Sarah Lin is one of my favourite Cultivation writers. She always writes interesting magic systems, fun worlds and good characters.

The characters are definitely the draw of this book. The last one, Bondsfungi, ended with the trio breaking up and all going their separate ways. I just assumed that there would be a time skip and this book would begin with them all meeting up. But it doesn’t and it’s all the better for it.

At the beginning of this series the characters were a bit bare boned. Not bad by any means but a bit of a blank slate ready for the details to be filled in. By this point, six books later, they have become very detailed and changed and I love it. It’s really nice to see how they developed as a team and how they continue to develop now that they’ve separated.

As usual the worlds in The Weirkey Chronicles are a highlight. They’re so detailed and so much thought have been put into them. I also love just how different they are, and how different parts in the same world can also be quite different. After the stereotype of ‘a desert planet’ or ‘a swamp planet’ this is a breath of fresh air. Even Tatian, which was lauded in the first book as being bland and samey everywhere you go, is revealed to have a lot of differences in it and those have huge plot implications! It’s fantastic and makes a world I enjoy exploring.

Bloodcrete is a great step forward in both character, details and plot. I read it a couple of weeks ago and I’m only writing this review now because every time I start I end up reading all the books again. Which I think says everything about this series.