Oof. I tried, I really did, but I just couldn’t get into this. It’s a good storyline and the world building / magic system is really cool, but the writing style was unfortunately dull and made the whole thing drag.

Thank you to netgalley for the advanced listening copy of unblood by Robyn widerman. I feel like this could have been better but it was honestly the narrative that I did not enjoy.

This is quite a long review, as I have included some things further down that might help other readers.


Unblood is a Chinese folklore inspired fantasy, with various quests and adventures along the way. The chapters are approached from dual character viewpoints, that of Kiran and Aerosel.


Kiran is a mortal unblood - he is not from the bloodline of his parents, as he was adopted at just 3 months old. Sadly he is not classed as part of the powerful Lao or Huey clans his adoptive parents are from, and therefore is treated like a second class citizen. Though he works tirelessly in the family auction house where they live - in the city of Shin Zhu, realm of Sulterra, he is not given the same opportunities as the families biological children, money or the ability to study with leaders in the practice of cultivation, so he must make his way alone.


Being a time cultivator, Kiran knows this is a strong power, which can be grown and honed, so he studies texts religiously to learn how to gather quality chi, without taking the shortcuts of pills and elixirs, as the latter are a shortcut that can lead to a lack of quality and control. He and his brother Orin are very close, however Orin uses elixirs help to his increase cultivation levels without studying. Their parents have decided they are soon to leave the city of Shun Zhu and join the Azure Dragon Sect to focus their skills, with family friend and wandering Cultivator, Cho Baris leading them to the sect.



Aerosel is an immortal servant and member of The Arisen, who is bound by a soul contract to the Divine Beast and white tiger Byhu. She is centuries old - with silver lightning armour and a shadow sword for protection. Her role is to monitor for anomalies and help maintain balance within the celestial realms. When she sees an anomaly in Sulterra, Aerosel soon goes to see what is causing a disturbance within the realm.



(Apologies, I don’t know the spellings of most of the character or object names so I just had to try phonetically.)


Small glossary of things I have gleaned from the audiobook and you might find useful (no spoilers).



Unblood - someone not of a high level clan bloodline

Cultivators - those who can cultivate different kinds of chi (There are time, fire and water cultivators amongst others)

Chi - magic or energy, which has different uses, healing, fighting etc
Heavenly essences - different types of chi energy - Life, Time, Death amongst them
Meridians - I think these are like chakras? Relating to the internal flow of chi
Aura - Leakage of chi when power is being used

Demon Beasts - Evil beasts which can be slaughtered to use their parts for elixirs and pills

Divine Beasts - Powerful good-like beings, some are listed below - They are honoured by various clans and sects in the realms


White Tiger
Vermillion bird
Black tortoise
Azure dragon
Yellow Serpent - lesser sect

Basic Starting Characters (often said in the Chinese manner, Surname first)



Kiran Lao - Protagonist and adopted son of the below.
Varida Huey (/Lao) - Kiran’s Adoptive mother - owner of the Golden Heavens auction house and daughter of Clan leader Chief Huey
Horeth Lao - Kiran’s Adoptive father
Orin - Kiran’s Adoptive elder brother
Sumi - Kiran’s Adoptive younger sister
Sureya Ku - Kiran’s love interest
Nevin Ku - Their mean and braggadocios cousin

Cho Baris - Mysterious man of large stature, known to the family somehow

Aerosel - an immortal servant of the white tiger - divine beast Byhu, helps keep the celestial realms in order. Arisen Being.



The worldbuilding in this needs work, there is way too much information, too fast to take in, and often things are only mentioned once. The book would have been much more enjoyable if the basic ideas were explained more in depth. This would give us a stronger connection to the world and more context for the plot. A book like this would do well to have a pdf glossary/info and or map attached like some do, this would really help the reader to get a grasp of the universe.

Whilst the premise was good, the lack of foundation made it hard to follow, so I was constantly trying to work out what the meaning of things were, rather than being absorbed by the story itself. That being said I still enjoyed the world and characters, it just needs more explanation from the outset. I would probably listen to further audiobooks in this series as I feel I have a grasp of the basis now and the general plot is quite a fun adventure, but I would hope for improvements.



