Hello friend. Today’s Indie Recommends Indie post features author E.L.Lyons and she shares her favorite indie reads. Her debut book, Starlight Jewel, is a unique Fantasy that you can learn more about it at the end of the post. It is on my TBR!
El, welcome to Armed with A Book! Since it’s your first time on the blog, can you please tell me and my readers about yourself?
I hail from the rural hills of Virginia but I’ve been living on a nice slice of suburban swamp for over a decade now. Daydreaming is inherent to my existence, and little can ground me except nature. I feel that the forest is where reality and fantasy blends. Though perhaps I overdosed on Tolkien as a kid. I’ve been writing stories about my daydreams since I learned to write, and somehow capturing those ideas in words is strangely fulfilling.
Do you primarily read indie books or big publishers books as well?
I’m rather new to the world of indie books. Prior to 2020, I’d never read an indie book and wouldn’t have known how to find one. By the time I decided to self-publish in 2021, I’d gotten a few indie books in. Now? I’ll be upfront and admit I hardly read any published books at all. I spend most of my free time beta reading. I find I’m better at complaining than complimenting, so I’m more useful on the front end of the publication process.
However, I do read a handful of published books a year, and I’m very choosey about them. I start many more than I finish, as I no longer have qualms about DNFing Mari Kondo style when the book stops bringing me joy. In 2022 I finished two traditionally published books and started five others that I won’t likely finish. I finished all six indie books I started—discounting the ones I crept away from after reading the “look inside” portion. So 50% of what I pick up these days is indie, but most of what I DNF is traditional–
Why do I DNF some books and finish others? That seems relevant to the recommendations below. I’m picky. I like to be immersed in other worlds and in touch with the characters and their motivations. But it’s very easy for me to become unimmersed. The second the literary walls around me start to feel weak or I feel things have occurred just because the author wills it, the experience is ruined. If I stop believing or understanding the world and/or characters, there’s simply no reason for me to continue reading a book.
The books I’m recommending immersed me and didn’t let me leave. Strong character work, well-thought-out worlds/systems, plots that hold water, strong play between characters and events/settings/other characters, relatable motivations of all characters, and other such things help to keep a story immersive for me, so that’s what my recommendations tend to have.
El’s Indie Recommendations
Familiar Tales by Alma T.C. Boykin
Urban Fantasy
2018
Series
When a goth-gal gets a Familiar, everything changes.
Neither Jamie Macbeth nor Lelia Chan wanted Familiars. Now they have them, and Angus and Tay insist that their humans rise to the occasion. From inverted autos and giant cloven-hoof prints to attacking puzzle balls and the perils of shedding season, nothing’s quite the same once a Familiar saunters into the picture.
Especially when magic-workers start dying of unnatural causes. Or do they?
Why I love this book:
- Fantastic third limited PoV character work
- Fun and lighthearted
- Brings an adult feel/style to a whimsical setting
- Relaxing read
- Elements of detective/mystery and fantasy
Review:
Technically, this is the second novella in the Familiar Tales series, but the books are written in such a way that reading this one first won’t leave you confused. I feel it’s a stronger start to the series than the first (which I also enjoyed), and a great place to see if this niche of urban fantasy suits you.
This is a fun and whimsical fantasy series in a society where magic is written in to be mundane, even for those unfamiliar with it. There are talking familiars/animals assigned as partners to certain magic workers. The pairs work in various jobs from stores, schools, investigative agencies, restaurants, etc.
As someone coming from a background of high-drama traditional SFF and books with stressful stakes, this was a pleasant deviation from the norm at the right time in my life. I read this book while sitting in the ICU with my patient every night for a month. Strangely Familiar was the most soothing and distracting escape I can imagine, and I’ll be forever thankful for having this book with me—in kindle form because it needed to be disinfected often.
It manages to be engaging and exciting without ever delving into the realm of stress/real-suspense/trauma. How? Amazing character work. Particularly Leila’s PoV is just so entertaining. Boykin’s humor style is dry and whimsical, which really suits me. The characters have so much depth, and it’s artfully woven in. If you prefer to have a magic system explained to you and you don’t pick up easily on subtleties, this might not be the best book/series to read. The world building is there, but you have to wait a while for it at times, and if you’re not the sort of reader who can pick up the worldbuilding through context, it’ll likely slip you by.
The story is a good mix of funny and serious, enough to keep it light while still keeping you hooked in. That’s not a balance I’ve seen in traditional publishing.
