Climbing the Ranks

A Tower Climber Cultivation LitRPG (Climbing the Ranks, Book 1)

By: Tao Wong

Narrated by: Jamie Zubairi

Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

When the Towers arrived, without warning, without communication of intent or indication of reasoning, chaos ensued . . .

Decades later, enchantments from the Tower and mana cores from the creatures within power the most advanced technologies in the real world. What was once a puzzling mystery has become a necessary part of economic growth.

For Arthur Chua, the Malaysian Beginner Tower has always been his objective. Climbing the Tower is the only form of escape available for one without money or connections. He's not looking to be a hero or famous, just a survivor.

Fate, on the other hand, has other plans for him. At long last, the reason for the arrival of the Towers will be revealed, and humanity will once again experience a seismic shift when the truth appears.

Of course, Arthur's going to have to survive long enough for that to happen . . .

©2022 Tao Wong (P)2023 Tantor

okay we get it, the main character is Malaysian

this book is painfully average at its best moments and the main character is very annoying, constantly making little inane nonsensical rhymes that he and other characters often comment on how bad and annoying they are. that does not somehow excuse these annoying rhymes.

i should first point out the obvious, this book is 90% in English but the main character and others often switch to speaking Malay or other Asian languages or dialects like Mandarin and Cantonese.

when this happens you're either left in the dark with no idea what's going on or the characters speak in Malay then they or the narrator explains it again in English anyway. it's just annoying as hell, it almost feels like propaganda, the main character can barely go a paragraph without mentioning that he is Malaysian.

it's really hard to believe tao Wong wrote this, the thousand Li series is just so much better written.

there are a few words I didn't know

I say there's few words I didn't know but it was still an amazing book and you could always look up what that word means and find out what animal they're talking about love this book great cultivation Great Character interaction highly recommend this book hope you all enjoy it as much as I did

Was hoping for a little bit more from this one!

Pretty good narration from Jaime Zubairi, not much to complain about on that front. Story is a lot of mehhh, MC doesn’t have much of a back story, the mandarin and Indian slang doesn’t work for me (though I’m sure there are plenty out there that would enjoy it) but for me it makes the story caught between languages, the MC is a pretty obnoxious know it all even though he gets his ass handed to him in every serious fight. Not sure I’ll make it to the end of this one.

Cultivation Tower Climbing at its Finest

This is a huge book, but still feels like just the beginning. it's broken into small chapters for easy consumption. if you are a fan of cultivation it's well worth checking out.

Fresh and Immerseive

A deeply immersive experience . This one's a bit of an experiment, a tower climber adventure with a cultivation twist and a fresh voice. For my money, it pays off and should work well for fans of either, though people who don't read the description may be in for a bit of a culture shock.

The new take is one of the biggest appeals for me, and Jamie Zubairi's resonant voice and crisp, clear narration are perfect for this story's voice.

Fair warning: This book is not a light and casual listen with a character who's OP from the start. It's nearly twenty hours of deep immersion with a flawed character with a lot of room to grow over a series I'll be looking forward to seeing a lot more of.

I don’t get all the hate.

This was a solid four star book for me, I like that it was written from a culture that I’m not extremely familiar with. It had some minor issues but overall I would recommend it.

Great

I really like this book.
Can’t wait for the next one, hopefully it will come out soon and will be at least as good.

meh

this story was not really good or really bad. It doesn't really make me say heck yeah I can't wait for the next one, however I probably will listen to the next one. It just won't be a priority like the next thousand lee book will be.

Slow start, picks up speed after few hours

I found the start painfully slow and un-exciting and it took several hours before it picked up and became interesting. Hence the 3 stars for the story.

Getting to know the MC was also not very easy and took a very long time, perhaps because I kept zoning out in the first quarter or so., but also he didn’t say much about himself or show who he was other than a stubborn, driven guy with decent morales, a bad sense of humour and a penchant for extremely bad rhyming.
For me the story only got interesting once he got entangled with the group he ends up going on a quest with.

I’ve bought and listened to three of Tao Wongs series and quite liked them, which is why I hang in there and finished the book. Had this been a cold buy from an author I didn’t know, I’d have returned the book I believe. It was worth it though as I found a lot of things to keep me interested.

The good & interesting:
The narrator is superb for the book, and he really (to my ears at least) got the different asian-english accents; both Malaysian-English, Chinese English, and several other variations. He kept my interest throughout the book.

I really loved that the main MC was Malaysian, although Mr Wong always has a mixed ethnicity in his books, chinese and caucasian usually, but the setting as well was new for me. It was a fresh breath of air.

The supporting characters were mostly women, but there was no sex, no demeaning ogling or lusting, just camaraderie and clashing of personalities. That I really liked, as too many stories in this genre are a horny teenage boys sex fantasy with no regard to women as people, just objects to be had. Not Mr. Wong, he treats his characters with respect.

I’d say hang in there if you find this a slow start as I did, as it really does pick up. I’ll be picking up book two in the series once it is released.

Tao Wong delivers again

First of all, this is going to be a 20 book series so buckle up ...we're in for a long ride.
I can't wait ...MC is a quirky character, but I think his story will be EPIC
I love the hybridization of modern human civilization and cultivation fantasy ...makes for good story telling, He made things a little blood thirsty, but I get it. Also, I love basing the story out of Malaysia & Singapore ...its a fresh perspective. Hearing about US and European cities all the time, n purely western cultural norms has been getting kinda boring for me, so I like that Tao is mixing things up

Mark my words, this series is going to be FIRE!!!!