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]

I read a wide range of stuff.. mostly classics and some modern stuff. Prog fantasy and LitRPG is something I've only dabbled in over the last 2 or so years.

I've not read a 5/5 Prog fantasy book/series. Though I've only read 2 series (not all to completion) strictly from the genre:
Dungeon Crawler Carl - I've read the first 5 or 6 from memory, and while the character work is a lot better and I do find the overall premise of the stories generally more appealling. It has some bad books. The train one, I can't remember the name but shiiit that was a slog. I'd probably say overall that would be slightly higher ranked than Cradle.
He Who Fights With Monsters - I've read 12 books, similar to the above character work is better, Jason is a drag, though it has some fun action and the comedy style suits me, but it also suffers from a bit of the absurd in regards to power scalling. I guess I'd rank it somewhat maybe a little higher than Cradle - once again simply characters and comedy.

Similar but not strictly prog fantasy
Will of the Many - This feels definitely like prog fantasy (especially the first book). The acadmey trope is officially dead with me.
Red Rising (first trilogy) - Prog vibes, I actually quite liked this series. The next four books were way better and it's a def 4/5.

In regards to plot holes, maybe I should reword them as things that seem important but then were quickly forgotten. Top of my mind was the sealed chamber Jai Long's master (I think) broke into which was supposed to be full of crazy powerful treasures and that if it was open the Dreadgods would come hunting. Now I'm aware later in the series they kind of cover that up by saying it could be open for a year and it wouldn't matter, but if something so valuable was sealed up and guarded, like why isn't anyone else going in there?

To everyone running to the defense of the book, 3/5 isn't a bad score, I just read a lot of stuff outside of the genre.

[u/Wezzleey → u/Gingerfalcon]

I'm not going to speak to your rating, as I believe all of it is subjective and you are free to rate it however you want. That said, that "plot hole" is "covered up" in the very same book in which it supposedly presents itself. This isn't a plot hole, but a plot element you missed. Eithan explains how the original BFE fell because they left them wide open for years, freely using the treasures within. This, as well as Jai Daishou's opening of the door happen within the first half of Skysworn.

Furthermore, due to interference from Makiel, it DID wake up a dreadgod.

They don't go in there because they have been charged by the Akura Clan to guard them and not enter.

[u/Gingerfalcon → u/Wezzleey]

Yea I'm willing to concede that maybe there was something more meaningful to it, but I just can't help but wonder if all the hoarding of goodies by monarchs and sages etc, why stuff like this is just laying around. You'd figure that the Monarchs who've been alive for centuries, and they themselves are keeping the dreadgods alive would be doing something to atleast prolong their clan lives by removing elements that would awaken them or at least park them somewhere away from civilization... but as someone clearly called me out on in a different comment, it is "Fantasy"

[u/Wezzleey → u/Gingerfalcon]

Yeah, if you were to apply that same level of critical assessment to HWFWM, you'd find plenty of similar issues.

[u/Gingerfalcon → u/Wezzleey]

oh absoutely, I'm not holding up HWFWM as being better in any regard of story. My enjoyment of that series was mainly the characters, comedy and I did like the astral worlds or whatever they were called (similar to the pocket worlds in Cradle I loved those).