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Shadow's Symphony: Chronicles of the Bard King: Book Two
Shadows Symphony
The Chronicles of the Bard Book Two
Sequel to A Tempest of Shadows
The Storm Lord of Ver’Sut, Jerith, has conquered the north with iron and blood. His dominion spreads across Eodarrin, where the Anvil Tournament beckons the realm's greatest champions to fight for glory—or survival—in a contest where losing means death. Tasked with recruiting these warriors are Lysa and Rian, Jerith’s ruthless Sutori, bound by loyalty, ambition, and the weight of their master's reign.
For Liana Birkstotter, queen of a broken realm, and Aerendil Moonwhisper, a Fae exile grappling with the ghosts of his past, the world has never been more perilous. War, politics, and betrayal lurk at every turn, even as forbidden love ignites between them, threatening to unravel everything they have fought to rebuild.
Riona and Calix, drawn into a mission through the scorching desert, must confront monstrous forces that stir beneath the sands. Their journey intertwines with a band of misfits and magic-wielders, but the true threat lies in the heart of the desert—where long-forgotten gods may soon awaken.
Far to the south, beyond the Fire Sea, the kingdom of Sarathor teeters on the brink of chaos. Four royal brothers wage brutal campaigns to seize the throne, each willing to sacrifice their humanity for dominance. In the shadows, Prince Kadir, with the dark magic of Thalorin Nightshade at his side, plots his final conquest. As he unravels ancient secrets, Kadir’s ambition threatens to tear the very fabric of reality itself.
Ancient magic, political intrigue, and personal vendettas collide in this epic fantasy where the choices of a few will shape the fate of many. As alliances shift and old enemies rise, the battle for Sarathor is on the verge of exploding into war.
Fans of A Chorus of Dragons and The Priory of the Orange Tree will be captivated by Shadows Symphony’s intricate world-building, morally complex characters, and pulse-pounding action. Brace yourself for a tale of love, power, and betrayal as kingdoms fall and heroes rise from the ashes.
The Chronicles of the Bard Book Two
Sequel to A Tempest of Shadows
The Storm Lord of Ver’Sut, Jerith, has conquered the north with iron and blood. His dominion spreads across Eodarrin, where the Anvil Tournament beckons the realm's greatest champions to fight for glory—or survival—in a contest where losing means death. Tasked with recruiting these warriors are Lysa and Rian, Jerith’s ruthless Sutori, bound by loyalty, ambition, and the weight of their master's reign.
For Liana Birkstotter, queen of a broken realm, and Aerendil Moonwhisper, a Fae exile grappling with the ghosts of his past, the world has never been more perilous. War, politics, and betrayal lurk at every turn, even as forbidden love ignites between them, threatening to unravel everything they have fought to rebuild.
Riona and Calix, drawn into a mission through the scorching desert, must confront monstrous forces that stir beneath the sands. Their journey intertwines with a band of misfits and magic-wielders, but the true threat lies in the heart of the desert—where long-forgotten gods may soon awaken.
Far to the south, beyond the Fire Sea, the kingdom of Sarathor teeters on the brink of chaos. Four royal brothers wage brutal campaigns to seize the throne, each willing to sacrifice their humanity for dominance. In the shadows, Prince Kadir, with the dark magic of Thalorin Nightshade at his side, plots his final conquest. As he unravels ancient secrets, Kadir’s ambition threatens to tear the very fabric of reality itself.
Ancient magic, political intrigue, and personal vendettas collide in this epic fantasy where the choices of a few will shape the fate of many. As alliances shift and old enemies rise, the battle for Sarathor is on the verge of exploding into war.
Fans of A Chorus of Dragons and The Priory of the Orange Tree will be captivated by Shadows Symphony’s intricate world-building, morally complex characters, and pulse-pounding action. Brace yourself for a tale of love, power, and betrayal as kingdoms fall and heroes rise from the ashes.
526 pages, Hardcover
Published October 3, 2024
7 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
J.S. Herod
14 books9 followersJ.S. Herod is a Literary Titan Award-winning author of immersive epic fantasy and romantasy, celebrated for his deep character work, layered storytelling, and evocative, lived-in worlds. His writing style blends emotionally charged prose with a touch of grit and humor, grounding high fantasy in very human experiences.
