Looking for the Cradle books in order? This guide lays out Will Wight’s complete main series in the cleanest reading order possible, plus the optional Threshold story collection and the current adaptation situation.
At its core, Cradle is a progression fantasy series about Lindon, a weak sacred artist from Sacred Valley who starts at the bottom and fights his way into a much bigger and far more dangerous world. The scope gets larger with every book, the power scaling keeps climbing, and the series is one of the clearest examples of why readers got hooked on progression fantasy in the first place.
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Where to Start?
Start with Unsouled and then keep going in publication order.
This is not one of those series where you need a complicated alternate path or a beginner-friendly remix. Cradle is a straight-through read. The character growth, worldbuilding, rivalries, lore, and power progression all stack on top of each other, so there is no real advantage to jumping around.
It also helps that Cradle is already complete. You are not starting an unfinished series and hoping the ending lands later. Will Wight wrapped the main story in 12 books, which makes publication order the easiest and strongest way to read it.
And while Wight has written other series, this page stays focused on Cradle itself. So if you ever decide to build a separate Will Wight page later, this article will still stay cleanly centered on Lindon’s story rather than drifting into his full bibliography.
Cradle Books in Order
Let’s get down to it. Reading the Cradle books in order is very straightforward.
A quick note before the list: the dates below use each book’s first release, not later printings, special editions, or box sets. That keeps the order clean and avoids the usual confusion that happens when older self-published fantasy series start getting newer formats.
- Unsouled (June 14, 2016)
- Soulsmith (September 27, 2016)
- Blackflame (May 1, 2017)
- Skysworn (October 1, 2017)
- Ghostwater (June 1, 2018)
- Underlord (March 1, 2019)
- Uncrowned (September 26, 2019)
- Wintersteel (October 6, 2020)
- Bloodline (April 6, 2021)
- Reaper (November 2, 2021)
- Dreadgod (July 5, 2022)
- Waybound (June 5, 2023)
The main Cradle series is complete at 12 books, so once you finish Waybound, you have reached the end of Lindon’s core story.
What About Threshold: Stories from Cradle?
There is also Threshold: Stories from Cradle, but it is not Book 13 in the main series.
Instead, Threshold is a short story collection set before, during, and especially after the events of Cradle. That makes it companion material, not part of the numbered mainline reading order above.
So the cleanest move is to treat Threshold as optional bonus reading. Read the 12 main novels first. Then, once you are finished and still want more from the world of Cradle, pick up Threshold.
Cradle Adaptations
The most important adaptation news is the Cradle animatic. The first two books, Unsouled and Soulsmith, were adapted into a feature-length animatic movie that is now available to watch for free on YouTube. That project came out of Will Wight’s animation Kickstarter and gave fans the first real screen version of the series.
At the moment, that is the main official adaptation to point to. There is clearly interest in taking Cradle further into animation, but the animatic is the current finished version rather than a fully produced ongoing TV series.
So if you are adding an adaptations section for search intent and completeness, that is the cleanest way to frame it: Cradle has already been adapted in animatic form, and it may lead to something bigger later, but the animatic is the official adaptation readers can actually watch right now.
Who is Will Wight?
Will Wight is a bestselling fantasy author best known for writing Cradle.
Part of what makes Wight stand out is that he knows how to keep progression fantasy readable. The books get bigger, stronger, and more cosmic as they go, but they almost never lose their momentum. That balance is a big reason Cradle has become one of the defining gateway series for readers getting into cultivation and progression fantasy.
He has also written other series, including The Traveler’s Gate Trilogy, The Elder Empire, and The Last Horizon, but those are separate from Cradle. So if your goal is just to read Lindon’s story in the right order, you do not need to mix in any of Wight’s other books.
Cradle Books FAQ
How many Cradle books are there?
There are 12 main Cradle books, and the main series is complete.
Is Cradle finished?
Yes. Will Wight completed the main Cradle story with Waybound.
Do you have to read Threshold?
No. Threshold: Stories from Cradle is optional companion material, not part of the main numbered reading order.
What is the best Cradle reading order?
For almost every reader, the best Cradle reading order is publication order, starting with Unsouled and ending with Waybound.
Is there a Cradle adaptation?
Yes. The first two books were adapted into a feature-length Cradle animatic, which is available to watch on YouTube.
Do you need to read Will Wight’s other books first?
No. Cradle stands on its own, so you can start with Unsouled and read the full series straight through without touching Wight’s other series.
Looking for more books in order?
If you want more fantasy authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Fantasy Books in Order index.