Will Wight (author of the Traveler's Gate, the Cradle Series, and The Elder Empire)

I liked the Cradle Series better than The Traveler's Gate, but not by much. They mostly scratch different itches. Cradle is great for the wuxia and epic scope and all that, but it's not really clear how their society can function on such a ridiculously extreme level of Asskicking Equals Authority. If nothing else, why don't the highest level sacred artists set up a Portal Network with five minutes of spare time to make the lives of their servants easier? Traveler's Gate, on the other hand, is a more believably functional society, but it doesn't grab me quite as much. I think I would have liked some more scenes of Simon conquering rooms, instead of just "I finally conquered that one room offscreen." Thankfully he only did that twice, with the stone gauntlet and the armory, but I hope we see him earning the diamond and then the more exotic powers.

As for City of Light, I feel like it works better if you imagine that Alin died at the end of Crimson Vault, only to be resurrected when he finally accepted the White Light. The character in CoL was simply the Elysian Incarnation, with only enough humanity left to be a hypocrite. And I didn't feel like Alin got pushed down to prop Simon up—at least not since the first book, where Alin was just constantly a dick. Once he became an Incarnation, his story was only going to end with him dead or sealed. He had a bigger role in the climax than I expected.

I did like Alin in COL, my interpretation was much the same as you talked about above.

Yeah, most of the parts about Alin I have an issue with are in the first book.

Finished Of Shadow and Sea. That's the Shera one. Definitely worse than either Cradle or Traveler's Gate. It wasn't terrible, but it felt terribly unfinished, with massively important parts missing. We get very little on the villains, how most magic works, and the plot is left feeling disjointed. I assume most of them are in Of Sea and Shadow, but while splitting a book like that can be interesting, it is not something that should be done so early in a writer's career. Weren't these the first books he wrote?

I think those books started after Gate, but before Cradle.

I've only read a little of that series. I started the other book, Of Sea and Shadow.

But I only made it halfway though before getting distracted.

I didn't think it was bad though. I really need to start it again once I make some more headway on my To Read pile.

Mild Meta spoilers. I did hear something about the books in that series having more nods to the wider universe compared to Traveler's Gate

Maybe Of Shadow and Sea was supposed to be read second? I don't know, I tried looking for a reading order, but couldn't find anything helpful.

And I still enjoyed it. It just felt unfinished, and didn't grab me quite enough. I checked, multiple times, to make sure it wasn't actually a sequel to something else, because they kept constantly referencing past events. On the one hand that's good—it made the world feel much bigger—but it didn't feel like worldbuilding, it felt like "You, the reader, should know this because you should have already read it."

And there was a bit more of the universe stuff. Not as much as Cradle, but some. An epigraph that appears to be a quote from Valin mentions that the Elders are survivors of dead worlds (like the Territories), and the whole Soulbound thing sounds a lot like Goldsigns from Cradle.

Finished Of Sea and Shadow. Definitely, absolutely, intended to be companion books. They are so much better when read together. Ultimately, I think he should have just squished them into one double sized book, but I understand why he didn't. The whole point of having them split is so that you can't tell which side is "right." Is Calder correct to try to raise up a new Emperor? Is Shera correct to kill anyone who tries? You sympathize with them in their respective stories, and it works great.

He probably should have waited until he had more experience and reputation, though. Because I'm still not sure he can pull off the finish.

Oh, and page.

September 26 release date for Uncrowned.

And the Foundation collection is free until midnight.

Uncrowned is out now, at least in Australia.

EDIT: Really strong book.

Yerin vs Lindon was great. Lindon did a really good job doing as well as he did. He got closer than I actually thought he would.

I actually quite liked the Abidan stuff in this book. We had seen them previously interact with Cradle, but that was pretty indirect.

If I have one complaint, its that this book had a distinct lack of Mercy. Considering Lindon spent quite a few months in proximity to her. I hope that we get some more of Mercy interacting with Lindon and Yerin in the next book.

Edited by 32ndfreeze on Sep 26th 2019 at 6:29:24 PM

Uncrowned was really good, but I found it depressing for some reason. I genuinely don't know why. I loved the tournament. I loved the slow burn romance of Lindon/Yerin. I loved the sudden (and predictable, but in a good way) reveal at the end that Pride thought Lindon and Mercy were dating. But for some reason... I just found it depressing. Maybe because it feels like Lindon lost far too much by not making it to the final eight, and that only happened because Northstrider decided to be a dick and pit him against Yerin.

