SPFBO 10: Temper The Dark By L. Ryan Storms

Welcome to the Semi-Final stage of SPFBO 10! As you know, we already cut 25 books from our batch of 30 and announced our semi-finalists. Check out our SPFBO 10 page for more info! In the next few weeks, we’ll post group reviews of each semi-finalist, and then we’ll reveal our finalist on October 17th.

Our second SPFBO 10 semi-finalist review is for Temper the Dark by L. Ryan Storms. The order of the reviews within a post will be the following: first is the person who picked the book as a semi-finalist, and then the others in alphabetical order.

In the Semi-Finals all of us will try and read all of our semi-finalists in order to be able to determine our Finalist based on our overall scores.

Both in the Semi-Final and Final stages we’ll have a DNF rule in place: if a judge reads a book (either semi-finalist or finalist if they didn’t opt out beforehand), they have to read at least 25% of it. If they decide to DNF between 25%-50% they’ll have to give a score but can opt out of writing a review, and if they DNF after 50% (or not) then they also have to score AND write a review.

For Temper the Dark we have 4 reviews and 5 scores for your reading pleasures.

So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at our second semi-finalist!

Series:	standalone
Genre:	Fantasy
Publisher:	self-published
Date of Publishing:	June 27th, 2023

Servant girl Alaris Kahlanik finds out about her family’s gift the hard way when she discovers her ability to dreamwalk after being condemned to the Cells. With thoughts of escape, she uses her newfound ability to spy on the emperor and his secret search for something important. Nothing the emperor wants could possibly be good for the people he rules, and so whatever the emperor is looking for, Alaris must find first.

Throlani Guardsman Kagan Liis has served the Empire since Emperor Patuk’s reign began eight years ago. He can also communicate with a vicious oracle referred to only as the Darkness. When the Darkness tasks Kagan with investigating the Servant girl in the Cells, Kagan takes on a special mission that will require more than his usual interrogation methods of brute strength and intimidation.

From vastly different echelons of the same tribal society, Alaris and Kagan are surprised to learn they share one important goal—ensuring the best for the people of their island nation. Alaris discovers what the emperor is looking for — a dragon! But warning a senile dragon against impending danger is no easy task. Together, Alaris and Kagan must save a forgetful dragon and a divided nation…which may mean giving up any hope of saving themselves.

Timy

Read: 100%

I must admit, Temper the Dark caught me by surprise. When I was done with my initial sampling round (reading 20% of each book in my batch), my mind kept coming back to this book as it got my interest picked. It was the first book I returned to – and finished.

The set up is pretty simple. We have a Servant girl, Alaris who is kept in a cell and only a few people know why, herself not included. And we have Kagan, a young officer, part of the Throlani Guard, nephew of the general who is only second to the Emperor, whose interest is piqued as to why Alaris is imprisoned. Being raised differently, and having vastly different memories from their childhoods, these two have a natural dislike and a mutual lack of trust. Desperate times call for desperate measures, however.

From the get-go, it’s pretty clear where things are headed, but that’s expected from a YA Fantasy Romance novel working with tropes, so I absolutely didn’t have a problem with that. Both Kagan and Alaris were interesting characters with their personalities, views, and traumas. Their interactions were good, and their arc never felt forced. And it definitely wasn’t insta love, for which I was grateful, if there is a romance trope I hate, then insta love is definitely one. Both having their POV, written in first person, was also a bonus, as it helped that they both had their share of the spotlight and we got to see both sides of the equation. I liked that. It also made it easier to connect with them. We got to see both of them struggle with their values, ideas, and prejudices in a way that made them very relatable.

I also liked the island setting and the worldbuilding. I’m not sure what it’s about tropical-like islands that call to me, but here we are. The plot is not overly complicated, but that actually suited this book. On the whole, everything worked very well. There were sweet moments, brutal ones, and a lot in between.

However. As much as I had fun with Temper the Dark, I also had some issues. The writing and the editing are a bit rough around the edges, I felt like it could have done with some cleaning up. And I’m not sure how I feel about one of the big reveals in the end, as it felt… easy? Unimaginative? Yeah, I think that’s a good word. But then, the whole book itself has nothing mindblowing to it, which is not to say it’s bad. On the contrary, I think people will find the familiarity working for them very well. And also, did I mention there is a dragon?

As I said, I certainly enjoyed it a lot, and I believe that it will appeal to a lot of readers, even those who don’t like romance (I promise, it’s not very in your face). Temper the Dark is a standalone with a clear ending, although I don’t see why it couldn’t get a sequel, as there are plenty of things to discover yet.

Jen

Read: 100%

Temper the Dark was an enjoyable romantasy.

