Underlord: One Week Later

3/8/2019

Gratitude.

This will probably not surprise you, but to my great excitement, Underlord was the biggest and most successful launch we've ever had.

It's been vastly out-selling what Ghostwater had sold at this point, and worked its way up the Amazon rankings to the #5 best-selling book overall. Out of all books on Kindle.

More amazing than that, though (to me), was how long it stayed up in the rankings. As of this time, Underlord is still in the Top 100 on Amazon. It has been there all week. That is many times longer than any other of my books have stayed on that list.

Even on top of that, you all have been incredible with the reviews. It has surpassed Soulsmith and Skysworn in number of reviews already, and is on its way for Blackflame.

425 reviews in a week is just not right. It's too fast. You've broken some kind of natural law. And for it to still be at a 5.0 review average after 425 reviews makes me wonder if somehow a wizard got involved.

So from the bottom of my heart: thank you! I've interacted with many of you over the past week, and the response to this book has really blown me away (not literally, don't worry). I'm honored by you reading my stories at all, and the fact that you enjoy them is what makes this fun for me.

As a small celebration, we're giving away the Traveler's Gate Trilogy Collection ebook over this weekend (March 9th and 10th). So for the next two days, my whole first trilogy will be available for free. Just take it.

I'm not sure what else to do or say. This has been awesome!

-Will

P.S. I'm going on vacation for a week starting tomorrow, so I'll be out of touch. I'm therefore scheduling my review of Captain Marvel, which several of you requested, to go up while I'm gone. That doesn't mean I'm around! It just means I scheduled a post.

77 Comments

Christopher Rownd

3/8/2019 09:08:00 am

The whole Cradle series is wonderfully addictive. Thanks for all your hard work.

: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3/8/2019 09:09:47 am

Your welcome

Veritas

3/8/2019 09:15:20 am

You are an amazing author. The books will sell themselves. This is a representation of your talent and the momentum that is developing. Please don't let it go to your head and reinvent the wheel. Continue to do what you do. Your model is working!

Aanuoluwapo Ajayi

3/8/2019 09:15:31 am

You really outdid yourself, Will. However, the price for hardwork (success) is even more hardwork. Please, I really cannot wait another 8 months to read Uncrowned. You might want to consider getting a drudge to assist you.

3/8/2019 11:21:40 am

I second that

Zhanzy

3/8/2019 12:57:21 pm

I third that

3/8/2019 01:16:09 pm

Yes, please. Anticipation hurts.

Monarch Butterfly Monarch

3/8/2019 03:52:44 pm

Fourth it.

The Sword Sage Is Alive

3/9/2019 08:44:06 am

ME! NEED! UNCROWNED!

4/25/2019 04:55:45 pm

nah he'll need a Presence. And maybe some soulfire to keep him going.

Jay K

I have to admit that when it comes to reading choices of late, there's Will Wight and then there's everyone else. Thank you for these moments of joy, Will. The world needs more of it these days.

Orve link

3/15/2019 08:26:09 am

100% agree. I read Underlord through twice and then went back to read the whole series end to end .

(required)

4/21/2019 03:21:21 pm

Agreed. Since I picked up travelers gate half a decade ago, it's been like this. Will has ruined me.

Jacob

3/8/2019 09:17:16 am

Thank you for sharing this world with us!

David Wesall

3/8/2019 09:20:37 am

I'm addicted thank you for choosing to write as a career. Outstanding series!

Mark

3/8/2019 09:24:38 am

Your books are awesome! Got my brother, who doesn't read books, hooked on the audiobooks. He couldn't wait a month on audible for the second book so he ended up buying it there instead :)

Jeff

3/8/2019 09:36:59 am

Will you should be arrested, these books are like having a drug addiction. I finish my rereads of the series, then I keep getting other books then blackout somewhere in the middle of the first chapter and then find my self rereading Cradle. Every day I work I sit in meetings and look at my phone and look to see if the audible version has been release yet.

Thanks! For writing one of the most enjoyable series I have read in a while.

Sword Immortal Darknorth

3/8/2019 09:39:03 am

I fully expect a "hookers and cocaine" review after you come back from this vacation.

Jeremiah

3/8/2019 09:48:59 am

The success of this release is well-deserved because it is Well written. You have done quite well over the years and I am quite proud to continue to tell people to read various writings of yours. Keep up the good work you know April and I will be hanging out here watching

The Last Reader

3/8/2019 09:54:56 am

Yay books!

drmosh

3/8/2019 10:01:46 am

so is Uncrowned out yet? bahahhaha

Nitin

3/8/2019 10:17:08 am

I am waiting for real Captain Marvel, not this fake feminine nonsense.

