Unsouled

By: Will Wight

Narrated by: Travis Baldree

Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's Summary

This title will be streaming in Audible Plus through September 1st, 2021.

Sacred artists follow a thousand Paths to power, using their souls to control the forces of the natural world.  

Lindon is Unsouled, forbidden to learn the sacred arts of his clan.  

When faced with a looming fate he cannot ignore, he must rise beyond anything he's ever known...and forge his own Path.

©2016 Hidden Gnome Publishing (P)2018 Hidden Gnome Publishing

Buy Then Binge! Worth every penny

Funny, clever and diverse characters make the plot enjoyable. Rooting for the under dog is always fun, and there are few underdogs with less than Lindon. The Protagonist is scrappy, and starts with nothing and progresses through the story in unpredictable ways. The plot twist make the story feel like a roller coaster, but instead of a peak at the apex you’re dropped through a door in your seat then rescued by Goku.
This series is worth every penny! It made me loose sleep, laugh out loud at the gym and at work, and get up and shout for the MC when we grew in confidence and skill.
This is my second favorite series now with the first being Orphan X, but my first favorite in the category. You will not be disappointed. If you are I’ll eat my shoe.

Amazingly Addictive and Oddly Cleaver

I'm writing this review so people who value a great listen do not pass this book over - I feel the book summary does not do it justice - and you deserve this book (series), it's worth the credits and time. It is cleaver, bridges genres, rises above the level of "simple entertainment" and oddly, sometimes deeply... meaningful. The narrator is fantastic!

I wasn't sure what kind of story I was listening to when I started the book - and then, after a few chapters - I still wasn't sure, but the protagonist (Lindon) started growing on me - in a few more chapters, I wanted to reach into the book and "help him" - now somehow I find myself in the middle of book 3, not remembering when I had purchased book 2, still not sure of the series genre and excited when I get time to listen so I can cheer him on - "Go Lindon - you can do IT!"

If I had read in the summary the world as I'm going to describe it, I may not have given it a chance - so please do yourself a kindness and don't pass this over because it's not something you are "into". To relate it to books I've read, it's like Iron Druid Chronicles (Kevin Hearne) grabbed a few chapters from each book of the Stormlight Archives (Brandon Sanderson) and wrapped it in an anime world.

Lindon, the protagonist, is the ultimate underdog - kind, humble, unskilled, naive and appreciative for what he has. But like most underdog stories, he's not interested in becoming "more" for prideful reasons, he does so accidentally, as he explores the simple curiosities of the world around him, surprised every time he has surpasses an expectation place upon him. And in the merit world he lives in, where those that have the most skill (magical) are valued, and he is judged to have none, the expectations are low and so is the value placed upon him.

Then, when he learns his world is a minuscule whimsy caught in the currents of an even greater world, lived in by unthinkably powerful entities, and those he cares about are going to meet a catastrophic end in a 40 year future, he sacrifices himself and a happy 40 year life which he learns he could live, to try and turn this tide. The future is uncertain - but there is a chance... a small chance.

He sets off on a long, difficult, painful journey to help those who he cares about, even though they believed him of no value. He is not the best person, or the right person - he just is a person who is commitment to try.

"What is the hardest step, the next step,.."

This book is wholesome and should be listened to by all ages. The narrator is great at voices and brings the characters to life. The adventure is crazy and fun.

EDIT: I just finished book six. 1 thru 6 in row! WOW - Will Wight is an imaginative genius, incredible builder of worlds, and now one of my favorite authors. I have over 150 books in my audibles library and this series is easily in my top 10.

Travis Baldree is an incredible narrator - the type of you search through the books he's narrated hoping to discovering another great listen. He is perfect for this series.

Why I quit listening to this series of books

I gave tihs series a 1 star overall rating while rating the story and narrator higher. Each book lasts only about 7-9 hours and ends at a place in the story which simply requires the listener to purchase the next book - not at a place that has any resolution of the plot of the current book or logical division of story. Rather, the separation of story across books merely seems to be designed to have the listener blow through 7 credits.

I had a lot of fun with this one

I didn’t think I would like this book as much as I did. Really glad I gave it a try. I went and bought all the author’s other books right away. If you like magic martial arts and fantasy give it a shot you won’t regret it.

Not as engaging as promised

2.5 hours in and I'm setting it aside. It's not awful, but the story isn't engaging and the characters are flat. I was excited by the shinning reviews. I just can't see how it will deliver. I wouldn't recommend using your credit here.

