So I applaud any author that has a plan, sticks to the plan and always delivers.
When a story is done, it needs to come to a close. That's what rereads are for.
We wouldn't want WW to turn into the author that writes "diary of a wimpy kid", or whoever has slapped together the latest fast and the furious movie.
I'm excited, I feel that trepidation too. It's going to be one heck of a send-off, I'm sure.
Too many publishers/networks/whatever push IPs to their absolute limit and beyond (why was The Hobbit 3 movies?). I'm always happy when a series ends exactly when it should. Don't force more if you don't have to!
I'm torn.
On one hand, I agree. End the story when the story should end.
But on the other hand, there's *so much story* left in Cradle to tell. I'm just gonna spitball a bunch of titles, and I'm not even going to ask because I know 100% of us here would read every single one of them.
• The Life and Loves of Ozmanthus Tiberian Mereithan Arelius, an Autobiography. (Alternate title: The Reaper of Worlds)
• The Paths of Heaven
• The Labyrinth
• The Dread War
• The Fall of House Arelius
• The Remnant Queen
• Subject One
(EDIT: and all of this is just Cradle-specific. I want to read *The Mad King*. And *The Reaper and the Hound*. And *The Pioneer*. And *The Abidan*. And *Vroshir*.)
Hell, Will could pull a Twilight and put out a book that's almost identical in plot to one of the Cradle books, but told entirely from Eithan's perspective.
I don't want Will to stretch the story any further than it should be stretched, but damn do I want to live in this universe a bit longer.
I think Eithan is better in small, considered doses.
It's like when Pirates of the Carribbean started being only Jack Sparrow. It doesn't carry a whole story.
Damn, you're kinda right by that, but it would be really funny to have a book of just constant Eithan monologs that we never got to hear from the story.
To be fair, he was always alone growing up. He has no interpersonal skills and spends all his time cracking jokes at inappropriate times.
This can happens when you kill trillions of people for your day job.
Hopefully, he gets authority over Joy while whooping on Daruman and then Makiel.
Its inevitable that we'll get another series or two out of Cradle. "... even obscured, Cradle shone like a star. She could see the powers that made it up swirling, the powerful - but still mortal - fates that crashed inside."
Cradle is where major spiritual energy resides. Stable for eons. It's also the culmination of WW's writing to date showing is mastery of character and plot arcs. A masterpiece. And a pure ascension world.
Cradle isn't cluttered or obstructed by complicated weirdness where people are talking to presumed gods that are actually fiends of chaos (Asylum) or a baren world with tinier balls of fuzzy potential circling where people can't ascend higher than the equivalent of Underlord (Amalgam).
I liked the new plasma bolt book. Really nice magic system. Again, WW's master of character and plot arcs is showing up. But its not Cradle.
> why was The Hobbit 3 movies?
Oh! I know this one!
So the studio were huge lord of the rings fans, and after their 100th rewatch, saw the scene with Bilbo talking about feeling stretched out, like butter scraped over too much bread, and they said That’s what the Hobbit movies need to be!
Just kidding, it was for the money.
Definitely for the money.
And, really, Hobbit was much more accessible than Lord of the Rings. A tighter story. And there is a dragon. Who doesn't like dragons.
The most memorable and recommended books/movies/etc I have are the ones with a good ending. The never-ending ones I forget and ditch after a while, never to recommend to anyone else. The ones with a clean beginning and end are always the ones that stick out in my head and go on recommended lists to people (if they were good obviously).
Same goes for television shows of all stripes, apart from the rare comedy with good writers.
Miniseries is the superior format; they have a fully fledged story planned out, film it, and they're done.
I rarely make it more than two seasons into a show without losing interest, though I grant that I watch maybe one or two episodes of anything at all in a week and that's it for television, so my experience may not be as broad as that of others.
