Unsouled

This is my first amazon review, but after reading all of Will's other stuff I felt compelled to finally take the time to make sure that anyone who reads this starts supporting this amazing indie author. I have been reading fantasy since I was eight and started with authors that I believed (while I was young) were at the top of the field. Having revisited some my childhood favorites in recent years I have found some authors unreadable (looking at you Goodkind and Eddings ?'Eddingses'?) and others poorly written or just plain boring.In recent years I have been excited and lucky to watch and take part in fantastic new entries into the genre (Mark Lawrence, Patrick Rothfuss, Martin, Anthony Ryan's first book). In between the "big authors" releases I have downloaded, read and discarded probably forty or so indie entries. Some have been good. Some have been bad. Most have been terrible.What I can't figure out is how some of these books obtain 100+ reviews averaging 4 stars or better, or how they can contain multi-paragraph hand written write-ups praising the "original story" or "unique characters" or "intriguing plot line". I am at a loss because most of these books end up turning me off after about 50 pages because they are some combination of a) illegible writing, and b) a protagonist that is unrealistic/whiny/overpowered/smartwhilestupid.This book is none of those things. This author's other works do not fall into those categories. Will's stuff is well written, entertaining and contains characters that are funny, relate-able and have depth. I am a fan of pretty much every character in his Traveler's gate and Elder Empire Series. Will does small short-stories filling in background on the characters in between book releases and it is a testament to his writing that fans get excited to hear from minor characters who barely got any lines in the book (incarnation's daughter... more please).The magic systems are well thought out and unique. The action is fast-paced and well described. The dialogue is sometimes laugh out loud funny and you actually care about what happens to each of the characters.Honestly my only complaint with Will's stuff is that I want more and wish he could write longer books, but if he did that we wouldn't have so many releases in such a short time span.Seriously, buy this book, then buy his other books. They are all good and they are stupidly cheap compared to some of the others out there on amazon.Regarding Unsouled specifically, this is actually my least favorite of his three series, but I still enjoyed it immensely and believe it deserves a 5 star review. I read two other self-published Xianxia novels before this and the state of that genre is currently terrible. One of the novels was unreadable (I won't mention a name, but it involves a certain bird that is a certain color). Even if you don't like Will's other stuff, or just don't like fantasy in general, but somehow you still like Xianxia, you should read this. Its by far the best available.If you read this and wonder which to go to next, start with Traveler's Gate. It starts a little slow in house of blades but it quickly ramps up into the awesome-sphere. The Crimson Vault and City of Light are even better.

So, I've read the first three books in this series and feel like I can, finally, give a fair review for it thus far.The basic idea is that there are two stories going on at the same time but they intersect sometimes. The background story is that of asian fantasy meets highly advanced sci-fi (replace science with a magic like chakra and you get the idea). The primary story is that of a "primitive" world based around the same chakra style magic. Mostly just one boy in that world. While I don't tend to dig asian fantasy much, the story has grown on me. It stretches my comfort zone a bit but keeps most of the things I like about western fantasy. It does start slow though, so the free sample doesn't do it complete justice.The first thing I would note, for people new to this author, is that this isn't his best work. It's good, better than your average fantasy book, just not his best. If you're new to Will Wight, your best bet is his Traveler's Gate series. That is an order of magnitude better than this one. For fans of his previous works, this one doesn't really disappoint too much. But you can see that the quality of his work suffers for the speed he is putting into it. I will finish this series without question. But I hope to see better from him in his next one.Second thing to note is that nope, this is not a trilogy and is not complete at the moment (deal breaker for an increasing number of people in the age of GRRM and Jordan). With one of the things discovered in book 2, and the pacing so far, I would guess we're looking at a 6(-ish) book series. The upshot is that the author seems to be producing a book about every 6-7 months and successfully completed at least one other series previously. Each of the books also has it's own subplot. So you aren't left feeling like he stopped mid-sentence, or punched the time card, or is just plain milking it for more books or something. I have to give a nod of respect to the author for that. It's getting rarer to see these days, and it's enough to keep me paying a small premium for his books versus some other authors who don't show the same (or any) consideration for their audience.Third: It actually took me until halfway through book 3 to get invested in the main character. The general story and writing style is good enough to carry it that far though. (After all the first two books together are only 500-ish pages, that's a single conventional fantasy novel to me).Fourth: On the technical side, the author must have a great good editor. The grammar is clean as far as I could see. His one failing is the usage of modern terms and idioms. They're not everywhere, but they are glaring when they happen. If memory serves, I see these failings mostly when a character is making a jest. (E.g. a character made an offhand metaphorical comment about a dead dog on a country road, but the books never really talk about any roads besides a few main ones, and the usage implies what happens to dogs when hit by an automobile. It was moderately entertaining, but needed adapting for the world.)Fifth: The biggest improvement I could suggest would be to add some texture and depth to the people and world. The MC has a fair amount of this already, and I like how his partnership grew over book 2 and 3. That is the kind of texture that the rest of the world could do with to help bring it alive. Make it, and the background characters, feel like they are moving and changing while the main characters are off doing their own thing.