Though he currently lives in the quiet rural town of Myrtle, Mississippi, Herod’s roots stretch across the country. Born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in southeastern Oklahoma on the Choctaw Nation Reservation, his early years were shaped by tribal storytellers and long hours wandering libraries at Ole Miss while his mother pursued a degree in Linguistics. As a teenager with a thirst for knowledge and a love of words, he was fortunate enough to sit in on college-level literature and linguistics classes—experiences that lit a lifelong fire for language and story.
Later, he spent two decades moving from state to state—from Texas to North Carolina to Pennsylvania—collecting memories, mistakes, and a kind of wisdom that only comes from living a few lifetimes in one. Those years, and the people in them, gave him an enduring belief in the power of found family, a theme that echoes through all his work.
Herod’s characters are flawed, fierce, and heartbreakingly real—struggling with trauma, mental health, love, and loyalty. And while his stories span vast kingdoms and mythical lands, they are always, at their core, about connection. “I don’t have friends,” he often says. “I have extended family.”
When he isn’t writing, you’ll likely find him designing book covers, editing trailers, or brushing up on marketing—doing everything himself as an independent author. But when he manages to steal a quiet moment? Picture a leather chair, a glass of 15-year-old Macallan, a fine Macanudo, and a well-worn classic in hand.
His goal? To make you feel something. To make you remember.
Though he currently lives in the quiet rural town of Myrtle, Mississippi, Herod’s roots stretch across the country. Born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in southeastern Oklahoma on the Choctaw Nation Reservation, his early years were shaped by tribal storytellers and long hours wandering libraries at Ole Miss while his mother pursued a degree in Linguistics. As a teenager with a thirst for knowledge and a love of words, he was fortunate enough to sit in on college-level literature and linguistics classes—experiences that lit a lifelong fire for language and story.
Later, he spent two decades moving from state to state—from Texas to North Carolina to Pennsylvania—collecting memories, mistakes, and a kind of wisdom that only comes from living a few lifetimes in one. Those years, and the people in them, gave him an enduring belief in the power of found family, a theme that echoes through all his work.
Herod’s characters are flawed, fierce, and heartbreakingly real—struggling with trauma, mental health, love, and loyalty. And while his stories span vast kingdoms and mythical lands, they are always, at their core, about connection. “I don’t have friends,” he often says. “I have extended family.”
When he isn’t writing, you’ll likely find him designing book covers, editing trailers, or brushing up on marketing—doing everything himself as an independent author. But when he manages to steal a quiet moment? Picture a leather chair, a glass of 15-year-old Macallan, a fine Macanudo, and a well-worn classic in hand.
His goal? To make you feel something. To make you remember.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 13, 2025
I knew better. I knew after suffering through this person's first foray into pretending to pass themself off as an author that their books were AI-written garbage. I blame only myself for clicking through when Kindle Unlimited recommended me a second helping of their garbage.
The most appalling thing about this one is how the so-called author has already given up any pretense of trying to conceal the AI-isms present this time around. As I said when offering my victim's statement from reading the first book in this series, once you've seen AI written prose, you cannot unsee it. It jumps off the page like a flashing neon sign on a starless night, screaming "FRAUD, FRAUD, FRAUD."
The distinctive sentence structure, turns of phrase, and vocabulary choices that ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude use are all there. All the buzzwords like "cacophony" to describe sounds, "kaleidoscope" to describe the light patterns of the morning sun (AI absolutely LOVES to set scenes with the position of the sun), repeated uses of the vapid phrase "not just ___, but ___," and so, so many times people speak in a "voice barely above a whisper."
The usual cast of AI stock characters are here, too. The same names ChatGPT vomits out when the prompt fed into it says "write fantasy." I'm looking at you Liana, Kael, Aldric, Elara (she's AI's absolute favorite. She's the smoking gun. Any fantasy book written after 2022 with an Elara in it, there's a better than average chance it's the product of a hack using AI to pretend to be an author.)
