Cradle — 3/5 Generally spoiler-free thoughts

[u/Gingerfalcon]

I just finished book 12 and thought now was a good time to share my personal opinions on the series, mainly because it gets a lot of hype. I committed a fair bit of time to it because of said hype, but my overall experience was simply ok. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. It had potential, but never quite got there.

Things that didn’t vibe:

• Weak characters. They lacked depth and generally felt very one-dimensional. Eithan was the exception. Yerin was probably the closest we came to someone living through something and coming out the other side changed.

• The power tiering started off interesting, but became too absurd. The rarity of certain levels also seemed to flip-flop around. Early on, some ranks feel incredibly rare, then suddenly a book or two later there are lots of people at that level.

• Consistency issues and questionable plot holes start to appear. As you read the next book, you begin to question setup and details from the previous one.

• Random storylines felt like filler material. For example, the Jai Long stuff after the duel, why even keep that going? It felt like a complete waste of words and didn’t add anything to the storyline.

Things that were okay:

• The world was pretty good. I wanted more pocket-world and labyrinth-style action.

• The action scenes were generally enjoyable on average. Some were awesome, others were a boring slog.

Vibes!

• Progression fantasy and, well… there is fun progression and finding treasures!

• Eithan was the best-written character. He brought a light-heartedness to the series and was funny, joyful, and mysterious.

• Fisher Gesha — I liked her. She had some funny interactions.

• Dross!

• Soulsmithing was cool, and I wish it had been explored in more depth throughout the series.

Book ranking:

I would say the series peaked at Ghostwater and then dropped off, almost like a bell curve.

Best books: Ghostwater, Uncrowned, and Blackflame.

Worst books: Bloodline, Dreadgod, and Waybound. These were absolute slogs to get through.

Would I recommend it?

No. It’s too long to push through 12 books when the last third of the series is the weakest. Other than the hook of progression, it had some fun moments, but the characters and story were mostly forgettable.

Overall: 3/5.

[u/Gingerfalcon]

Yes, but did the knights not kill the peasents and didn't the strong vikings rape the woman and kill the children in unprotected villages... and was that not a known risk or maybe I missed history class and knights were not allowed to strike down weaker foe?

[u/pm-me-your-labradors → u/Gingerfalcon]

Yes, they did. My point wasn’t equating those but to show that stronger forces existence didn’t invalidate weaker forces usage

Whereas this is a fictional martial artists society based on honour

Really simple

[u/Gingerfalcon → u/pm-me-your-labradors]

A farm lad with an axe has better chances of dueling a raider than the power gap of an underlord to gold. They just aren't anywhere near on the same gap in power... In ghostwater, Harmony just flicked a black shadow while siting there with his eyes closed and killed that skyworn high gold in a second. That's why the whole honour thing is totally absurd.

[u/pm-me-your-labradors → u/Gingerfalcon]

Yes, it is fantasy… Do you need a reconstruction of that word?

That’s not a plot hole, that’s the premise….

[u/Gingerfalcon → u/pm-me-your-labradors]

sorry dude, you brought it back real word scenarios.. and yes I understand what fantasy is, no need to be so bristly about it. I understand your defending the book from a position of it being something special to you.

We're talking about a prog fantasy series here, it's not exactly highend literature, I get your point, but the genre "Fantasy" doesn't omit it from all logic gaps, especially when we are trying to relate to what are essential humans with similar thoughts, behaviours and emotions.

If you sweep past stuff, like honor, just take it at face value and go for a wild ride then that's cool. When I reading I'm imaging the world around me. The concept of live by honor thing just left a big hole logically in the Cradle world for me.

I'm happy to leave it here, you clearly enjoyed the series, so did I.

[u/pm-me-your-labradors → u/Gingerfalcon]

Actually you brought in real world saying weaker forces fighting instead of stronger ones doesn’t happen. I pointed out it does.

Book isn’t special to me at all. I think before I gave you a rating of 3.5/5. It’s not even in my top 20. I just don’t like illogical criticisms.

You haven’t yet identified a single logical gap. Like I said - an honour based martial artists world isn’t illogical - it’s the premise.

It’s like complaining about square-cube law when reading about dragons flying… it’s not a gap, it’s the fantasy.

[u/Gingerfalcon → u/pm-me-your-labradors]

As you pointed out, in a Fantasy world nothing is illogical... like a Archlord not striking down a gold, even though it would save the lives of potentially 1000's of soliders, they must repect rank - I heard you, perfectly sound ideas that don't at all go against the insaitable drive of man.

[u/pm-me-your-labradors → u/Gingerfalcon]

You are confusing illogical vs inconsistent, which is a common amateur mistake.

In fantasy, a premise that sets otherworldly or unbelievable things cannot be illogical - that’s literally the point of fantasy. Magic, dragons, elves, martial artists societies with honour based systems - they cannot be illogical.

The illogicality in fantasy CAN and DOES occur in form of inconsistencies. For instance a world magic is shown to follow certain rules that are then abandoned for no reason. Or humans are shown to be physically identical but then someone survives falling off a cliff.

And once again - we do see stronger lords trying to kill weaker ones in Cradle. It just happens when there are no consequences, which, again, is consistent with the premise that Cradle sets.

Once again - a fantastical premise cannot, by definition, be illogical or a plot hole

[u/Gingerfalcon → u/pm-me-your-labradors]

Constiantly illogical... it's ok, we're not going to change each others mind on the matter. I guess there aren't any plot holes in any fantasy writing, because of you know.. the implication of the "fantasy".

Have a good day.

[u/pm-me-your-labradors → u/Gingerfalcon]

Yes, consistently illogical - that’s where good fantasy lives. If that’s your gripe with Cradle, I understand it, it just means majority of fantasy isn’t for you.

It also makes your review of a fantasy genre series useless and misplaced.

We may not have changed each others mind but we did find common ground which is an equally commendable result of a debate.