I'll be glad to know the whole story, and know I know the whole story. Lindon and friends' journey won't end with the book, and I'd love the chance to catch up with them in another book and see how they're doing, or even visit some other sacred artists in Cradle following up on the aftermath, but I'm happy that the Cradle series itself will have a conclusion.
I'd prefer a conclusion to an eternally dangling plot that is never tidied up.
Agreed. I think another series would be best, or even short stories of Cradle, it’s such a rich world which I didn’t feel like we got to explore enough
It's much, much better to have a series that ends in a good way than one that slowly turns worse and worse to the point where you grow tired of it and it hurts the enjoyment of even the good parts of the series.
It's always a bit sad when a series ends, but if it ends in a good way, that's still the best possible outcome.
How do you think this one will end? Dross taking over the universe? Monarch kills yerin? “And then Yerin and Lindon lived out the rest of their days happily ever after”?
>How do you think this one will end? Dross taking over the universe? Monarch kills yerin? “And then Yerin and Lindon lived out the rest of their days happily ever after”?
I think it'll just end with them ascending to follow Ozriel's plan.
There could be a lot of options that still keep things more grounded. Like this series. It has Lindon and the others for those parts but interweaves Suriel's grander story with it. It's possible the next time we see the gang it could be like that, with new grounded characters interweaved with the gang's grander story.
It could also be that we aren't really getting a true perspective. Suriel is a Judge, and she is involved in battles that can end multiple worlds like that. Lindon and the others though... was that really even what Ozriel wanted for them? I thought the Executor program worked to save the Iterations that would have otherwise collapsed. Suriel and the other Judges get into these huge fights with the Vroshir when an Iteration is dying so they can take whatever people they can grab for themselves, but Ozriel wanted them to be a force that wouldn't give up on those worlds in the first place.
So I think maybe the gang will be going into Iterations before they are actually collapsing, to try and stave off the collapse itself. That means that their power will be limited to Monarch or lower level while they are there, right? So we may only see them super overpowered at the times when they fail and the Iteration is finally about to collapse.
> So I think maybe the gang will be going into Iterations before they are actually collapsing, to try and stave off the collapse itself. That means that their power will be limited to Monarch or lower level while they are there, right?
I don't think so. The judges don't seem to have a noticeable effect on the iterations they enter, presumably because they're taking active steps to stabilize them while they're there. When Daruman enters an iteration to save it from a Class One fiend he fights it the whole time, hard to imagine him doing that if he had to limit his power to the local peak.
I mean if the Judges have to stabilize the iteration to handle their power why wouldn't Daruman do the same? He may have started off as an Executor but if he is fighting a class one fiend then he already is Judge level, other than not actually being a Judge himself. Comparing Daruman to another Executor is like comparing Ozriel to a lower rank Abidan.
I don't think most Executors have to deal with class one fiends to save Iterations, they were supposed to save them long before they could get to that point, like by stopping massive wars between the iterations inhabitants. They only need to limit themselves to the maximum amount for that iteration, so they would still be stronger or as strong as the most powerful people in that iteration.
Will also [says](https://abidanarchive.com/events/25/#e1847) that there are different classes/ranks of iteration just like there are people, and that some iterations can handle more energy than others. The iteration Daruman fought the fiend in could just be one of the highest ranking ones or may have been damaged by their fight or destroyed, unless I forgot and we know it still exists. Cradle is not the highest ranking one, so it makes sense it would have more trouble handling Daruman than other iterations might.
Im not sure I follow your point. My point was that judges clearly don’t need to limit themselves to enter iterations, and if Daruman was fighting a fiend that had no vested interest in limiting himself then it’s possible to do the executor job at its most extreme without limits.
We know that iterations can only handle a certain level of energy before they start to become unstable and that they create undesired effects even at the limit they can handle (Monarchs and hunger madra) so it stands to reason that if they want to go into other iterations to help stabilize them that they would have to limit their power.