A video game in text

This book felt a bit too much to me like a video game--leveling up, collecting special items, foods that "power up" characters--and the characters themselves felt quite one dimensional and hollow. The world is imaginative, but with the quality of writing (not very good in my estimation) and these other issues, there just wasn't enough here to keep me listening even through the end of this short audiobook. Not recommended listening.

Deus Ex Machina: Spoilers below

I will not be finishing this series.

In the opening sections of the book you meet a character who is different and less powerful than his peers. It seemed like a standard coming of age story and was a pretty boring session to this point. Then out of nowhere an amazing powerful being comes out and destroys the large group of the strongest beings introduced to this point with no real struggle. During the slaughter of the previously powerful beings, the lowly character decides to try his special trick to try and help power beings and he gets killed by the slaughter. I thought, awesome I did not see that coming and they were going to refocus on another character that was previously in back ground and might be more interesting. Instead, a more powerful being comes, waves a hand and banishes the destroyer, brings back to life all of those who had died, rolls back time and while they cannot see the future they have great insight into the nature of beings and what the future will be. The under powered kid is prognosticated to become powerful enough to destroy a coming beast after many trials. After you meet characters who can roll back time and bring characters back to life it seems irrelevant what else will happen since the god from the machine would just make everything alright if needed.

The redeeming part of the story and why I finished the first book was the narrator was good.

Stick with it!

At first I found the narrator's style to be a bit intense, and I almost put it down because it felt like Ze Frank was reading to me.

I quickly got used to it and came to appreciate the incredible amount of effort put into this production all around. Travis' style may be dramatic, but it really helps make this an easy listen.

This is book is perfect for someone like me that needs something that is both interesting and easily digestible in an audio format.

A fresh new series!

Seriously, I read a lot of books. Fantasy, SciFi, Mysteries, and plenty of other genres too... and this book just took my breath away for it's sheer uniqueness, as well as its simply superb story! Will Wright didn't rely on any other mythos, or story that I'm familiar with, and so it was all fresh and new to  me... I Loved It! It's very well written... the world building, the magic-system, the evolution of our protagonist (Linden) are all beautifully conceived and executed, and the pacing is well nigh perfect in this fantastic book!
Travis Baldree gives another stellar voice performance as Linden seeks out and forges his own path.
Are you a little burned-out on the "same old, same old? Here's the cure. A fantasy that has a magic-system, that's so well thought out, that it's easily on a par with  Brandon Sanderson's worlds for complexity and uniqueness!!!  Your library is crying out for this one!
                Story: 5 Big ⭐'s
                Narration: 5 more Big ⭐'s

He don’t need no stinkin’ badge

As a young boy all Lindon wanted was a badge. It was a rite of passage for all the youth in his village. The badge symbolized one’s ability and, more importantly, one’s worth to the clan.
Sadly, we soon learn that young Lindon doesn’t get any badge at all, he is “Unsouled. “ It is a brand Lindon will be forced to wear his entire youth, ridiculed and shamed by other members of his village; but Lindon refuses to accept his fate. With force of will, and sheer cunning, he is determined to overcome his shortcomings.
Through the first four books we learn just how small Lindon’s world really is, a mere cradle in the vastness of the universe, and he soon discovers that there are other possible destinies that await him if he has the courage to pursue them; possibilities that will test his tenacity but also will allow him to grow beyond his wildest imagination.
“Unsouled” is an exciting start to a really epic series and a great entertaining experience. I am looking forward to the next release.

Too short

Not a bad book, but too short. I'm struggling to justify the purchase of the second installment for such little content.

Wintersteel (book 8) is my favourite

I love this series. Unsouled in particular starts off slow, introducing the world, culture and magic system before catapulting you into an incredible adventure filled with ever increasing stakes; well crafted, multidimensional characters and an ongoing struggle for personal advancement.

The magic system features madara, basically chi, but brings various other aspects into it, allowing for a great deal of versatility. It’s a I’d give it around a 60% hardness rating. There are rules there but there are enough ways to circumvent them that it feels quite fluid and organic. So while there’s a strong emphasis on advancement levels, I t’s also about the application of power.

The writing is solid, with the author focusing on a scenes that forward the overall plot. In book 8, however, he takes the time to write more “supporting scenes”, that fleshes out the characters’ experience more, giving a stronger sense of the world.

