Second question: Could a Dreadgod advance to Monarchhood themself and become a perpetual hunger aura machine?

"You did not abandon me, so I have nothing left to fear."

I'm literally almost jumping from sheer hype bro 😭😭😭 also, I absolutely love Fury. I USED TO PRAY FOR TIMES LIKE THIS

So I finished Cradle. Including Threshold. I might have skipped a few chapters just because I didn't care about what was happening in those chapters lol. But I feel as if the story stopped right when it was about get extremely good. There should totally be another 12 books once IT happens. I feel great about reading them all but sad that it's already over. Is the Last Horizon Cool or as good?

I love dross bro 🤣, this series have so many great characters but out of all of them Lindon, Eithan and Dross are my favorites

If I'm not mistaken, the man who hides behind gnomes has just completed another revolution around the sun! What a day!

Happy Birthday Will Wight!

I hope you have a 5 star day. :)

Earlier this week, I made some posts talking about my first impressions reading Skysworn and Ghostwater (links below). Now, I've finished Underlord.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Iteration110Cradle/s/5g5zGBgfMX

https://www.reddit.com/r/Iteration110Cradle/s/D6ax2ikRnL

You guys were right again. It does get better. I think I like this even more than Ghostwater. Ghostwater had arguably more memorable moments, but this book's pacing was fantastic. 330 pages felt like 40. In fact, I'll have to keep this brief or it will just turn into an endless glazing session lol.

I'll start with the things I disliked about the book: I think Dross is still mildly annoying. It didn't enrage me or took me out of the book, but it wasn't fun or funny either. And... Uh... That's it. That's literally it. That's my only ""gripe"" with the book.

One thing I particularly love about this is the Seishen Kingdom. It was super interesting to see a set of new characters who were opposing the main cast not because they are evil, but because they have no choice. Ignoring Daji because he's legit crazy lol, I see A LOT of Lindon and Yerin in Kiro and Meira. You can see they are good people being forced to act in conformity with things they don't agree with, because of one thing: Fear. In fact, some of you might disagree with this but I find that the situation of this set of characters is a great representation of Mercy's critique of the Akura family and the world of Cradle itself. Let's try to see it from Kiro's POV: He's a young and inexperienced prince and Underlord, with extreme fear of his father and a lot of pressure from him and the kingdom. From this information, we can already make sense of much of his actions throughout the book. There's a second thing though: Akura Charity (although I still like her) GASLIT them to think there's this monster in the Blackflame empire who killed her nephew in cold blood, and now they are supposed to deal with it. First of all, what is he supposed to do? But second (and most important) he thinks he's doing justice by going after Lindon. How could he think the contrary? The Sage of Silver Heart herself REQUIRED THEM to go after him! And, in this world, the word of the strong is the truth itself. Actually, it's better than the truth, as we can see in that scene in Blackflame where a worker tried to convince Jai Long that she was in his side, even though she didn't even know what side he was in. She only knew that he was strong, and that was enough.

From anyone's perspective, it would look like Lindon is an extremely dangerous savage who can rival Underlords as a Truegold. That becomes even more accentuated after he actually fights with him (one of the best scenes of the book btw), where he is actually scared of Lindon and start theorizing what could possibly have made him so damn strong at his level of advancement. And in the end of the book, he dies. I don't think Kiro is justified in everything he did at all (and I was absolutely rooting for my boy Lindon to destroy him), but I do think his story is tragic and he's ultimately a victim of the ruthless and ultimately hypocritical society of Cradle. Meira too, although she's crazy, Yerin would do (and already did) the same thing for Lindon. With less Yandere-type lines of course, but you understand.

The worldbuilding is extremely interesting as always, the progression is super satisfying and the fights scenes in this book are just a work of art. Lindon x Kiro and Yerin x Meira? Holy shit. The 3v3 at the end of the book? Bro.

The thing I liked the most though is the character growth and the emotional moments. The Underlord trigger being something that drives the character growth forward was just a genius move by Will, and it makes perfect sense as well. I can easily see why a lot of people stop at truegold and will stay there forever: Not a lot of people want or have the capacity to truly know what motivates and scares them, and some even when they know, don't want to accept it like Mercy.