My point was that the Judges and Daruman are more of an exception to this than the rule. Daruman is near Judge level himself, and it's possible that the iteration he fought the fiend in is just able to handle higher levels of energy than Cradle. Will said one of the reasons it is called Cradle is because it is not one of the iterations that can handle the most energy. Also, if there was already a class one fiend in the iteration then there would be no reason to limit yourself, because the fiend is already too strong and destabilizing the iteration, so Daruman fighting one doesn't mean they don't usually limit themselves. The Executors job is not to fight class one fiends, it is to stabilize it before it can even get to that point.
The gang are not Judges or Daruman. If the whole point of them ascending is because they are too powerful to keep the iteration stable then it stands to reason that they have to limit themselves to at least the maximum strength that an iteration can withstand if they want to stabilize it.
I’m so glad this series is going to have a (presumably, hopefully) satisfying conclusion.
I think the world of Cradle is ripe with possibility for standalone stories, spin-off trilogies, or a sequel series. I really hope someday he writes such a story.
All things must come to an end, otherwise you get the 'live long enough to see yourself become the villain' situation.
I would definitely love to see a Lindon and co cameo at some point in other series though.
Yeah this. I'd love to check in in them sometime, but I'm glad that Will is sticking to his guns on the ending. And really, twelve excellent books is the highest run of good books I've ever seen. I've never seen another series go that long without having some real stinkers in there.
Definitely not okay. This is the longest i’ve followed a series… i am not ready for the story to end. It is like… ending. Theres not going to be any more cradle. I think im probably going to be in shock for the next year
Must not be many Jeff Wheeler fans in this sub. He writes a ton of series in the same universe. That's what I'd love to see -- a new cast, but with references to the others.
I think I’d prefer not to hear about what they do after they ascend.
I don’t think I’m done with cradle yet, I’d love some
Stories with some new characters. Maybe Jai Chen and kelsa doing what they can to make cradle safe.
But I’m not sure we’d need much more from the gang. Or Maybe a trilogy showing some of their adventures on other worlds with less stakes.
Eh, I'm sorta tired of the gang, not that I don't like them, but they have basically completed their arcs as people, and now we're just cleaning up, and letting Eithan finish his arc.
I'd prefer a different story in the same world(maybe in a different time), the events of the cradle series could be like legends and background info for people to figure out. Someone on a different path, who doesn't have what Lindon got(like training from a demigod, or a trip to a monarch pocketworld). A guy who goes from lowgold to underlord, and that's where the story ends, we could go into the nitty gritty of politics of different sects and families and empires and details of path creation.
I’m glad it’s ending. Stories having an ending make them more satisfying. And I loved The Captain, it’s a great new direction with even more potential imo.
>But at the same time I feel like any story taking place in the heavens is just too much to grip me.
You say that, but i've been invested in the Abidan story since the early days It's a bit abstract, but i love it :D
as for whether or not the story should continue, its hard to say. If Will has a good idea of where to take it, in a satisfying way, then i'm all for it.
But it shouldn't be written for the sake of being written.
I'll start on the captain after Waybound, and hopefully i'll likely love it. but i have a very deep love for cradle that probably won't be matched by any other series for quite some time.
All good things come to an end. Will will move on and create more great stories. He’s young and has room for growth as a writer even still. I look forward to his future work. Cradle or otherwise. Now, if the man died or retired or quit, that would be sad. Very much so.
I just don't see how the story within the story (Suriel, the fox, blah blah blah) will be concluded within this next book.
Oz tells us he wants to change things. He hasn't even started that yet. I doubt there is a conclusion to that story.
But a conclusion to the Monarch, Dread God story? Yea. We will see the end of that.
There needs to be some sort of closure to that sub-plot. It’s ran concurrently for the whole 11 books. At the very least Daruman needs to be dealt with and the Makiel story needs a conclusion.
We don’t need the heaven upheaval. It doesn’t even need to be long or drawn out. Our homie Oz found out how to disguise or hide his fate and used his own skill at reading fate to position himself to both defeat Daruman while exposing Makiel for intentionally allowing a situation where the most probable outcome was the death of a Judge. Even Gadriel the Cuck couldn’t stand by Makiel after that. The Abidan stand for order and Makiel made a decision to kill a peer that he knew would sow chaos. It goes against everything they stand for.
