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Scott Sheridan

Great read

Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2023

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Another great read from the author of the series. Can't wait to read more from the author of the series. Plenty of action and adventure and developing storyline between characters.

DaritanX

Psycho crush?

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2023

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Hehe I was kinda hoping it was a sneaky romance thing ...but This is good too lol I always love the Machiavellian shadow boss lol.
Also, Justice for Seneka! Admit you love her too dammit.

Allan MCcormick

This book feels like a great jump forward

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2023

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Honestly when I read book one I enjoyed the soulcrafting book 2 I thought was a fun little adventure. This book feels like something more the worlds of the series really shine. I am very excited to continue

Steven M. Brown

Entertaining and fun with a dash more intrigue.

Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2021

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This third release in the seires is perhaps the most complete book in terms of plotting or at least having an ending that feels like an end. Lin is fast writer and self publisher that has good narrative that does not suffer from lack of editing, hanging plots, or numerous reader spead bumps. At the same the story and seires does have a bit of a chapter by chapter release feel. The third person limited pov chapters pull you right through one after another with the characters being active and having an overall goal but with a rather straightforward antagonist that is there to be the final boss of the story.

Nonetheless the seires so far is a fun read and Sarah Lin seems to have have found her niche. I did see she is a patron writer who does have advance chapters or even books available for her patrons. I can respect that because a working author has to pay the bills.

  One aspect enjoyed in this 3rd book is the added depth to the side characters who are his friends. They are given time to Sean and are shown to be unique in many ways and how they even see the world. . Even though the antagonist were straightforward they did get a bit of depth in a few point of view chapters themselves. Overall the story is becoming bigger and more interesting with some intriguing characters that do pay off especially in the epilog.

The story is appropriate for young adults and above.

Cherokee Riddle

Great series

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2021

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This series is, to me, a true gem. I absolutely love the creativity of the progression system. Using architecture to improve oneself is a refreshing take on the genre. The writing style is good and there are few, if any, grammatical errors. The characters have been great and the plot points make sense. It’s not just because “bad guy does bad thing because bad”. One of my absolute favorite things that Sarah Lin has done is flesh all the different cultures and actually have these cultures effect the story in meaningful ways. As far as criticisms go, I think that character progression and development can seem a little slow at times. This is not a big deterrent considering that when stuff does happen it happens in a satisfying and meaningful way. One other criticism is the handling of a character that was added on in book 2 by the name of Senka. I don’t mind the character themself, but the main characters reaction to that character seem strange or over the top.
Minor spoilers for clarification:
Nauda being generally dismissive of Senka doesn’t seem in character for her, and Theo’s general disdain for this character doesn’t seem warranted. The explanation is that Senka is annoying, child like, and gross, but she helps out enough and isn’t written so ill tempered to justify these reactions. However, I will say that these reactions were more muted and written more logically in this book than in book 2.
In conclusion, I really enjoy this series and it’s progression system and I hope that this series is written to completion. I am truly excited for where Sarah Lin will take this series.

Luke Molinar

Series is really coming together!

Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2022

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I enjoyed this books so much that I'm coming back to review it after book 4, because I just couldn't stop reading.

I'm not going to lie, the first two books didn't quite hit for me. The series had so much potential, with worldbuilding, plot, and systems, but I just couldn't get into all the characters, especially Theo. I had to put the series down, but I like the author, so I finally came back and I'm glad I did.

She took a lot of risks by letting characters make mistakes and act selfishly, but it was part of a plan. They do grow, and in this book (and then the next) the series really starts living up to it's potential. The group finally settles down a little bit, starts planning for the future, and starts figuring themselves and each other out. It's nice to have some space for character development, and there is still enough going on to keep things interesting.

I really enjoyed this book, and I'm looking forward to rest of the series!

Just this guy, right?

This series is really getting good.

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2021

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At the core this series is a progression fantasy with a really interesting mechanical twist, that practitioners progress by building their souls of power into exactly defined fortresses within them, doing so by bringing "real" world materials into themselves.

This is interesting enough, but Lin has adroitly crafted many of the trappings of fantasy around them in interesting ways, a protagonist from our world, who in his previous visit to the magical worlds was the promised shining hero, but whose story ended horiffically, leaving him bitter and looking to even the score, companions, each outcasts like himself, but from different worlds, each with motives and plans of their own that make them share the "hero's" journey.

Really, this is well done, and with the third book I am a bit more impressed, enjoying the way the story is being spun as much as I am hooked into the story itself. Lin continues to zig when you expect zag, but it never seems overclever, slipping new elements deftly into the plot and letting the overall mystery simmer in the background, organically driving the plot.

Good stuff, and leaves you eager for more.