I can see that.

I don't personally mind it though, because I think its about time for Yerin to be on the receiving end of some more of the spoils. I know she's gotten stuff like that Truegold Elixer, the Sage's dream tablet and various Sword related pills, but Lindon's had more variety from Eithan plus all the stuff from Ghostwater.

Also I think given the goal of the Eithan Alliance is to progress together, not always being the one making the biggest leaps will be a good lesson to learn for Lindon.

Plus it's not like Lindon is totally out of luck. [[spoiler:I feel like there's a decent chance of Lindon convincing Northstrider to give him a little something in the way of training or something else if he doesn't just rip Dross right out of his head. Nothing major, but 30 seconds of advice or a scale for Dross from a Monarch is worth a LOT at the UL level.

Regardless, people including Fury showed a lot of interest in seeing him go all out versus Yerin. Even if Lindon walks away with nothing more from the rest of the tournament I'm sure he won't be left dry of resources in the future.

First three Cradle Series books free until Thursday. This is different from the Foundation collection, which was briefly free a while ago; this time, it's the three individual books.

Third set of The Elder Empire books are coming out in two days time.

I should really give them another shot.

I got 50% into Calder's first book and then sort of just stopped and haven't been back.

Edited by 32ndfreeze on Apr 22nd 2020 at 12:01:14 AM

October 6th release date for Wintersteel.

Seems like this might be the longest book so far too!

Is it just me, or is everything being announced only right before it's released this year? I wonder if it has to do with covid; production schedules are screwy, so they're holding off on promising anything until it's done, and at that point they realize they can make their planned release date anyway.

Also, I finished Elder Empire a while back. It was good, but I think ultimately splitting it into two series was a mistake. There were too many things that had to be hidden in one series because seeing them would be redundant to the other. Some awesome moments fell flat because we couldn't see them from the right angle. Once or twice it worked great because we had two different views of the same event, but mostly it was just eh.

Though there was some good Abidan stuff. The series takes place before Cradle, because Ozriel is still around. The Great Elders are Class-1 Fiends (Ozriel says he likes the Empire's name better), and this Iteration is implied to be Asylum, since it is dedicated to keeping them contained.

Finished Wintersteel! It was definitely great. More hints on how Monarchs work, along with Sages and Heralds. More stuff on the Dreadgods and Sacred Valley. Lindon's harem grows just soon enough for us to care when half the girls are killed. Lindon and Yerin are finally together, and returning to Sacred Valley. Though there's still the issue of the curse.

My only real problem was Ruby. She felt rushed. She's been hinted at for several books now, sure, but she only really got a voice in this one, and then only near the end. And then, before we had a chance to care about her as someone separate from Yerin, she and Yerin merge. If she had been a real character for a couple books, it would have had more impact.

His Cradle books are available for free for now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0753FP6SP?searchxofy=true&ref_=dbs_s_aps_series_rwt

I was a bit slow finishing Wintersteel. I bought it on the day it came out, finished the first 14% according to Kindle and then got distracted until today.

First off, I was totally right about Lindon getting a few scraps of knowledge from Northstrider in exchange for Dross stuff.

Malice winking at Lindon was kind of amazing.

Really liked the four way split in the middle where we got to see everyone's training.

I also really enjoyed Lindon's unbridled lust for treasure (and the Points Sage blooper!). "If even one prize escaped his grasp, he was going to weep blood." was an excellent line.

Blerin Ruby playing with the bun-bun was excellent.]]

The thing about the Abidan having some role in how the Eight Man Empire works is interesting. I wonder if it was an experiment, or accident? It seems like its not only knowledge on how it works, but rather something of theirs/out of world provides a vital spark for the process?

Not a major thing, but its nice Northstrider appreciates the needs of the contestants mental health.

Probably my favorite set of scenes in the novel was Lindon breaking into Mercy and Yerin's chambers. Particularly liked him and Mercy commiserating over losing.

Shipper me noticed Yerin's Blood Shadow going crazy when finding out they couldn't spar with Lindon. But I guess that was just foreshadowing, huh?

Also naming Ruby was maybe a touch too on the nose. But still a good scene.

