November 2025 – nigeladamsbookworm

Unbound. Penelope Bloom

A couple of years ago I was looking for a new genre and was getting a lot of reviews on my timelines about Fantasy Fiction, and mainly Academy Fantasy fiction.

Having read a few of these over the last few years I found that they fall into two camps for me. Either really good, or really awful.

Unbound falls firmly in the first category, and not only that it sits right at the top.

One of the reviews I’ve seen stated that it deserves to be read a much as Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing, I couldn’t agree more.

Nessa Thorne enters the Confluence Academy as a volunteer, and volunteers are seen as the lowest of the low.

The Academy trains people to fight for the Empire against the Red Kingdom.

Students are placed into one of four affinities depending on their mystical skills. Fire, Earth, Water, and Air.

The problem for Nessa is that she is Unbound, she has no particular affinity, but she can call on all four.

This makes her very dangerous, the problem is, is that she is totally naive to the fact her skills are sought after by all of the powerful people in the academy. It also means that those that can’t have her as a weapon need her dead.

Nessa pretends to be a water bound, but her close friends soon realise she is more than a water channeller. Unlikely alliances and friendships are formed.

A close bond with a Fire has everybody talking. His affinities want her dead but not as much as some of her own affinity do.

But who, or what is the driving force.

As with all the books I’ve read in this genre nobody is what they first seem to be.

It’s a mystery in itself as to who is really a friend and ally, and who are really deadly enemies.

And just like many other books in the genre there’s a nasty twist at the end, leaving a nice cliff hanger for the second book in the series, Unveiled.

But as much as this book follows a familiar format, and as much as I wasn’t surprised by the twists at the end, the journey to get to the last paragraph was a great read.

Yes the characters will be familiar, yes the story follows the usual template, but the fact that I enjoyed it so much speaks volumes for the quality of the story telling.

Pages: 576. Publisher: Mountain Leopard Press. Audiobook length: 22 hours 3 minutes. Narrator: Rachel Leblang

Mr Wilman’s Motoring Adventure

Andy Wilman

There’s a picture on the cover of this book. Three men, with their backs to the viewer, standing on an open road with an arm, extending towards them from a car, a hand holding a white envelope.

The three men are instantly recognisable, even though the picture is a simplistic watercolour with no facial features.

As recognisable as the men is the identity of the TV series that they starred in.

I struggle to think of any other TV trio, or TV series that could be so simplistically represented, yet so easily recognised.

The majority of people who will make the connection will be middle aged men, there will also be many younger men and women who know exactly what the contents of this book is going to look at without reading the dust jacket, and anybody who does will want to read this account of Jeremy, Richard, and James and their time on Top Gear and Grand Tour, as told by a man that was with them through it all. Thick and thin.

Andy Wilman was a school friend of Jeremy’s, at a private school that was on its last legs. Neither were what you might call part of the popular gang. Each had their own uniqueness that set them apart. But they became firm friends.

There is no doubt that Wilmans career was guided, if not pulled along by Clarkson. So when Top Gear was shelved in the early 2000’s it was no surprise that Clarkson turned to Wilman to help get it back on its feet, even if he had little or no experience as a TV producer. The rest, as they say, is history.

In 2002 the Clarkson and Hammond era started, May joined in the second series of the reconstituted of Top Gear.

The book covers how Wilman and Clarkson planned the formula of the new version of Top Gear over a pint in a London pub, a recurring theme throughout.

How they decided, after very nearly turning him away, that Richard Hammond should be one of the presenters. Why they decided to replace the original third presenter, Jason Dawe with James May in the second series, the decision that led to the formulation of the trio that remained together for two decades.

It’s recounts the ideas that led to the birth of the Stig, and the reasons why the Stigs character was changed, including how and why Ben Collins fell out with the production team.

It looks at the way all of the favourite sections of the programs were initially thought up, often by accident, or happy coincidence.

Talking of accidents it gives a producers view of both of Hammonds big crashes, the rocket car that nearly killed him, and rolling a performance car down a Swiss Hill, which also nearly finished him off.

James May’s crash in a Scandinavian tunnel is also covered, and how it was one of the factors that started the decision to bring the series to and end.

The end of the trios career presenting Top Gear, following Clarkson’s altercation with a member of the production team is quickly followed by the process of moving to Amazon and the invention of Grand Tour.

The book covers the big shows that we all remember, the Specials. Where the three have motoring, and occasional nautical adventures.

The most telling, and revealing part of the book is the section on the Patagonia Special, the angry mob of Argentinian Veterans and locals that brought filming to an end and drove the film crews out of Argentina. The three presenters and a few of the crew escaped by plane but Wilman and the majority of the crew fled by road, escaping over a river into Chilli. A journey that they very nearly didn’t get out of in one piece.

As witty and informative as this book is, and there are quite a few laugh out loud moments, I also found it a bit of a tease.

It’s not a short book, at just over 400 pages, but and it covers over two decades of two of the best, and sometimes controversial television programs, mentioning everything a viewer would remember.

But for me it doesn’t go deep enough into some of the big things that happened.

Wilman wasn’t there when Clarkson had his altercation. But it’s almost brushed over, an actual account of what really happened would have been really good.

The three crashes are mentioned, but the rocket car crash, and its aftermath warrant only half a dozen pages, the other two even less.

I think a whole series of books could be written on the Top Gear Specials but again only quick mention is made of each.

