Zenith Academy

Zenith Academy, Book 1

By: Cassius Lange

Narrated by: Jessica Threet, Gabriel Michael

Length: 16 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

My name is James, but my mom’s the only person that can call me that. To everyone else, I’m JD — a struggling artist, working my fingers to the bone for my shot with one of the big comic book companies.

Oh, and I work nights, managing a dive called Judson’s Bar and Grill. I know: the dream life. Things were boring, disappointing, even. Until one fateful night when everything changed.

What happened first? An odd woman showed up in a booth while I was trying to close up for the night – rude, but on its own, not so weird. She was dressed in a kimono and had a sword in her lap; that part was a little strange.

What happened next? It turns out she’s a mistress at a magical academy, and she has been looking for me...(please pick up on my sarcasm here). Except then she proved it, and with just a few violent swings of her very real sword, she ensured that I didn’t have a job anymore. So, I more or less had to follow her into a scary, glowing portal.

Where did it take me? A surreal place called Zenith Academy, and a life I’d only ever dreamt of; a place I’ll learn how to cultivate mana and wield magic-like powers. And that is just the beginning. The tower imbues cultivators with visual prompts and game-like stats, making my new life feel like something straight out of a choose your own adventure novel. But it’s not all for nothing.

Evidently, they’ve been fighting a war for thousands of years, and I’ve just been drafted.

©2021 Cassius Lange (P)2021 Podium Audio

Nice

Decent Combo of gamelit and the other thing.
Has major growth potential, some tropes with the thirst of the MC.

Voice performances were above par.

Great first book

I liked this listen. The story flows and characters are detailed and unique. Bring on the next

dang good

although at first the MC's super denial was a bit aggravating his growth makes for a good overall experience

need more

I have been listening to a lot of litRPG books lately and I really like the characters and story of this one, i just keep wondering what's going to happen next. this may not be everyones cup of tea, but if you like litRPG with a little adult time then I think it's grate. can I have more please 😆?

riveting

a great start to a fascinating series. the way the cultivation, story, and mc grows sets it apart from others of the genre. the weapon and magic selecting process as well as unprodictable patron benefactors make it a great story that just flew by. it will have you laughing at the interactions of other characters with the confusion of earth based pop culture references and nonchalant interest in royalty. book 2 can't get here fast enough!

Great book. Editing needs work

Still giving it 5 stars. I loved this book. The only complaint is the dialog doesn't have a natural pause at times. Whoever edited the sound files didn't leave a gap. So the dialog is unnatural at times. It's very distracting. But the story, the system, and the characters are all great. Some reviews said the MC's disbelief was annoying, but I disagree. New situations take time to become real. Things that violate everything you know to be true don't just immediately make sense. Details are well done. You can imagine buildings, clothes, combat, etc without issue. I haven't listened to many books with sex, but I think this makes a good balance of detail without getting unnecessarily graphic.

A very great story and narration.

amazing book i only wish the second book was already released but will definitely buy the next book on release date.

I like it

This is good but the mc makes it hard to finish. Almost shut it off a few times.

Major Cliffhanger

great start.
I truly liked the book, but hated the way that it left me waiting for book 2. Need book 2 NOW.

Not bad but not great

I wan't to say that overall this book is a solid 4 but there are some issues that I want to share my opinion on. First is the characters major flaws. I mean I understand that authors want to make characters stand out but this author is exaggerating characters to a ridiculous degree. Second this is an academy and there was only an introduction seminar and one class. Why make this a magic academy book when it is clearly a tower climbing book. If you took the academy away the book would be the same.