IFR Posted November 3, 2021 Share Posted November 3, 2021 I got into this series recently, and it was good timing because the latest book has just been released. Cradle, for those who are unfamiliar with it, is a series that falls into the category of progression fantasy. It's basically Dungeons and Dragons in book form, with a wuxia spin. Honestly, that description is not a winner for me - I was highly skeptical, and only with great reluctance gave it a shot due to an exuberant recommendation from a friend. A week after I started I had blown through 9 books. And this was during midterms. About 5 hours ago I downloaded book 10, and just finished it a moment ago. This series is highly entertaining. It does one thing and it does that very well: it takes characters from zero to hero, from complete weaklings to absolute demigod badasses, and you feel the sense of growth. It's the kind of series where if this specific point does not engage your interest, then you almost assuredly will not like the series. If it does, you are in for a wildly fun ride. Anyway, the author publishes the books on a biannual basis, and there are only two more left to go in the series. I started this thread for those who also enjoy this series, and for any recommendations of books similar to Cradle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted November 3, 2021 Share Posted November 3, 2021 There was a thread discussing such series a while back. You might want to search for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted November 3, 2021 Share Posted November 3, 2021 34 minutes ago, Lord Patrek said: There was a thread discussing such series a while back. You might want to search for it. Was gonna say, I had never heard of Progression Fantasy until a thread here popped up a couple months back or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted November 3, 2021 Share Posted November 3, 2021 Same for me. Now I know enough to know that I'd rather undergo a prostate exam than reading such a thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted November 4, 2021 Share Posted November 4, 2021 On 11/3/2021 at 4:51 PM, Lord Patrek said: Same for me. Now I know enough to know that I'd rather undergo a prostate exam than reading such a thing! I mean, it's pretty much a spot-on description of Malazan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 Will Wight's Cradle books are Westernized Xianxia. Basically, supernatural martial arts with lots of training and fighting. https://www.willwight.com/a-blog-of-dubious-intent/the-ancestors-of-cradle Quote Cradle was my humble, meager attempt to write a story in the xianxia* genre: a subcategory of Chinese novels that have grown popular on the English-speaking Internet over the last couple of years thanks to sites like WuxiaWorld and GravityTales (not to mention the hard-working, dedicated, good-looking fan translators who provide such works to lazy monolingual English-speakers like myself). As for what Xianxia is, it's a whole genre that's popular in Mainland/Greater China https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpiritCultivationGenre On 11/4/2021 at 12:51 AM, Lord Patrek said: Same for me. Now I know enough to know that I'd rather undergo a prostate exam than reading such a thing! How so? There's nothing particularly offensive or objectionable in progression fantasy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 Just sounds way too juvenile and over-the-top sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 21 minutes ago, Lord Patrek said: Just sounds way too juvenile and over-the-top sort of thing. Okay, but I must note that the inspired by mythology. The Mahabharata, for example, is a very over-the-top in its fight scenes. That's how classic fantasy/mythological stories are supposed to be. On 11/3/2021 at 2:05 PM, IFR said: I started this thread for those who also enjoy this series, and for any recommendations of books similar to Cradle. As for recs, you could read the works Will Wight stole ideas from was inspired by that he enumerated on his blog. You can also read the free stuff at Royalroad - https://www.royalroad.com/home Scroll down to the "BEST COMPLETED" tab and start with those or just pick any story that suits your fancy. On Amazon, I've read Street Cultivation. Unlike most of the other cultivation books, this one urban fantasy. For webcomics/manga, I recommend Solo Leveling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IFR Posted November 6, 2021 Author Share Posted November 6, 2021 On 11/4/2021 at 8:03 PM, Lord Patrek said: Just sounds way too juvenile and over-the-top sort of thing. I think that depends on the nature of the execution. There's a broad spectrum of how something may be approached. For instance, I consider Wheel of Time to be progression fantasy. You have a collection of untrained farmers leveling up over several books to become demigods capable of destroying the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lin Meili Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 Actually, progression fantasy is very similar to Rocky and other sports film since most of it involves people training then competing! Remember the awesome Rocky training montages? Progression fantasy is almost exactly like that in written form with a fantasy component. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teng Ai Hui Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 Put me in the category of people that had not heard of this genre until the first thread was started a few months back. I just discovered that Kevin J. Anderson released a trilogy early this year called Hexworld that is being described as GameLit / LitRPG. I'll be giving it a try after I finish my current book. Has anyone else tried this trilogy? Is it worth the time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Kabong Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 Nothing Kevin J Anderson has ever done is worth anyone's time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted August 29, 2022 Share Posted August 29, 2022 Will Wight just published the last book in the Cradle series so it's a good time to pick up the books now if you're interested in it. P.S. Books 8-11 reached the top of the Amazon charts for the whole Kindle store (not just the scifi/fantasy categories). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IFR Posted August 29, 2022 Author Share Posted August 29, 2022 14 hours ago, Gigei said: Will Wight just published the last book in the Cradle series so it's a good time to pick up the books now if you're interested in it. P.S. Books 8-11 reached the top of the Amazon charts for the whole Kindle store (not just the scifi/fantasy categories). The penultimate book was recently published. The final book is still being written. But anytime is a good time to start up this series. Skeptics who dislike the premise of progression fantasy are really missing out. This is among the most addictive and fantastically entertaining series I've read, and I'm pretty difficult to please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One-Winged Balrog Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 17 hours ago, IFR said: This is among the most addictive Being addictive is not a mark of quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IFR Posted August 30, 2022 Author Share Posted August 30, 2022 2 hours ago, One-Winged Balrog said: Being addictive is not a mark of quality. Addictive and fantastically entertaining is a mark of quality in my book. What is quality to you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 On 8/30/2022 at 3:53 AM, IFR said: The penultimate book was recently published. The final book is still being written. But anytime is a good time to start up this series. Skeptics who dislike the premise of progression fantasy are really missing out. This is among the most addictive and fantastically entertaining series I've read, and I'm pretty difficult to please. I thought Dreadgod was the last! So there's more? On Amazon it says 11 of 11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IFR Posted September 1, 2022 Author Share Posted September 1, 2022 7 hours ago, Gigei said: I thought Dreadgod was the last! So there's more? On Amazon it says 11 of 11. Amazon is wrong in this one, or they mean 11 out of the 11 published works in the series. Waybound will be the final book. This is explicitly noted in Dreadgod, which concludes with the message "Lindon's journey comes to an end in Waybound Cradle: Volume Twelve". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Not Appearing Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 Has anyone read the A Thousand Li series by Tao Wong? Is that in this genre or how does it compare? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade1865 Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 On 11/3/2021 at 2:05 AM, IFR said: Cradle, for those who are unfamiliar with it, is a series that falls into the category of progression fantasy. IFR — good recommendation, thank you. I love coming of age stories, esp in the form of military sci-fi, and this sounds kinda similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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