated, especially the townsfolk and their lack of empathy for Amara. It does indeed seem that everyone in the story – save our two main characters – exist only to selfishly grab for something they want, which is frustrating despite it being lampshaded in the plot. 

Theo: That’s a good point, Cat, about the multiplicity of antagonists whose general venality seems intended to heighten the virtue and restraint of our pair of alternating point of view protagonists. I think apart from Amara’s old friend that she briefly visits, every other character has an agenda that is at best self-serving and at worst plain evil. My issue with Caedric and Amara was around the ‘distance’ of the third person narration which drifted towards omniscient narration rather than up close and personal in the characters’ heads. They were both quite tortured with angst, but a lot of that angst was rather bluntly ‘told’ in the text more in the voice of a biographer than of the character. I prefer having to be ‘shown’ that kind of angst through actions and things unsaid or left in the subtext. So while they’re both good characters, I would have liked a narration that made me work harder to find that out for myself.    

Vinay: The book does concern itself primarily with our 2 leads – Amara and Caedric and I found them both compelling. Amara is an interesting character who finds her reserves of strength through this ordeal – she is soft but rather strong. A bit of a loner with no regrets or longing. I found her journey very catchy and he reactions organic. She isnt afraid to show weakness or seek support if she needs it and doesnt stay strong for the sake of being so. Caedric on the other hand, has a kind of a typical arc and awakening. It did feel a bit naive on his part to not realize what his organization was about and what damage it could do – also naive on the trusting of his superiors. For someone who had been doing that for a while, it felt odd that he never came across as cynical. But he did come across as someone fundamentally good-natured and idealistic. He is written as a very decent character – which works well in this context

Plot

Cat: This was a slow burn. It started well out of the gate, with the immediate stakes made clear, but then we have a series of chapters where the main characters spend their days worrying about what to do. It’s a nice foundation, but takes a long time to really get anywhere, seeming akin to two-act structure of setup and payoff. I initially thought this would be a stand-alone novel, but on reaching the cliffhanger conclusion, think it could have worked better if tightened up to be the first half of a larger tale, rather than Book One. 

Theo: Again, I agree with Cat that the shortness of this opening volume, along with the scope to draw the plot a little more tightly, means rolling the first two books together could have helped to make a more complex and satisfying overall narrative. The plot does twist a bit, but the characters do spend a lot of time ‘worrying’ when they could be ‘doing’ more. 

Vinay: I differ a bit from my 2 co-judges on this one. I don’t think it felt slow-burn. I found the plot to be extremely compelling and while the action is limited, I found great delight in the twists and turns their stories took from the complications they faced. It is a short book but it never feels rushed through most of its run and it does justice to building the characters and the overall plot. While the final conflict does feel a bit short, it doesnt feel rushed even as it sets up the next book. However, I did feel the ending to a bit idealistic and convenient – it did feel a bit implausible if only this much was required to shakes the corruption plaguing the system. Maybe the next book gets into some more details on that 

Conclusion

Cat: Original magic in a despotic fantasy world, has potential but needs more.

Theo: Innovative magic and beautiful descriptive prose in a book full of promise.

Vinay: A stitch in time saves more than nine in this intriguing book that does a lot in a short page count

And the Current state of play

After with just two semifinalist reviews to go our table looks like this

Current Ranking of Books	Theo	Vinay	Cat
1st
2nd
3rd
4th

And we have a NEW LEADER 

THREADS OF MEMORY

takes the lead in the race to be the Hive’s SPFBO 11 Finalist with an average rank of 1.67.