SAY MY NAME!
"Shazam"?

Coldsteel

3/8/2019 10:17:48 am

Will, your success is well deserved. I thought Underlord was your best book yet and really shows you hitting your stride and a writer. The pacing, plot and character development was great. Your humor and imagination was once again second to none. You easily remain my favorite writer and, like Dross, you are only going to get better from here.

I always thought that eventually your Cradle series would hit critical mass for real popular success and I think Underlord shows that it is happening now. I expect uncrowned to be even more successful. Again, Jim Butcher and the Dresden Files is the comparison I see as for as Cradle's arc to wide popularity.

Will, have your read the Godsfall Chronicles? If you haven't, you really should. It's the only Wuxia book out there that I think could actually be legitimately published in the west. It was intended for western readers and has many similarities to your own philosophies in how it treats the MC. He is never OP and is always fighting to survive and advance. There are few obvious tropes. The writer is actually quite good. As a book it towers head and shoulders above any other Wuxia I've tried to read (99% of them are TERRIBLE). I recommend it to everyone that likes Cradle.

https://www.wuxiaworld.com/novel/the-godsfall-chronicles

Lord Azoth

3/11/2019 09:13:18 am

Try warlock of the magus world. Its a completed book 1200 chapters and very intresting ideas with an mc who acts more like Deadpool than a traditional hero.

Rogue 9

3/8/2019 10:32:26 am

Congrats Will, you eared it. And the Vacation too. Relax & Recharge.

Nandaba

3/8/2019 10:35:14 am

You deserve it, Will. Honestly, it blows my mind that you aren't more popular, your quality stands out among self-published work. Keep doing what you do best and writing amazing books, and we'll keep reading them.

Tom

3/8/2019 11:31:50 am

I’m 38 years old and I am enjoying these books like I was 18 again. It’s just a joyful adventure. Thank you for all of your hard work, keep it up! I can’t wait to read the next one.

Cam

3/8/2019 11:57:40 am

Will,

It might have surpassed them but the entire series is phenomenal and as per everyone else in every other post. All I can look forward to is you once again skipping your other series and writing Uncrowned!!!

stephen

3/8/2019 04:15:31 pm

I am of the same mind, but you probably shouldn't do that.

Nicol Bolas

3/8/2019 06:10:55 pm

I second this, after ghostwater, I was open to either OKAK or Underlord as the next book release. I am now of the mind that OKAK should be tossed aside for Uncrowned. It's your fault Will, really, with your cilffhangers (both of them).

Taylor

3/10/2019 02:01:38 pm

yes! me no want OKAK, me want uncrowned! in fact, me want uncrowned even more than Travelers gate!

Madeline

3/19/2019 07:40:10 pm

I don't want Uncrowned so much as a collection of short stories detailing what's happened to Kelsa in the last two or more years. If it would take a miracle for someone with as bad a foundation as her to get higher than Lowgold, and miracles are often achieved by being thrown into survival situations (like Blackwater), have Kelsa's experiences over the last few years been similar to her own equivalent of Blackwater?

sanjo

3/8/2019 12:26:40 pm

This is beautiful. keep on going! (note: this is my favorite series. EVER. I dream about time traveling to the future just so I can read the next book in the series. P.S why doesn't wei shi lindon use blackflame in empty palm? seems like it would do a lot of damage

3/8/2019 12:46:13 pm

Empty Palm works with pure madra because pure madra ignores flesh& armor and affects the soul directly. Dragons breath is a far more efficient use of Blackflame and it gives Lindon some distance.

Kevin O'Malley

3/8/2019 03:07:18 pm

Yes. Essentially, He used a Blackflame empty palm to kill the Dragon in GhostWater. A Blackflame empty palm being a crappy striker technique... He only had enough Madra left to have a two inch flame out of his hand.

3/8/2019 04:08:24 pm

@Kevin O' Malley the strike through the heart on Ekari was a BF Dragons Breath striker which was preceded by an pure Empty Palm striker.

