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Underlord by Will Wright (2019)
After fighting his way through the Monarch research complex of Ghostwater, Lindon is stronger than ever. But will he manage to prove himself good enough to be accepted into the upcoming Uncrowned King Tournament?
We’re beginning to get into a tournament arc here, one that will cover this book and the following two. The great thing about this is that the author is taking his time with it and letting it breath. There were hints that this might be happening in the last book and this book is all about actually qualifying to be placed on a team that’ll be going to the tournament. It’s been built up as a big deal and is being treated with the respect it deserves.
What I really like about this book is that it really shows the progress Lindon has made. There was a fair bit of that in the last book, with him defeating two dangerous opponents in Ghostwater. But there was a fair amount of training and preparation involved and an arguable deux ex machina at the end. But here we see him fighting on the same level as Yerin, who has been held up as one of the most dangerous fighters of her advancement. And it wasn’t some chosen one destiny, it was because of hard work and a lot of effort. It speaks a lot to how engaging this series is that the writer was able to leave it until the sixth book before that happened and it all feels completely natural. All in all this is another nice expansion of the world, with great character moments and good action scenes. Par for the course, really.
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Ghostwater by Will Wright (2018)
It just keeps getting better
Despite being literally dropped into danger, Lindon, Yerin and Mercy are still part of the Skysworn. But could a mission to an island in the Trackless Sea spell their doom?
One of the things that really sells this series is the characters. A lot of care and attention has gone into making each of them unique and memorable in their own way. And by the end of this book most of the main characters going forward have turned up in one way or another. In fact if I have one complaint about this book its that Yerin and Mercy have relatively little to do. Yerin is possibly my favourite character in the series, so it was unfortunate seeing her side-lined.
That aside everything else is what you’d expect from these books at this point. Nice action scenes, an interesting world to explore at a reasonable pace and characters finally coming into their own.
Oh, and this book introduces bloopers at the end, little scenes from the book that have been changed for comedic effect. One of them references his Traveller’s Gate Trilogy but it’s not really important if you don’t get the reference in a throwaway joke.
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Skysworn by Will Wright (2017)
So first off, I’ve got to say that this begins with one of my favourite chapters, maybe ever. It’s funny, well constructed and leads perfectly into the rest of the novel.
And what a novel it is. Lindon has spent the past year training to fight Jai Long, learning a new destructive path in the process. Will he succeed?
This is a book that packs a lot into it. While the initial focus is the duel it also deals a lot with the consequences of it. The humour and the action that by this time you’ve come to expect are all there. There’s also more nice character moments and the world is expanded even more. It’s still a short book, there’s only 285 pages according to my Kindle, but every page is well utilised.
By this point, if you’re like me, you’re probably fully on board at this point and this review will matter little. So if you’re even slightly wavering I’ll just say, this book continues the series you’ve come to expect.
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Blackflame by Will Wright (2017)
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.
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Soulsmith by Will Wright (2016)
Writing the first book in a series is a good first step but in many ways writing the second is a lot harder. You have to build off everything you put into the first book, while still leaving it open to being new and exciting.
This book does that wonderfully.
After escaping the Sacred Valley, Lindon and Yerin are in a dangerous position. A place where Yerin has gone from being the strongest fighter around to average and Lindon is so much comparatively weaker. Narratively it’s great to fully see Lindon’s predicament in context, to see just how weak he really is and how tough the challenges facing him are. It makes it even more satisfying as he overcomes them.
The world is nicely grown as well. While before we knew there was life outside of the Sacred Valley here it’s shown in much starker detail. This place that they’ve arrived in is tougher than anywhere we’ve yet seen, has fighters stronger than anything and yet we’re told it’s just a small wasteland in the shadow of a bigger empire. It sets us up for the next step when things get even bigger.
It also introduces fun new characters while laying the seeds for plots that will span the rest of the series.
Soulsmith is a fantastic second step in the series, building off everything that made the first book great and setting up the greater things to come.
