I. Loved. This. Book. Will Wight’s Ghostwater hit all the right buttons for me, and as an entry in his Cradle series, I think it does an excellent job of not only moving the larger narrative forward, but also feeling like a well-paced novel in and of itself. Make no mistake, Ghostwater is part of a larger narrative. It’s no stand alone. But, it does have a discernible arc of its own and is an enjoyable read as part of a larger whole.

I felt the characters had really started to come into their own in the previous entry in the series, Skysworn, but that process really continues here. In fact, I think we get to see both Yerin and Lindon have some excellent experiences and growth. Eithan doesn’t get nearly as much screen time in this novel, but what he does receive is used to good effect. He continues to be a wonderfully irreverent, but also incredibly resourceful individual. The character that really shines in this novel is Lindon. He is put into a challenging situation and manages to rise to the occasion in superb fashion. Like most of Wight’s books, there are plot developments that aren’t going to see their full payoffs for several books to come, but at least one thing Lindon manages to achieve in this book is so intriguing that I have been theorizing about it for days following my read-through. To me, there’s a moment at the end of this novel that just sort of puts a beautiful bow on the previous four in the series. I can’t wait to see where things go. One of the things I absolutely loved was getting to see the world of Ghostwater itself. It’s crazy, and weird, and alternatingly wonderful and terrifying. Also, Orthos is so dope.

Anything I criticize in this novel is going to be extremely nit-picky. In the past I’ve criticized the Cradle series for having individual entries that lack their own self-contained arcs. But Ghostwater largely avoids that pitfall. It’s still part of a larger series, absolutely, but it feels like it has a defined beginning, middle, and end. I hope Wight replicates this in future entries in the series. I do feel like the book might have been able to do a little more character development if it had just been a little bit longer. There were moments when I felt like maybe things were a little too compact. In the end though, I’m not sure if that’s really a fair criticism of the novel, or if I’m just dying for more Cradle and therefore wanting the individual books to be longer.

Bottom line: if you love fantasy and haven’t been reading Will Wight’s Cradle series, that needs to change as soon as possible. This is action fantasy at it’s finest.

4.75/5 stars.

5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile
4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile
3 – It was ok, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time
2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it
1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing