We are near the end of the first SFINCS (Speculative Fiction Novella Championship), and it's time to start doing a recap of the different finalists and announce our final scores.

  It's time to take a look at The Collector's Lost Things, by Jessica A. McMinn.

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Blind Those Who See…

Rei-Hai Shaw is a Collector, and he is very good.

At just thirteen years old, Rei became the youngest recruit ever to join the ranks of the Tower, the shadowy organisation that oversees the fulfilment of Whyt’hallen’s darkest requests.

Favoured by the masters but distrusted by his peers, Rei comes to learn the price of his accolades when the Tower demands more than the simple procurement of trinkets.

They want him to steal lives, too.

When his latest missions thrusts him back into the world of his childhood, Rei is painfully reminded of all he left behind—and what he can’t bear to lose again.

<<The character of Rei-Hai completely got his hooks into me enough that I want to read more, despite knowing hardly anything about the world. The looming presence of the Tower also intrigues me.>> - Trudie Skies

<<The characters are interesting, there’s just enough world-building for the setting to come alive, and the ideas of both stories are intriguing>> - Nils Ödlund

<<McMinn tells a really intense story inside this novella, putting a big focus on mental health and the dangers of power dynamics (...) The characters are well built, they are as complex as the length allows them.>> - Jamedi, Jamreads

Gathering all the scores together, we can announce that the final score for The Collector's Lost Things from Team Jamreads is:

7/10