SPFBO Champions: By Blood, by Salt by J.L. Odom

Welcome to the SPFBO Champions’ League! As you know, this is a special edition where we try to find out who will be the ultimate Champion among the last 10 SPFBO winners. Check out our SPFBO Chamopions’ League page for more info! SPFBO Champions’ League ends on December 20th, and we’ll post our reviews every 3 weeks or so.

Our 8th SPFBO Champion review is for By Blood, by Salt by J.L. Odom, the winner of SPFBO 10. The reviews within a post will be in alphabetical order.

A quick reminder about how we are proceeding in this edition: our judges had the freedom to opt out of reading any of the books due to personal interest, time restrictions, unforeseen life events, etc. Our aim is to have at least 4 reviews/scores for each Champion.

Once again, we’ll have a DNF rule in place: if a judge reads a book (if they didn’t opt out beforehand), they have to read at least 25% of it, although encouraged to read at least 50% since we are talking about champions. At whichever point they DNF, they’ll have to write a review and put a score in our spreadsheet.

As per the new rules for the SPFBO Champions’ Editidon, there aren’t going to be any public scores, but we’ll have them to help us decide the ranking. However, they won’t be shared anywhere. We will also have a mixed set of old and new reviews, meaning that if any of us reviewed a book before, we can reuse that review. Therefore, we’ll mark our reviews at the beginning as old or new.

For By Blood, by Salt, we have 4 reviews for your reading pleasure.

So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at our 8th Champion!

Table of Contents

• About the Book
• Book Blurb
• Reviews
  • Arina
  • Drew
  • Rari
  • Tru

Azetla has served the Maurowan Army for thirteen years. There are seven left to pay. A pariah and a debt soldier, he is a commander with no rank, a soldier without citizenship, and wears a sword that it is unlawful for him to either own or use. He has learned to hold his tongue or risk losing everything.

When Azetla’s battalion is sent into the desert to catch a Sahr devil—one of the famously brutal inhabitants of the region—his tenuous position is threatened. He discovers that there is far more to this mission than catching a fiend. For the Emperor of Maurow, it is a way to prove that he fears nothing, not even devils. For the Emperor’s brother, it is a stepping-stone to rebellion. For Azetla it could be deadly either way, as he is cornered into choosing a side in the coming coup.

But the devil that Azetla finds in the desert is not what anyone expects or wants. As the conspiracy against the Emperor becomes entangled with the simmering ambitions of the desert tribes, Azetla must decide if he’s willing to strike a bargain with a devil in order to survive.

Naturally, she is not to be trusted. But then again, neither is he.

Arina

Read: 100%
Review: Old

I have three books to go in my SPFBO 10 reading, and J.L. Odom’s By Blood, By Salt is currently my favorite in the entire competition. Beautiful, evocative writing paired with plentiful worldbuilding and characters with a bite, this first in a series stands out and leaves you parched for more (yes, I did have to make a desert pun).

Azetla is a refugee, a conscript serving the military of a country that despises him and strips his people of human rights. As strife strikes his battalion, he must decide to either take the opportunity to rise or fall behind the risk of losing it all.

Wesley is a newly risen political strategist, hungering for power and military command. Whispering in the ear of the emperor’s own brother, he seeks to elevate his reach and change the course of the empire.

Their paths clash in the unforgiving desert as the empire seeks a legendary demon that will help further ambitions and Azetla’s battalion is appointed to capture it. But legends are not what they sing and there are truths buried deep beneath each of the characters.

Thus begins an intricate and ambitious book, though it does come with some flaws. Odom‘s writing is undeniably beautiful, weaving an evocative narrative that paints the harsh desert landscapes and intricate political machinations vividly. 

However, the dense worldbuilding becomes a bit of a double-edged sword throughout the story. Many of the numerous tribes and locations begin with the same letters, which quickly become overwhelming. After a couple months, I can barely recall which tribe is which or how they relate to the larger story. That said, I appreciate the depth and complexity of the world, which mimics our own in its intricacies.

Where the book truly excels is its characters and the way Odom’s writing stands them out. Azetla is a compelling protagonist—quiet, focused, and thrust into a hostile environment. Wesley’s Machiavellian plot to power provides a fascinating counterpoint, though both characters seem to hit a sort of stasis mid-narrative, which converged in a late plotline that made the narrative feel a bit uneven.

There was one recurring motif of “some of your oppressors are just brainwashed and can in fact see you as human, if they are often enough exposed to your complacency and loyalty”. Though I claim no ill-intent from the author, I sour at that viewpoint towards racial violence.

Yet in other ways, By Blood, By Salt challenges some of the most tired (and most tiring) tropes of desert fantasy. 

While many books in this almost-subgenre reinforce Western-centric narratives of “civilized” heroes vs. “savage” desert dwellers, Odom’s approach felt more nuanced. The depiction of the jinn as something other than terrifying, otherworldly demons—shaped by real-world cultural fears— is a solid step away from conventional portrayals.

Despite its setbacks, By Blood, By Salt stood out to me and I am curious enough to read the next in the series and happy enough to champion its place on the podium.

Drew

Read: 100%
Review: Old

By Blood, By Salt is set amidst a world where an emperor holds power through a combination of belief, military power and factional infighting. It’s obvious that a great deal of thought has been put into the building of this world; from the religious divisions that often take centre stage to the various desert tribes encountered in the second half of the novel. Yet none of their introductions or explanations felt overly like info-dumping, which is definitely to the novel’s benefit. 

The bulk of the novel is told from the perspective of Azetla, a soldier in one of the empire’s older battalions. While we are given great insight into his thoughts, a lot is also held back due to his constant need to walk a tightrope. Educated and decisive, he has worked his way to being virtually the second-in-command of the battalion, while also being, essentially, a second-class citizen in the empire he serves. Multiple times he is referred to by the derogatory term ‘jackal’ or reminded that merely carrying a sword, let alone giving commands, would be sufficient cause for his immediate execution.