And then there's Eldoria. Good ol' Eldoria. AKA the default setting an AI pulls out of its virtual ass when it needs to name a fantasy realm. Remember what I said about Elara being proof that something has a better than average chance of being written by AI? Well, including Eldoria pushes the needle to a comfortable 100%. Not convinced? Notorious AI "author" Samuel DenHartog, the gold standard of being an AI hack, also has a Kingdom of Eldoria. A quick search for Eldoria on Amazon will give you dozens upon dozens of shitty fantasy books, with the requisite AI generated covers, and all these books were amazingly written after that magic timestamp in 2022 when ChatGPT hit the public consciousness.
I'm sure it's all a coincidence, though. I'm sure that this author had, completely on his own through years of practice, beta readers, revision, and refinement landed on a writer's voice that sounds exactly like the vapid writing of artificial intelligence. I'm sure that his long-dormant writing itch, as mentioned from his bio right here on Goodreads, which conveniently re-awakened after ChatGPT became available, was already capable of writing more pages in a shorter timeframe than heavyweights like Stephen King or Brandon Sanderson. That's finished pages, mind you. Not drafts or edits. Given his output since Book 1, it's amazing.
To the author: Shame on you.
To potential readers: Strongest possible recommendation to avoid this.
The most appalling thing about this one is how the so-called author has already given up any pretense of trying to conceal the AI-isms present this time around. As I said when offering my victim's statement from reading the first book in this series, once you've seen AI written prose, you cannot unsee it. It jumps off the page like a flashing neon sign on a starless night, screaming "FRAUD, FRAUD, FRAUD."
The distinctive sentence structure, turns of phrase, and vocabulary choices that ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude use are all there. All the buzzwords like "cacophony" to describe sounds, "kaleidoscope" to describe the light patterns of the morning sun (AI absolutely LOVES to set scenes with the position of the sun), repeated uses of the vapid phrase "not just ___, but ___," and so, so many times people speak in a "voice barely above a whisper."
The usual cast of AI stock characters are here, too. The same names ChatGPT vomits out when the prompt fed into it says "write fantasy." I'm looking at you Liana, Kael, Aldric, Elara (she's AI's absolute favorite. She's the smoking gun. Any fantasy book written after 2022 with an Elara in it, there's a better than average chance it's the product of a hack using AI to pretend to be an author.)
And then there's Eldoria. Good ol' Eldoria. AKA the default setting an AI pulls out of its virtual ass when it needs to name a fantasy realm. Remember what I said about Elara being proof that something has a better than average chance of being written by AI? Well, including Eldoria pushes the needle to a comfortable 100%. Not convinced? Notorious AI "author" Samuel DenHartog, the gold standard of being an AI hack, also has a Kingdom of Eldoria. A quick search for Eldoria on Amazon will give you dozens upon dozens of shitty fantasy books, with the requisite AI generated covers, and all these books were amazingly written after that magic timestamp in 2022 when ChatGPT hit the public consciousness.
I'm sure it's all a coincidence, though. I'm sure that this author had, completely on his own through years of practice, beta readers, revision, and refinement landed on a writer's voice that sounds exactly like the vapid writing of artificial intelligence. I'm sure that his long-dormant writing itch, as mentioned from his bio right here on Goodreads, which conveniently re-awakened after ChatGPT became available, was already capable of writing more pages in a shorter timeframe than heavyweights like Stephen King or Brandon Sanderson. That's finished pages, mind you. Not drafts or edits. Given his output since Book 1, it's amazing.
To the author: Shame on you.
To potential readers: Strongest possible recommendation to avoid this.
November 8, 2024
Where do I even start? Lol. First, I'm mad at the ending 🤣🤣🤣 because the next book isn't here for me to read yet and that's unfair🤣🤣. There was a part of me that always knew something was up with Marek. I just knew his background would be intense and I was right. And I'm not going to lie, in that I want some justice for that man. I adore him. And this book. My heart absolutely broke with Finn & Nell & I was screaming for them to be rescued. Cyrus & Baelan just melt your heart. But the whole story just leaves you....almost breathless and definitely wanting more. There's definitely power in words and this book is one h*ll of a story. The worlds created are phenomenal. The characters, even the evil ones, just carry such intrigue. Like the Vizier. Something's up with him lol. I can not wait until the next book!.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
October 7, 2024
Amazingly written with captivating plot. Unputdownable, you'll want to keep reading to discover more of this interesting world. A charming tale that will keep you on your toes the whole time.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews