Title: Uncrowned
Author: Will Wight
Year of Publication: 2019
Series: Cradle
Series #: 7
Goodreads Rating (Avg.): 4.52
Goodreads Rating (Mine): 4
Beware Spoilers and Declarations of Love for Eithan Arelius
Synopsis: The Uncrowned King tournament is finally underway – or rather, it will be, in six months. Uncrowned follows Lindon’s training for the tournament, along with three-quarters of the tournament. And yes, it ends in a cliffhanger, but I didn’t hate that.
There was a lot going on in this book – not least of all the demystification of high level Sacred Artists including the Monarchs and the Abidan. The worlds are finally beginning to collide, after 7 books of build up.
Uncrowned begins where Underlord left off – with Lindon joining the Akura family for training as part of their team. He is predictably faced with considerable hostility from the rest of the Akura Underlords – thanks to him, all of them need to compete for a single spot (Mercy being the default leader of the team.) As a result, he ends up getting brutally bullied challenged multiple times over the course of the next few months. Lindon takes it in stride because he realizes he has no tournament experience – all of his battles have been to the death, and as such, he has never had to hold back or develop techniques that don’t involve fatal force.
And then he beats all of them in quick succession after having given himself enough time to study their tactics. In this, Lindon’s advantage in having Dross is insane. Dross can speed up his reaction timings, analyze battle statistics, map opponents’ weaknesses and strengths, and predict their most likely moves.
That night, Akura Charity entered Justice’s office to find him slumped over his desk, drinking. When he did not rise to greet her and show proper respect to a Sage, she knew he was truly disturbed. “Have you laid your concerns to rest?” she asked. The old man stared deep into the wall, bottle dangling from one hand. “He’s a monster.”
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of well-choreographed battle sequences, and this book had plenty of that, along with innovative battlefields, legendary rivalries and subtle undercurrents of intrigue.
The ripples of Lindon’s little soujourn in Ghostwater are all over this book. Not only did he catch Akura Charity’s eye with his standoff with Harmony, but he also killed the gold dragon Sophara’s sister (in self-defence, she wouldn’t stop trying to kill him and steal all his stuff), and created a Presence using Northstrider’s resources.
So now Akura Charity has forced him into a tournament he doesn’t feel prepared to compete in, where Sophara gets to spend all her time trying to murder him, and Northstrider himself is judging the competition, making it all too likely that the Monarch will soon notice the existence of Dross.
Lindon’s secrecy regarding Dross has served him well, as even the most exalted sacred artists at the tournament like Charity and Northstrider only assume that he has a mind construct, and not a fully functional artificial intelligence with a separate personality. That’s something only the Abidan have, and it’s also something Northstrider spent ages trying to perfect. But being pushed to your limits has a way of showing your hand.
“Well,” she said with a sigh, “there’s one easy answer: make it to Monarch. Then you can spend all the time you want on romance and no one can say anything. Just ask my mother.”
– Akura Mercy
The romance in this book evolves slowly, through moments like Mercy asking Lindon what’s going on between him and Yerin, Lindon and Yerin being in the world’s most obvious long distance relationship, and Mercy’s brother telling her that he approves of Lindon as a match for her.
Her skin was smooth, the scars gone. The rope-belt of Forged blood madra she had once worn was missing, integrated into her spirit. Her hair hung past her shoulders, and her face had been sculpted anew during her advancement to Underlord. She looked more mature, a worthy competitor in the Uncrowned King tournament. She was beautiful.
Lindon thinking about Yerin
I’m beginning to sense the formation of a love triangle between Lindon, Mercy and Yerin. And unless this is heading towards the formation of the world’s most badass polycule of all time, I’m sorry to say I don’t approve. (If they do form a polycule, I hope Eithan will be included – he and Yerin could potentially have great chemistry. Plus, the four of them would be unstoppable for all time. Or until a break up.)
I do feel the book under-served Yerin by focusing so much on Lindon, when she was the face of exponential development of badassery in this book.
Eithan stood before her, frozen in mid-lunge, eyes wide. His one outstretched hand held a silver comb, which he had been using to attack. Its top half fell off, cut by the Endless Sword, and plinked to the deck. The edges of his ornate pink-and-gold outer robe were shredded, and a few strands of his hair drifted down.
I still don’t get the deal with Eithan and his random household implements. How exactly does he use them in a fight? Do they channel his pure madra? What?
And she was sure her master had felt it too. They looked the same because they were dancing to the beat of the same music. Today, she had learned to hear it a little more clearly.
But Yerin! Not only does she beat Eithan in training (once) but she also squares off with experienced sword madra artists who are also of House Arelius… and wins! Over the course of the tournament, she learns to tap into a more instinctive ability to predict her opponent’s movements, without relying on sight. I really hope she manages to achieve her Master’s dream of winning the Uncrowned King Tournament. That would be cool. And fitting.