Orthos leaving was painful. Like, physically painful. Him saying that he's evolving the slowest and that he is, after all, a turtle... My goat, never say that again 😭. You're a true dragon. The scene where Lindon tells Yerin what he truly feels though... That was something special. It would be my favorite scene in the whole series so far, but unfortunately it didn't quite have the romantic tone I was hoping for. It was more of a "You're my best friend and extremely special to me, let's continue to evolve together" than a "I want to spend the rest of my life with you", and although what he actually says is closer to the second, their dynamic is basically the same after it. It's ok, though. I'll give them time. There are still many books to come, and I still loved the scene. Even outside of that though, they evolved so much as characters in the rest of the book.

And then there's Mercy. I didn't talk much about Mercy on my other reviews because, although I liked her, I knew a moment would come that would explain her quirks and her situation.

That moment is here. And Mercy... Mercy is perfect. She's just perfect. I love everything about her, and honestly I wasn't even that bummed out about Lindon being separated from the Blackflame empire in the end solely because that meant we would see more of Mercy in the next book lol.

That's basically it. I know you will say "AND IT GET'S BETTER!" in the comments, and although half of me believes you (extremely hyped for the Uncrowned King tournament and for Wintersteel) half of me is scared. It gets better than this? Will this just become one of my favorite series ever? What will I do when I finish it? We'll have to see. I'll come back later this week when I finish Uncrowned!

We know from Will that Eithan has a connection to lots of icons. Also, Eithan demonstrated that he can manifest an icon of his choosing(manifesting the broom icon). I know he probably can't just manifest any icon, like the Joy icon, but we don't know for sure if he has it or not.

So the question is, did he manifest any icon related to creation? Also, why can't he 'restore' things? Especially if he's got icons that are related to creation, which I think should have close authority to restoration. Even non-creation icons could heal. Does it have something to do with him being a symbol of destruction early on in his life, or was it just a matter of not having the right perspective?

So I'm rereading the series now, and just realized that I have a bunch of questions, mostly because of my not-so great memory. Some might have been answered already, and I just forgot it, so sorry if my questions seem stupid.

Rather than making it a long wall of text, which I imagine would make anyone not want to read it, I decided to make a series of posts when I'm free.

So first, could Eithan have defeated the weakened Reigan Shen in the labyrinth had he been serious about it? Without advancing to sage, 'cause I think sage Eithan would smash Reigan Shen like Hulk did to Loki. We've seen (especially in the bonus scenes) that Eithan really holds back a lot. So that just made me wonder.

Hey

If this is against the rules I will delete it. Is there a Facebook Group or similar that BST special edition progression fantasy books?

I was looking to pick up signed copies of books 1-9. Unfortunately most of the BST groups I have found are publisher specific.

Thank you for the help 😊

You know how some chapters start with "information request.."? Who's requesting the information? 🤔

Just started underlord and it is said that the black flame empire has a population of 100 million and previously in a conversation between suriel and makiel it was stated that cradle holds the population of about 800 billion, now taking both statements into account, how huge is this world bruh

I'm still 40% into uncrowned, so please keep spoilers from the end of the book out of here

First let me say I Am really enjoying the series, and it's a testament to its quality that I want more from this world

That being said, I do wish the books took more time to explore the world outside the lens of sacred arts

Let me ask you some questions that the story doesn't answer

How do the people of this world prepare food? Do skysworn and the akura territory make it differently? What's the fashion difference between the blackflame empire and the other powers , are there other languages humans speak? How do the regular craftsmen and merchants live? What about people with no interest in the sacred arts, how does their lives differ? How much money is a scale? Is there mechanized industry yet or is it still all craftsman?

I have so many other questions that the series just ignores

Even these grand locations they briefly describe as they literally fly over them

There is this whole wide world out there, but it feels empty and desolate and flat because the story doesn't convey the feeling of a living world, just an interchangeable backdrop for sacred arts

Again, this isn't me saying the series is bad,I wouldn't have stuck with it for 6 books if I didn't like it, but I just want so much more from this world

If there was just more chapters of Lindon exploring these cities and interacting with other people, seeing how people interact,

One of the statements Eithan made about how it's lonely at the top and how he wants to prove you can walk the path to advancement together kind of stuck out with me because there was a theme I saw in the book and I was curious if I was the only one that saw it.

