u/Kai_Damon

Ladies and gentlemen... I have finished Wintersteel. Again, you were not lying. Because this...

This is one of the best books I have ever read in my entire life.

I very, VERY rarely give a 10/10 rating to something. Even my favorite books tend to peak at a 9/10, but this might be it.

As I said in my other reviews, I've been loving Cradle so far. The first 3 books were good, but in my opinion it wasn't anything truly special. I legitimately liked it and would recommend it to people, but I wouldn't go "that's one of my favorites ever!" over it. But it had some specks of grandiosity. Some elements of the worldbuilding were great, some elements of the character work were great, but it didn't come to its full potential. Then, things got way better after book 5, and from that point onwards it was truly special. I read more this last month than I read in years because of it. But there were still some points that needed clarification, some elements that needed a little more work...

Then, we come to this. People always talk about "setup books", and how they're important to a series but end up not being very enjoyable. Wintersteel is what I like to call a payoff book. And the reason I've been talking about the whole series instead of just this book or the one before it is because this is not just a payoff for Uncrowned; it's a payoff for the whole series until this point.

You wanted to see what Eithan's Path was and him fighting seriously? Here it is. You wanted to see what the difference between Herald and Sage was and what you need to become a Monarch? Here it is. You wanted Lindon and Yerin to have absurd fight scenes and extremely satisfying progression the whole book? Here. You wanted to finally know HOW DID A BUNCH OF JADES KILL A SAGE? We finally have the answer! You wanted top tier romance that actually goes somewhere? You wanted the most hype scenes you have ever seen in your entire fucking life that will make you want to jump around your room like a madman? It's. All. Here.

Even if I try, I cannot find a single flaw in this book. I just can't. This is a 6 star read for me. It's 200 pages longer than the usual Cradle books before this and I didn't feel it at all. I wish it was 300 pages longer.

So yeah... Even if the rest of the series is not as good as this, this book alone makes it worth it. I'll never forget how awesome the experience of reading this for the first time has been. I'm already a bit sad because I've read 2/3 of it. Will Wight, please write 12 more books in this universe (lol). And thank you for this.

Just finished Uncrowned. I'll probably do a proper review once I finish Wintersteel because it's pretty obvious that this book was a build up for it, but I have some comments for now.

I loved it. It seems a lot of people don't like the book that much and are turned off by the ending but it didn't bother me at all. I mean, Lindon losing did bother me, but that was literally the point. Lindon himself, just like us, had 100% confidence that as soon as he was serious, he would win. It sucks that he lost but I think that was a very brave and smart decision by Will. I liked pretty much everything about the book, the good moments are absolutely great and it feels so good to finally see true power like the Heralds and Monarchs.

There are some things I didn't like that much though. I think Sophara's power level is a bit weird, she wasn't described as super powerful in Ghostwater and now she basically has the power of an Overlord? I know time passed, but this is written in third person. A small comment about how much she trained in this whole time or how the golden dragons have given her materials/elixirs/pills so she could grow stronger would have resolved this issue pretty easily. It's not like Ekeri herself was a super strong true gold, in fact I'm pretty sure she was the least powerful of all of the true golds in Ghostwater. Suddenly her sister (who, again, wasn't described as specially powerful in Ghostwater) is the strongest Underlord ever. Idk. Seems like she's just strong because the plot wanted her to be. Also, you know who actually was hyped up to be super strong and a future monarch? Mercy. AND SHE DOESN'T DO SHIT IN THE WHOLE BOOK.

Look, I know she's strong. I know she has things (probably everything) up her sleeve and I know we'll see that in the next book, but I was a bit disappointed specially because I like her so much as a character. Of course her personality still shines, but I wanted to see more from her. Hope Wintersteel makes it worth it.

Just to be clear, these negatives are minimal compared to how much I liked the book. This is still miles better than the first four books, which I still really liked. I would say this is top 3 of the first 7 until this point. Now I'll just fly through Wintersteel 😁

Earlier this week, I made some posts talking about my first impressions reading Skysworn and Ghostwater (links below). Now, I've finished Underlord.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Iteration110Cradle/s/5g5zGBgfMX

https://www.reddit.com/r/Iteration110Cradle/s/D6ax2ikRnL

You guys were right again. It does get better. I think I like this even more than Ghostwater. Ghostwater had arguably more memorable moments, but this book's pacing was fantastic. 330 pages felt like 40. In fact, I'll have to keep this brief or it will just turn into an endless glazing session lol.

I'll start with the things I disliked about the book: I think Dross is still mildly annoying. It didn't enrage me or took me out of the book, but it wasn't fun or funny either. And... Uh... That's it. That's literally it. That's my only ""gripe"" with the book.

