Soulhome: A Weirkey Chronicle Adventure

M. Wilmsmeyer: This is the first book in the series and its plot structure makes it somewhat hard to tell who the recurring characters are going to be, how the rest of the series is going to play out, et cetera. That's not a bad thing at all, just don't expect an easy preview of the entire series here. Case in point, at the 50% mark, try guessing who the main characters are going to be. There's a good chance you're wrong.

Also Fiyu is the best and I will lose my mind if anything happens to her.

United States on Sep 27, 2023

Derek Chisum: The first book in a series always has to do a lot of heavy lifting. It has to establish the setting, introduce key characters and form a connection between those characters and the audience, start threads that will be picked up in later books, and be a compelling narrative in its own right. Soulhome, as the first book in the Weirkey Chronicles, manages to tackle all those tasks and, for the most part, succeed.

The biggest draw of the series in my opinion is the unique setting and magic system. The Nine Worlds are each well-crafted and deeper than many surface-level fantasy worlds, each with unique biomes, cultures, and challenges that are well explored. That said, this first book only gives us brief glimpses of that grand setting, taking place primarily on a single world, one with a very "starter world" feel. It really isn't until later series that we get the full wonder of the setting. However, one thing we do get a strong view of in the first book is the magic system of this world. Power comes from soulcrafting, storing magically imbued elements from the physical world and storing them inside a space in one's soul: the eponymous Soulhome. Characters shape their soulhome...

United States on Sep 25, 2023

Kindle Customer: Picked this book almost at random and boy am I glad I did. If you like progression fantasy but have become tired of how derivative most books in the genre are, get this book. Trust me.

United States on Sep 10, 2023

Ajit: This is a reset story with a big twist. You just have to persevere through the prologue and the first few pages but after that there is not a single thing that you will not enjoy. This series looks really promising in the 1st book

India on Aug 20, 2023

DaritanX: For some reason I was expecting the MC to be a girl lol. In any case I liked it a lot. Always appreciate alternative methods of cultivation.

United States on Jun 13, 2023

Danny A.: The book was good and I like Theo. For being a bitter old man, he atleast has some values he holds and is not a total misanthrope.

Fiyu and the others were pretty cool, their techniques were fun to see and had good dialog.

India on Apr 04, 2023

Alexander McCall: Soulhome is a new Cultivation series from Sarah Lin, who also wrote the Street Cultivation series. As in that one, although this is a Cultivation series, it’s got a different system to what you’d usually find. In this case to gain and use power you have to construct a house inside your soul, using sublime materials from the Nine World. It’s a really interesting system, though as with Street Cultivation you might not want to make this the first Cultivation novel you read.
The story is really interesting. Theo is from Earth, and accidentally found himself cast into the Nine Worlds. He gained allies and grew strong, only to be betrayed, everyone he knew murdered and then thrown out, back to Earth and his comatose body.
Forty Earth Years later and he’s back, in a young body but with a bitter soul on a quest for vengeance. I love this as it makes a much more interesting story. Yes, it might have been cool to see the rise of Theo before his fall but it works so well as a backstory. Meanwhile we’ve got one of my favourite tropes, someone who used to be powerful reset to zero and having to work his way back up.
It's the first book in the series and as such is much more...

United Kingdom on Aug 12, 2022

Sublime Dissonance: Nowadays, looking for a good cultivation novel can be very taxing work as there is a lot of good ones mixed with an overwhelming majority of stories that just fall short of their execution. Amidst all that, it is unsurprising that I had very low expectations when I started reading Soulhome. After having finished it, however, I can confidently say this is one of the good ones.

Sarah Lin's unique spin on the cultivation system is something that impressed me and brought to my attention how much I needed to read stories that are not afraid to be pioneers in creativity. Building houses, chambers, and decorations inside a soul can sound weird at first, but the intricate connection of their implied conceptual meaning and the benefits they can produce effortlessly circumvents that initial impression. It is by far one of the most innovative interpretations of cultivation that I have ever read, but that alone will not hold a reader's attention. Fortunately, the story does not fail when it comes to introducing captivating characters, though that it is mostly true only for the main cast, and that leaves the side characters with less than ideal characterization.

If I had to pick...

Canada on Dec 29, 2021

Steven M. Brown: On the cultivation progression genre.   There are a lot of familiar elements for those who enjoy progression or cultivation fantasy. However this is not traditional in a lot of ways and in this first book it is a sometimes a bit awkward to get your feet under you to understand what is going on. At the same time story flows quickly with a bit of a weak beginning a strong middle and an okay in. It is cleanly written and appropriate for young adults and above with a unique protagonist in that they're not the chipper cheerful hopeful young hero. It is told in the third person limited point of view perspective.

I read three books that have been released but we're coming back to review the first book. One of the reasons is because it is interesting and the chapters are paced in such a way that they pull you through and on into the next part of the story. In truth this first book I thought had a weak ending of sorts but looking at the series overall it feels more like a chapter by chapter release series that has some strong points to be able to end on. Combined with and unlikeable in a bit erratic main protagonist it still makes for a good four star story.

Sarah Lin is...

United States on Dec 09, 2021

Richard G. Monson: As a cultivation premise, this is a good one. I'm even willing to say that the plot of the story is even better, which is saying a lot. This story/series should be an easy homerun.

My problem is that the characters aren't likable. Hardly any of them. From the bog standard people you meet on the street, through to the main character.

It's as if the author took realistic characters and sprinkled them through his story ready to tell an awesome story... But couldn't be bothered to try and find a way to make the reader interested in them.

Everyone's a bit of a prick and they go around doing prickish things. I'm not saying I expect all characters to be Mary Sue's... but if you want to tell a story about dark, intense, and self-interested characters, please find a way to make them relatable to the average reader. Dark, twisted characters can be quite interesting when told well.

The premise/plot saves this story. If they had been even a fraction less interesting, this story would have gone from a 4 star to a 2 star. If the characterization had been interesting, this would have been 6 stars.

United Kingdom on Apr 18, 2021