284 pages
Published Aug. 17, 2017 by Hidden Gnome Publishing.
Outside Sacred Valley, ancient ruins rise from the earth, drawing sacred artists from miles around to fight for the treasures within.
Lindon has reached Copper, taking the first step on the road to power, but the warriors of the outside world are still far beyond him.
To advance, he turns to the arcane skills of the Soulsmiths, who craft weapons from the stuff of souls. With new powers come new enemies, and Lindon soon finds himself facing an entire sect of Golds.
I spent about 4/5 of this book wondering whether I should bother to finish the series, and figured maybe I should take a break and read something else afterwards.
I’m not totally sure what happened next, but I picked up the sequel and started reading it immediately after finishing. I guess it’s good??
So far I quite like the story and Also like the fact there's a lot more of it for me to read
Meh-ish. People are calling this a better book than the first, but I'm not sure. It lacks pacing. It isn't bad though. Language is slightly improved. Premise grows more interesting, though it's still silly litRPG.
I had to steal time away to spend it on the book. Another quick read an so far I still want to go through the entire series. Very fast-paced and entertaining. What I wrote before still stands. Characters stay very shallow and the world itself doesn't feel very nuanced either. It's definitely not the most amazing literature, but if you want some easily digestible entertainment, you should give the series a try. Start with Unsouled, though.
I had to steal time away to spend it on the book. Another quick read an so far I still want to go through the entire series. Very fast-paced and entertaining. What I wrote before still stands. Characters stay very shallow and the world itself doesn't feel very nuanced either. It's definitely not the most amazing literature, but if you want some easily digestible entertainment, you should give the series a try. Start with Unsouled, though.
Soulsmith was a worthy followup to Unsouled. Our hero keeps making progress, and enemies, and suffering... Oh, how he suffers.
Lindon's path is definitely an iteration of the movie-montage-of-pain trope, as he is broken, scarred, and poisoned... All to get stronger. The story really kicks up the "no pain, no gain" elements in this volume.
If you are into action, fantasy, and martial arts, this series is pure written crack.
A decent strong, a bit of a soft middle but picked up in the final half for a solid finish. Soulsmith picks up from the action and moves Lindon and Yerin further in to the wild and unknown.
I was worried that Eithan may be a drop in character like Suriel from Cradle #1 but I was happily surprised that Eithan stuck around and appears to be setting up roots in the story. Like Suriel, Eithan offers insight to the size of Cradle and the vastness that awaits our intrepid gang.
I'm enjoying the series and have no issues with continuing so on to Cradle #3 I go.
