Who else has kids and adjusting to the school year along with their extracurricular activities? Cause I have been off kilter in trying to get back into balance. I’m getting close though so I thought I would drop a quick review on the Cradle series by Will Wight. So far there are ten books out. If you want to see what I had to say about the first two books, then go HERE. This will be a continuation on my journey with book 3, Blackflame.

Will Wight has drawn me further into his world with this entry. I feel extremely invested in Lindon, Yerin, Eithan, and now A giant dragon turtle as well. You’re probably either saying yes Orthos is awesome or what the hell are you talking about Will!? I don’t want to spoil too much, but I never knew I needed a giant black flame spewing Giant Turtle in my life until now. Orthos is a new animal companion that’s not just powerful, but talks and has an attitude. It is the most original animal character I have encountered. Its absurdly brilliant in the context of this story. If you do the audio book, the narrator is perfect in how a giant dragon turtle should sound. So yah.

We last left Lindon with quite the predicament. Our boy needs to level up quickly. Luckily or unluckily for him he has Underlord Eithan Aurelius to push him beyond his limits. Lindon of course still has my favorite character Yerin by his side. She’ still deadly, smart, and looking out for our boy Lindon. Eithan brings our characters to the city of Serpent’s Grave within the Blackflame Empire. Serpent’s Grave is literally built in a grave of Dragons using their skeletons as buildings. It’s as awesome as it sounds! I promise. The Blackflame Empire is of course named from the now extinct Blackflame technique, a path of the sacred arts used by Dragons and the human rulers who came after them. So….you know, nothing crazy.

What I love about Will Wight is his complete dedication to his magic system and fleshing it out. It may be the most intricate system I have encountered in fantasy. I feel like if we had the sacred arts in this world, that I would have an idea of how to use it. It’s fascinating to see characters really work out how to better themselves in the rules of the magic system Wight developed. Of course, nothing is easy for our protagonists. Yerin is dealing with her own issues of trying to become better in her path but can’t seem to let go of her Master. Lindon is trying to figure out what path in the sacred arts to follow in order to become as powerful as possible. He of course got a late start in life thanks to his backwards community. What path should Lindon follow? It’s quite the mystery where this could go…nothing dangerous, I’m sure!!

I really enjoyed this book. It started to further develop Lindon from a more passive personality to really push his journey to the next level. It also builds up Yerin’s struggles and fleshes out her character development. They go through quite the trials in this to build up Lindon and help Yerin overcome some of her emotional blocks to better herself. We also get to know Eithan more. He’s a fascinating character with quite the mischievous bravado. Its hard to really pin down his motives in this book, but wow does he impress as the story unfolds until the end. I mean how often can a character make a broom and scissors seems deadly? Do not make Eithan take out the broom, its no joke. There are great battle sequences in this book.

The great thing about this series is the books are shorter compared to many long series so you can jump in and out of this world whenever you want without having to devote a lot of time into it. If you love magic systems, slow burn world building, and characters who need to struggle in order to become more powerful, then continue on this journey. I’m having a fun time as Wight brings us along on a journey to the unknown. Stay tuned as I report my thoughts until I catch up to book 10.