Billy Cole is just a blacksmith's son. A tavern master's apprentice. A sixteen-springs-old kid in a small village nestled between the boggy Blood Marsh and miles of empty nowhere. Wil Thunderstrike is an epic hero embarking on a quest to save the realm. He's the son of legendary warrior Ian the Black. Understudy of sword master Trevor the Red. And the fate of his homeland depends on his strength of character and the might of his sword arm. Billy Cole Wil Thunderstrike. He just doesn't know it yet. When undying legions invade his home, Billy must become the hero he's always dreamed he could be. But the way of the sword is double-edged. One delivers justice, honor, and salvation for the realm. The other seduces with power, greed, and glory. Find out why readers and critics agree, is an amazing fantasy achievement that cuts straight to the heart! A rough-and-tumble, coming-of-age epic that might just turn into Wil Thunderstrike! This Young Adult edition is edited for language but should still be considered "PG-13." The original edition was known throughout the realm as the novel . ★★★★★ "What's amazing about this book is that it is its own story. It's not some spin off, take off, bull$#!% twisting of the same young adult themes. And I love that you get all these stories within stories... It's like, bookception." -- "That's why I like this book... [Billy's] going to be a hero one day. It's just going to take a couple more black eyes and a night in the Fellwater drunk tank to get there." -- "It's not just mindless heroism and adventure... There's also a heart to the novel, a very self-aware sort of appreciation for humanity and the horrors of war... The hardest aspect of writing a novel is to encourage that immediate emotional connection, to draw readers in, and make them care - and Brink does that very well. I liked Billy from the first time we met... It's less a coming-of-age tale and more a story of self-discovery." -- "The strength of [this novel] is Billy's coming-of-age narrative, his quest to develop his own, innate heroism, and his struggle to reconcile illustrious legends with harsher truths... [Its] high fantasy styling is tempered by comfortable, somewhat modern language, a relatable, every-man main character, and a universal theme that transcends the genre." -- "Fantasy? Sword fights? Monsters? Destiny? Gimme, Gimme!" --