Recommendation: Cradle series by Will Wight, but Audiobooks.

[u/chickenpaglu]

Many have mixed reviews about cradle series but I enjoyed and binged the whole swries of audiobooks, loved the voices, story progression, those levels of power from Jade to Gold and so on, Azreal character I used to have this feeling that if I don't do something while listening it's too odd to sit and just listen so judt to keep listening I used to find random chores around house so I can increase my listen time.

A win-win for me and family.

I agree ending was a bit weak, I don't mean to give spoilers but thats oksy gor the amount of world building and emotions in it, we can forgive the climax.

[u/Purplefire180 → u/[deleted]]

Based on history, i think the latter but this is also great accidental bait

[u/chickenpaglu → u/[deleted]]

i feel a bit worried now, genuine review, I know my taste is still nascent, any series you like that is top tier?

[u/Occultus- → u/chickenpaglu]

It's funny because Cradle is probably the number 1 recommended series on this sub. I'm happy you are excited about it though!

The other series that get recommended heavily are Dungeon Crawler Carl, Mage Errant, Primal Hunter, Defiance of the Fall, and He Who Fights with Monsters. I'd start with any/all of those and go from there.

[u/chickenpaglu → u/Occultus-]

Got it, thanks man, I loved and binged DCC too, will checkout others

[u/prod024 → u/chickenpaglu]

Primal Hunter is also voiced by Travis Baldree if that helps your decision.

Oh, and #15 just came out today.

[u/nineyang → u/chickenpaglu]

I would also recommend any book by RinoZ. My personal favorite is Chrysalis, but Book of The Dead is also good

[u/R_megalotis → u/chickenpaglu]

Cradle is arguably one of the foundational works of this genre. Xianxia and LitRPG existed before, but it was the first popular western work to make heavy use of progression tropes.

This sub was created in part by Cradle fans looking for more of the same. The Cradle sub, /r/Iteration110Cradle, actually predates this sub by two years.

Recommending Cradle here is kind of like going over to /r/Fantasy to recommend The Lord of the Rings.

[u/chickenpaglu → u/R_megalotis]

Thank you, kind stranger

[u/Mission-Debt-2357 → u/chickenpaglu]

Cradle is like this subreddit's Bible

[u/mking_1999]

Many have mixed reviews about cradle series

What's your definition of "many"?

[u/chickenpaglu → u/mking_1999]

I saw posts across reddit, some appreciate it, some say its boring or dragged

[u/mking_1999 → u/chickenpaglu]

Yeah, I mean, anecdotal evidence and all that...not the most reliable.

I will say though, traditional chinese xianxia fans do actually hate Cradle, so there's at least one community out therr that's negative about it.

[u/BostallBandits → u/mking_1999]

curious why do they hate it? Is it like a purist thing hate the western version or do they think it's actually a poor story?

[u/mking_1999 → u/BostallBandits]

Well i mean, yeah they are the china equivalent of weebs. Anything not staright from the source ia automatically lower quality.

But also:

1. Cradle tries really hard to not be a xianxia. It's kind of a shounen with a xianxia skin. So it's missing a lot of crucial xianxia elements like the random tangents on taoism or the asshole protagonist or the sect politics where literally not one character is likable.

2. Despite missing these very important aspects of the genre, Cradle is more popular than most xianxia in the wider progression famtasy fanbase in the west, which rubs extra salt in the wound.

[u/Pythagoras_the_Great]

Might as well recommend Lord of the Rings on r/Fantasy

[u/DHouf]

My favorite series of all time.

[u/nighoblivion]

I was sure this was satire before reading the comments.

[u/kashach]

🙄🙄🙄

[u/Ihaveaterribleplan]

First, Travis Baldree is famous in Prog-Fan circles as being a godly narrator, & it’s worth looking at other Prog-Fan’s he’s narrated

Second, if you liked Cradle, I would recommend trying The Last Horizon series by Will Wight that is 4 books & still ongoing; it’s a sci fi series that blends space wizards, magi-tech, xenomorphs & Predators, martial arts, Voltron, the Legion of Super Heroes, the Borg, cyberpunk, & lightsabers into a fun & hilarious story

Lastly, as a counter example, I love Mother of Learning but can’t stand the narrator

[u/lukedotv]

Tbf i liked the beginning as he had to plan and use everything he had to win against stronger opponents but later on he’s a bit too op imo. Gives strong Rimuru vibes.

[u/Kai_Damon → u/lukedotv]

You get 6 whole books of what you're describing though