Lastly, was a bit worried about Lindon getting the Diamond Vein's after so many people in the fandom complaining about why didn't Lindon get them last book. But by the time he actually used them I was fine with it. Will certainly shared the treasures around this book. I was happy Yerin got the primary recipient of the loot this time around.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I guess the only complaint I might have is both Yerin and Lindon getting unique advancements, but honestly I was pretty satisfied with everything else. And really I'll need to see the next book as to how that'll pan out. Also happy about there being very little Abidan stuff. But that's personal taste.

Oh yeah, and I agree with Discar. Ruby's merge didn't have the same gravitas it could have had.

Edited by 32ndfreeze on Oct 23rd 2020 at 6:20:32 AM

I liked the unique advancements. Well, maybe a bit more explanation of what Heralds and Sages are before they advanced would have been nice, but I definitely liked one becoming a Herald and the other a Sage. And of course it fits that Yerin would become a Herald because she ultimately is not Adama.

But we still don't have the full details on what that means. Judging by a few things from the Abidan infodumps, it seems like they're Mutually Exclusive Powers, and becoming a Monarch is a Yin-Yang Bomb that combines them. But the Winter Sage says that Heralds can use Icons, just not very well (which is why Yerin can use the Sword Icon, if only barely). So I guess that's not what makes Sages unique. The unique thing about Heralds appears to be that they Forge themselves a new body.

We'll probably get more information early on in book 9. And Lindon hasn't actually advanced to Overlord yet, but he'll probably handle that either between books or right at the start of 9. He was on the cusp when he became a Sage by accident instead.

I do really like how Lindon & Yerin got the opposite upgrade I would have expected a book or two ago.

Yeah, more info in the next book seems likely.

One other thing I just remembered. Given Eithan, Ziel, Lindon & Yerin are all on the one cloud ship now, I hope Mercy doesn't get left behind on the plot happening next book.

Cause it would make sense for her to go and do Akura things. But I want her to stay with the gang for longer.

Bloodline is out April 6th.

It seems like hardly any time since Wintersteel came out, but I won't complain!

Started it on audiobook. Gonna take me a couple days to finish, but just to start, we got an explanation for why Lindon didn't immediately advance to Overlord: Sacred Valley's curse drains stronger people faster. He can last longer as an Underlord.

Finished Bloodline! That was a thing. Hard to figure out what to talk about.

Sacred Valley is still full of assholes. There was an interesting parallel with Jai Long; he, like them, constantly thinks the worst of Lindon and assumes he's going to turn on them at any second. The difference is that Jai Long actually knows what an Underlord and a Dreadgod are, so he knows not to betray him. I can't tell who is stupider, the Wei elders (who assume Lindon is just out for revenge despite him doing everything he can to save them) or the Heaven's Glory school (who keep attacking despite seeing it has no effect, to the point of killing themselves out of pure spite).

Lindon is basically in charge of what remains of Sacred Valley. Not a surprise, but I assumed that Malice would formally grant him the land.

"Bloodline" is only mentioned a couple times in the book, but the one that stood out to me was at the very end. Is the original Dreadgod a human Monarch, who rose purely through Hunger madra and passed that down to his four children?

Lots of interesting stuff on the Mad King and his ilk. It does feel like the Abidan abandoned Cradle pretty quick, though. It was emphasized throughout the series, including this book, that they would defend it to the last, and then the second the world is in a tactically disadvantageous position they drop it?

The betrayals really hurt Lindon a lot. I really felt for him with that.

I honestly didn't pay as much attention to the Abidan as I could have. But I guess his new weapon shook them up?

Also really really glad this book kept up with more Mercy. Really happy about that, and since the team needs to recover for a bit I doubt she'll be heading off right away. Although I wouldn't doubt her family know what happened to her.

I'm also really really interested about them potentially delving into the Labyrinth next book. I guess finding out stuff about Oz is important, but I think it's great for narrative purposes. Because I feel like the gang might be able to still go in unencumbered too much by their injuries since they won't be using anywhere near their full potential.

I also hope we see some more of Kelsa and Lindon's family next time.

Maybe they'll be just doing quick dips, like what the Sword Sage was doing but minus the getting poisoned by a bunch of assholes bit. They'll have to split their attention with their new sect.