Bloodline

I’ve read this book a few times in the past, including once already this year. It’s the semi-satisfying return of the series to where Lindon, our protagonist, first came from. Given that we spent seven books of Rocky-esque training montages for Lindon’s triumphant return, Bloodline should be the extremely satisfying resolution of all of that work. On that front, it underdelivers.

Overall, it is a good Cradle story. All of the characters, new and old, are present. We get one of the better combat scenes in this actiony series, as well as some decent sections of payback for bullies. On the downside, the Abidan content that I want to skip is increasing. The biggest drawback is just the lack of hitting the target with expectation. The majority of the first book is setting up how weak Lindon is, and how badly his hometown treats him because of it. That’s a lot of time and pages getting me invested in his homecoming, but Wight sacrifices most of that payoff to spend more time on the overall plot of this book, as well as boring stuff to set things up for a book later down the line. Like so many fantasy nerds, I read these books so I can see bullies getting their comeuppance. Give me my comeuppance!

The book gets a 7 due to the lack of comeuppance and the Abidan nonsense. It’s still a good book, but not at the Will Wight ceiling.