Top reviews from other countries

Alexander McCall

A nice book really showcasing the different worlds and cultures in play

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2022

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A lot of Cultivation series have to start slow. The whole point of the genre is that you start at the bottom and, through hard work and perseverance, you work your way to the top, slowly getting more powerful as you do. This means that, while later on you can have a lot of characters with really cool move sets, to begin with you’re very much leaning on the world and characters to be interesting enough to keep you engaged.
Luckily in the Weirkey series the characters and world are more than strong enough but it is nice that by this book we’ve gotten to the point where the interesting techniques are beginning to show themselves.
This is a great book in the series as we get to see more of the worlds and see consequences from previous actions still chasing them. It also allows them to slow down a bit, which bring up a lot of interesting interactions and questions about how their goals relate to one another. I really do love how the characters interact around each other. It’s a nice spectrum. On one end you’ve got Fiyu, who comes from a lovely world of darkness, where people are mostly solitary and touching is reserved only for those you share great affection with. On the other there’s Nauda, who comes from a world of sunshine and community (even if her place in that world is a little mysterious), where half of communication is through touch. And in the middle there’s Theo, who is well travelled enough to know about both of their traditions but is also fundamentally a bit of a broken person who doesn’t really like anyone. It’s nice to see them having to think about how they relate to each other, how what one of them says as a joke could be taken as an insult. It’s interesting and complicated and I love it.
All in all this is another great book in the series. If you’re looking for highstakes, constant action then you won’t find it here but you will find a well crafted world and interesting people.

Sublime Dissonance

Great

Reviewed in Canada on January 7, 2022

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After reading both Soulhome and Rainhorn, the previous volumes of The Weirkey Chronicles, I was confident that whether or not the story would set itself apart from the majority of other similar works would heavily depend on how well Archcrafter would be able to fulfill the tale's potential for greatness. Well, as a short answer, it does exactly what I have been asking for, and in some cases, it surpasses my expectations.

As far as characterization goes, I have no complaints. Both Fiyu and Nauda had their relationship and personalities further materialized into something more complex and organic. It is satisfying to see how their interactions changed once faced with the tenuous uncertainty of life and death, and though their cultural behaviors might establish some distance between them, there is a clear growth in the trio's relationship dynamics. Senka constantly sends mixed signals, sometimes she is simply comic relief, being the senka-head she is, but there are enough sprinkled details in her behavior that might allude to a deeper and more complex character beneath all that cute silliness. I can not help but thoroughly enjoy reading every scene she is on, and I am not ashamed to say that her reaction to Theo's new clothes produced an unexpected and loud chuckle out of me. Theo's development is, once again, expertly done both when it comes to cultivation and character.

The way Sara Lin handles the party's explorations shows clear improvement in the worldbuilding of the series. At least for me, Archcrafter's descriptions of the environment and oddities of the worlds visited are clearly better accomplished than the previous books. If in Soulhome Tatian seemed like an endless expanse of only trees, grassy soil, and farms, in Archcrafter I can clearly picture a more vivid world full of details and interesting landmarks that add great variety to the landscape.

Now, to the main antagonist of the book. To put it simply, there are two. One follows up from the setup of Rainhorn and the other is more subtly introduced. The first one did not grab my attention nor did it change how simple and stepping-stone-like he feels to the story, there is hardly any depth or development to his character. The latter, however, was unquestionably the shining star of this volume for me. A lot of his characterization is done so subtly that I found myself questioning whether or not I was just mistakingly imagining a deeper meaning where there was not any, and that only made the epilogue revelation even more satisfying. Props to Sara Lin in that regard, and I hope more characters receive similar treatment in the future.

All I can say is that if I once felt a bit skeptical towards how well The Weirkey Chronicles story planned to execute all its promises, now I feel mostly put at ease and can finally safely recommend this awesome story to any fans of the genre. Looking back to Soulhome, I can see how well the characters, cultivation, and plot development were executed. Though the story is, currently, not overly focused on the latter, there is enough nuance in the details spread through the three released volumes to not only slowly dissolve some questions about the main conspiracy but also to make me no longer worry about it potentially being left unattended.

Maxime TRIBUT

Not so bad

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2022

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As always an interesting concept with the soulcrafting, but I wish the conversation between the character wasn't so awkward. Especially Fiyu!

Michael Jackson

Awesome

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2022

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If you have got to this book then you must like the series, more struggles for our earthman and friends more intrigue just more of everything which is no bad thing, now onward to book 4

dallas

Intersting story love the new nuances and details

Reviewed in Canada on November 1, 2021

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I would like more detail in the ranks of strength maybe a list to reference. I love the character details and information of sublime materials

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