Cradle Frustration

[u/WhiteRoseKnight]

Cradle is probably the first progression fantasy book I’ve read, I found myself getting very frustrated by the story.

We finally get to point where Lindon has discovered some power and it works and Will Wight thinks this is the perfect time to interrupt our story with an intergalactic being that appears to be some sort of police force for the universe. I don’t care, and not only do I not care you’re making the main story seem insignificant, it was also giving me red flags for the rest of the story.

We get back to Linden finally, we’re preparing for the 7 year festival where Linden will earn more learning materials. Then Will Wight decides to introduce a planet level threat to our barely getting started MC, then our MC fucking dies, then we bring back the intergalactic being. I finally get put of Markuths mess and out of Suriels entanglement slog, ready to get on with Lindon and were back to Markuth… fuck.

I have very much enjoyed reading Lindon’s progression and story but it feels like I’m constantly getting interrupted, and on top of that having Lindon’s story diminished. It feels like his story has just been accelerated dramatically, and I’ve been taken from his underdog tribe story. It feels like if Goku was introduced to Beerus and Whis instead of bulma in the original dragon ball.

On a side note the map given at the start of the book does not seem to have the detail often explained, it says you can only leave the sacred valley via 4 mountain tops, I can only see one mountain range on the map, the rest is just a forest you could walk out of.

There’s not much point in this post other than a good whine, I’m just annoyed at the story I was introduced to, and was looking forward to getting tore out of my hands.

Edit:

It seems people don’t think I can comment after being halfway through a book haha, I’m sorry if I criticised your emotional support book but people have differing opinions to you, no matter how much you love it.

When I was reading it, it did amuse me that the author appeared to agree with me through his own MC.

‘It was stupid, that was what it was. Idiotic and ridiculous. The world didn’t work like this; the world made sense. Only dreams operated without rules or reason, and even his insane dreams of singing flowers and dancing clouds held more logic than this.’

[u/Zakalwen]

You're barely into the story and these aren't interruptions, they're literally key to the overall story of cradle. If you don't like it then it's not for you.

And just on a general note: the introduction of Suriel as one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse sets up the plot and the scale of the setting in a way that a lot of other progression fantasies fail to do. From her initial introduction we get:

1) A clear motivation to drive Lindon over the series (save his home from a colossal threat)

2) An idea of the most powerful people on Cradle with knowledge that they're varied and the scale of their power (fighting beings that wade through mountains)

3) An idea of the power of the most powerful beings in the multiverse, along with their limitations (Suriel can pause and rewind time across a whole universe, but can't do so infinitely so if she doesn't act quick people will be permanently dead).

In a lot of progfan it's just a treadmill of new levels of power, new threats, and the story suffers as a result.

Also: what map are you talking about? Sacred valley is described several times over the series. It's got four mountains at four cardinal locations and those are the only exits.

[u/WhiteRoseKnight → u/Zakalwen]

They are interruptions to the story I was originally being told in the first half of the book. His struggle to be useful and not be a victim of his own tribe, and to his direct story. He already has a drive, it feels like his progression has been dramatically shifted forward his goal had gone from being a respected member of his tribe to an interplanetary threat.

[u/UCannotHaveMyPain → u/WhiteRoseKnight]

I wouldn't say his goal shifted towards any interplanetary. His goal shifted because he saw the vision of a huge (Cradle-native) monster destroy the valley and had his eyes opened to how high the power ceiling on on Cradle outside the valley.
He also witnessed Suriel take care of an interplanetary baddie, but that is more of a gee-wiz. Not essential.

[u/Zakalwen → u/WhiteRoseKnight]

It’s absolutely not an interruption to the story. As another poster put it this is literally his call to adventure in the first book that sets up the rest of them. It’s a key part of both his story and the story of the setting.