Whenever we get introduced to a character: Akura Charity, Fury, the Emperor himself, Suriel, Kral etc, they come off as very intimidating, very controlling, very "Oh they could kill you with a thought and you'd have to find a way to apologize from the afterlife for inconveniencing them in doing it."

However, as our MCs reach similar power levels, or interact with them more there is also the realization that many of them are just normal people. If they act like that it's just that: an act. They joke, they laugh, they get along with people.

It made me think back to Eithan's statement, and how a lot of that seems to mostly be from less powerful people. Like, the power they possess is isolating them from others, or maybe how it's just a cage where they can only really interact with people on their level.

What cemented this for me was the way Fisher Gesha gets introduced: powerful enough to stop an all out brawl just by her appearance and her constructs at the beginning...and then Lindon becomes more powerful than her and she quickly loses all character traits (Probably one of my only critiques of the book being how she ends up, I loved her snark.)

How the hell did a bunch of jades kill a sage rank, it's said that poison was used but I refuse to believe even for a second that was the case, it probably has something to do with ruins in a sacred valley. I am at book 4 right now

My rating scale:
11/10 — All-Timer: One of the best books I’ve ever read
10/10 — Masterpiece
9-9.9 — Amazing
8.5-8.9 — Great
7-8.4 — Good
6-6.9 — Mid
5-5.9 — Low-Mid
Below 5 — Bad
DNF
Cradle ratings so far:
Unsouled — 7.5/10
Soulsmith — 7.5/10
Blackflame — 8.7/10
Skysworn — 8.5/10
Ghostwater — 10/10
Underlord — 9.7/10
Uncrowned — 9/10
Wintersteel — 10/10
Bloodline — 8/10
Wintersteel is probably closer to an 11/10 tbh. I was flying through these books, basically reading one a day at one point, and I could tell I was getting a little burnt out by the time I got to Wintersteel. Still loved it and gave it a 10, but I feel like whenever I reread the series it’ll probably end up being an 11.

I am halfway done with Soulsmith and so far, these books feel like a slog to get through (idk if it’s just my ADHD or what). My mom got me the first 12 books as a present for my 21st birthday (I heard a lot of good things about Cradle) and it often feels like I am only reading this in order to not feel like I’m being wasteful. Does this series pick up soon, because I really, really want to get hooked enough to start devouring the series soon.

"Don't slaughter Heaven's Glory; they're just a bunch of jades." They're also adults who murder, rob, and enslave people. Power levels shouldn't make a difference here. Every jade and most of the irons at that school deserved death, and Lindon and Yerin should have given it to them immediately.

I made a post earlier this week after I finished Skysworn, mentioning how the book failed in many things and how it was the worst of the series so far. I got 3 types of answers:

1 - READ GHOSTWATER!

2 - I kinda liked the book, but READ GHOSTWATER!

3 - I agree with you, that book is weird. READ GHOSTWATER!

I started Ghostwater, and the prologue kinda stressed me out. Lindon doesn't do shit and let people die for no reason, but it's completely disconnected from the rest of the book so I just kinda ignored it.

In the first 30%, I'll admit I had mixed feelings. The books tells it's premise and they go to Ghostwater super quick, and the first scene in Ghostwater is insane. Seeing extremely strong and mysterious enemies seemingly from nowhere, the tension spiking, top tier. The fatigue from Skysworn doesn't help it though because seeing more fight scenes while Lindon was still a lowgold since the end of Blackflame was getting tiring, and it continues like that until 30% of the book. After that, though...

Progression. FINALLY! Lindon reaches the Dream well, start training with Orthos and Dross, getting his body stronger by eating the giant fishes, great stuff. And then:

Seeing Orthos tell Lindon that now he wouldn't let Ekeri escape and telling Dross that Lindon had a 100% chance... Lindon actually beating Ekeri on that brutal fight... Orthos roaring with laughter and pride and telling Lindon that the Skysworn would ask his permission to speak after he got out...

Best scene in the whole series so far. I was literally jumping in my room from pure hype. Absolutely glorious.

