It’s been a long time since we’ve done one of these series reviews, mostly because of my habit of not finishing series that I begin reading, even when I say that I’m going to (like Clan of the Cave Bear, which I stated I would be continuing soon, and now it’s been months without going back…fortunately, I consider a long reading list a good problem to have most of the time). Cradle, though, is officially finished with our review for Waybound last week, which means that it’s time to review the series as a whole. Despite being twelve books long, if I had to choose one word to describe the series, it would be “fast.”
Wight’s writing style is blisteringly fast-paced, with action following action following action in endless succession, with character development and worldbuilding very much taking a back seat to plot. Reading all of the books back-to-back might get wearying, but the individual entries are sufficiently short, and make for such, well, fast reading, that the effect works. Nor do I mean to suggest that his books are devoid of character development and worldbuilding – quite the contrary, especially when it comes to worldbuilding; he’s simply sparing in the attention he gives to those matters, and especially in terms of character prefers to let the development occur through implication.
If you read your way through the whole series, you will almost certainly notice, as I did, that Wight’s writing improves markedly between book one and book twelve. Since I picked up the series in the middle (literally, since I accidentally read Uncrowned first, before I realized that there were several prior installments), it seems from my perspective that he made enormous strides in a relatively short time. Which is true, just not quite to the extent that I’m perceiving. Indeed, if I’d started reading Wight with Unsouled, or with Traveler’s Gate, I probably wouldn’t have stuck with him, which makes me all the more pleased that I started where I did. Not that I’d necessarily recommend starting from the middle of the series, but do keep in mind as you read the first few books that they improve drastically (and you can find reviews for each book here on the site, and linked at the bottom of this post).
Another plus, he’s now proven that he finishes series that he starts, and he’s startlingly aggressive in his publication schedule. Cradle books came out usually within six months of each other, which is practically unheard of in the publishing world. This is partially because he runs his own publishing company, but it also speaks to his writing habits and clarity of storytelling. He’s prolific in a different way from an author like Sanderson, or the author of The Wandering Inn, who generate stupendous wordcounts. Instead, Wight is prolific in terms of books.
It seems difficult sometimes to find new, interesting, original, enjoyable fantasy to read. Sanderson is always reliable, Weeks is decent, Rothfuss is excellent but has dragged down the entire genre community with his failure to finish Kingkiller, and many of the newer or lesser-known fantasy authors I try have books that just aren’t engaging. Even some strong entries, like The Lies of Locke Lamora, were enjoyable while they lasted and didn’t drive me to pick up the next book in the series. Into this field, Wight managed to produce in Cradle a series that was fresh, original, fast-paced, fun, and engaging, making him most certainly an rising writer to watch. That I actually finished reading the series, and within weeks of the final book being released, is testament to that, but if it wasn’t already clear, I highly encourage you to give Wight’s Cradle a try soon.
IGC Publishing 
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