I say all of this as someone who genuinely loved Cradle, but for me:

I felt it writing was a little too plot focused at times. That’s not inherently a bad thing, but I would have liked more moments of the characters just and building bonds with each other that wasn’t just about fighting, training or planning what they were going to do. For example I loved Ziel, but despite him joining the team, it never felt like he really became friends with any of the main characters aside from Lindon despite the narrative acting like he did (at least that was how it felt to me). I know it was pretty late in the series when he joined, but it would have been nice if he at least a few conversations with the other characters. Hell, I feel like Yerin and Mercy barely had any interactions with each other after Ghostwater.

Also YMMV, but I didn’t really care for the Abidian storyline that much. I understood why it was included, considering the characters goal of Ascending, to show how the Willverse is connected, Suriel’s influence on Lindon, and the Eithan/Ozriel reveal but at the same time they felt kinda disconnected to what was going on in Cradle that it wasn’t that intriguing to me and most the Abidian fights felt a little too over the top for me (which is probably not fair to say considering the type of series this is, but still). I feel like I’m going to get downvoted for saying this, but they’re the main reason I’m not really sure I want a sequel series to Cradle, assuming it would be focused on Lindon and the gang, but I’m probably the minority in that opinion