Axel Nanol
OK, so continuing with the spoiler free reviews, several months on.
Let's get something out the way first, I had heard, and it was the only thing I had heard, that you've got to persevere with the first few books in the Cradle series. The people who said that are Not Wrong: this is a tough read, though not without some fun moments.
The Good: Sacred Valley world building (deliciously cozy slice of life), the fresh meta narrative (there is a lot going on), and, to a lesser extent, our secondary protagonist, who joins us later on. And all libraries and treasure rooms.
The Bad: the main character's portrayal in this one is poor. I get that skin crawling feeling where an author spends too long writing about trivial stuff, really dumb hand wringing, just throwing anything in there to get the word count up.
The Ugly: oh man, the antagonists are a mess here. And for a Progression Fantasy, this book specifically shows surprising restraint in actually progressing.
All this not withstanding, I was sufficiently invested to carry on the series. The MC is such a quintessential underdog that you hope for a brighter future for him, both power curve-wise and to get him a personality upgrade. It will just be a long, long journey before he gets there.
OK, so continuing with the spoiler free reviews, several months on.
Let's get something out the way first, I had heard, and it was the only thing I had heard, that you've got to persevere with the first few books in the Cradle series. The people who said that are Not Wrong: this is a tough read, though not without some fun moments.
The Good: Sacred Valley world building (deliciously cozy slice of life), the fresh meta narrative (there is a lot going on), and, to a lesser extent, our secondary protagonist, who joins us later on. And all libraries and treasure rooms.
The Bad: the main character's portrayal in this one is poor. I get that skin crawling feeling where an author spends too long writing about trivial stuff, really dumb hand wringing, just throwing anything in there to get the word count up.
The Ugly: oh man, the antagonists are a mess here. And for a Progression Fantasy, this book specifically shows surprising restraint in actually progressing.
All this not withstanding, I was sufficiently invested to carry on the series. The MC is such a quintessential underdog that you hope for a brighter future for him, both power curve-wise and to get him a personality upgrade. It will just be a long, long journey before he gets there.
