The third in the Cradle series picks up right where the second one left off. Lindon and Yerin have been adopted into the Arelius household by their…quirky Patriarch, Eithan. Lindon has also been challenged to a duel one year hence by someone hugely more powerful than he is. Will he be able to rise to the challenge?

This book is where Lindon really get settled into training. This is helpful as it clarifies a lot about how the different aspects of techniques work and how the type of madra you use can change it, as well as other details about the different paths. However, it is, in effect, a book long training montage. There’s a lot more in here of course, mostly focused on what other characters are doing while Lindon is training. More characters are introduced, there’s some very flashy action scenes that I loved and it also expands the world a little bit more, telling us some of the history of the Blackflame Empire. The world building is what’s great about this book. While it has a very fun ending, the hints of the greater world are probably what’s going to keep you reading. Unless you like the training, which I did, in which case there are no flaws in this book.

It’s also interesting seeing elements being seeded here that’ll pay off later. There are some very long running plot threads in this series and it’s great going back and noticing things that you didn’t notice before.

All in all, this is another great book in the series.