There’s a good reason why so many reviews compare this book to Will Wright’s Cradle series: it’s somewhere between an inspired homage and a blatant rip-off.
Cycling? Cultivation. Remnants? Spirit beasts. Parasite ring? Jade bracelet. Soul space? Ring-of-holding. Bronze/iron/jade progression? Body refinement levels. Madra? Chi. Pure madra, like our hero uses? Unaligned chi, like our hero uses. Pills and elixirs to push advancement? Check. Foul black goo sweated out as you improve? Check. Pick just about anything in Cradle, and there’s an almost direct analog here: over and over throughout the book. Even the main characters’ *names* are similar. (Of course, it doesn’t help that the series have the same reader so their “voices” also match.) I mean, the direct copying is not subtle at all: it’s so obvious that for a time I was wondering if Tao Wong was just a pen name for Wright or vice versa, writing the same book again to see if he could do better the second time around. (And I guess I really should check the publication dates to see who was copying from whom, but I *think* this book is the newer.)
But, I have to say, so far I’m enjoying this derivative series a little more than Cradle–knock-off or not. First, the main character has a little more of a spine–something Cradle doesn’t show for five or six books. Second, there’s no mysterious god-class Galaxy Force that teleports, rewinds time, and generally would be badly placed even in a comic book. Third, there are people whose whole life is NOT fighting: merchants, sailors, wine-makers–something ridiculously rare in Cradle.
One thing that stands out as a big negative, though, is the treatment of women in this book. In Cradle some of the best fighters and main characters are women, and they come with their own plot lines; here, every single time a women appears the book is off talking about her looks, and they never really do anything on their own. For an author who clearly copied all of Wright’s notes to have changed that aspect so clearly, Tao Wong must have written out the women on purpose. That’s really disappointing, and while I’ll likely check out the next in the series, if it doesn’t improve I’m done.
(And author: if you don’t like our reviews always comparing your book to someone else’s, try writing your own book next time instead and we won’t have to.)