mightyjor's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This book is the equivalent of popcorn and milk duds and a soda at the movie theater. It won’t exactly sustain you as the only thing you consume for the rest of your life, but when you’re in the moment consuming it it’s absolutely heavenly. There’s a discussion to be had here for what a perfect book actually is, and in this case, the book is clearly a novelization of the Naruto/Dragonball/Last Airbended shonen style anime and manga, and it does a fantastic job being just that.
You’re not going to tear up here. It’s not going to change you as a person. It’s going to give you huge surges of adrenaline though when some character powers up with some secret technique that he’d been hiding up his but for the last three weeks after everyone said he was powerless against him. And that’s exactly what this book is, power fantasy, pure and simple. I’m not a better person for having read this, just a thoroughly entertained one.
In saying that, I think this book doesn’t quite hit the same way the first one did as I found the first half to be extremely boring, so much so that I had a hard time continuing on. In that respect though, the fact that this audiobook takes like 5 hours to listen to on my standard 1.5x speed means that all it takes is commuting to work a couple times and you’re already in the second half which is infinitely more fun.
When I watch a shonen anime, I want to see our hero do insane, out of the box things to somehow overpower his much stronger opponents, then grow and become more powerful as a result. It’s a promise that was set up in book 1 and book 2 begins to deliver on that in wonderful juicy ways.
I’ll be continuing on with this series. The author gave all the books away for free (which is crazy) but I’ve also purchased every audiobook in the series, that’s how confident I am that I’m going to be happy with the whole thing.
You’re not going to tear up here. It’s not going to change you as a person. It’s going to give you huge surges of adrenaline though when some character powers up with some secret technique that he’d been hiding up his but for the last three weeks after everyone said he was powerless against him. And that’s exactly what this book is, power fantasy, pure and simple. I’m not a better person for having read this, just a thoroughly entertained one.
In saying that, I think this book doesn’t quite hit the same way the first one did as I found the first half to be extremely boring, so much so that I had a hard time continuing on. In that respect though, the fact that this audiobook takes like 5 hours to listen to on my standard 1.5x speed means that all it takes is commuting to work a couple times and you’re already in the second half which is infinitely more fun.
When I watch a shonen anime, I want to see our hero do insane, out of the box things to somehow overpower his much stronger opponents, then grow and become more powerful as a result. It’s a promise that was set up in book 1 and book 2 begins to deliver on that in wonderful juicy ways.
I’ll be continuing on with this series. The author gave all the books away for free (which is crazy) but I’ve also purchased every audiobook in the series, that’s how confident I am that I’m going to be happy with the whole thing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Violence
eatingbrains's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book built on the foundation set in the first. It took concepts that you had a basic understanding of and gave greater complexity to them.
At one point I had a question that hadn't been answered or really addressed in any way but my fears of little things being forgotten in the wider scope ended up being unfounded.
Had a great time with it, and immediately started and finished the next book before coming back to complete this review. Oops.
At one point I had a question that hadn't been answered or really addressed in any way but my fears of little things being forgotten in the wider scope ended up being unfounded.
Had a great time with it, and immediately started and finished the next book before coming back to complete this review. Oops.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence, War, Ableism, Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Slavery, Confinement, Self harm, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Death, Gore, and Trafficking
ggcd1981's review
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Rating: 4.90 estrelas
Meu TOC diz pra colocar 4.75, mas minha consciência e sentimentos dizem 4.90
Soulsmith é o segundo livro de Cradle Series e, assim como o primeiro, eu gostei muito da experiência. Começo a acreditar que essa serie é severamente “underated”. Will Wight simplesmente escreve de uma forma que me agrada. Honestamente não tenho muito o que acrescentar pois todos os pontos positivos do primeiro livro continuam sendo pontos fortes em Soulsmith. Com personagens que eu gosto cada vez mais, especialmente o protagonista Lindon, o livro me manteve interessada todo o tempo. A personagem feminina é interessante, forte e tratada com dignidade pelo autor (algo não comum no gênero Fantasia). Os novos personagens são bastante interessantes e vai ser divertido descobrir mais sobre eles ao longo do próximo volume. Uma pequena cena que foi particularmente significativa para mim foi quando Lindon destruiu a sua insígnia de Unsouled porque “não era mais adequada a ele”. Esta cena foi pequena porem marcante para mim. Ao pensar em pontos negativos (na minha opinião) a única coisa que me vem à mente é que o meio do livro teve um passo mais lento. Isso é compreensível tendo em vista que Cradle series é uma história contada ao longo de vários volumes. Desta forma ocasionalmente o “passo” da série vai oscilar entre mais rápido e mais lento de acordo com o desenvolvimento do enredo. Mesmo assim, comparando Soulsmith com Unsouled tive que baixar a nota do volume 2 um pouco justamente por ter sentido mais lentidão neste do que no volume 1. Em geral Soulsmith conseguiu manter o ótimo nível de Unsouled e me deixar ainda mais interessada no desenrolar da história de Lindon, para quem eu torso cada vez mais. Que venha o Volume 3.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Violence
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