A review by kierano
Skysworn by Will Wight

3.5

Skysworn is the fourth novel in the ‘progression fantasy’ series Cradle by Will Wight. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the series so far and jumped straight into book four after finishing book three because I couldn’t get enough.

The series follows Lindon’s journey to become powerful enough to save his homeland from a looming threat, and Wight has thus far managed to keep finding fresh and meaningful ways to track his progress without the ‘levelling up’ aspect of the story feeling stale.

Lindon is joined on his journey by his friend and powerful sacred artist, Yerin, and his master, Eithan, who mentors both of them. When we last saw Lindon, he was being imprisoned by the empire for practising a forbidden form of magic—the Path of the Black Flame; not that he had much of a choice in that regard.

With an impending duel that he’ll almost certainly lose coming closer and his ability to train becoming severely limited, Lindon’s in a bit of a tight spot.

Apocalypse All of a Sudden

In much the same way of the previous novels, Skysworn expands the world of Cradle vastly, introducing us to new factions, new powers, and hints of trials to (hopefully) come. I love this world, and seeing it widen in scope is always fun.

Skysworn also features some of the best characterisation in the series so far, specifically with Yerin. She’s been a great, complex character so far, but here we finally get a peek under the hood at some of her more mysterious elements, which is not only exciting, but also emotionally resonant.

The bulk of Skysworn’s narrative tension though comes from a surprising, borderline world-ending threat that I’m not sure the story had earned. Logically, we understand every element that leads to the emergence of this threat, but it does perhaps feel a little rushed. When certain events started happening, my initial thought was ‘Wait, already!?’

I honestly thought that Wight was just doing the necessary legwork to set up a future threat, and its emergence felt too sudden. I just feel like a bit more build-up and earlier context would’ve made the impact what happens hit a little harder.

Lindon in Limbo

Then there’s also the issue with Lindon’s placement in the story. As usual, we cut between Lindon and other characters that flesh out the world throughout the story, but I think this is the first time where Lindon feels a little lost in the grander machinations.

He has a very explosive sequence early on in the story, but after that he shrinks as the scale of the story widens far beyond his ability to perceive. From a certain point on, Lindon’s goal is simply survival (and doing his best to keep his friends alive, too). And while there’s nothing explicitly wrong with this, the climax lacks any real emotional payoff.

Of course, Wight is still great at pushing Lindon to the extreme. This is not a boring story by any means, and Lindon is once again run ragged by some very powerful forces. It’s just that, this time, those forces feel a little impersonal.

Apart from being set up a little too quickly, the primary threat of the story is resolved a little too quickly as well, and it doesn’t help that Lindon influences the plot very little. He does make some big decisions here and there, but they’re personal ones. Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing—Lindon is a great character and these decisions feel important—I just wish he had a bigger hand in the rest of the story.

Conclusion

I’ll still be continuing with Cradle. This wasn’t a bad book by a long shot—it was simply the weakest in a series that has set a very high standard. Each novel has been satisfying in its own right while also implicitly teasing more to come, which is a very tricky balance (just ask Marvel).

Lindon’s upgrades and progression still feels natural and earned, and at the end the of the day, I’m having great fun tracking his progress, which manifests not only in imaginative and vivid action scenes, but also in a strong emotional core.