Author: Will Wight
Blurb: Lindon is born Unsouled, the one person in his family unable to use the magical Paths of the sacred arts. He uses every trick and technique he can borrow or steal to improve his life, but it seems he will never be able to join the ranks of the truly powerful.
Until the heavens descend and show him the future.
When Lindon becomes the only one who sees the approaching doom, he must leave his homeland to save it... and to see how far he can go by walking his own Path.
Link: Amazon
My Rating: 4.75/5
Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinions on books. That’s a given. But I wanted to make this because I’ve also been seeing a lot of people asking if Cradle is really as good as people say it is, or wondering if it’s overrated, etc…
First, some background. I read Cradle before I even knew what progression fantasy or cultivation was. No webnovels, no xianxia, nothing. I just thought it was a cool magic system. Probably the closest thing to it that I had experienced was Avatar: The Last Airbender (and that’s not super close). So I had no expectations going into it, and that definitely helped my enjoyment of it. I completely understand that some things can feel stale if you’ve read a bunch of other cultivation novels before.
And yes, I didn’t like everything about the series. I’m not going to defend everything about it—I will lay out some of the things I didn’t like, as best as I can remember. But I think it’s important to point out that you can enjoy something while recognizing its flaws.
Needless to say, there will be light spoilers, but I’ll try to keep them contained to the first few books.
Were the first few books slow?
TL;DR: If all you want is action, it might feel a little slow starting off.
The action sequences in the first few books aren’t as common as they are in some other progression fantasy series that I’ve read. But when characters in these books fight, it’s usually really important. The fights are cool, fast, and the outcome always matters to the story.
Does a lack of action mean that the story is slow-paced? That’s probably for you to decide. If you need lots of action, you’re probably not going to like the first few books very much. The action in the first book was pretty much limited to Lindon beating up eight year olds. (I realize that isn’t making a great argument for why you should read any book, but it worked in context.)
I’ll also stand by the argument that the first few books of Cradle are not slow-paced. If you consider where Lindon was at the start of the first book to the end of the second, this feels like something most Royal Road authors would stretch out twice as long. (Major spoiler coming.) At the end of the second book, he already has a teacher (two, if you count Gesha), has joined a somewhat-important family, has just gained a massive advancement (up a few stages, plus the best body he can get for his future Path) and to top it all off, he’s just gathered a treasure trove of soulsmithing tools.
Also, next thing to remember, is that the first books in this series are short. I think the first is only around 70k words.
Next thing I’ll point out: the first book is careful to establish what Lindon’s struggles are, and basically puts him in the absolute worst position he can be in. And that’s not to mention the great job it does of setting up many important foundational points for the rest of the series. But, while it often results in him avoiding fights, it also gives lots of room for quick growth at the start.
It sets up so many amazing points for the future books, but without just feeling like setup. Yes, the “information requested” bits are important, and pay attention to the bits with Suriel. If you don’t, Ghostwater isn’t going to hit as hard. Or, the ending of Uncrowned.
Were the books trope-y?
Yeah, they kinda were, looking back on it. Maybe I’m letting my memory of it being one of my first true “progression fantasy” affect my judgement, but then if you’re like I was and you haven’t read a whole lot, it’s probably not going to affect your experience.
There were a couple annoying young masters. They talk about honour all the time in the first book. They do the thing where a person will progress a bit, reach the peak of a group of stages, then see how they’re only just a weakling at the start of the next group of stages. (But I’ll point out that Lindon’s encounter with Suriel is helpful to establish a limit and show the peak of power, and we still see the Sages, Heralds, and Lords interacting with the lower stages.)
Also, past the first couple books, you’ll notice a lot less of these tropes and the series just doing its own thing.
Besides, if you’re not well versed in the genre, I really don’t think you’re going to pick up on it. If you are well-versed (and somehow haven’t read Cradle) I don’t think they’ll stand out too much. I don’t think it’s worth dropping the book for, and not a reason to abandon the book. That being said, when I re-read the series before Waybound released, it definitely didn’t feel as fresh as it had when I first read it.
Do you have to wait until Ghostwater (Book 5) for it to get good?
