Bill Adams (author, editor of The Tenacious Tale of Tanna the Tendersword)

Bill Adams and 3 other people liked James Harwood-Jones's review of Brotherhood of the Wolf (Runelords, #2): "So here we are at the end of Brotherhood of the Wolf. So two books in and this series has become my latest addiction. It is absolutely crazy to me that I put this series off for so long. It’s been such a welcome surprise for the dark fantasy lover I " Read more of this review »
2 hours, 27 min ago · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Brotherhood of the Wolf by David Farland. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Brotherhood of the Wolf by David Farland <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Bill Adams and 3 other people liked Iseult Murphy's review of Protocol of Valor (The Legacy of Boulom): "Thank you to the author for providing me with a free audiobook. I am voluntarily leaving this review. Jacqui Winsor does a fine job of narrating this book and I enjoyed listening to her. I haven't read any of the others books in this series, so it woul" Read more of this review »
14 hours, 49 min ago · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Protocol of Valor by Timothy Wolff. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Protocol of Valor by Timothy Wolff <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Bill Adams and 3 other people liked Shane Boyce's review of The Stars Within:
16 hours, 12 min ago · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Stars Within by Alex Arch. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Stars Within by Alex Arch <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Bill Adams and 1 other person liked Shane’s status update Shane Boyce started reading The Stars Within
Mar 07, 2026 12:58PM · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Stars Within by Alex Arch. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Stars Within by Alex Arch <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Bill Adams made a comment on Esmay Rosalyne’s review of The Red Winter " Have you ever watched the French movie Le Pacte des Loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf)? It's about this but with martial arts haha ...more "
Mar 04, 2026 05:24PM · see review
Bill Adams rated a book really liked it Scourge of Thorns (The Strong Gods, #1) by Eden Hudson (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Scourge of Thorns is grimdark at its grimdarkiest, and author eden Hudson pulls no punches here. We are dropped into a brutal world right from the opening pages and if you’re not blessed by the strong gods, you won’t make it out alive. Here’s the book ...more
Mar 04, 2026 08:49AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Scourge of Thorns by Eden Hudson. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Scourge of Thorns by Eden Hudson <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Bill Adams made a comment on James Harwood-Jones’s review of The Runelords (Runelords, #1) " The first four complete a full arc with these characters. The books after are a separate series continuation "
Mar 01, 2026 06:55AM · see review
Bill Adams made a comment on Stacey Markle’s review of The Monsters We Feed " Isn't it sooooo good???? More people need to read this story! ...more "
Feb 20, 2026 09:27PM · see review
Bill Adams rated a book really liked it Wild Skies (Yeehaw Dragons #1) by K.E. Andrews (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This was a fun genre blend of a story. Can't go wrong with dragon rider bounty hunters with magic spells in the wild west! A quick read with lots of cool concepts mashed together. ...more
Feb 20, 2026 07:06PM · 4 likes · like · see review
Bill Adams rated a book it was amazing To Touch a Silent Fury (The Bride of Eavenfold, #1) by R.A. Sandpiper (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
To Touch a Silent Fury is one hell of a book, one that I knew would be amazing based on its ratings as well as fellow friends’ reviews, but I guess I wasn’t prepared for how good this book would be. And that’s because I’m a moron. Listen, I’m friends ...more
Feb 19, 2026 05:25PM · 5 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of To Touch a Silent Fury by R.A. Sandpiper. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — To Touch a Silent Fury by R.A. Sandpiper <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

Bill Adams and 3 other people liked James Harwood-Jones's review of Brotherhood of the Wolf (Runelords, #2):

Brotherhood of the Wolf by David Farland

"So here we are at the end of Brotherhood of the Wolf. So two books in and this series has become my latest addiction.

It is absolutely crazy to me that I put this series off for so long. It’s been such a welcome surprise for the dark fantasy lover I " Read more of this review »

Bill Adams and 3 other people liked Iseult Murphy's review of Protocol of Valor (The Legacy of Boulom):

"Thank you to the author for providing me with a free audiobook. I am voluntarily leaving this review.