We could close that plot in 2 scenes, maybe 3.
You can close a lot of stories with short scenes. But the pay off is going to be unsatisfing. I am sure it will be resolved to a point which will set up the next series.
Honestly what I'm going to miss is Cradle itself. It's magic system is by far my favorite of all time. Inspired me to try harder with my own ideas. So I would love it if Will wrote other stories set on Cradle. I mean Lindon and crew are special. I'd love to see people like Kelsa's struggles that don't involve power gaming with Ozriel's help.
i think that Cradle is so rich and well developed that it could stand to get some short stories or something. Will did the short stories for the Traveler's Gate trilogy that fleshed out the various magic systems of Amalgam, and they were great little taste after the series was done.
I’ve been legit breaking out into tears thinking about the end of Cradle since I finished Dreadgod. I can’t even bear to read his blog, the new series in space just leaves my heart aching that the end is near, and I honestly don’t know if I can read Waybound when it comes out (it took me 3 days to get the courage to preorder it). I tried listening to the first chapter on YouTube today and was crying right away. It feel absurd to be this upset over it, yet my feelings are my feelings. Glad others are struggling as well.
I hear you bud. I hope he lands the ending, but it's good to remember this is just AN ending, not THE ending.
Will has put out 21 books in the last 10 years. While his earlier works had fascinating elements(and were perfectly readable and enjoyable, dont take me wrong), his writing has only improved over the years.
The Last Horizon might be a fun read, but I don't expect it to hook me like Cradle did at all. That said, I also don't see him finishing that series, hanging up his writing cap, and wasting away playing Candy Crush all day.
He is young and prolific. I'm happy to be able to have joined the Fandom this early. (Also, Will and his team are fantastic at communicating with the fans, no spending years wondering if the sequel will ever release)
True. I’ve had to give up on several authors because they’ve left me hanging deep into a series for many years or even a decade or more (I’m sure I don’t need to name names). Will is gonna keep putting them out. All his work keeps me entertained, but I really liked the shadow half of Elder Empire a lot. Shera is my favorite character outside of Cradle. I’d love for her to ascend.
But I’m sure one way or another he’ll stick the landing. He may subvert out expectations, but prob in a way we’ll all graciously accept.
Cradle, by its nature is just the starting point. I'm glad to be a part of the gang's journey through the world.
The best way to go forth from here, in my eyes atleast would be to follow someone else, outside the world, maybe their paths cross with the gang and we get to see them but through a different perspective.
Yeah while I understand not milking the series to the utmost, Waybound is not not 50hrs long, with all the loose ends here and there I don't see how it can fit into what we have now.
* **Jai Chen's sister and her weird spirit** (there was something mentioned about its properties and other things that made it look like there was more than the eye could see, possibly related to the Abidan)
* **The labyrinth**
* **Ethan and the Abidan Betrayal**
* **The Angler**
* **The Twin Star Sect**
* **The Monarchs**
* **Restoration of Aurelius house**
* I know there's a bunch of other things I can't think of right now how would everything fit into 16hrs :'( - :'( - :'( - :'(
> Eithan's smile softened. “Everything ends.”
Take it back, right now!
Ghostwater against Longhook. Solid quotage
You sonofabitch. Shoutout to Longhook though. Almost made Eithan pull out the broom.
Eh, Tiny Scissors might have resorted to a bigger pair instead.
Exactly!
So I applaud any author that has a plan, sticks to the plan and always delivers. When a story is done, it needs to come to a close. That's what rereads are for. We wouldn't want WW to turn into the author that writes "diary of a wimpy kid", or whoever has slapped together the latest fast and the furious movie. I'm excited, I feel that trepidation too. It's going to be one heck of a send-off, I'm sure.
