This month has been an insane month for releases of new cultivation books. Along with my own First Step, there’s been a bunch done by friends of mine, many coming from the LitRPG community.
While I haven’t read most of these books – I seem to trend towards reading LitRPG books when I have time or trad pub at the moment outside of a few Eastern xianxia – they’re all written by people I know who write great books. So, here’s a quick review of the new wave of books.
Let’s start with Street Cultivation by Sarah Lin whose book I actually read (in it’s raw, Royal Road form). It’s what I love about the new wave of books which is the introduction of cultivation as a magic system into a different setting. While there are some aspects (Sects, magic potions, etc.) from traditional xianxia, she sets everything in a modern, urban setting where everyone cultivates. It adds a unique touch to the entire genre which I love. And, obviously, Sarah’s a great writer.
Next up, we have Sundered Soul by Rick Scott. I haven’t actually had a chance to read this one yet, but this is a more traditional take on the cultivation genre. While I haven’t had a chance to read this yet, Rick’s a great writer whose LitRPG series I follow religiously.
Harmon Cooper’s book the Way of the Immortals is a book I’ve had some tangential work with, having spoken with Harmon about the concept a few times. In particular, what has intrigued me about the book is that he’s drawing from his personal experiences and knowledge of Bhutanese and Tibetan lore, a rather different take on the entire traditional China centric cultivation idea. The little pieces he’s talked of including the Divine Madness aspect has me thoroughly intrigued. Those readers who like my footnotes will probably want to check out Harmon’s appendix.
Alright, last one. Eden Hudson’s Darkening Skies is a very traditional xianxia with a a pair of (star-crossed?) lovers at the heart of the book. It is a 2 POV book, with equal weight given to both POVs from what I understand. Which is a nice change from the single, male POV xianxia books I’ve read.
Again, I haven’t had a chance to read this, but I’m super happy to see Eden giving this genre a go since the Rogue Dungeon series she wrote is immersive, funny and interesting.
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