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Unsouled by Will Wright (2016)
I’m writing this review after reading this book for the second time in about 7 months. The new book in the series is out and I want a refresher on everything that’s happened before I jump back in.
If you’ve never read a cultivation novel before this is the one you probably want to start with. It is fairly typical of them. There’s an initially weak martial artist and through work and adventures he slowly gains power.
If you have read a cultivation novel before then you’ll still want to read this series, because it’s really really good.
In this case the martial artist is Wei Shi Lindon. He has been set aside by his family and clan as he was born with a weak soul, destined to be unable to advance down any of the Paths to power. However, after an intervention from heaven he realises that he must go beyond the valley he was born in to seek true power.
This is a long series and it starts relatively restrained. The book is comparatively short. And yet there are some moments that just made me sit up and go “Yes!” There’s a few scenes throughout the series that I’ve reread again and again because they’re so cool and one of them is in here, with a major character introducing the meaning of her Path. When you see it, you’ll know what I mean.
The action is well described, though restrained as the main character isn’t that strong, instead relying on set up and trickery to win most confrontations. The world is nicely described and future conflicts are set up. Because it is the first book and thus must set a solid foundation, which it does.
This book is a seed. Great on it’s own but read it and let it sprout into a series and you’ll fall in love. Just like I did.
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Street Cultivation 3 by Sarah Lin (2020)
I really never know where this series is going and I love it.
We continue the adventures of Rick, the personification of that meme about anime characters refusing to be main characters even though they have colourful hair. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a character so obviously steering away from plot hooks as he does. Big things keep popping up, people keep trying to entangle him in their schemes and he resolutely marches in the other direction.
This is occasionally a problem. For example if you were wanting to see Emily in this book I’m afraid there’s no sign of her. And it does leave a few dangling plot hooks as he refuses to bite. But man, I love him for it.
The book opens with Rick continuing to try and work out what he should do with his life and what use a fighter is in modern society. As such he takes a step that is obvious in hindsight but which I didn’t see coming. He becomes a professional athlete. This is a lovely addition to the series as, for the first time, he leaves Branton and travels the world.
This is allows us to fully appreciate the differences between the book world and our own. A lot of background has been thought about and it’s nice to see it appear in this book.
I’m not going to say anything else because I don’t want to spoil anything. Suffice it to say that everything you love about the first two books is here in the finale. Good action scenes, good training scenes and good character development. The ending is fantastic and everything I wanted from both the characters and the book.
I’m really sorry the trilogy is completed and that we won’t get any more books. But it ended in such a satisfying way that I can’t even be mad. From beginning to end it was a fantastic read.
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Bastion by Phil Tucker (2021)
This is a book with a great premise. There’s an invasion into hell, to try and destroy it, led by reincarnating great souls. Scorio, the main character, awakes in a new reincarnation cycle with no memory of who he is or what he’s done. But he must have done something terrible in a past life because he’s instantly banished from the academy and thrown out into the wilds of the surrounding caverns.
This is a great start but what actually attracted me to Bastion was the world. The first novel is mostly set in a city, which is itself set along the inside of a giant tube, a wire strung along the middle providing light and warmth. That’s not something you read about every day. And the world was wonderfully thought out. We learn a lot about the hierarchies and dominions of hell and everything is a satisfying amount of details, with more wonders hinted at. A really good start for a series.
Scorio has the same drive and determination that’s usual in Cultivation novels. The book is mostly told from his point of view and, as such, he gets most of the character development. Not that the others are lacking, they do enough, but they’re definitely a bit hollow compared to him. No one is exactly complex or different from anything seen before but there’s no one I’d call two dimensional. It’s a fine cast of characters, each with their own interesting thing.
As it is a Cultivation novel there’s a lot about inner growth and mana control. There’s a strict hierarchy of mana which each have different effects and honestly I didn’t quite get it. In some ways it felt a bit pared down from other Cultivation magic systems but that’s not a bad thing as some of those can go wild.
