I’m just gonna write a mini-review for Unsouled cause I didn’t like it that much

— me before going on a 600 word whine

The Craddle series by Will Wight is really popular on r/fantasy, especially for people who liked Arcane Ascension, which I do, like, a lot, so I was expecting to love it.

After starting to write this I realize it sound pretty ranty, it’s a fine book, it’s ok, I’m not mad, just disappointed. But yeah, reader, if you like Unsouled, you might wanna skip this as it’s  mostly just a bitch fest. Seriously, any sane person should just skip this rambling mess.

It fell kinda flat for me. Now, about a month after finishing it, I find I remember the frustration with the slow beginning better than any fun I had. Maybe it’s because Craddle is often recced as a fun actiony series, so I was expecting that. Looking through reviews now, the fact the first book is slow to start doesn’t seem to be a controversial opinion, it just doesn’t come up a lot when it gets recommended.  I generally don’t mind slow pacing, I love slice of life for instance. I’ve liked all the progression fantasy and litrpg books I’ve tried, I don’t have a problem with hard magic systems and levels. But the beginning of Unsouled just felt excruciatingly slow, without having anything to carry it, I didn’t find the main character that interesting, the supporting cast even less so, the writing was fine, there was just a lot of moping around, woe is me, I have no powers. The stakes were low, MC’s spirits were low, and it didn’t really seem to be going anywhere. Around 40% in I was set to DNF, but my friends told me 40% is where it picks up, and it did, literally 10 audiobook minutes after I was ready to give it up, it finally started getting interesting. I understand this is only really a problem in book one, but I was expecting a lot better from a series that usually gets called fun, exciting, action packed. I’m very torn on whether to give this series another shot, as people who’s taste matches my own mostly seem to agree it gets better, but I feel very little trust towards this author right now.

Ranty bit over … mebbe, mebbe not

For anyone still reading this, and unfamiliar with the series, Craddle is a progression fantasy/cultivation series, a westernized version of xianxia (I don’t really know what that is). It has an Asian inspired world, where people gain power through strengthening their madra, sort of life energy, training and a kind of magical martial art. Lindon, the boring main character, is unsouled, his madra is weak and doesn’t work the way it should, so he’s the underdog, always dismissed and considered and embarrassment. He needs to get by on much more hard work and wits than everyone else. Sounds good in theory, Corrin in Arcane Ascension is also an underdog with what everyone else considered a useless magical skill, but I was rooting for that clever boy all along. Lindon … I found him quite lacking in the personality department. But then about 40% we get a big reveal, about the world of Craddle and Lindon’s future, he grows an interesting motivation and gets into gear. And from then on the book does pick up, we get to see glimpses of life outside the valley where MC’s spent all his life, and they do paint a more interesting picture of the world. I just, wasn’t that impressed with it. The big reveal landed more with an “..oh ok” rather the “ WOW” I think it was going for.

While the narrator was good, I think I might have enjoyed it more if I’d read it, as I can read faster than I can listen, so maybe then it wouldn’t have seemed like such a chore.