Too many publishers/networks/whatever push IPs to their absolute limit and beyond (why was The Hobbit 3 movies?). I'm always happy when a series ends exactly when it should. Don't force more if you don't have to!
I'm torn. On one hand, I agree. End the story when the story should end. But on the other hand, there's *so much story* left in Cradle to tell. I'm just gonna spitball a bunch of titles, and I'm not even going to ask because I know 100% of us here would read every single one of them. • The Life and Loves of Ozmanthus Tiberian Mereithan Arelius, an Autobiography. (Alternate title: The Reaper of Worlds) • The Paths of Heaven • The Labyrinth • The Dread War • The Fall of House Arelius • The Remnant Queen • Subject One (EDIT: and all of this is just Cradle-specific. I want to read *The Mad King*. And *The Reaper and the Hound*. And *The Pioneer*. And *The Abidan*. And *Vroshir*.) Hell, Will could pull a Twilight and put out a book that's almost identical in plot to one of the Cradle books, but told entirely from Eithan's perspective. I don't want Will to stretch the story any further than it should be stretched, but damn do I want to live in this universe a bit longer.
I would read cradle from Eithan's perspective so hard. With internal monologues and flashbacks, etc., it would be a banger
I think Eithan is better in small, considered doses. It's like when Pirates of the Carribbean started being only Jack Sparrow. It doesn't carry a whole story.
Damn, you're kinda right by that, but it would be really funny to have a book of just constant Eithan monologs that we never got to hear from the story.
To be fair, he was always alone growing up. He has no interpersonal skills and spends all his time cracking jokes at inappropriate times. This can happens when you kill trillions of people for your day job. Hopefully, he gets authority over Joy while whooping on Daruman and then Makiel.
Its inevitable that we'll get another series or two out of Cradle. "... even obscured, Cradle shone like a star. She could see the powers that made it up swirling, the powerful - but still mortal - fates that crashed inside." Cradle is where major spiritual energy resides. Stable for eons. It's also the culmination of WW's writing to date showing is mastery of character and plot arcs. A masterpiece. And a pure ascension world. Cradle isn't cluttered or obstructed by complicated weirdness where people are talking to presumed gods that are actually fiends of chaos (Asylum) or a baren world with tinier balls of fuzzy potential circling where people can't ascend higher than the equivalent of Underlord (Amalgam). I liked the new plasma bolt book. Really nice magic system. Again, WW's master of character and plot arcs is showing up. But its not Cradle.
>\**The Fox and the Hound*
> why was The Hobbit 3 movies? Oh! I know this one! So the studio were huge lord of the rings fans, and after their 100th rewatch, saw the scene with Bilbo talking about feeling stretched out, like butter scraped over too much bread, and they said That’s what the Hobbit movies need to be! Just kidding, it was for the money.
Definitely for the money. And, really, Hobbit was much more accessible than Lord of the Rings. A tighter story. And there is a dragon. Who doesn't like dragons.
Dwarves don’t like dragons.
True. I'm also not a fan. Not a hater but they aren't my fave. But a LOT of people are enamoured with them. Just not dwarves...
The most memorable and recommended books/movies/etc I have are the ones with a good ending. The never-ending ones I forget and ditch after a while, never to recommend to anyone else. The ones with a clean beginning and end are always the ones that stick out in my head and go on recommended lists to people (if they were good obviously).
Same goes for television shows of all stripes, apart from the rare comedy with good writers. Miniseries is the superior format; they have a fully fledged story planned out, film it, and they're done. I rarely make it more than two seasons into a show without losing interest, though I grant that I watch maybe one or two episodes of anything at all in a week and that's it for television, so my experience may not be as broad as that of others.
I'll be glad to know the whole story, and know I know the whole story. Lindon and friends' journey won't end with the book, and I'd love the chance to catch up with them in another book and see how they're doing, or even visit some other sacred artists in Cradle following up on the aftermath, but I'm happy that the Cradle series itself will have a conclusion. I'd prefer a conclusion to an eternally dangling plot that is never tidied up.
