Cultivator vs. System: The Complete Series

By: Valerios

Narrated by: Jack Meloche

Length: 37 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Three books of LitRPG cultivation.

Follow the path of a Xianxia cultivator in a LitRPG setting. See him increase his powers and carve out a new home in a hostile world out to get him. Rejoice as he spreads cultivation to those in need, each with their own story to tell. In this journey, wholesomeness and epicness go hand in hand.

Long Fang is stranded in a foreign world where proper cultivation has been replaced by annoying blue screens. He is confused and alone...but not for long.

Completely ignoring the System, he forms a wholesome sect of followers to spread cultivation across the wild world. Blue screens do not take kindly to rejection, however, and Long Fang’s stubbornness soon finds him pitted against increasingly dangerous foes.

To overcome the System tribulations, he must quickly grow stronger and wiser.... But first, he needs to get past that one annoying town guard.

Don't miss this special edition full series omnibus of an ambitious LitRPG/Xianxia mash-up. It’s perfect for fans of either genre and lovers of all things progression fantasy.

©2022, 2023 Aethon Books (P)2023 Aethon Audio

good book series. long for your money

decent story. fairly inventive.
good narration
a lot of story in this collection
didn't like the eastern mythos much, but was still enjoyable to listen to

Good ideas (mostly) poor execution (mostly)

I will start off with saying that there are moments of actual greatness interspersed throughout this bundle.

However, this series had what feels to be little to no editing oversight. I had to go back and listen to several parts again to make sure I wasn’t mishearing things. Such as “Swinging his blade, <name> was sent flying. But the “his” mentioned wasn’t the named person in the sentence. There were also cases where things were just not brought up when they should have been. Like a person gets wrecked and sent flying but they are brought back to perfect condition and the chapter ends. Then the next chapter starts with the group just proceeding like nothing happened only to later mention that that person somehow had their wounds healed.

Another thing and this is a pet peeve of mine but I think it’s amateurish; They used the word “interesting” way too much, like way way too much. They used it in dialog even when what was proposed could even be better described with an antonym of interesting, such as literally digging holes in the ground, not for the purposes of traps. If you are thinking about using the word interesting just write what you would actually think is interesting or write characters doing something to indicate that they are interested instead of them just saying interesting.

And then the part that made me stop listening and write a review from the sheer stupidity of it. (Spoilers if you care)…

The kobolds can speak with scorpions because they are both “scaly creatures” wtf. One doesn’t need to be a biologist to know that arthropods and lizards have nothing in common.

Interesting story, flat writing

I liked the idea of the story, but the world and character building was pretty flat. There was a lot of telling the reader what the world and characters were like, instead of showing complex cultures and characters through actions and experiences. The character dialogue had the feeling of a bad king fu movie dub, which might have been the intention, to be cheesy enough to be funny, but it didn’t work in my opinion. Overall I thought the concepts, the world, and the story were really interesting, there was just a little bit of a problem with the delivery.

Progression Fantasy Question Cultivation vs System

This book pits two forms of Progression Fantasy against each other. A cultivator isakei into a world of litRPG systems. fans of What the Shell will like this entry by the same author.

3 books

It was a great deal for getting all three volumes. but after listening to the first second and third. it just felt Lacking. There were some funny parts some sad parts , but overall it didn't keep me interested. it failed to have me involved. My interest would wane from moment to moment chapter to chapter. Sometimes I just forced myself to listen. Because I want you to know what the end was like.

It's ok.

The story is ok, but the characters don't really grow or change. they just say they will do something great then somehow fall backwards into it with little explanation other than they are that good or luck. The narrator is ok but doesn't give the best show.

Pretty good but not great

The big redeeming quality of this book is that it’s over 40 hours for one credit. The story and writing are kind of sophomoric which is made worse by the narrator. He make everyone sound like they are in middle school, so it’s hard to take the more serious part’s seriously.

tl,dr; Well worth credit if ...

on a long road trip or lengthy round-trip flight.

Valerios clearly intended this series to fall safely on the side of the YA fantasy sub-genre. The language mostly tame, battle clashes absent most of the gory details and absent any eroticism. However, the author never provided much depth the characters for me to become invested in them. Most of the description is superficial. This is especially true for the MC who comes across as an arrogant and cocky other-worlder. Then there are the gaming mechanics or, the disdain thereof. So much so, I would classify this as an anti-RPG series. As others have noted, there are excellent sections where the progression and narration are interesting and entertaining but, regrettably, there are far more sections where there is way too much exposition and stagnant conversations.

Jack Meloche's narration in Book 1 came across as reading sentences without any bard-level intrigue to them. Book 2 and 3 are better.

Not an overpowered main character, just a lucky one?

Currently 10 hours in. I’m pretty into the overpowered main character trope, but this is not that. The lead, long, has confidence and holds himself above others as a powerful cultivator, but every single fight is a real struggle for him where he may not make it and frequently loses and is humbled. I think those two points fight against each other. If he is a super confident overpowered cultivator, maybe give him a few more wins. Also, progress is slow, and his personality is changing from ruthless genius cultivator who’s only wish is to cultivate immortality into someone who doesn’t want to kill even when trying to be killed and puts saving strangers and following friends whims over achieving his own goals. It lacked character development, choosing to change the lead rather than evolve and expand him. Not enjoying this as much as I was hoping, but it’s okay for background noise. It has potential to be a grand epic, but it just fell a little flat for me personally.

okay story

story was good at first but seemed to drag a bit much at times.