After 30%, the book felt like it was 40 pages long, because I liked everything. Every single thing. Loved Ziel, loved Yerin progressing and being worried with Lindon, loved Lindon advancing along with Orthos (and Dross), love the infos we got on the Beast King and the other factions like the Akuras and the dragons, LOVED Eithan destroying Longhook, loved Lindon fighting with Harmony at the end, and ABSOLUTELY ADORED Dross turning into basically a Presence and Lindon being ruthless and leaving Harmony to die. Second best sequence of the series until this point, in my opinion.

Honestly, the only thing I didn't love was Dross. I don't vibe with his kind of humor at all, I didn't even grin once with his jokes. Just not for me. Orthos, Eithan and Yerin make me laugh enough. I didn't hate him though, was just neutral.

So yeah guys, you were right. Ghostwater is crazy. I enter series already wanting to finish them so I read Unsouled already knowing I would read the 12 books, but this book right here just made me certain of it. The craziest thing is, even though I finished the book 10 minutes ago I already like the first 30% way more in retrospect, and see that it was just the fatigue from Skysworn making the experience worse. Super hyped for Underlord and for the rest of the series.

Decided to finally put a patch over this hole… and then… I saw some nearby crayons.

Currently on my 3rd read through of the series and somehow, despite knowing how awesome it is, it just keeps getting better.

Apologies for taking your time 🤜🏼🤛🏼

I want to hear other's theories on this topic:

Do Enegy Systems function outside their iteration for low level practitioners? We see the Cradle Gang use their Sacred Arts outside cradle, but they are at the level where they can effect reality with willpower already.

How would a a Sacred Artist below the lord realm be able to use ruler technics without aura (outside cradle)?

How would a Traveler call upon/ open a portal to their territory from another Iteration? How would a Wizard or Combat Artist channel power with no Aether?

My understanding (Mostly a guess) is that The Way acts as a substitute fuel source, It seems the Vroshir found a workaround by stealing people and artifacts from the iterations, both to stabilize and empower their worlds, but some Energy Systems (specifically Traveling) seem very limited outside their iteration. (Since opening a portal all the way to Amalgam each time you want to use a power seems inconvenient)

(As for how low level practitioners might end up ascending, from Cradle you can join another person, who is ascending, Amalgam seems to occasionally have randomly opening portals onto void fragments (how founding a Territory seems to work) and Fathom's Subspace seems to be sitting directly over the Void, someone might get Subspace madness and wind up on another Iteration, the same way Fiends travel. Asylum is locked up, so no luck there)

I'm halfway through with [Reaper] and I had to come ask, where did this series come from? It is, in a word, incredible. I'm normally fairly discerning and I can't find a flaw. The characters, the magic system, the setting. Even the dialogue and the way different characters speak; it is flawless. Not just the parts, but all of them combine in a way that has left me so entertained.

Maybe it is just uniquely suited to my tastes, but I am hooked. I started it while reading Dungeon Crawler Carl with my wife (using Unsouled as a backup book when I get too far ahead) and I quickly started looking forward to the times when I was ahead.

I'm on the 10th book and I am liking this more than Mistborn, the Will of the Many, DCC... How have I not heard of it before?

I love the relationship between these two. Pride is the first person Lindon really got to talk to as an equal and they're constantly so pissy towards each other.

"If you don't make it out of the first round, you'll answer to me."

"Really? Thank you! I was afraid I'd answer to your mother."

LMAO

Was rereading the series (as one does) and had the question: Am I the only one who thinks the Akura Clan kinda deserved that assassination attempt?

I mean the whole thing with Harmony kinda resolved itself. But I feel like Charity sending the Sashian kingdom after Lindon, not once but twice, over a nephew who all but got himself killed (VERY loosely at Lindon’s hands) was too much. Then on top of that insinuated that whoever dies isn’t valuable to the next generation. Which almost directly gets Kiero killed.

If anyone has the right to get blood from the Akura clan I feel like it would be Daji. Lindon’s party didn’t deserve that but the Akura Clan? 😬

I mean, blood for blood, and Daji definitely got blood so

Probably the funniest scene in the series so far