The plots fun as well. It takes a nice number of twists and turns, there’s always something going on and generally it’s fun to read. My main complaint with this book is that it could have very easily been two books and might actually have been better as such. The book is 824 pages long and, structurally, there’s a point that would have made a nice ending to a first book halfway through it. I don’t have anything against long novels but in some ways this book was beginning to drag. There was also repetition on information, a bit of a refresher on how the magic system works and the like. Again, it would have been fine if it was in two different books but as one large book it felt a little cluttered.
All in all though I really enjoyed my visit to this world and I’m looking forward to returning with the next book.
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Magic and the Shinigami Detective by Honor Raconteur (2018)
Magic and the Shinigami Detective is one of those books I bought on a whim because I liked the title. I then proceeded to forget about it for a while and by the time I started reading it I had no idea what I was getting into.
What I got was a charming and magical detective novel.
After an introductory chapter the meat of the story is told through the casefiles of Henri Davenfort, a magical crime scene investigator. The world is roughly a 1920s with magic, though science is beginning to make itself felt. Henri’s job is to use a mix of both to investigate crime scenes and deduce what happened. Honestly the first scene with him, where he explains why a fire wasn’t caused by magic and was instead an electrical fire, is a lot of fun and sets the scene nicely.
But however interesting Davenfort’s crime scene prowess is, it’s not what the story is about. That is Jamie Edwards, an ex-secret officer who got summoned into this world from ours by a witch for experimentation purposes. She finally escapes by killing said witch and, with nothing else to do, join the police force.
The story is fuelled by the interactions between Davenfort and Edwards as they become partners and get set on cracking a case. They both have their own way of doing things, Davenfort having studied magic and Edwards knowing modern scientific methods, and watching the two mesh was very satisfying. It’s a nice mystery as well, jumping from exciting plot point to exciting plot point and introducing a wide variety of characters as it does. This is complimented by a nice, up beat writing style. Honestly, it was just a lot of fun to read.
It’s a nice start to a series and I look forward to reading more.
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Meet the Alexes by Burt Wrenlaw (2021)
I’m not going to lie. I bought this book because it was a Dungeon Core and because my name is Alex. Yes, I am that shallow.
That aside I had a really good time reading this. Usually Dungeon Core books are about the sentient dungeons growing and creating lots of puzzles and traps, finding or creating the right monsters to properly test adventurers. Meet the Alexes subverts that. The Dungeon in question is more interested in staying alive and with as much freedom as possible. As such it focuses on making people like it, creating an inn full of food, beer and comely staff. And once it has that under control it opens its doors to the world.
This is interesting because it really places the dungeon as a political entity. While there’s always some of that in dungeon core books this really does put the issue of who controls the dungeon and how said dungeon is an asset front and centre in the narrative. And what’s most interesting is that it’s a story often told by the other characters, each with their own motivation for hoping that the dungeon prospers and each getting something else out of it.
Because of this the novel leans pretty heavily on the world it creates and the characters. Luckily both are there to support it. The world is nice and detailed, with well thought out political systems and places. The characters are just as detailed, each having several different layers to them and each acting realistically. I especially liked how we were still getting relevant background to some of them up until the last chapter, and presented in natural ways as well.
There are a few small niggles. Information is presented multiple times, leaving the author repeating himself from time to time. There was also a major plot twist that I didn’t see coming, because I thought they’d told us about it in the first few chapters already. As I said though those are only small complaints. The only really sour note I can think of is the way the book described one character. They made a big deal out of how she was unattractive and ugly and I’m not really sure why. There wasn’t any resolution where she learned that she was attractive on the inside or where someone else fell in love with her or anything. Even the incubi were avoiding her. It wasn’t a plot point with a resolution, it was just brought up every so often and, again, it didn’t really add anything. I can’t work out why it was included. That minor complaint aside I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun jaunt through the world, expressed in a lot of interesting ways.
Library of Alexander 