Charity watched as Yerin blindfolded herself and had to push down a surge of anger. Sacred artists, in her opinion, tended to make the same errors when they pushed for advancement. One was to value progress over every other objective.
We learn more about Eithan’s background and history, as well as that of House Arelius. He may have actually been there when Monarch Tiberian Arelius was killed by the Reigan Shen, who in turn has actually managed unite the cults of the Dreadgods (aka the literal entities and artists that the rest of them are gearing up to fight against). Reigan takes the tournament as an opportunity to – among other things – try and rile Eithan up.
Eithan let nothing affect his mind, his expression, or even his spirit. Reigan Shen’s spiritual perception could be on him, so he did not allow himself to feel any cold anger, any desire for revenge, and certainly not any flicker of contemptuous amusement. If any emotion showed in his spirit, Shen might annihilate him.
It is encouraging to hear that my literary boyfriend Eithan Arelius does in fact experience anger. He’s just far too good to let it show. Ever. And that’s enough build up for me. I look forward to the epic battle between him and Reigan Shen.
#EithanAreliusForMonarch
It’s difficult to raise the stakes beyond a certain point without letting tragedy into your story. If everything is a game and no one can die (like in the Uncrowned Tournament) then it’s difficult to have an emotional response to the plot. Fortunately, Wight has solved this by introducing an expendable character, but writing them so skillfully that the reader is fully invested in their fate despite their entire arc lasting only a few pages.
Meet Naian Blackflame.
Lindon thought of the man straining against the restraints, a prisoner of the dragons and a victim of Blackflame madra.
Naian is the last prince of the original Blackflame empire, and he’s insane. Literally insane – he’s been driven mad by the effect of the destructive Blackflame madra. He’s constantly kept chained up, and is used as part of the black dragons’ team. And by used I mean they unchain him when they want mass destruction, and he runs around cutting heads and limbs off willy-nilly.
Lindon wants to fight him, defeat him, Blackflame to Blackflame. But he doesn’t stop there. He wants to save Naian, prove to himself and the world that Blackflame madra doesn’t need to be a life sentence, and to push back against the arrogance of the dragons. He succeeds at both things, but only partly.
Even though Lindon manages to bring Naian briefly back to sanity, Sophara kills him right after the tournament out of sheer spite, to show she can, leaving Lindon stunned, furious and heartbroken. Now he too has a reason to destroy her, as much as she wants to destroy him.
While Yerin is certainly the most impressive of the lot, it’s also pretty cool how Lindon has established himself enough to make her look like the underdog. And to think that only 7 books and a couple of years ago, she had to take him under her wing and protect him because he wasn’t a Copper.
And hilariously, when Lindon and Yerin have to face off against each other, Lindon completely freezes up and refuses to fight, much to her dismay. In the middle of the battle, Yerin asks for Dross’ help whipping him into action.
He doesn’t see determination in his own eyes, he sees…doubt. Hesitation. Weakness.
Dross: How do I fix a broken Lindon? I think mine needs replaced. [sic] “Fighting her will hurt us both, Dross,” Lindon says. He cannot speak in his own voice, but Dross understands him. “It will be better if she wins.”
Dross: Yes, is this the Soulsmith? Can you transplant a Remnant spine into my sacred artist?
Every good story needs good comedy, and since not everybody can be a funny-guy, a writer needs a good couple of vehicles for their humour. And Dross, I am pleased to say, excels.
[That seems like a lot of work from me for a guaranteed loss for you.]
– Dross
And while Dross’ jibes don’t work, he does manage to get it through Lindon’s thick head that he’s hurting and insulting Yerin by refusing to fight. And once Lindon gets his act together, we get once again, a view of what he looks like to his enemies.
He towered over her, built like a guard tower, his eyes burning circles of red on darkness. His clothes were shredded and burned. Drying blood streaked his skin. His right arm hung mangled and useless against his side.
Uncrowned stops short of crowning the Uncrowned, while also leaving our protagonist in a potentially dangerous situation. Some reviews have called this a double cliffhanger, but I see just the one. Too much is going on in the plot to also have the entirety of the Uncrowned Tournament crammed in. Besides, I’m pretty sure the final portion of the competition will feature more Abidan, considering they’re officially recruiting those below the rank of Monarch (turns out literally all the Monarchs in this land refused to be recruited.)
While Wight is undoubtedly a good writer, the editing seems rushed in this book. There are so many sentences that could have been done better, along with typos (like the one in the quote above.) Maybe it’s the cost of bringing a new book out every year, but I also think it’s worth it to push the book release by a month or two just to ensure a good finish to it.
Next: The Lunar Chronicles #1 – Cinder
Next in this series: Cradle #8 – Wintersteel
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