Soulhome

Like butter spread too thin on toast.

The author tried to cover everything, hitting on almost every trope of the genre but ultimately failed in the execution. Doesn't help that the main characters backstory is an amalgamation of every possible back story ever. It's almost like the author was stuck trying to top themselves in tragic hero motivation. Just robbed it of substance.

The story also suffered from a serious case of telling rather than showing, at least where the main character is concerned. What we are told is in constant conflict with what we are shown. I mean really, pick one backstory, one personality, one motivation, or at least don't pick ten that seem to directly conflict with each other and what the MC is saying vs doing.

At least the world building and power systems are unique. Worth a read but go in knowing that the MC is hot garbage.

The book is much less dark than the synopsis made it seem. The reader is reminded a few times how much the protagonist is a dark and twisted hero, which seems.. really not to come through in his dialog and behavior?

That said, the friendly vibes don't bother me either.

I love the idea of grounding the cultivation/soul concepts within a very concrete (literal) structure. It makes the mental "work" and decisions they're making easy to visualize and provides a great framework to (again, literally) build upon.

Solid intro, interested to see where the series goes next.