One thing I particularly love about this is the Seishen Kingdom. It was super interesting to see a set of new characters who were opposing the main cast not because they are evil, but because they have no choice. Ignoring Daji because he's legit crazy lol, I see A LOT of Lindon and Yerin in Kiro and Meira. You can see they are good people being forced to act in conformity with things they don't agree with, because of one thing: Fear. In fact, some of you might disagree with this but I find that the situation of this set of characters is a great representation of Mercy's critique of the Akura family and the world of Cradle itself. Let's try to see it from Kiro's POV: He's a young and inexperienced prince and Underlord, with extreme fear of his father and a lot of pressure from him and the kingdom. From this information, we can already make sense of much of his actions throughout the book. There's a second thing though: Akura Charity (although I still like her) GASLIT them to think there's this monster in the Blackflame empire who killed her nephew in cold blood, and now they are supposed to deal with it. First of all, what is he supposed to do? But second (and most important) he thinks he's doing justice by going after Lindon. How could he think the contrary? The Sage of Silver Heart herself REQUIRED THEM to go after him! And, in this world, the word of the strong is the truth itself. Actually, it's better than the truth, as we can see in that scene in Blackflame where a worker tried to convince Jai Long that she was in his side, even though she didn't even know what side he was in. She only knew that he was strong, and that was enough.

From anyone's perspective, it would look like Lindon is an extremely dangerous savage who can rival Underlords as a Truegold. That becomes even more accentuated after he actually fights with him (one of the best scenes of the book btw), where he is actually scared of Lindon and start theorizing what could possibly have made him so damn strong at his level of advancement. And in the end of the book, he dies. I don't think Kiro is justified in everything he did at all (and I was absolutely rooting for my boy Lindon to destroy him), but I do think his story is tragic and he's ultimately a victim of the ruthless and ultimately hypocritical society of Cradle. Meira too, although she's crazy, Yerin would do (and already did) the same thing for Lindon. With less Yandere-type lines of course, but you understand.

The worldbuilding is extremely interesting as always, the progression is super satisfying and the fights scenes in this book are just a work of art. Lindon x Kiro and Yerin x Meira? Holy shit. The 3v3 at the end of the book? Bro.

The thing I liked the most though is the character growth and the emotional moments. The Underlord trigger being something that drives the character growth forward was just a genius move by Will, and it makes perfect sense as well. I can easily see why a lot of people stop at truegold and will stay there forever: Not a lot of people want or have the capacity to truly know what motivates and scares them, and some even when they know, don't want to accept it like Mercy.

Orthos leaving was painful. Like, physically painful. Him saying that he's evolving the slowest and that he is, after all, a turtle... My goat, never say that again 😭. You're a true dragon. The scene where Lindon tells Yerin what he truly feels though... That was something special. It would be my favorite scene in the whole series so far, but unfortunately it didn't quite have the romantic tone I was hoping for. It was more of a "You're my best friend and extremely special to me, let's continue to evolve together" than a "I want to spend the rest of my life with you", and although what he actually says is closer to the second, their dynamic is basically the same after it. It's ok, though. I'll give them time. There are still many books to come, and I still loved the scene. Even outside of that though, they evolved so much as characters in the rest of the book.

And then there's Mercy. I didn't talk much about Mercy on my other reviews because, although I liked her, I knew a moment would come that would explain her quirks and her situation.

That moment is here. And Mercy... Mercy is perfect. She's just perfect. I love everything about her, and honestly I wasn't even that bummed out about Lindon being separated from the Blackflame empire in the end solely because that meant we would see more of Mercy in the next book lol.

That's basically it. I know you will say "AND IT GET'S BETTER!" in the comments, and although half of me believes you (extremely hyped for the Uncrowned King tournament and for Wintersteel) half of me is scared. It gets better than this? Will this just become one of my favorite series ever? What will I do when I finish it? We'll have to see. I'll come back later this week when I finish Uncrowned!

I made a post earlier this week after I finished Skysworn, mentioning how the book failed in many things and how it was the worst of the series so far. I got 3 types of answers:

1 - READ GHOSTWATER!

2 - I kinda liked the book, but READ GHOSTWATER!

3 - I agree with you, that book is weird. READ GHOSTWATER!

I started Ghostwater, and the prologue kinda stressed me out. Lindon doesn't do shit and let people die for no reason, but it's completely disconnected from the rest of the book so I just kinda ignored it.

In the first 30%, I'll admit I had mixed feelings. The books tells it's premise and they go to Ghostwater super quick, and the first scene in Ghostwater is insane. Seeing extremely strong and mysterious enemies seemingly from nowhere, the tension spiking, top tier. The fatigue from Skysworn doesn't help it though because seeing more fight scenes while Lindon was still a lowgold since the end of Blackflame was getting tiring, and it continues like that until 30% of the book. After that, though...

Progression. FINALLY! Lindon reaches the Dream well, start training with Orthos and Dross, getting his body stronger by eating the giant fishes, great stuff. And then:

Seeing Orthos tell Lindon that now he wouldn't let Ekeri escape and telling Dross that Lindon had a 100% chance... Lindon actually beating Ekeri on that brutal fight... Orthos roaring with laughter and pride and telling Lindon that the Skysworn would ask his permission to speak after he got out...

Best scene in the whole series so far. I was literally jumping in my room from pure hype. Absolutely glorious.

After 30%, the book felt like it was 40 pages long, because I liked everything. Every single thing. Loved Ziel, loved Yerin progressing and being worried with Lindon, loved Lindon advancing along with Orthos (and Dross), love the infos we got on the Beast King and the other factions like the Akuras and the dragons, LOVED Eithan destroying Longhook, loved Lindon fighting with Harmony at the end, and ABSOLUTELY ADORED Dross turning into basically a Presence and Lindon being ruthless and leaving Harmony to die. Second best sequence of the series until this point, in my opinion.

Honestly, the only thing I didn't love was Dross. I don't vibe with his kind of humor at all, I didn't even grin once with his jokes. Just not for me. Orthos, Eithan and Yerin make me laugh enough. I didn't hate him though, was just neutral.

So yeah guys, you were right. Ghostwater is crazy. I enter series already wanting to finish them so I read Unsouled already knowing I would read the 12 books, but this book right here just made me certain of it. The craziest thing is, even though I finished the book 10 minutes ago I already like the first 30% way more in retrospect, and see that it was just the fatigue from Skysworn making the experience worse. Super hyped for Underlord and for the rest of the series.

Started Cradle two weeks ago, been absolutely loving it so far. I even liked Unsouled and Soulsmith, which people repeatedly say are the worst in the series. I respectfully disagree. Bit of a long post ahead:

Skysworn is so... Weird. I wouldn't call it a bad book, but for me it was the worst so far. I liked Mercy, liked the introduction to Dreadgods, Monarchs etc and liked some individual scenes. Now, for the things I disliked. It's the first book where Lindon basically doesn't progress at all (lowgold at the start, lowgold at the ending. He just lost his arm) but outside of that, I feel like this book is frenetic to a point where it hurts the narrative. It follows a certain pattern: Something bad happens. The tension goes up, continues to go up and when it's about to climax, something EVEN WORSE happens. Here's an example:

Lindon and Yerin are in Stormrock. Naru Gwei and the two idiots from the Skysworn already want to kill them. The tension goes up and when they are about to fight, the bleeding phoenix rises. Then idiot number 2 flies off with yerin, and y'all know the rest. The thing is, when tension is up to the max the whole book, it starts getting predictable and you stop caring as much about stuff. Like, Lindon loses HIS ARM. The moment is already a bit dampened because it happens in a chapter where we are following Eithan and the focus of the situation is the battle with Jai Daishou, but ok. I really like the scene where he wakes up and can't stop looking to the arm he lost, and Gesha being genuinely saddened by it. I was really looking forward to the moment where Cassias and mainly Yerin would see that Lindon lost his arm.

That moment is destroyed because the red light appears, bloodspawn start appearing and the Sky's Mercy crashes into a damn mountain.

Bro. Do we really need another fight scene 2 minutes after the huge one with Jai Long and Jai Daishou? Really? Lindon (who lost an arm 1 day earlier) now has to fight and protect Yerin and Cassias. Nice. Really nice. And when Yerin realizes he lost his arm, all we get is a 30 second dialogue where she says she's sorry, and that she also lost multiple limbs and her master had pills to grow them back. Perfect. Now back to another fight scene.

There are other things I desliked like the Skysworn idiots thinking Yerin is an emissary and Eithan is... I don't even know. A traitor of the empire? I guess. The famous misunderstanding plot! Nice. Yerin wanting Lindon to join the Skysworn 20 minutes after he got his new arm, Lindon actually going when he can't even control his fucking arm because he LITERALLY JUST GOT IT, etc.

There's one thing I really loved in this book, though. And that thing is Orthos. I already liked him in Blackflame, but he is absolutely hilarious here. 90% of the scenes where I laughed in this book are in scenes with him.

Let's just stop and appreciate how in the span of 15 pages Orthos tells Lindon how the other lowgolds teenagers were perfect targets for him to practice the Void Dragon's Dance, ALMOST CRIES LAUGHING when Lindon broke the ribs of that Kotai clan guy (and eats the guy's shield), retreats to his shell immediately when Mercy appears, even asking "Is she gone?" while inside of his shell, and tells Yerin that Lindon needs a shell after Lindon gets destroyed in the Skysworn trials. Orthos might be a Truegold, but his comedic timing is Monarch level for sure.

I'm not really worried because people always say Ghostwater is great and I really am loving Cradle so far, but I have to admit this book left a sour taste. Curious to see if I'm in a minority here.