The basis of his exclusion is his religion and the deeply ingrained belief in the inferiority of his race. The latter is brought home especially hard in sections where the POV switches to other characters, those who know and have seen Azetla’s intelligence and competence, and yet cannot shake the inherent irritation and suspicion that he is, in some way, getting above himself. 

While there are several other POV characters, the one who has the second-most page time is Lord Wesley Verris. In many ways, he seems to be a mirror for Azetla. Although untried in combat, he can be as scheming and manipulative as Azetla and although a lord, the view of his lesser bloodline means he is considered almost an outsider at the Imperial court. However, it is his desire to rise above, and his coercion of the Emperor’s younger, impressionable brother, that sets the primary plotline in motion. 

While I found a great deal to enjoy and admire about By Blood, By Salt, there was something that held me back from truly loving it. It is a fairly unrelenting read, with little to leaven the scheming and oppressive atmosphere that the story invokes. Due to that, I feel like this might be a more challenging read for some.

Rari

Read: 100%
Review: New

OMG WHAT EVEN IS THIS BOOK!

(Incoherent screaming)

Well, trying to be coherent now:

I read this as part of the SPFBO Champions Edition. I knew this was this year’s SPFBO winner and I was planning to read it anyway, but I was on a bad case of reader’s block, so was putting it off.

But then I had to read it for the Champions Edition. I had read a few reviews of this while the competition was going on, and it was described as slow paced which worried me. As I said, I was coming out of a readers block and wasn’t sure how I’ll be able to handle a slow paced book.

Well, apparently, by not putting it down and by grabbing book 2 of the series and devouring it and nagging the author for book 3.

This is a book set in a Desert World very reminiscent of the Middle East in the days of the Old Testament. The Maurowan Empire rules by Divine Right, and the Emperor Riada is the current representative of the divine.

Not everyone is happy with Riada, and disaffected elements are planning a coup in the shadows with James, Riada’s bastard half-brother as their figurehead.

Azetla, the main character is a Mashevi, a people contemptuously called jackals by the Maurowans who have annexed their kingdom to the empire. The Mashevi has no rights in the empire and there is a festival where Mashevi criminals are sacrificed to the Maurowan gods. When you consider Mashevi has no rights and that no proof is needed for their crimes, it’s doubtful if the criminals are actually such.

Azetla is a debt conscript to the Maurowan army and has served for thirteen years already with seven more to go. When James and his accomplices and Riada engage in a subtle powerplay that involves his brigade, he has to cross the desert to the wild lands of Sahr to capture one of the Sahr devils. Though a jackal, Azetla is respected and treated as the second in command, but if James or his cronies learn of it, not only him, but the captain who has treated him as a son and the friends he has will all suffer.

And that was before the Sahr devil starts picking them off one by one.

I have to say, I haven’t loved a protagonist recently as much as I love Azetla. The Mashevi religion and history reminded me strongly of Judaism in the Old Testament and the travails of the Jewish people under various empires. The world is grim, dark, and bleak, and the lives of the people even more so. Despite the wealth and power of the empire, the soldiers and the common people are alike suffering, with the Mashevi a convenient whipping boy and target for everyone’s ire.

The characterisation is top notch as well and I loved the political intrigue as well as the push and pull in the army, and how even when he’s treated as one of their own, many soldiers still treat Azetla as less than unconsciously. The prejudices against the Mashevi and the mindset of the people that the Mashevi should be grateful if they’re treated with basic decency all resonates with a world that isolates those who are different.

If you love character driven fantasy with militaristic vibes and political intrigue, you’ll love this one.

Tru

Read: 100%
Review: Old

By Blood, By Salt is a Middle Eastern-inspired fantasy with a touch of military fantasy, grimdark, and a whole heap of politics. Right from the start we’re thrown into Azetla’s harsh world of warring tribes and clashing cultures, where poor Azetla is firmly marked as an outsider to his peers. A soldier who serves in his host nation’s army, Azetla and his people are described politically as ‘jackals’ and he breaks numerous social rules by owning a sword and serving his commander. Azetla is no fool though, not to his lot in life, or the political quagmire of his existence, and he’s learned how to navigate his duties and the ongoing hostilities of his city with a leashed tongue. However, when his unit are ordered to travel further into the desert to catch a mysterious entity on behalf of the emperor, and are joined by the emperor’s potentially traitorous brother, Azetla finds himself caught in a political battle that not only has implications for the empire, but his own life.

Thus begins a journey into the desert with a few bloody battles on the way. While most of the story is told from Azetla’s POV, we get a further glimpse into the world and the politics threading together in the background from the POV of the emperor’s brother, his scheming advisor, and a few other characters that help bring the world to life. I really liked Azetla’s character the most, and the grounded way that he handled his situation and pivoted to best improvise when things started going wrong. I wouldn’t say that any of the characters are having a good time in this world, and that’s why I threw ‘grimdark’ in there – the treatment of Azetla and his people is rather quite horrifying, though the various cultures and religions that are introduced each come with their own nuances that make their portrayal feel very real. This is a dry book, even for one set in the desert, with not a shred of humour or happiness to be found.

I’m honestly not usually one for politics-heavy books, because I personally find it hard to keep track of details, and that’s one thing I think readers will struggle with at the start. This book takes its time to lay out its foundations and set the atmosphere just right. It throws a lot at you, and some of the tribes have similar sounding names making it a little harder. That said, the prose absolutely drew me in, and I felt compelled to continue this journey with Azetla. The writing style has a lyrical quality without being overbearing and I did find myself lost in the wonderful writing here.

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