The characters are fun – Alaris is spunky and Kagan has just enough blind loyalty to his Emperor, fellow soldiers and his beliefs to allow us to question his motives throughout. I’m a die-hard enemy to lovers’ fan so I appreciated the possibility of it not working out between him and Alairis even while expecting it to. (Also, tbh I am never quite sure when I read a romantasy if hea applies in the sub-genre?)

I have always preferred to have POVs from each of the leads in a romance, so I was quite happy to spend time with both Alaris and Kagan and it was nice to see their world through their eyes; especially being of such completely different social classes.

I also really enjoy a bad guy I can hate, so props to the villain for being suitably villain-y. Though I did have a pause at him giving away the one thing that could give him more of what he wanted.

One thing I really thought was fun in Temper the Dark, and enjoyed a lot – was the problems associated with Alaris’s gift. I liked how it had to be dealt with in some of the most inconvenient times. It’s always nice to see things not always be at an optimum level when dealing with magical abilities.

Temper the Dark‘s story grew very nicely; the world, the characters, the magic, the romance, each little piece filled things out expanding the plot and our understanding of the world they live in.

Occasionally things did feel on the easy-side; Alaris coming across her sister comes to mind, and that last-inning save for the one character… but hey, I’m all about the HEA so I’m not going to complain too much on that score if it gets me a nice finish.

Liis

Read: 100%

I think the ‘book I didn’t expect to like as much but ended up really enjoying‘ is a thing when it comes to SPFBO. As time goes on and free time to simply read and enjoy book decreases, the enjoyment factor becomes more and more important to me. Temper the Dark was truly enjoyable for me and a total surprise.

The only ‘negative’ I would mention is the age old cliché of a romance in between 2 people who should not be together. The cliché that even though they are both nice, they see one another as an ‘impossible to like’ and there is a misunderstanding in between them. Cliché, but in Temper the Dark – well done because the cringe dials were nicely balanced. Kudos for zero cringe moments!

I enjoyed both of the POVs – neither of them had any easy decisions to make and the romancy bit was just enough. It tantalized the imagination enough to come across cute and exciting.

There is a cool twist in the book that my other team mates saw coming a mile away – and I didn’t – so, this ‘holy shit’ moment worked for me beautifully!

Finally, bonus points for the depiction of the ‘power’ that Alaris holds within her – that it’s not without consequences, and of course Kagan has his own darkness to deal with (pun intended!). Bonus-bonus points for the dragon! What a cool way to weave a dragon into the story!

Temper the Dark was a really, truly enjoyable book for me which I finished reading in record time and had fun while doing it! Just what a book is supposed to be and do!

Tru

Read: 100%

Temper the Dark is a YA fantasy following the POV of two teens from opposite ends of the social divide. We begin the story with Alaris, a tribeswoman who was forced into a life of servitude after her island was taken over by Emperor Patuk and her family killed. Working as a servant girl under the new empire, she is one day thrown into the cells, though she doesn’t know why—until she discovers the ability to dream walk. Obviously angry at the empire, she uses her newfound abilities to play spy and learn that Patuk is searching for something of deadly importance that she must uncover first. Our second POV character is Kagan, a soldier sworn in service to the empire and with his own unique ability to speak with a strange voice known as the Darkness. This entity tasks Kagan with discovering the secret of Alaris’s powers, and thus begins a cat and mouse game as Kagan attempts to gain Alaris’s trust, who rightfully doesn’t. While Kagan also belongs to the same tribe as Alaris, serving the emperor makes him part of her oppressors.

As the story unfolds and the two characters are forced together, Alaris learns that the emperor is hunting a dragon—a dragon she is able to communicate with via her dream walking—and Kagan begins to learn the cruelties of the empire. Alaris is a strong and capable young woman with a defiant heart worthy of a plucky YA protagonist who eventually softens to Kagen, yet it’s the young soldier who goes through the most character development as he finally steps free from the empire’s control. As this is a YA story, there is a growing romance, one that I’m not sure really worked for me as it felt somewhat forced and didn’t have enough time to develop naturally.

I struggled to find our two protagonists likable at the beginning. Despite being locked in a cell, Alaris takes time to think about how handsome Kagan is, while being her oppressor, and there is also a female side character that Alaris seems to mock for being too feminine, while Kagan basically slut shames her for being flirtatious. I know this character was supposed to be a villain, but there are better ways of doing that, and I’d rather we leave such tropes behind.

Despite these problematic niggles, I found Temper the Dark to be incredibly fast-paced with plenty of action, intrigue, and twists to keep me turning the page, and I blasted through it quickly. I appreciated that this was a self-contained story with the possibility of a sequel—we simply didn’t get enough page time with the dragons!