Andy Wilman was in an envious position that has seen him at the heart of two of the most successful TV franchises of the 21st century. For me, as good as this book is. I’d really have liked a lot more.

Pages: 416. Publisher: Penguin, Michael Joseph

Relentless Pursuit. Our Battle with Jeffrey Epstein

Bradley J. Edwards with Brittany Henderson

My last review was Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre. I started that book because I was intrigued by the actions of the then Prince Andrew, who immediately after that book was published lost his Royal titles.

That book sent me down a rabbit hole of research. I had heard of Jeffrey Epstein, and was vaguely aware of the crimes he was ultimately arrested for. But I had no idea of the Epstein empire, the type of person he was, and the high level relationships he incubated, and the reach those relationships had.

As fascinating as Nobody’s Girl was it was a single persons account and I was desperate to find other accounts of Epstein’s activities.

Relentless Pursuit stood out. Written by two of the people that were involved in trying to prosecute Epstein and get him in prison.

Edwards, and the book, are mentioned by Giuffre in her book, and she was full of praise for his tenacity in prosecuting a man many people thought was untouchable. So what better place to start my extended reading.

In June 2008 Edwards was a young lawyer opening his first law firm. He had never heard of Jeffery Epstien. A young 20 year old woman, Courtney Wilde was referred to him by a friend. She stated she had been sexually abused by Epstien from the age of 14.

And so it began.

What follows is years of tenacity on Edwards’ side, and years of lies and deception on Epsteins.

As Edwards’ investigations gather momentum more witnesses start to come forward, one of which is Jane Doe 102, Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Although a star witness, and a person who does as much to bring down the Epstien empire as anybody, a person who Edwards finds himself admiring for her bravery in standing up, it’s very telling that his first emotion was excitement at getting one of “Epstiens inner circle” to testify against him.

That line in the book, the one of Epstiens Inner Circle, exhibits the depth of her involvement.

Epstien’s only defence is attack

In fact he attacked every lawyer, and every victim those lawyers represented with either lawsuits or intimidation tactics, and often both.

The sphere of Epstein’s influence is clearly displayed when he made a Plea Deal in 2008, which saw him serve a minor sentence, during which time he spent nearly every day in a charity foundation office next to the jail. A foundation he set up so that he could spend his days in relative comfort.

This deal saw him convicted of relatively minor crime but the deal he struck was a none prosecution deal for all of the major charges he could have been charged with, including sex trafficking and rapping underage girls.

The frustration Edwards and his team felt at this is palpable in the book. The only avenue they now had was civil suites.

But Epstein was in full attack mode. Edwards had been employed for a short time by a law firm whose director was found to be running one of the world’s biggest ponzie schemes, that’s a whole other story worth looking into.

Epstein accused Edwards of not only being involved in the scheme but also being the main orchestrator. A fact he knew from the start to be false.

This tied Edwards and his team up, distracting them for years.

All the time Edwards and Epstein had occasional off the record meetings in, of all places, a Starbucks coffee shop, no other lawyers or representatives being present. Edwards likens his dealings with Epstein as a complicated game of chess. During these meetings he relates how Epstein is cheerfully friendly, as if he is talking to a friend, but every meeting held an alluded to, or indirect threat that Edwards was going to be ruined professionally and financially, because he hadn’t got the resources or money that Epstein had available to him.

Neither did Edwards have judges, politicians, senators, and many other highly placed people in his pocket.

When the direct fight against Epstein seems impossible the team go after his close associates. In particular Ghislaine Maxwell.

Maxwells is as close to a girlfriend as you can associate with Epstein, but is also his chief recruiter. A woman that finds underage girls and cons them into sexual activities with Epstein, often taking part in the sessions and abusing the girls herself.

This is when the castle walls around Epstein start to crumble.

The accusations made against Maxwells opens the possibility of new charges against Epstein.

Still the civil cases continue, as does Epstien attacks in the victims and their lawyers.

Until the final day of reconning, the day of Epstien ultimate arrest and his eventual death in prison. Another story that needs reading into.

Throughout the book there are allusions to Epstien real status. Was her working for governments, American, Israel, or both, or more.

He was certainly protected at very high level in America and had such people as Bill Clinton amongst his closest associates.

Evidence is presented in the book suggesting the Epstein facilitated large a money transfers between America and Israel. A former Israeli Prime Minister is mentioned in this book as being one of his associates, and in Nobody’s girl Giuffre recounts being viciously assaulted by a foreign politician, it’s not hard to make the connections.

Why did Epstein get away with what he was getting away with for so long. This book establishes, with information that is now freely available, that he was above the law for a long time.

It also establishes connections between him and high ranking officials in America.

Was he working for governments, was he establishing dark routes for money transfers. It’s still all very vague and still really intriguing.

Will this be the last book I read on this subject. Certainly not.

What started for me as a passing interest in what “Randy Andy” had been up to has developed into a fascination about a very dark period in recent history.

This book, and the story it contains, reads like a Grisham thriller mixed in with a Clancy espionage book. But as fanciful as those two authors stories are, this is pure fact.

The link below is to my review of Nobody’s Girl. Whichever you read first the other compliments it.

https://nigeladamsbookworm.com/2025/10/31/nobodys-girl-virginia-roberts-giuffre/

Pages: 399. U.K. Publisher: Simon and Schuster.