Diego

3/9/2019 04:11:45 pm

Sanjo. Striker, Enforcer, Ruler and Forger techniques are designed with certain madra types in mind. Each school/clan/sect does this and develops their own unqiue techniques which they jelously guard. Techniques are basically moving energy in certain patterns. (kind of like spells)
Yerin could try using dragons breath, like she showed Lindon, but it would suck. Empty Palm is designed specifically with Pure madra in mind. Dragons Breath specifically for Blackflame.
A technique COULD work for other Madra types as well. For example I believe Dragons Breath MIGHT work with regular fire madra. While the Jai Clan had a set of ancient techniques they used with on the Path of Broken Star (madra type unknown), they lost access to that madra type, so they started using inferior madra (light+sword combo) for their techniques.

sanjo, chaos sage

3/8/2019 12:28:17 pm

The series fits together so wonderfully! (theory: the old fox at the beginning is either ozriel or Adriel) ps: is eithan arelius ozriel?

Spoiler man

3/8/2019 05:17:31 pm

Nah, Will has quoted that Elder Whisper is somewhere between Underlord and Overlord level of power, and he has his own PoV moment in Unsouled where he talks about not being certain what the future holds, even though he can normally use his dream madra to divine some parts of the future.

3/8/2019 06:37:53 pm

Where did he say Underlord or Overlord for Whisper, the most anyone has confirmed is he is a gold and no one has confirmed which rank of gold he is.

Alex

3/10/2019 02:05:07 pm

Wait... what is a sacred beast with underlord to overlord power doing in sacred valley? doesn't the seal on the valley also effect his power, or does it not affect sacred beasts? or does it not affect people of underlord level and higher? I NEED ANSWERS IN UNCROWNED! (after you take your break, of course. you deserved it.)

Anti-Spoiler Bulbasour

3/12/2019 04:11:50 pm

I checked Abidan Archives, that says he is a truegold

sanjo, substitue judge, abidan intern, chaos sage

3/8/2019 12:29:49 pm

Keep on writing! we all are loving it! (lots of support). :) nothing but happiness to you!
end of comment chain

Dude

3/10/2019 02:05:47 pm

no.

3/12/2019 04:12:27 pm

To the end of comment chain, not your earlier points

3/8/2019 02:53:01 pm

Enyoy your vacation. Then come back and write more cradle. Sorry, I thought that last part was in my head.

Cory Altman

3/8/2019 05:16:07 pm

I stumbled onto your books mainly because of ratings. There were over 2k 5 star reviews on some of the cradle books when I was wondering around like a dreadbeast looking for something epic. In over twenty years of reading epic fantasy series, I can really say that you have an epic masterpiece in the works. Even the choice of the audible voice has been amazing. A first for me, I have kindle and Audible versions of the whole series.
Really great work Will. Really.

P.S. Just please, I beg, Do not become a Martin, or a Rothfuss. Don't forget this story. If it came to that, I can forgive and treasure a Jordan. Be one of the other titans, a Brooks, a Goodkind, an Erikson et al.

You will rank up there with them.

Roger

3/8/2019 06:12:05 pm

I love this series. I’ve been reading fantasy for a long time and this series is ranking right up there with Tolkien and others. What an awesome work this is turning out to be. I have bought the paperback books and passed them to my daughter telling her to read them. So far she has resisted, but when she does I know she will love them as much as everyone else has.

Thanks for giving us these books.

Jay Jay

3/9/2019 03:49:21 am

I love this world. I am starting traveller's gate today Thanks to your generosity.

Nadelesc

3/9/2019 06:56:10 am

Good Job! Time for more deathmatches now!

Shane

3/9/2019 12:36:46 pm

Hey would someone mind telling me what the timeline is for the audiobook of underlord.

3/9/2019 01:25:44 pm

It's in Audibles hands now. It was submitted a couple of weeks ago and the self publish part of Audible doesn't allow Will to set the date for release.

Travis Baldree

3/12/2019 02:30:22 pm

It's live now -
https://www.audible.com/pd/Underlord-Audiobook/B07PLLLBN5

NerevarMS

3/9/2019 02:03:50 pm

Great books and I stumbled upon it only by chance this late. I blame the goodreads algorithm, it should def have popped up sooner considering my focus on fantasy and high grade it has there. I still somewhat prefer Ghostwater, with Underlord my second best.

HOWEVER! There is one BIG FLAW you have Will!
You have a knack for teasers at the end of the book.. Too much of a knack, its driving me crazy to wait 8/9 months! :(

PumpkinVision

3/9/2019 04:34:46 pm

I hope the scheduled not-around post will be a full VR experience like an Ozriel message.

Erik

3/9/2019 06:08:08 pm

At the end of Underlord it says: Uncrowned coming soon.... how soon is "soon"?