That said, I binged the first 6 books in just over a week, so they’re still great. Sadly, I’ve since caught up, (waiting for book 8 was torture) so am eagerly anticipating book 9!

Too much worldbuilding/magic system

This is a good book. It is written by a new (back then) writer who is obviously talented and has taken great care trying to write a believable, relatable story about a magical fantasy world. The characters are people you start to feel for, and there is enough intrigue to keep it exciting. I believe this series is now at number 9, so I imagine some of this stuff will be resolved as well.

And yet, this will be a one time purchase for me. The reason for that is entirely due to my personal taste; it may be that what stops me is what actually interests you. So, I will try to explain it without spoilers. The best way to describe it is just that this book made me TIRED. Especially in the first few hours. It seems like every other sentence is used to describe the magical system and adding new rules to it, or introducing ways to circumvent them. It is very much like a complicated rgp that gives you a giant infodump right at the start, and then keeps building on that. This trend of fantasy books containing 'hard magic' is relatively new. If you don't know what this term means; 'hard magic' treats magic as chemistry/science/physics, with strong laws that govern it. 'Soft magic' in this context is magic that just IS, like Gandalf raising his staff and the world is saved. With hard magic systems people often have to do something other then training or having an innate ability, like eat a magic fruit, or do a complicated calculation or something like that. It basically recreates videogame dynamics. Someone who is really good at this type of fantasy writing is Brandon Sanderson. But, as a person who reads a lot of fantasy, it just gets exhausting to keep trying to remember the rules for series after series, since every writer tries to make their own 'world'. Making up a new magic system is seen as a show of skill, so they all try to outdo each other. With this book, I found it to be just overcomplicated. Practically every action is not used as something to drive the plot forward, but as an opportunity to explain some more. It reminded me of sitting in a lecture hall in college, taking notes so I wouldn't forget the formulas for when the exam (in this case: the rest of the book) came around. Since I read for relaxation in my free time, I just don't want to do that. And because there was not enough plot to interest me in the character's future, I also don't feel invested enough to learn about the way this particular universe works.

If you actually enjoy the above, then I think this book would be a good choice. It is not a bad book and the writer is talented, so it is worth taking a chance, especially if it is on sale. The narrator is not the BEST I've heard, but he certainly suits the material and is absolutely up to standard. I hope that whoever reads this is more informed now. :)

Meaningless

This author is always talking about progression and after listening to the 3rd book in this series I can say with absolute certainty that its meaningless.

The main character runs into some people 30 times stronger than him no problem the plot requires him to defeat this person so he does. In a fight that is a bit like dragon ball without the satisfying ending just the endless power ups which are secondary to the plot.

Imagine if you had a story of a slave on a plantation but every 5 seconds it sidetracks to oh he's cycling his madra call the fucking cops. Anyway now I think about it he only actual harvest aura 1 in all three books so that brings up the question if he never cultivates how does he advance down the path of cultivation? Well not really sure but the plot requires it so he randomly leap frogs forward. Never to a level that would actually allow him to defeat the opponents he regularly defeats but whatever.

The characters are literally personality vacuums the main character is sad... the friend the is boring yervin, Yarvan ,yahoo something like that... is angry. The elders everywhere are arrogant prices because reasons...

They have no progression at all in any thing he does the cultivation is meaningless a charecter arc is something the author has likely never heard of. Everything is poorly explain or not at all. He's writing a book like fan fiction for a really well established world except there is no established so everything is confusing and sucks.

This is the second worst cultivation novel I've ever read thats only because the worst one lied about having cultivation while in this book its meaningless.

Epic English author version of coiling dragon

If you like Coiling Dragon and I Shall seal the heavens then you will love this series.

I love it

Truely a good book and Series overall, certainly worth the listen. Would recommend to people who like cultivation books.

Superb job

Good story. Im enjoyed. But performance isn't good enough. The narrator has monotone voice, it's upset (

Fun

Excellent read this not sure I enjoyed the narrator. Read the rest instead but it's an excellent funny story

addicted

Never have i had a book series be so good and engaging that it physically hurts me when I finish the latest book. I am addicted so please never end it, i need my fix.

Well paced and interesting

Reminds me of some of the animes I used to watch like Dragon Ball, Yuyu Hakusho and the like. Nonetheless the story is interesting and captivating. I particularly liked the pacing of the events even if sometimes they are predictable.