Agreed. I think another series would be best, or even short stories of Cradle, it’s such a rich world which I didn’t feel like we got to explore enough
It's much, much better to have a series that ends in a good way than one that slowly turns worse and worse to the point where you grow tired of it and it hurts the enjoyment of even the good parts of the series. It's always a bit sad when a series ends, but if it ends in a good way, that's still the best possible outcome.
How do you think this one will end? Dross taking over the universe? Monarch kills yerin? “And then Yerin and Lindon lived out the rest of their days happily ever after”?
Dross becomes a Class 1 Fiend and mind controls the whole gang into multiverse domination.
Megalomania!
>How do you think this one will end? Dross taking over the universe? Monarch kills yerin? “And then Yerin and Lindon lived out the rest of their days happily ever after”? I think it'll just end with them ascending to follow Ozriel's plan.
There could be a lot of options that still keep things more grounded. Like this series. It has Lindon and the others for those parts but interweaves Suriel's grander story with it. It's possible the next time we see the gang it could be like that, with new grounded characters interweaved with the gang's grander story. It could also be that we aren't really getting a true perspective. Suriel is a Judge, and she is involved in battles that can end multiple worlds like that. Lindon and the others though... was that really even what Ozriel wanted for them? I thought the Executor program worked to save the Iterations that would have otherwise collapsed. Suriel and the other Judges get into these huge fights with the Vroshir when an Iteration is dying so they can take whatever people they can grab for themselves, but Ozriel wanted them to be a force that wouldn't give up on those worlds in the first place. So I think maybe the gang will be going into Iterations before they are actually collapsing, to try and stave off the collapse itself. That means that their power will be limited to Monarch or lower level while they are there, right? So we may only see them super overpowered at the times when they fail and the Iteration is finally about to collapse.
> So I think maybe the gang will be going into Iterations before they are actually collapsing, to try and stave off the collapse itself. That means that their power will be limited to Monarch or lower level while they are there, right? I don't think so. The judges don't seem to have a noticeable effect on the iterations they enter, presumably because they're taking active steps to stabilize them while they're there. When Daruman enters an iteration to save it from a Class One fiend he fights it the whole time, hard to imagine him doing that if he had to limit his power to the local peak.
I mean if the Judges have to stabilize the iteration to handle their power why wouldn't Daruman do the same? He may have started off as an Executor but if he is fighting a class one fiend then he already is Judge level, other than not actually being a Judge himself. Comparing Daruman to another Executor is like comparing Ozriel to a lower rank Abidan. I don't think most Executors have to deal with class one fiends to save Iterations, they were supposed to save them long before they could get to that point, like by stopping massive wars between the iterations inhabitants. They only need to limit themselves to the maximum amount for that iteration, so they would still be stronger or as strong as the most powerful people in that iteration. Will also [says](https://abidanarchive.com/events/25/#e1847) that there are different classes/ranks of iteration just like there are people, and that some iterations can handle more energy than others. The iteration Daruman fought the fiend in could just be one of the highest ranking ones or may have been damaged by their fight or destroyed, unless I forgot and we know it still exists. Cradle is not the highest ranking one, so it makes sense it would have more trouble handling Daruman than other iterations might.
Im not sure I follow your point. My point was that judges clearly don’t need to limit themselves to enter iterations, and if Daruman was fighting a fiend that had no vested interest in limiting himself then it’s possible to do the executor job at its most extreme without limits.