This is great for readers who are looking for wholesome, lighthearted, character-driven fantasy. If you took Wednesday Adams and inserted her into the show Supernatural but framed it like the Office—that would sort of be the vibes of this book.
As a sort of bonus, this author runs a spectacular blog where she posts snippets from the series often. She’s managed to keep the series engaging through quite a few books. They get better as they go along and you can see her writing improve from these early ones to the later ones.
Icebreaker by Steven William Hannah
Postapocalyptic Fantasyish
2021
Book One of the Interloper Trilogy
Inside their walls, the people are safe from exposure to the unnamed horror that broke the world long ago; but now Bear, the last scientist in Forgehead, takes a case that threatens to throw that safety into question. Someone has been terminally exposed to the phenomenon, despite never having ventured outside the walls. This has only happened once before – to Bear’s father.
With the safety of Forgehead in question, and an opportunity to finally discover what happened to his father, Bear must leave the safety of the walls to unravel the mysteries left behind by the pre-cataclysm world; a task that will require him to join the Interloper Initiative, the team who crew the gigantic Crawler landships, the only vehicles that can roam the world outside the walls in relative safety. “Icebreaker” is the first entry in the Interloper Trilogy, a tale of horror and science charting the last days of a dying world, and humanity’s endeavour to survive.
Why I love this book:
- Action-heavy from start to finish (except chapter two)
- Unique world/society
- Unique apocalyptic setting/dangers
- Character driven
- Suspenseful and immersive
Review:
Confession: I was raised on traditional, sword and sorcery fantasy and space opera/AI-takeover sci-fi, but it seems that postapoc (with the exception of zombies, which I don’t really care for) is quickly becoming my favorite niche in SFF. Which makes sense, as the Mad Max movie series has long been my favorite.
What’s the draw of this niche? For those of us who love truly grounded magic and technology systems, there’s no better place to find a unique blend of realistic feeling tech and in cases like Icebreaker, disasters that make you question the lines between the supernatural and natural in a book. Postapoc is where sci-fi and fantasy and reality can all blend in compelling ways.
More, these stories involve the upheaval and reformation of societies. Much like alternate-world fantasy and sci-fi that involves new species or civilizations, these postapoc stories show what society and humanity might be like if the parameters of our existence were drastically changed. They aren’t just stories about one unique character or two, they’re stories about human nature, and every single character in these stories is a product of a changed world.
Icebreaker is a perfect example of a unique apocalyptic event, the aftermath, and the phases that society has undergone in coping with the new world order. It draws on all the elements of good postapoc in new ways to make this feel like an immersive and cohesive new world with new problems for humanity to tackle. From the start of the book, you can see how each character, each family, each city, has adapted to the circumstances.
This is a character-driven story with multiple PoVs all centering on the main character, Bear. There is no headhopping, rather graceful transitions between third limited PoVs to better show the plot’s twists and turns, along with how each character deals with the rapidly changing events.
And the events do rapidly change. I’m a guesser. I find great joy in trying to guess what’s going to happen next in a book, and more joy to find that I’m wrong in a good way. Almost every event in this plot was unexpected and suspenseful, but none felt like they were tossed in just to shock. True to the niche, this book was action-heavy and kept me feeling like any moment could be the end of this society.
Character dynamics and character development were both beautifully executed. Nothing about the main characters felt static. They learned and grew as the story evolved. None of the characters felt like cookie cutter SFF types and each felt authentic. There was no overly dramatic dialogue and the characters felt very distinct.
Per the usual, my favorite character was the villain, the Messenger. A good villain is like icing on the cake for me. And while I may have moseyed through the first half of the book over the course of a week, once Messenger entered the scene, I finished 50% of the book in a day. Saying more would spoil the fun, so I’ll stop there.
The one con of this book for me is that it’s in present tense. I am not a fast reader to begin with, and my brain takes a long while to warm up to present tense. That being said, it was barely noticeable after the first few chapters, especially once the pace picked up.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fast-paced postapocalyptic books that don’t neglect the character work. Fans of the Helldivers series are likely to enjoy this.
Witchfinder by Sarah A. Hoyt
Fantasy
2011
Series
In Avalon, where the world runs on magic, the king of Britannia appoints a witchfinder to rescue unfortunates with magical power from lands where magic is a capital crime. Or he did. But after the royal princess was kidnapped from her cradle twenty years ago, all travel to other universes has been forbidden, and the position of witchfinder abolished. Seraphim Ainsling, Duke of Darkwater, son of the last witchfinder, breaks the edict. He can’t simply let people die for lack of rescue. His stubborn compassion will bring him trouble and disgrace, turmoil and danger — and maybe, just maybe, the greatest reward of all.
