About

Bondsfungi is the fifth book in the The Weirkey Chronicles series written by Sarah Lin.

Bondsfungi book cover

Blurb

Betrayed. Murdered. Reborn. One last chance, to make it right. Theo's adventure ended with his mentor's hands around his neck. The betrayal cost him his friends, allies and everything he had built... but not his life. Though broken and powerless, Theo has one last chance to enter the Nine Worlds, wielding the knowledge and expertise of his first life. This time, he needs more than just power, he needs to unravel the deception that killed him once... and is coming for him again.

Review

🛈 This is a spoiler review.

I had binged the first three books in the Weirkey series at the start of this year and then read the fourth one on the day of release. That was just 6 months ago, and yet I re-read the fourth one to get myself immersed in this setting in preparation for Bondsfungi.

At the end of Chasmfall, I was most interested to see how Nauda will cope and whether the altered message will bring the wrath of Guchiro on the group. It was a bit agonizing to see Nauda struggle, first from trying to salvage her battered Soulhome and then getting infected with the Bondsfungi. The Theo-Nauda conflict seemed realistic, but I wish it had been resolved much earlier.

Anyway, it was good to see Navim helping, and I hope he gets to play a more prominent role in the coming books. I was getting a bit bored of the Fithan politics and I wasn't that invested in the escalating conflicts. So, when the twist came at about the halfway mark, it was quite unexpected, but very much welcome.

The world of Slest and especially the introduction of Krikree's character was great. We definitely need a novel with just Krikree and Senka going on an adventure. Wonder what is Theo's hidden magical power that attracts such characters to him.

Tythes playing a major role in the book was an added bonus. His brand of schemes and fights always end up interesting, even if it vexes our group, especially poor Nauda. Perhaps Nauda just had to go through all these bad situations to get the loyalty of music producing beetles. Wonder how that'll play out in the sequels. Given that Fiyu took care of Senka in the earlier novels and helped Nauda and Tythes' aunt in this one, she definitely deserves some cute minions of her own.

I'm not that sure about Kathina's character. I didn't like her ruthlessness and I kept expecting her to betray Theo in some way.

Fiyu was impressive despite still being at the Archcrafter level and thankfully was reunited with Guchiro at last. Hope to see her catching up to Theo soon. Guchiro standing up to a Stronghold as an Authority was impressive.

And speaking of advancement, Theo seems to be close to perfecting his three levels before aiming for Authority. The next book's title seems to be hinting at that too. His ability to communicate with Slest sentients was nice, especially liked the [Mutual Destruction] scene at the end. Hope this ability develops more and comes into play later too.

The epilogue was ominous again. The sequels can't come soon enough.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

What others are saying

From Cameron's review on goodreads:

What I loved most about this book is how it delved into the cultural differences that punctuate the amazing themes of the series - mutual understanding and growth. Much as each soulcrafter crafts themselves a better soulhome- they must also grow as people, and see how they fit within a larger society.

From William Howe's review on goodreads:

This whole series is so strong and unique. The whole concept of building a structure in different rooms within your soul is just fascinating. And now adding plants and even fungus.

Bingo

/r/Fantasy/ 2022 bingo categories:

  • Weird Ecology (HM)
  • Cool Weapon
  • Published in 2022
  • Self-Published OR Indie Publisher (HM)
  • No Ifs, Ands, or Buts