ALex

3/10/2019 02:07:45 pm

it said that in ghostwater too, and if it is anything like that, then 8-9 months. in other words, too long.

Hal

3/9/2019 09:59:19 pm

Thank you for being awesome, general of gnomes!

Dustin

3/9/2019 11:09:36 pm

Just keep pumping them out and I'll keep buying them.

Hamster

3/10/2019 04:05:57 am

Information requested: Cradle series popularity.

Beginning report...

Will Wight's revolutionary Cradle series increasingly disrupts fantasy readers of Iteration # during each publication. Records fall, never has such an expansive fantasy series been written and published so quickly. Fantasy readers abandon other authors, tired of waiting years for the next book.

The release of book 6, Underlord, triggers a critcal mass of readers, online publication servers strain under pressure, Cradle books push into top 10 lists. Other authors belatedly start to take notice, but the damage is already done. Will Wight fan number increases become exponential. Oreo sales in Iteration # start to spike.

<Error, time anomoly detected, report corruption detected.>

Suggested topic: Undercrown release date.
Denied, report complete.

Cat

3/10/2019 02:08:50 pm

undercrown? it's uncrowned.

chad Brink

3/10/2019 05:13:34 am

I get to say... "I was a Will Wight fan back when he was a small time author!"

Juan C

3/10/2019 11:08:11 am

Do audiobook sales count? Because I'm desperately waiting for it to go on audible! I've been relistening to the entire series in anticipation of Underlord! I'm so addicted! But don't stop! <3

Drake_EU

3/10/2019 12:04:42 pm

I usually don’t to reviews on Amazon but there were only 4 on Amazon.de and one of them was of a troll, so I did a short review today and reported that guy.
If anyone is on Amazon.de then you can report DIMI the troll‘s review, maybe it gets deleted!

Kool Kid

3/12/2019 04:14:00 pm

Now I wish I was in europe.

Forbes Black

3/10/2019 03:36:29 pm

Vacation?! With Lyndon and Yerin in such crazy situations?! They need you, man! Get back on that computer posthaste, before something unthinkable happens to them! (But seriously, enjoy your time off and come back rested and filled with creativity.)

3/10/2019 03:40:33 pm

Er... "Lindon..." I'm so embarrassed!

3/10/2019 04:45:02 pm

As long as you repent

Malachi

3/11/2019 09:23:49 pm

Enjoy your break, you deserve it. Underlord was amazing and I loved it.

P.S. does anyone know what would happen if a person from Cradle became a Soulbound because cores and soulfire and what not

AAAAAGA

3/12/2019 04:15:23 pm

ooooh.... now I'm going to stay up late at night thinking about that

JJ Beesley

3/15/2019 07:15:55 pm

Hey Will. Loved your series, absolutely amazing. I and probably quite a few others are wondering, whats your best guesstimate for when Uncrowned would be released?

3/18/2019 10:35:32 pm

I was rereading ODAD and I found a line that didn’t make sense to me before I read cradle: “I found allies in the void but enemies too. I was not surprised. There are enemies everywhere. But strangest of all were those not friendly or hostile, the guardians in white”

Hmm, Abidan much

Ryan

3/19/2019 12:50:49 am

Will I love the series but this is unfair!.You can’t make your books so addicting and make me wait 8 months for uncrowned! Please I need you back in the office pushing out book 7 by next week! Also email me early releases I need it...ps thanks your books are the best

Jack Guerre link

3/21/2019 06:07:29 am

It looks to me like London will be receiving weapons training for the first time? Obviously I could be wrong, but if London is going to use one, what kind a bad ass weapon will you give him?!?

Elyone

4/15/2019 01:43:14 am

Could not put this down. Read it in more or less one sitting.

Question. At one point, Mercy has Harmonies Axe. Later, Lindon pulls it out fighting Kiro. When did he get it back from Mercy?

Danielle

4/18/2019 05:38:48 am

I'm so sad that I'm almost finished with Underlord..I even took breaks to try to prolong my reading experience. You are an excellent storyteller, and I just wanted to thank you for being awesome. I'm an avid sci-fi/fantasy reader, and the more books I read, the more difficult it becomes for me to find really great, original stories. The Cradle series sparks my imagination and I haven't been this excited about a series for a while, so please keep them coming!

Sean

8/1/2019 06:42:58 pm

Excited about book 7 - Uncrowned was hoping it would be out today so I could snag it as a birthday gift. Either way, I'm totally getting that book as soon as its available. This series just keeps me coming back for more.

In which we ramble on.
And by we, I mean me.