The Wandsmith: Crucible

by D Stahl

786 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 12, 2026

Reviews

[GrumpyOldMan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had a really good plot, but it fell short of being a great story. For one, it was just too long, with too much time spent theorycrafting and world building. For all of the details the MC and the reader are given, there is too little of the promised action.

The MC is a 23yr old man from England that runs into a Greater Succubus while leaving from a failed date attempt. She kidnaps him to hell, where he manages to escape while sorely injured. Through sheer grit, he rescues a Sprite, finds an armory, and manages to kill a few more demons. Then he runs into a Crucible, where he starts to undo trials to gain in strength. All of this involves a ton of misery the MC suffers, as his will is pitted against various forces. And it's his will that will have to carry the day.

There are only 2 actual LIs in this book, and they aren't introduced for quite a while. And then things drag out a ton before anything happens. While the book's blurb warns of lots of violence and explicit sex, there isn't much sex to be seen, and it isn't erotica explicit. I didn't mind the two LIs, but it feels more like they fall into his lap than anything else. They are simply fascinated by his unexpected aura.

For as long as the book was, there were very few errors. This really should have been two books, but since they two LIs were introduced so late, it wouldn't have had a haremlit feel to it if it wasn't so long.

I will read a sequel to this.

[Thorsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, with caveats. I found the MC generally sympathetic and easy to root for. I find it interesting how often I find the most imaginative and innovative magic systems in haremlit. That's the case here as well. As with this author's Sword Saint series, the magic system almost requires note-taking to keep track of all the ranks, unified attributes, paracausal energies, affinities, and everything else. There are so many pieces and moving parts. Which makes it all the more frustrating when the narrative immediately positions the MC outside that carefully constructed framework, and that many of his accomplishments boil down to hand-wavily "concentrating really hard" wish fulfillment.

Part of me was drawn in enough to want to see where this goes in the next book, but between the rapid power escalation of the MC by the end of the book and my patience having worn thin with being asked to learn increasingly complicated rules for a system from which the protagonist seems largely exempt, I'm left feeling pretty ambivalent.

Also, as a random aside, no idea why this is called "The Wandsmith" when it clearly should have been "Bondweaver."

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good start to anew series

Okay this is pretty dang good.
World building is absolutely on point, characters great and the sheer scale that’s being revealed is huge.
The writing from a technical point is great, prose is great, pacing is pretty decent for the most part.
There’s a lot to like here.

One thing that I want to point out is that the exposition and some world building details are *DENSE*
It’s not necessarily a bad thing here mind you, but there were a few points where it seems like it could be a little lighter on the depth and density of explanations. And then conversely, some points where it could be further expounded upon.

All in all, a great first entry and I’m looking forward to more.

[Jeffrey B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth reading

Good pacing. Good character development. There were some slow spots, but, they felt necessary. Enjoyed it immensely . Give it a try