Soul Relic is a rare Cultivation-style progression fantasy with a female protagonist. For those who aren’t familiar with the term, “Cultivation” here refers to a specific type of magic system drawn from a fantasy version of Taoism, where characters can gain physical and magical improvements through a combination of physical, mental, and spiritual tasks. Much like many heroes of the genre, Raysha is born with a disadvantage that prevents her from effectively using magic in the same way as typical people from her culture. She works hard to offset this disadvantage and turn it into a strength. One of the things I really enjoyed about this particular book is that there are wholesome and supportive cast members, both from her family and outsiders, which is extremely rare in the generally-cutthroat subset of novels that draw from cultivation roots. It has a strong cast, good action, and fun world building.
Next, The Menocht Loop, Books 1-6. I’ve read five books through their Amazon releases and I’m currently reading through Book 6, which is still being written on Royal Road. The series starts off in a time loop, which hooked me from the start — I’m a sucker for time loops, and this one is great. This story takes a refreshing and unusual approach — rather than going through the whole process of showing the character discovering that he’s in a time loop, our protagonist, Ian, has already been stuck in a loop for a significant time when the story begins. This allows the author to skip the preamble that has been seen in hundreds of other time loop stories and jump straight into the problem solving and action. Oh, also, Ian is a decimancer – basically a necromancer, but with setting-specific flavor. So, if you’re a necromancy fan, get on this.
Next, Prophecy Approved Companion by Tevagah. This is a bit of a tonal shift from the two above – it’s a comedy and an absolute blast. Without spoiling too much of the fun, it’s basically a parody of “ultra-realistic VRMMORPG” fiction (think Sword Art Online, The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor, or .Hack/Sign if you’re not super familiar with the genre as a whole), with very astute observations about both player and NPC behavior in these types of scenarios. It’s best for readers who are gamers and/or already familiar with the tropes of the genre. For those who are already familiar with the style, I’d compare this to something like Threadbare.
Beware of Chicken is another hilarious parody work — this time, specifically for eastern Cultivation/xianxia martial arts novels. I’ve read book 1 on Amazon and I’m currently reading the second on Royal Road. It takes the “Cultivation” concept and spins it toward a more traditional western interpretation of the word, focusing on a former martial artist deciding to leave his martial arts academy and start a farm…which quickly turns out to be anything but a normal daily life, as a martial artist’s farm animals and farming skills turn out to be a little more than what you people might expect.
 |
| Photo Content from Andrew Rowe |
 |
| Photo Content from Kayleigh Nicol |
.jpg)
