Review: The Tenacious Tale of Tanna the Tendersword by Dewey Conway and Bill Adams

Blurb:

Galdifort Quillpen has grand dreams of writing epic tales of heroic deeds, just like his famous aunt. Unfortunately, he’s been assigned to Tanna the Tendersword, an excruciatingly carefree would-be-champion who can’t seem to find a qualifying entry-level quest.

When things are at their most miserable, the young Questers meet an enigmatic old woman who offers Tanna a quest: follow a peg-legged, sword-wielding rooster to help save a crying mushroom lost within a haunted forest. Tanna heroically accepts, regardless of how incredibly unsafe the odd quest seems.

But Galdifort’s fears become reality when a sorceress sends her fog monster and lizard henchmen after them. Only a true Champion should confront a sorceress, and, in his eyes, Tanna is not up to the task. But if he wants to write his chronicle, Galdifort must learn to do something he certainly isn’t comfortable doing — trust in honest friendship with Tanna the Tendersword.

He’s just a chronicler, after all, not a hero!

Review:

This book is absolutely hilarious, while also being heart-warming, action-packed, and just plain fun. It’s Middle grade madness for the whole family with a fantastic voice, deep worldbuilding, and humor that hits home for both adults and younger audiences. You’ve got  lovable characters, a good story that moves forward at a nice pace, and evil sorceress, and villainous lizard men. Also, the greatest rooster ever. More on him in a minute. 

My favorite part about the book was the characters, so let’s talk about them first.

 I love Tanna. She’s brave and willing to do whatever is needed to find and complete her quest. She’s also totally oblivious to most things, much to Galdifort’s chagrin.  Tanna is also a sweet and lovable character. You can’t help but root for her. She’s also a chaotic mess who does things without considering the rules of the world.

Galdifort, on the other hand, is a grumpy-pants, and I love it. He’s obsessed with doing everything by the rules, and Tanna’s fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants attitude is his worst nightmare. He was a fun character to watch develop. He grows a lot in the novel. As he’d have to, dealing with Tanna the whole time!

And finally, what you’ve all been waiting for: My king, the greatest rooster to ever crow, Peggs. He’s a fire-belching rooster with a peg leg that also happens to be a sword. It’s like something out of a crazy action movie and I love it.  Peggs is also a brave chap, and he provides guidance and support to our young adventurers. There’s a hint of more to come regarding his origin, and I’m here for it. 

There’s a strong cast of supporting characters and villains. If there was any character I wanted to know more about, it would be the main villain, but I get that it’s hard to do a deep dive into every single character. 

The world-building is great. They live in a world where the gods are Scribes and everything follows handbooks and set patterns for how things are done. It’s all about rules and bureaucracy.   Tanna wants to become an adventurer, and the first step as a Tendersword is to find a quest Something small. Galdifort, her chronicler in training, is there to record the events.  Galdifort quotes the different rules and guidelines throughout, giving us a great background on the very orderly society our characters live in. But maybe the rules don’t work as well as everyone thinks?

A fog descends upon the land, wreaking chaos. The only ones who can save the day? Tanna and an unwilling Galdifort.  And thus their adventures begin.  The story is full of a great mixture of cozy moments and heart pounding moments, humor and peril. And the writing? Firmly tongue-in-cheek, goofy in the best way, and technically sound. Conway and Adams have put together a really solid first book in what I hope becomes a longer series.  

I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy books, fun palate cleansing reads that aren’t quite as dark, rooster fans (represent!) and anyone who needs a book for the middle-grade aged readers in their life. I used to do buddy reads with my little brother when he was that age, and that’s how I first read the Percy Jackson series and the Harry Potter books. I would have loved doing a buddy read of this one as well. 

Highly recommended! Lots of fun!

Brb, getting a rooster as a pet now.