Publisher: TOR/Audible Studios (Audiobook – 13 June 2016)

Series: Cradle – Book One

Length: 8 hours and 52 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Enter a world of magic, adventure and personal growth with the compelling first entry in Will Wight’s epic Cradle series, Unsouled.

After finishing off several longer fantasy series in recent years, I’ve been looking for another extensive series to fill the void, and the one that kept getting suggested to me was the Cradle series.  Written by Will Wight, the Cradle books are part of a now complete progressive fantasy series which sees a young man born without power in a world of magic attempt to advance and overcome his deficiencies, while also fighting back against rivals far more powerful than him.  Described to me as a slow-burn series that gets better with every book, the Cradle series has long intrigued me, especially some of the storylines later in the series (a multi-book tournament arc was something that I found particularly appealing).  After circling this series for a while, I finally read the first Cradle book, Unsouled, an intriguing novel that managed to draw me in.

Plot Synopsis:

Advancing from zero to hero starts at zero.

When Lindon becomes the only one who sees the approaching doom, he must leave his homeland to save it… and to see how far he can go by walking his own Path.

Unsouled proved to be an excellent and captivating novel that perfectly sets up the Cradle series with some very interesting storylines.  Serving as a great introduction to the protagonist and the main setting, Unsouled was an awesome and addictive book, that provides an early hook to the larger series while maintaining its own compelling story.

I felt that Unsouled had an amazing narrative behind it that, while a little slow at the start, quickly drags you in.  Wight provides a compelling introduction to the protagonist, Wei Shi Lindon, who grows up in the Sacred Valley in the world of Cradle, a highly magical world where everyone has some form of power.  Unlike the rest of his clan, Lindon lacks the ability to control the magical madra of the world, and is branded an Unsouled, forbidden to be trained or to advance in a world where moving up the tiers of power is the only thing that matters.  Determined to prove himself, Lindon embarks on several risky ploys to gain some ability to utilise his madra, while also trying to learn a fighting style that works for him against more powerful opponents (which at the start of the book includes all the small children in Sacred Valley).  After a short but entertaining tournament, the story veers into a whole new direction when Lindon encounters a cosmic being who changes the entire course of his narrative.  This proves to be an excellent first half to Unsouled, and I really appreciated how well Wight set up the protagonist’s motivations, as well as details of the larger setting, and used them to create a compelling and changeable story.

The second half of Unsouled sees Lindon set out to find a potential new mentor.  To get there, he manages to trick his way into a powerful monastery, which results in a couple of the funniest sequences in the book, while also making Lindon a deadly enemy.  After gaining some new tricks and learning how to harness them to defeat stronger opponents, Lindon sets off to find and help the embattled Yerin, a skilled young woman who can take him away from Sacred Valley.  This results in a couple of big encounters, where Lindon must learn to work with his new companion, while also setting aside his life in the valley.  After some excellent and intense action-packed sequences, Wight wraps up Unsouled with an impressive final confrontation which are resolved utilising elements cleverly scattered in the earlier part of the book.  The story ends on an interesting note, with hints for how the series will progress in the future, which should leave readers curious enough to come back for more.

I really enjoyed how well this came together, as Unsouled’s was quite entertaining as a standalone read.  Not only did Unsouled have an amazing story, but Wight did an excellent job introducing the setting and some of the magical elements that are key to enjoying the story.  The initial setting for this book, the Sacred Valley, was a perfect starter zone location for this first book, and I quite enjoyed how Wight depicted it as being both too large and too small for the protagonist’s journey.  The resulting action and exploration of the character’s initial abilities, as well as the larger potential of power out in the world, all keep the reader quite interested in the story, and it works as the perfect set up to following the protagonists journey from weak nobody to powerful individual.  As such, Unsouled also worked quite well as the first book in the Cradle series, and I really appreciated how well some key elements were featured and explored here.  Combine this with some fun early humour, a good focus on character work and some slick sequences with real stakes behind them, and Unsouled proved to be a well-written novel that proves hard to get away from.