Jacqui Winsor does a fine job of narrating this book and I enjoyed listening to her.

I haven't read any of the others books in this series, so it woul" Read more of this review »

Bill Adams and 3 other people liked Shane Boyce's review of The Stars Within:

Bill Adams and 1 other person liked Shane’s status update

Shane Boyce started reading The Stars Within

Bill Adams made a comment on Esmay Rosalyne’s review of The Red Winter

" Have you ever watched the French movie Le Pacte des Loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf)? It's about this but with martial arts haha ...more "

Bill Adams rated a book really liked it

Scourge of Thorns (The Strong Gods, #1)
by Eden Hudson (Goodreads Author)

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Scourge of Thorns is grimdark at its grimdarkiest, and author eden Hudson pulls no punches here. We are dropped into a brutal world right from the opening pages and if you’re not blessed by the strong gods, you won’t make it out alive.

Here’s the book Scourge of Thorns is grimdark at its grimdarkiest, and author eden Hudson pulls no punches here. We are dropped into a brutal world right from the opening pages and if you’re not blessed by the strong gods, you won’t make it out alive.

Here’s the book in one long run-on sentence and a second smaller one: a lecherous prince, a half-gelded pirate, and a street urchin with terrible bathing habits & grammar all join a battle school of blood magic to eventually die horribly young deaths in service of a non-vampire, vampiric king hellbent on destroying the world of the sun and plunge it into the darkness of night. Plus there’s a mad queen who is creepy as sin.

This book is an interesting one because the world is something I’ve not really seen before, and it really does fit the grimdark tone. There is a neat prologue that is biblical in nature, outlining the basis of the gods and how two peoples started, those of the day and those of the night. These aren’t vampires, but these people of the night are uber pale, the sun hurts their flesh so they do everything by night, their cities and sleep schedules flipped. This was awesome worldbuilding, and then bring on the blood magic, which sometimes involves drinking blood… Who doesn’t love blood magic??? The main use of blood magic is called grafting and that involves being stabbed in the heart, dying, then being brought back to life and becoming a bloodslave to the king or lord/queen/crown prince. The Thorns (battle school graduates) are the royal guard, dying for real this time mostly young or in horrible ways in their service.

There are three main points of view characters, plus a number of side POVs. Izak is the crown prince and heir of the Kingdom of Night, but this older teen wants to nothing more than drink and whores. He’s lazy, snarky, and not desirable for the throne. Since he is a royal, Izak has some really awesome blood magic powers, like smoke stepping (aka turning to smoke and appearing distances away) and illusion powers. Aaram is a pirate, just launching his first raiding ship in search of a bride. These opening scenes with Aaram and the bride raid was so epic, the concept was amazing and I really liked it, give me a whole book like this please and thank you. Brat is a street thief and is the main source of humor in this book. Brat hates bathing, swears a ton, has poor speaking skills, and is an all around nuisance but such an amazing character. Brat’s full arc is great, with a neat twist I figured out early on but awesome nonetheless. And the ending with Brat was hella cool.

Jadarah, the mad queen, giiiiiiirl is probably the creepiest character I’ve read in ages. Like she legit creeped me out whenever she showed up on page. Remember, this world and kingdom they live in is based in the powers of night and blood and strong gods, so Jadarah is essentially this blood seer who is guiding the king on this prophecy of mega proportion. But what makes Jadarah creepy, yet ultimately compelling in a sick, disgusting way, is how gross she truly is. This woman is considered beautiful, like Helen of Troy beautiful, but she’s so entrenched in her beliefs and blood magic, she only bathes in blood. Hudson goes to great lengths via our characters to describe how loathsome she smells of death and sex. Oh yes, Jadarah utilizes sex a lot in her magic (more on this below), and it is so well realized that I started to feel icky whenever she appeared on page. She is so incredibly cruel to her daughter (for plot reasons) and to the princes. Jadarah could easily have come off as a one-note villain, but as much as I was grossed out by her, she was incredibly compelling to have around, always keeping me guessing what would come next.