First of all let me start by urging you to read this book. It's super fun and full of action. If that's something you enjoy, then you can rest easy knowing you have a long adventure waiting ahead (I only wish it was longer!) with eleven more awesome books.In my opinion this will quickly become a cult classic if it isn't already. I honestly can't remember the last time I read 12 books in two months and have even considered starting over from the beginning. Will Wight is all about action and fun and high magic. It's not sophisticated, the character development is slow and not very deep, the world-building is solid but doesn't have great depth. But who needs all that when it's so fun to read? Lindon is easy to relate to and carries the books (not alone) nicely. Most importantly, you will never be bored while you have more Cradle books to read.So what's so great about Cradle other than endless action and thrill? First off, I find it a great relief to read a series that isn't all about some great evil threatening the land and the hero is the only one who can save the story. So tired of that same old thing, whether long winded (like Brandon Sanderson) or full of action (like John Gwynne). Not that they're bad books. But so refreshing to have a story that doesn't depend on a looming, foreboding dark superbeing threatening to take over existence. Not that there aren't dark, evil superbeings. It's just not what the story revolves around.Really, what's great about Cradle is that you just can't wait to see how far Lindon will go. And of course there are the bloopers. Almost worth it just for that.I'll end this by saying that I really am jealous of you. Because you haven't read Cradle yet. That means you have the 12 funnest books you've ever read waiting for you.

História segue genero de cultivação. Proposta é boa, seguindo a linha do underdog. Como é o inicio da história, ainda esta se construindo o mundo/universo.

It had everything that made it so hard to put down.This is what all in the categories that this represents should aspire to.Ok. Pretty glowing praise you might say. I read this series three times and enjoyed it enough that I didn’t do any skimming or taking extended breaks (more than a day or so) which is what I tend to do with books I find less than interesting.

A very nice fantasy book, with action, actual magic and interesting characters. A long time has passed since the last time I read such a good book!Also well written.

Wieder ein super Setting, neue Ideen, lebendige Charaktere, spannende Kämpfe und eine Mischung aus Fantasy und Science Fiction, wow, wirklich gut und empfehlenswert!! Must have!!

Right from the opening scene, to the end, Will Wight will keep you hooked. There is so much crammed into this book, yet it feels like a light read. This is essentially just chapter one for a larger saga, yet it doesn’t leave you feeling like the ending was inadequate.Wei Shi Lindon is a typical underdog, similar to a typical nobody-turned-hero that embarks on the hero’s jounrey, or a shonen manga protagonist. He’s total loser and that’s established in chapter one. Yet, his drive to keep progressing is what makes him a very likeable character. You’ll root for him even when the odds are stacked against him like a mountain against a fly. His ingenuity – which often borders cheating and misconduct – actually works in his favour, given how unjust and cruel the world has been to him. There’s nothing special about Lindon, yet he stands out so brightly throughout the book.Now for the world. It’s not a fully realised world. It’s more of an imagination-gone-wild, that’s kept growing wilder with each subsequent chapter. Yet, Will Wight presents this in a manner that doesn’t make it feel bloated. Every aspect of the world that’s introduced plays a role in how the story progresses, or how the characters develop. All this, in addition to setting up and teasing future works. It’s a fascinating manga/anime-esque world that’s so rich and colourful that you’re bound to get captivated by it. Again, in a world that’s chockfull of content, Cradle’s world is nothing special, yet it stands out so brightly, purely because of how Will Wight treats world building as a secondary tool for plot and character development.Lastly, the writing. It’s simple enough to breeze through, yet has its occasional nibbles of profundity that brings layers to this world. It’s no Abercrombie or Erikson, but it gets the job done. And in a story that’s so faced paced, and a world that’s so rich and full of many imaginative characters, creatures, objects and more, I guess that simplicity in writing works in the favour of the book.It’s no easy task to find an almost-perfect balance between plot, narrative, character development, world building, and entertainment. Unsouled is one of the few books I’ve read that successfully balances everything, gives you a satisfying read, and leaves you craving for more. It’s like a good Marvel movie meets Manga/Anime aesthetics. This is a traditional underdog story that delivers exactly what it promises. No surprises, nothing too out of the box, yet so rich and satisfying. It isn’t easy to do something that’s been done thousands of times, but in an enjoyable, satisfying manner.5/5 would recommend.TL;DR:WHAT I LIKED: the protagonist, world building, fast paced narrative, connecting the dotsWHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: nothing, really. I think I liked all of it, despite it being so formulaic, arguably cliched, and traditional.