We know that iterations can only handle a certain level of energy before they start to become unstable and that they create undesired effects even at the limit they can handle (Monarchs and hunger madra) so it stands to reason that if they want to go into other iterations to help stabilize them that they would have to limit their power. My point was that the Judges and Daruman are more of an exception to this than the rule. Daruman is near Judge level himself, and it's possible that the iteration he fought the fiend in is just able to handle higher levels of energy than Cradle. Will said one of the reasons it is called Cradle is because it is not one of the iterations that can handle the most energy. Also, if there was already a class one fiend in the iteration then there would be no reason to limit yourself, because the fiend is already too strong and destabilizing the iteration, so Daruman fighting one doesn't mean they don't usually limit themselves. The Executors job is not to fight class one fiends, it is to stabilize it before it can even get to that point. The gang are not Judges or Daruman. If the whole point of them ascending is because they are too powerful to keep the iteration stable then it stands to reason that they have to limit themselves to at least the maximum strength that an iteration can withstand if they want to stabilize it.
Depends on the planet. Monarch is the limit of Cradle. Amalgam would prob implode under the weight of a Monarch.
I’m so glad this series is going to have a (presumably, hopefully) satisfying conclusion. I think the world of Cradle is ripe with possibility for standalone stories, spin-off trilogies, or a sequel series. I really hope someday he writes such a story.
I'd be more upset but I really enjoyed The Captain so that series will help fill the void in my soul.
All things must come to an end, otherwise you get the 'live long enough to see yourself become the villain' situation. I would definitely love to see a Lindon and co cameo at some point in other series though.
Yeah this. I'd love to check in in them sometime, but I'm glad that Will is sticking to his guns on the ending. And really, twelve excellent books is the highest run of good books I've ever seen. I've never seen another series go that long without having some real stinkers in there.
Definitely not okay. This is the longest i’ve followed a series… i am not ready for the story to end. It is like… ending. Theres not going to be any more cradle. I think im probably going to be in shock for the next year
Nah, things should end when they should. The story of the Way will continue in different series.
Must not be many Jeff Wheeler fans in this sub. He writes a ton of series in the same universe. That's what I'd love to see -- a new cast, but with references to the others.
Will did hint that he might eventually make an abidan series, unsure if the gang will be the focus of that, but we can only hope
WW ending Cradle? No i don't want that!
I have already scheduled a reread once I finish all my new releases a coming in the next month or so
I think I’d prefer not to hear about what they do after they ascend. I don’t think I’m done with cradle yet, I’d love some Stories with some new characters. Maybe Jai Chen and kelsa doing what they can to make cradle safe. But I’m not sure we’d need much more from the gang. Or Maybe a trilogy showing some of their adventures on other worlds with less stakes.
Eh, I'm sorta tired of the gang, not that I don't like them, but they have basically completed their arcs as people, and now we're just cleaning up, and letting Eithan finish his arc. I'd prefer a different story in the same world(maybe in a different time), the events of the cradle series could be like legends and background info for people to figure out. Someone on a different path, who doesn't have what Lindon got(like training from a demigod, or a trip to a monarch pocketworld). A guy who goes from lowgold to underlord, and that's where the story ends, we could go into the nitty gritty of politics of different sects and families and empires and details of path creation.
I’m glad it’s ending. Stories having an ending make them more satisfying. And I loved The Captain, it’s a great new direction with even more potential imo.
>But at the same time I feel like any story taking place in the heavens is just too much to grip me. You say that, but i've been invested in the Abidan story since the early days It's a bit abstract, but i love it :D as for whether or not the story should continue, its hard to say. If Will has a good idea of where to take it, in a satisfying way, then i'm all for it. But it shouldn't be written for the sake of being written. I'll start on the captain after Waybound, and hopefully i'll likely love it. but i have a very deep love for cradle that probably won't be matched by any other series for quite some time.
On to the next amazing series!
Honestly, part of my hopes we get an anthology book or something that tells smaller scale stories surrounding the main group.
I mean, I'm not okay, but it has nothing to do with Cradle ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
All good things come to an end. Will will move on and create more great stories. He’s young and has room for growth as a writer even still. I look forward to his future work. Cradle or otherwise. Now, if the man died or retired or quit, that would be sad. Very much so.