Here’s where I struggle a bit with this book, and that’s the structure of our dual plots. Ultimately, I really liked the book on the whole, but I did have some quibbles with the presentation. When we are introduced to all three of our mains in the beginning, we get this great close 3rd POV perspective from each of them. But when we get to Thornfield, aka the battle school, it becomes more 3rd omniscient, which is not my favorite, but fine, it works. But then it becomes something more akin to short vignettes of a montage, almost like 1000ft views, for example this sickness happens and a couple of battle school teens die, then we move on to another time jump. I get it, we go through three years at this school, time has to pass and we can’t spend too much time on every part, but in the middle of all this, the secondary political intrigue plot happens, and this is back in mostly close 3rd between Etianiel (Izak’s brother, who had a really compelling arc) and Clarencio setting up the coming war for the king. It all works, don’t get me wrong, but it does take some getting used to. And I will say, the battle school focus didn’t really dive too deeply into the mechanics of what makes this battle school so difficult, it really focused on the two mock tournaments each year and who wins. I wish there would have been more showing of these characters learning the blood magic skills instead of the after affects of them mastering it. This book is already over 550 pages but I felt there could have been another 100 with the political intrigue part, mainly with Kelena (the princess who has such a baleful experience) as the POV. But, again, I’m picking nits here.

There is one thing I do have to say, and I do commend Hudson for not shying away from it, but the first chapter is brutal AF. It has to do with Jadarah and her blood magic and how she uses sex with her bloodslaved Thorns. It was uncomfortable and it may put some readers off due to its nature, but it really did showcase how dark this world is. This is not a hopeful world, and this scene lets you know it. It is the darkest scene in the book, in my opinion.

If grimdark, true grimdark, is your jam, then check out Scourge of Thorns. It is chock full of blood, terrible people doing terrible things, and awesome worldbuilding that sets up what is to be an epic series. I enjoyed this book, but it also made me want to bathe after a few scenes, unlike a certain mad queen or streetwise brat…

*I received an ARC from the author in return for an honest review ...more

Bill Adams made a comment on James Harwood-Jones’s review of The Runelords (Runelords, #1)

" The first four complete a full arc with these characters. The books after are a separate series continuation "

Bill Adams made a comment on Stacey Markle’s review of The Monsters We Feed

The Monsters We Feed by Thomas Howard Riley

" Isn't it sooooo good???? More people need to read this story! ...more "

Bill Adams rated a book really liked it

Wild Skies (Yeehaw Dragons #1)
by K.E. Andrews (Goodreads Author)

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This was a fun genre blend of a story. Can't go wrong with dragon rider bounty hunters with magic spells in the wild west! A quick read with lots of cool concepts mashed together. ...more

Bill Adams rated a book it was amazing

To Touch a Silent Fury by R.A. Sandpiper

To Touch a Silent Fury (The Bride of Eavenfold, #1)
by R.A. Sandpiper (Goodreads Author)

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To Touch a Silent Fury is one hell of a book, one that I knew would be amazing based on its ratings as well as fellow friends’ reviews, but I guess I wasn’t prepared for how good this book would be. And that’s because I’m a moron. Listen, I’m friends To Touch a Silent Fury is one hell of a book, one that I knew would be amazing based on its ratings as well as fellow friends’ reviews, but I guess I wasn’t prepared for how good this book would be. And that’s because I’m a moron. Listen, I’m friends with Sandpiper and I’ve also read her debut, A Pocket of Lies, so I already knew she was one talented writer who could create an instantly connectable and enjoyable main protagonist, but TTaSF really surprised me on how she not only made an even more undeniably amazing main protagonist, but then decided to add a second all the while crafting an excellent romance with a detailed world!