Why you love this book:
- Wholesome
- Great characters
- A dash of romance
- 80s/90s fantasy movie vibes
- Different take on classic fantasy elements
You can paste your review here. Also include who you would recommend this book to.
This is the sort of book to read by the fireplace when you’re feeling nostalgic. I grew up in the VHS era and I must’ve watched The Labyrinth and Dark Crystal etc. hundreds of times. There’s just something charming about the gritty, dark but still magical worlds crafted in those movies. It’s not the same clean and bright magical feel as Lord of the Rings (books or movies) or the more modern Avatar. Each has their place in my reading/watching life.
That said, prior to Witchfinder, I’d never gotten that old-fantasy-movies feel from a book. I’m not quite sure how she captured it, but it makes this book better than just a good idea or a good story. There are centaurs, unicorns, a dragon, halfbreeds and a whole variety of other traditional fantasy creatures in traditional fantasy realms/dimensions like Britannia and Avalon. These traditional elements are presented in different and interesting ways with touches of cultures that feel original and well-thought out.
The romance is the light-hearted sort. Fade-to-black, wholesome, and adds to the story. I love romance but I hate most romance. I would rather have no romance in a book than romance that’s overdone, dramatic, unpleasant (y’know, harems and cheating), or flat. I just like simple romance that adds to the plot without overtaking it, and that’s what I found in this book.
The side characters were also a lot of fun. The dynamics between them all felt genuine and despite the convoluted family associations, everything was laid out clearly. The characters developed well and interacted meaningfully from start to finish—speaking of which, terrific ending. I do love when a book ties everything up beautifully.
The only thing that was a little rough about this read was that there was a heaping ton of stuff going on. A lot of creatures, a lot of characters, a lot of places, a lot of action/events—it felt like it should be twice as long. If you don’t mind fast paced and flitting from scene to scene though, it’s a great read.
I’ll recommend this to all the folks like myself who grew up with 80s-90s fantasy movies and are in a nostalgic mood for a fast-paced read.
Tom by Dave Freer
Fantasy Humor
2016
Standalone
Tom is a cat in trouble. The worst possible kind of trouble: he’s been turned into a human. Transformed by an irascible old magician in need of a famulus — a servant and an assistant, Tom is as good at being a servant as a cat ever is. The assistant part is more to Tom’s taste: he rather fancies impressing the girl cats and terrorizing the other toms by transforming himself into a tiger. But the world of magic, a vanished and cursed princess, and a haunted skull, and a demon in the chamber-pot, to say nothing of conspiring wizards and the wickedest witch in the west, all seem to be out to kill Tom. He is a cat coming to terms with being a boy, dealing with all this. He has a raven and a cheese as… sort of allies.
And of course there is the princess.
If you were looking for ‘War and Peace’ this is the wrong book for you. It’s a light-hearted and gently satirical fantasy, full of terrible puns and… cats.
Why you love this book:
- Funny
- Cats
- Easy Read
You can paste your review here. Also include who you would recommend this book to.
This may have been the first indie book I read, and it came at a time when I was feeling very down. It made me laugh aloud repeatedly and was the funniest fantasy book I’ve read. The gist: a cat gets turned into a human and is made to serve a wizard whose pantry is a portal to another dimension.
I will say that it is a little strange—reading a book from the PoV of a cat in a human body is definitely outside the bounds of traditional fantasy. But if you’re okay with strange, a lot of typos, and you feel like having a good laugh, this is a terrific little book to pick up. I’d recommend it to all people who like cats, humor, and fantasy.
I’ll backtrack to the typos. There’s a lot of inconsistencies with the names of people and things. I don’t expect the author intends to fix them. All the books in this list have a handful of errors (except maybe Witchfinder, I didn’t see a single error in Witchfinder), however, this one has the most.
Our Lady of the Artilects by Andrew Gillsmith
Sci-fi
2022
Standalone
World leaders are on edge when reports start coming in of next generation androids having strange, apocalyptic visions of a lady in white.
But when an Artilect belonging to the wealthiest man in Africa shows up at Our Lady of Nigeria basilica claiming to be possessed, the stakes are raised.
The Vatican sends Father Gabriel Serafian, an exorcist who left behind a brilliant career as a neuroscientist, to Benin City to investigate…and to figure out who is behind what must surely be a hack.
The timing couldn’t be worse. Rome is on the verge of reconciliation with the Chinese Economic Interest Zone after a 50 year cold war, and the Chinese are particularly sensitive about the so-called Apparition.