If you had to wait until the fifth book to enjoy a series, then it’d probably never have become as popular as it did. Of course, I agree that Ghostwater and beyond has some of the most satisfying progression in any series, but that’s because of all the work that the previous books put in. If Lindon didn’t start out so weak and powerless, nothing in the later books would be as cathartic. If the early books hadn’t put in all the effort to set everything up, nothing in the later books would have had as satisfying of a payoff. But it puts the work in during the “setup” portions to keep you interested and engaged.
Best Tournament Arc
Major spoilers for Uncrowned:
I’ve heard lots of claims that Cradle has the best tournament arc, and I’m inclined to agree. It has probably some of the best stakes in any tournament arc, and I actually felt myself wondering if the heroes would lose and not make it through the tournament.
Eliminating Lindon early was probably the best choice the story could have made. If you could eliminate the MC before the end of the tournament…anything can happen. Sure, the stakes weren’t permanent death for the heroes, but they were much more political and higher scale. The fate of the world still hung in the balance with the tournament. Combine the massive stakes with the feeling that anything could happen, and that any of the heroes could be eliminated at any moment, and you have an incredible set of books.
Beyond that, the fights were incredible, and the rewards the characters receive are a nice and satisfying bonus, but not the whole point.
Are the characters generic or boring?
Lindon is an underdog hero. He cheats, and a lot, but he’s not a terrible person. He wants power because he’s been powerless his whole life, but also because Suriel showed him a vision of his home being destroyed, and showed him a path to stop it. There are hints that he might go a little evil, but he never really does. Generic in concept? I think that’s up for you to decide, but when I first read it, it didn’t feel that way. Coming back to it, the void powers are a hallmark of an edgelord, but he stays polite and kind, and never dips into being an edgelord MC, which I very much appreciated.
Also, there’s a really great scene in book three that illustrates the two main characters’ personalities, and it’s been stuck in my mind ever since I re-read the series. (Detailed spoiler coming up for book 3.) Eithan tasks Lindon and Yerin with completing the training course, and Lindon immediately cheeses it, whereas Yerin brute-forces it. Eithan ultimately uses it as a lesson on why they need to find a middle ground between cheating and doing it the “proper way.”
What does Cradle get right most of all? Character voices—all the time. Every character has a unique way of speaking and mannerisms, even when it switches away from Lindon’s PoV and gets inside their head. Yerin’s perspective has her own voice, and so does Eithan’s, and on and on.
Cradle’s clarity in its characterization is not something you find often. I’d much rather have a character who is simple, well-defined, and has agency, than a character who the author tried to make complex but ended up just making blurry.
Also, come on. How can you not like Eithan or Dross? The amount of times they made me snicker out loud? Often, very often. Orthos also managed to put a smile on my face a few times.
What I didn’t like about it:
Because yes, there are some problems, for sure. I can think of a couple. Little Blue felt a little bit too convenient for solving problems early on, and I really felt like the bond between Lindon and Orthos could have been fleshed out better and sooner. Also, I remember being pretty confused the first time Yerin’s Blood Shadow advancements happened.
I’d also like to point out that the first book doesn’t really follow a traditional plot structure at all, which, for new readers to the genre, might be a little startling. For example, there’s no single antagonist, no clear endpoint, and although the story makes sense and has a logical flow, it doesn’t have the structure that you might find elsewhere. It progresses more like the first half or third of a book. Which, I find interesting to think about: if you lumped the first four books together, it’d have a more traditional structure.
Early on, I felt that the interludes with Suriel and the Abidan were a little distracting—I just wanted to know what Lindon was going to do, and I didn’t really care about what was going on with these external things. While the payoff is amazing, I think they could have been a little more engaging.
Lastly, none of the villains or antagonists were really all that interesting, especially in the early books. Jai Long was fine (but that’s debatable whether he was even a villain), but I can’t even remember the name of the bad elder from the first book. Sophara was there, though she was kinda just in the background for a long while, not really doing much. And when she finally got her time in the sun, she felt more of a pawn than a villain.
At the end of the day, a popular book is popular for a reason. Because there’s lots of good to get from reading Cradle. People wouldn’t keep recommending it for no reason. Not that Cradle doesn’t have flaws, but I don’t see why you shouldn’t give it a try. If you’re not liking it, then you’re not liking it, and that’s fine—don’t force yourself to keep reading something you’re not liking. But also, don’t discount it because it isn’t the most amazing book you’ve read right off the bat.
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