One of the highlights of Unsouled that helped set it up as the first book in the series was the excellent focus on its complex characters.  For this first book most of the focus is on series protagonist Wei Shi Lindon, whose stunted ability to manipulate madra sees him declared an Unsouled, an undesirable with no power who is restricted from training or participating in aspects of their society.  After spending years as the lowest rung in his clan’s hierarchy, Lindon spends the events of this book trying to gain power and advance.  The author does an excellent job portraying Lindon’s desperation to fit in and be accepted in the early half of Unsouled and it works well as a basis for his motivation to grow stronger that defines this entire series.  I quite enjoyed how Wight set up Lindon as a weak but clever protagonist who relies more on cunning and tricks to win rather than the inherent brute strength like everyone else in the world.  I think Wight hit the right balance when it comes to Lindon’s abilities, as while he has some early successes, he is generally still outclassed by his opponents, and his tricks only get him so far.  This increases the tension of plot, and it was nice not to have an overpowered/overly tricky protagonist right at the start of the series.  Due to this, Lindon worked well as the initial protagonist and main point-of-view character for this novel, and he proved to be a very relatable figure who the audience can get behind.

Aside from Lindon, Unsouled had a good supporting cast of characters, although it seems unlikely that too many of them will appear in future books to any great degree.  I did enjoy the introduction of Yerin, a young but very skilled outsider to the valley, who Lindon eventually allies with.  A brash and rough figure, Yerin is an entertaining change from many of the more reserved characters in this first novel, and she ends up being an excellent and entertaining addition to the cast in the second half of the book.  Wight does a good job setting up an odd-couple partnership between Lindon and Yerin, and I felt that the two characters played off each other in a fun way.  Throw in a good main antagonist for this novel in a powerful practitioner with an unfortunate baby face, as well as a powerful celestial being who takes an interest in Lindon, and the cast of Unsouled is an excellent highlight of this first book that works to support its amazing story.

To experience the full impact of Unsouled’s plot, I decided to check out the audiobook version of the novel, a decision I ended up very happy with.  I often find that listening to a novel’s audiobook format really helps me to absorb a complex setting or story, and this was the case with Unsouled.  Having the story read out really highlights the great characters, intense story and elaborate setting, and I found myself powering through the near nine hour run time.  It helped that Unsouled had an impressive narrator in Travis Baldree, whose inclusion was a factor in me checking out this series on audiobook as I have previously enjoyed his narration in Matt Dinniman’s Operation Bounce House and The Eye of the Bedlam Bride. Baldree has a great voice for fantasy fiction, and I really enjoyed hearing him describe all the unique elements of Wight’s fantasy world.  I felt he did an amazing job providing all the unique voices of the key cast of this series, especially the protagonist Lindon, and he really captured some of the emotions and traits of these characters, such as Lindon’s initial despair at his lot in life and the growing hope that emerges in the second half of the book.  This excellent narration really brought Unsouled alive, and I now fully intend to enjoy the entire Cradle series on the audiobook format.

While I did initially enjoy Unsouled on audiobook, I do have to mention the cool new paperback version I recently received from Pan Macmillan Australia.  A re-release of the original novel, this new version of Unsouled has a ton of interesting features, including some original art, an informative map, and most entertaining of all, bloopers, with Wight providing some very amusing alternate endings for some of the book’s key scenes (I laughed myself silly at some of these).  Having a physical copy of the book also helped to highlight how well Wight set out key parts of his book in the written format, such as written texts and the way in which a certain cosmic computer provides data to its user.  As such, while I had a great time with the audiobook version of Unsouled, I think many readers could also enjoy the physical copy instead.

Overall, I found Unsouled to be a deeply compelling novel that easy drags you in with its cool story and fantasy focus.  Featuring an excellent introduction to Will Wight’s progressive fantasy narrative, setting and magic system, Unsouled sets up a lot of cool story elements and character arcs, while also keeping the reader extremely engaged.  I got really drawn into Unsouled’s amazing story, and I enjoyed it so much that the moment I finished I immediately started listening to the sequel, Soulsmith.  I cannot wait to continue the Cradle series and I’m excited to see what happens next.

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