Slow start pays off in the end!

Great book, wasn't sure after an initial slow period but once it got going it rocketed through at lightning pace with some great ideas fleshed out by fantastic narration! you see the plot twists coming a mile off but that didn't stop me fully enjoying this and I look forward to the second book.

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A hamfisted but enjoyable journey

The Story itself:
Problems- the story is in a word cookie cutter if you've read a couple progression fantasy before this will be nothing new to you, the plot follows a fairly predictable structure and the twists were quite obvious, the characters were okay nothing special but they weren't insufferable which all to common in this genera.
Positives- I really like the flexibility of the magic system and integration of history and collective memory into it. The overall pace is fast and rarely drags.
Neutrals-this book wears it's ideals on its sleeve and is not shy about showing them to you, I personally enjoyed this but it may not be for everyone
Performance- Travis dose a great job making the book feel alive, no notes
Overall and above average package worth a credit if you enjoy series like cradle or arcane ascention

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5 people found this helpful

Great listen

This was a great listen! The story was gripping and the narration was excellent. The world building felt really fresh and the book was beautifully written. I'll definitely listen again and I can't wait for the next book in the series.

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Interesting setting, good start, dull MC

[Review copy won in a draw]
Gave 5/5 score for algorithm, real scores in review

Story 3.5/5
The Story gives a nice, different perspective for the ‘starter village’ of where our MC begins. His village is living more of a ‘survive rather than thrive’ situation, and our hero wanting to improve to contribute to the efforts of basically being a soldier, only to be hindered by his ability.

It is classified as a western cultivation story but there hasn’t really been anything that tells me it is ‘western’, but I am sure it will show more in later iterations.

The pacing starts off slow at the beginning true to any cultivation story but starts to pick up around 8 hours in.

The story was somewhat predictable

Setting 4/5
The setting is unique to anything I have read, but I read more cultivation than fantasy books. A village seemingly the last of their kind existing inside a canyon, forced to search caves in darkness searching through remnants of past destroyed civilisations. But in the darkness roams ‘voids’, beings that dwell in the darkness. Its almost like the start of Guren Lagaan (for people into anime) mixed with the world from the old movie Riddick starring your good ol family man Vin Diesel.
They worship a person who is like a seer to them who they worship also much like a later story arc in Guren Lagaan (not sure whether coincidence or not) and so live this very structured and rigid life under tight rules, everyone focusing mainly on survival.
Companies are created to explore the caves but much like the surgery corps from attack on titan (anime) they are normally lucky to come back in one piece.

MC 3/5
The MC is straight up boring to me. The book covers strong themes of ignorance and compliance, whereas the MC questions those due to his experiences and situation, wishing to contribute more but cannot due to his lack of ability, later showing more open-mindedness which allows him to develop more as a cultivator and find out the truth behind their existence.

That is good and all, but I found myself struggling to care about his motivations, he lives in a village with a miserable way of life, he himself is constantly miserable, never enjoying a single moment other than whatever cultivation progress he gains.

A good book for me allows me to thoroughly enjoy the highs but also feel sorrow for the lows, and here there really isn’t much to enjoy.

There was next to no humour, which really could have made this book for me. The MC spends quite a lot of time by himself, his musings, the ramblings of voices that he hears, anything could have been executed with flavour of humour to make me actually enjoy his thoughts which at many times, I didn’t really care.

Honestly I didn’t really like any characters other than the commanders assistant and the MC’s little sister, everyone is just drab with a hint of oppression looming over them, everyone dealing with it in their own way. If you like that sort of thing make what you will of it.

Cultivation 4/5
The cultivation side of it is and interesting start but severely lacking information which I will withhold till later iterations, but currently without spoiling much, is that mainly people use shadows to draw energy from to conjure shadow weapons.

A good cultivation is strongly tied to the development of the character, this is somewhat true and happens at some key moments but not to the point where it grabbed my attention as it could have. A lot of times he only realises after the effects of what has happened and moves on (give me a bit more observance).

Overall 3.5/5
I like the direction that the author took here , but find the execution lacking. I really wish at moments there being little gems of humour to allow you to forget the depressing environments of the world the MC is living in, even the army run off dark humour to keep themselves going.

The Cultivation feels like a hybrid magic/cultivation system rather than actual cultivation, like it said, I will withhold judgement until more information is given.

The MC is quite boring, with motivations lacking to get me hooked and invested.

Some characters are also very 2 dimensional, only bring there to oppose the MC like ‘rival guy’. Hopefully he redeems himself in the future but right now he only exists to push the MC and be an a**.

I left the book feeling…somewhat disappointed? Not because the book was bad, it’s not bad by any means but at the lost opportunity. It could have been done so much better to make me love it. There were some low, lows but never really any rewarding highs. Even at the end I found myself thinking ‘am I supposed to care what happens next?’

I won’t comment on Travis Baldry’s performance because I feel that is strongly based on personal opinion.

I will definitely continue to listen on when the next book comes out and look forward to what comes next.

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3 people found this helpful

Thoroughly enjoyable listen

What else is there to say, the story is engaging and entertaining. The narration is well paced and though it’s a classic narration it’s doesn’t detract from the mental image.
Looking forward to the next one

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Great from start to finish

I really enjoyed this take on cultivation and growth . I hope there is going to be more to the story in the future. and as always great job by Travis .

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MC with self pity set to 11

Even Travis couldn't save this one for me. The premiss of the world seemed a good idea up to the 13th chapter before I had to stop, shame the MC was a whiny little bitch.

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1 person found this helpful