I just don't see how the story within the story (Suriel, the fox, blah blah blah) will be concluded within this next book. Oz tells us he wants to change things. He hasn't even started that yet. I doubt there is a conclusion to that story. But a conclusion to the Monarch, Dread God story? Yea. We will see the end of that.
There needs to be some sort of closure to that sub-plot. It’s ran concurrently for the whole 11 books. At the very least Daruman needs to be dealt with and the Makiel story needs a conclusion. We don’t need the heaven upheaval. It doesn’t even need to be long or drawn out. Our homie Oz found out how to disguise or hide his fate and used his own skill at reading fate to position himself to both defeat Daruman while exposing Makiel for intentionally allowing a situation where the most probable outcome was the death of a Judge. Even Gadriel the Cuck couldn’t stand by Makiel after that. The Abidan stand for order and Makiel made a decision to kill a peer that he knew would sow chaos. It goes against everything they stand for. We could close that plot in 2 scenes, maybe 3.
You can close a lot of stories with short scenes. But the pay off is going to be unsatisfing. I am sure it will be resolved to a point which will set up the next series.
Honestly what I'm going to miss is Cradle itself. It's magic system is by far my favorite of all time. Inspired me to try harder with my own ideas. So I would love it if Will wrote other stories set on Cradle. I mean Lindon and crew are special. I'd love to see people like Kelsa's struggles that don't involve power gaming with Ozriel's help.
i think that Cradle is so rich and well developed that it could stand to get some short stories or something. Will did the short stories for the Traveler's Gate trilogy that fleshed out the various magic systems of Amalgam, and they were great little taste after the series was done.
I’ve been legit breaking out into tears thinking about the end of Cradle since I finished Dreadgod. I can’t even bear to read his blog, the new series in space just leaves my heart aching that the end is near, and I honestly don’t know if I can read Waybound when it comes out (it took me 3 days to get the courage to preorder it). I tried listening to the first chapter on YouTube today and was crying right away. It feel absurd to be this upset over it, yet my feelings are my feelings. Glad others are struggling as well.
I hear you bud. I hope he lands the ending, but it's good to remember this is just AN ending, not THE ending. Will has put out 21 books in the last 10 years. While his earlier works had fascinating elements(and were perfectly readable and enjoyable, dont take me wrong), his writing has only improved over the years. The Last Horizon might be a fun read, but I don't expect it to hook me like Cradle did at all. That said, I also don't see him finishing that series, hanging up his writing cap, and wasting away playing Candy Crush all day. He is young and prolific. I'm happy to be able to have joined the Fandom this early. (Also, Will and his team are fantastic at communicating with the fans, no spending years wondering if the sequel will ever release)
True. I’ve had to give up on several authors because they’ve left me hanging deep into a series for many years or even a decade or more (I’m sure I don’t need to name names). Will is gonna keep putting them out. All his work keeps me entertained, but I really liked the shadow half of Elder Empire a lot. Shera is my favorite character outside of Cradle. I’d love for her to ascend. But I’m sure one way or another he’ll stick the landing. He may subvert out expectations, but prob in a way we’ll all graciously accept.
Cradle, by its nature is just the starting point. I'm glad to be a part of the gang's journey through the world. The best way to go forth from here, in my eyes atleast would be to follow someone else, outside the world, maybe their paths cross with the gang and we get to see them but through a different perspective.
I was going to say: * Eithan's smile softened. "Everything ends." But I see someone beat me to it!
Yeah while I understand not milking the series to the utmost, Waybound is not not 50hrs long, with all the loose ends here and there I don't see how it can fit into what we have now. * **Jai Chen's sister and her weird spirit** (there was something mentioned about its properties and other things that made it look like there was more than the eye could see, possibly related to the Abidan) * **The labyrinth** * **Ethan and the Abidan Betrayal** * **The Angler** * **The Twin Star Sect** * **The Monarchs** * **Restoration of Aurelius house** * I know there's a bunch of other things I can't think of right now how would everything fit into 16hrs :'( - :'( - :'( - :'(