The narrator is good and does a great job with a wide range of characters, they make it easy to tell who is who in the prose.

Unblood, Scribes of Sulterra by Robyn Wideman is a mesmerising narration. It’s a book which takes you from one adventure to another. Kiran, the main character of the story, is an adopted child of his family. His efforts to become a great time cultivator lead him to tests and trials that’ll make him stronger and a better cultivator than he could have imagined.

His curiosity about the artefacts and yearning to get hold of some great cultivating manuals is where his journey through different adventures began. The sense of the place is very strong in the whole story. The way Robyn narrates the new year festivities and the auction day at Kiran’s foster parent’s place takes one to the world of magic and powerful spells. It introduces one to a fantasy digging further deep along with the author travelling through the unfolding mysteries.

Kiran’s brother Oran and sister Sami, though seem like mischievous characters in the beginning, are the two people who love and care for him as a family.

The eternal star dial, jade tablets, and the time chi stored in Kiran’s core are where he wants to seek perfection. But being unblood, he has no access to any manuals or elders (teachers) even.

From here begins the expeditions to the jade stone forest, facing deep fang tree and beyond. As Sami happens to read a bone script of an ancient artefact gifted by her aunt on auction day. This oracle bone script leads Kiran and his family into a dangerous situation when his parents suddenly disappear and he finds himself as the only saviour for his sister and the rest of the family from getting into evil hands.

The jade tablets, blacked-horned dagger, the bone script and the eternal star dial and its energy that Kiran felt are the powerful magical elements that grab one’s attention towards their qualities and secret powers. It opens up doors to the story of self-discovery, mastering the time chi, journeying towards the Azure dragon sect and dangerous challenges.

The light romantic touch in the story and the sweet chemistry between Kiran and Suriya are well-placed by Robyn throughout the whole book. It fits greatly in the situations where they parted and met again.

I will not ruin the audience’s curiosity about how these adventures and challenges end up for Kiran in book 1. The characters like Baris, Arsel, Oran, Asher and many others play an important part, making this book more exciting to go through. The language and choice of words are beautiful and elegant. Very refined indeed.

I really appreciate Robyn for the great plot, and strong narration creating an amazing fantasy. Curiosity keeps a strong hold on one throughout the book. I recommend Unblood, Scribes of Sulterra for a general audience, especially the younger ones who have an interest in magical fantasy, martial training and great adventures, will enjoy this book. Well written. Enjoyed listening.

It took me awhile to get into this one, but at about 50% I was fully engaged. I think fans of both Name of the Wind and Avatar: The Last Airbender would love Unblood. The character progression was enjoyable, but I would have liked to have Asher introduced a bit sooner. Wideman has done a great job building a fantasy world to get wrapped up in. My only issue with the writing is that trite modern phrases were used that took me out of the narrative.

Thank you Robyn Wideman, Dreamscape Audio, and Netgalley for my audio advanced review copy. My opinions are my own.

Plot - 4
Writing and Editing - 3
Character Development - 3
Narration - 4
Personal Bias - 3
Final Score - 3.4

Unblood is an adventure fantasy that follows a quest-driven plot with a wide cast of characters. I thought the story was entertaining and fun, but I occasionally got confused with all the characters. Some of the dialogue was cliché, but it didn't put me off from reading. This was a good first book in an interesting new series!

Thank you Netgalley for providing a digital ARC.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

I was very hopeful for this book and the story was okay, but it struggled to keep my attention.

The story jumped around and with a lot of the characters being very similar, it was hard to keep them straight. A little info dumpy about things that didn't seem important to the story or characters, but then lacked in info about other specifics that seemed pretty important to the story. After all that, I'm still not sure I understand what an unblood is.

I could not get into this book, from the first chapter I was confused and found the narrator didn't fit with the story of the character.. The writing was too convoluted and made the beginning way too long and everything was just over descripted. I think there is a right audience for this but it is not for me.

After one chapter I was already annoyed. The writing feels so try-hard, attempting to sound young and edgy. It doesn’t help that our narrator sounds like he’s a late 30’s businessman, instead of a 17 year-old boy. I don’t want to further waste my time with this book when it’s very clearly not for me.