Serafian quickly finds himself caught up in a conspiracy of global–and possibly supernatural–dimensions.
To discover the truth and save not only humanity but the artilects themselves, Serafian enlists the aid of a tough-as-nails Imperial Praetor named Namono Mbambu.
Serafian and Mbambu are helped by a guilt-wracked Filipino Emperor, a taciturn Caliph, and a Uyghur Sufi named Ilham Tiliwadi as they race against time to stop a centuries-old plot that could end humanity as we know it.
Our Lady of the Artilects is a mind-bending supernatural science fiction novel where “The Exorcist” meets “Westworld,” with a light dusting of Snow Crash!
Why you love this book:
- Inoffensive despite sensitive topics
- Combines beauty, religion, and technology
- Research, so much research
- Incredible descriptions
This book is a little different from my other recommendations, and is my most recent read. This is not a cozy read or an adventurous, action-packed read and it’s a book that if I’d read the synopsis alone, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. I’m a Christian, and generally when I smell a hint of real-world religion in a SFF book, I nope out very quickly. I’ve always been a bit uncomfortable with Christianity when it’s mixed into fiction. To book, the author is Catholic, which I have strong negative associations with. However, the title and the cover made me feel like this was a book worth reading.
It was absolutely a book worth reading. It never made me feel uncomfortable about my own beliefs, and the author is excellent at moving through complex topics in inoffensive ways. There are characters from several different belief systems, and there’s no preaching about who is right or which religion is right. It stays true to SFF while representing several stances in a balanced way. This is not your typical monoculture sci-fi with a token character from elsewhere with an accent (I love Star Trek, don’t hate me), rather it feels very authentic in its representation of the future of multiple cultures.
As someone who is religious and reads SFF, I have of course pondered whether AI might eventually be considered beings with souls. Who hasn’t? This book takes on that topic in a way that’s exciting and interesting. There’s a pretty even mix of action and dialogue, and a great deal of description that’s unique and lovely, even when compared to fantasy books.
Finally, this book clearly required an immense amount of research that was woven in gracefully. The research on culture, modern events, and historical events is much more comprehensive than what I’ve seen elsewhere in SFF. At the end of the book, some beta readers are listed in the back who I suspect have a lot to do with that. Between the tech, religious elements, cultural elements, location descriptions, and event accounts, this book felt very grounded in reality, which made the immersion element solid.
I will say that the book suffers from a slow start. The first 25% of the book is primarily setup for events and doesn’t delve near enough into the character work. It’s very good setup, but I struggled to care about what was happening without a good character connection. I was interested for the first 25%, but not emotionally invested. That being said, I read character-driven books exclusively and I do think I require that character connection more than the average reader. One of the main reasons I don’t stray from SFF, is that general fiction tends to be much different in the character focus. It was promising enough in the setup that I didn’t DNF it though, and I do DNF mercilessly.
I recommend this book to readers who enjoy being made to think about complex topics in new ways, readers of multiple genres (if you’re content with the character work of thrillers and mysteries, for instance, the long wait on character work here won’t be a bother at all), readers who enjoy descriptive sci-fi, and readers who are okay with a slow start.
El’s Book Spotlight
Starlight Jewel
Epic Fantasy; Published 2022
Gifts of the Auldtree # 1
Gifts of the Auldtree is a world of mythology, glamor, mud, blood, civilizations in conflict, and hints of distant powers. In the center of this is the mysterious Starlight Jewel of Minalav.
Axly, the Starlight Company’s premier seductress-thief and assassin, will do whatever it takes to keep her human brother hidden. The secrets of his origin could tear their world apart, and keeping them has driven her to lies and murder. Her people, the sprygan-human hybrids that live under the city of Minalav, aren’t keen on allowing their most skilled asset to roam free. A job with a human offers a chance to get her brother out of danger, but it comes at a price. Divided loyalties, duty, romance, and the twisted hands of fate intertwine in this epic fantasy adventure.
Readers who enjoyed dark fantasy and epic fantasy would like this book.
Did you add any books to your TBR today based on this post or did you see any you have already read? Tell us in the comments!
Thanks for hanging out with us today! Connect with El on Twitter, Instagram and her website.
If you are an indie or small press author who is an avid reader and wants to be featured, sign up using the form on the Indie Recommends Indie home page. This is a fantastic way to bring attention to fellow indie authors as well as your own book. 🙂
Banner Photo of library by Alfons Morales on Unsplash
Be First to Comment