Those who are moontouched, aka born at midnight on a certain day, are sent to the island of Eavenfold, there they train in five paths. These white-haired, white-eyed children are then tested at age 20, where their capital F Fate is assigned to them, and until the conditions are met, their magic cannot reach its full potential. This is where Tanidwen (Tani) meets hers. Oh, she’s also the only woman ever. She is given a Marriage Fate, cue romance! But of course things go awry and before the book ends, she’s drawn into political machinations and baby dragon rearing.

I want to start by saying TTaSF might be one of the best uses of 1st Person POV I have ever read. Those who know me, know that I have a dislike for most 1st POV because I find the prose to be lacking dynamism or voice when it’s mostly “I do this” followed by “then I do this” “I…I…I”. If I am going to be in someone’s close 1st perspective, I want their voice to bleed through the page and it’s very rare I find that. Sandpiper created a masterclass with Tani’s and Lang’s dual POVs. The pronouns just disappear within the dynamic prose and deeply emotional voice. I found myself absolutely caught up within these characters’ journeys, glued to the pages. I never felt like I wasn’t viewing the world and plot arc outside of their vision. And even though each chapter has the POV’s name it it, I never once had to look at it to know who’s arc I was in, there was clarity from the beginning and you don’t see that often. Bravo R.A. Sandpiper, bravo.

For the characters themselves, Tani is utterly compelling. I will admit that Fated Mates is not a trope I genuinely enjoy, but Sandpiper gives plenty of agency to Tani, even when it feels like there isn’t any. Yes, for her to gain control over full magic abilities, she has to marry the winner of a tournament, meaning she needs a dude in her life. But because of plot things, she has to make multiple decisions, some with major reveals about her history that will alter her Fate. She is nothing if not determined. But we also feel every aching emotion about her loneliness as the only female moontouched, her anger at her Fate, her yearning for companionship. Sandpiper makes us feel so deeply for Tani, it was frankly rude to twist our emotions like that. And then Lang as the foil. A man feared and hated, but also one with a captivating backstory. He’s the Dragon Prince with all sorts of political scheming surrounding him. His arc was just as great as Tani’s. And even though they are Fated Mates, there is so much depth to their arcs, so much growth, it never felt forced.

The magic system is quite interesting, it’s based on the 5 senses. Hell, even the lands are called that, the Scentlands, the Touchlands, etc. And the cultures of these lands focus on honing their senses, ie those in the Soundlands have insanely perceptive hearing, and this plays into the moontouched’s magic. For example, Tani’s only moontouched friend (who’s also in love with her) Seth, he’s from the Sightlands, his Fate is to become an advisor because his magic gives him visions of possible futures. Tani is from the Touchlands and her magic allows her to read people’s emotions just from touching them. I found this magic system very fun in its low-key nature.

Did I mention there are dragons and wyverns in this book? Did I also mention there are dragon-bonded riders and wyvern-bonded riders? No? I probably should then as that’s a key element of the plot.

To Touch a Silent Fury is an incredible slow-burn romantasy with epic worldbuilding that never feels exposition-y. Yes, there is a Fated Mates aspect to this story, but how it unfolds and the twists/turns it takes to get there, plus an interesting cliffhanger, made for a very enjoyable read. Highly recommend this book and I eagerly await with the rest of this book’s many many fans for the conclusion to The Bride of Eavenfold duology! ...more

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	The Tenacious Tale of Tanna the Tendersword by Dewey Conway (Goodreads Author) (author, illustrator), Bill Adams (Goodreads Author) (author, editor) 4.27 avg rating — 113 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Godsblood Tragedy (The Divine Godsqueen Coda, #1) 4.38 avg rating — 60 ratings — published 2024	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Locks & Keys: A Fantasy Anthology by Alex Scheuermann (Goodreads Author), Bill Adams (Goodreads Author) (Author, Editor), Tom Bookbeard 4.15 avg rating — 48 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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