Crossing Serpent's Way

Trials of the Endless Planes, Book 1

De: RJ Shoke

Narrado por: Tim Lounibos

For the last four years, humanity has been facing its greatest challenge yet—a trial known as the Crucible. This harrowing ordeal has tested the mettle and determination of individuals, weeding out the weak and transforming the survivors into warriors.

They have been forced to conquer dungeons and battle horrific creatures with magical powers so they can gain abilities of their own.

However, the Crucible was merely the beginning.

As the trial concludes, the survivors find themselves on the precipice of an entirely new realm—the Endless Planes. Here, magic thrives, and ancient forces shape the destiny of worlds. The Endless Planes, a vast and diverse realm, is home to countless kingdoms, mythical creatures, and formidable challenges.

Among the survivors is Kaito Bao, who has been marked by the scars of the Crucible. Once a loving father and husband, he has lost everything dear to him. And now, all that drives him is his unending desire to hunt down more monsters and punish them for ripping his family away from him.

In his obsession, he has acquired powerful abilities, accomplished incredible Feats, and gained rare Titles.

Join Kaito as he explores Serpent's Way, the bottommost world of the Endless Planes, where all people must begin their climb to the top.

For mature listeners.

©2023 RJ Shoke (P)2024 Podium Audio

Kaito = Ryun & Endless Plains = Infinite Realms

That said, even though some of the "BIG picture" concepts were obviously borrowed ...the details are original and stand firmly on their own.
I found this book to be very entertaining and worth my time. I'll definitely keep up with this one as new books become available.
Kaito definitely reminds me of Ryun, which is not a bad thing. Ryun is a BOSS, one of my favorite MCs ever!!!
Kaito is also very much a BOSS, and u get to know him well enough to appreciate the differences. He isn't a carbon copy, but if ur a fan of Infinite Realms then u'll c the similarities without having to look too hard. In fact u won't ave to try at all, the similarities will just jump out at u ...but as I said, it's not a bad thing ...he's a fun MC to follow on this journey in a new world.
The magic system is original and doesn't try to mimic anything else, it's not overly complicated, but I still don't fully get it. MC spends most of this book operating outside the bounds of the system ...so maybe that's by design and we'll dive into it more in future books.
The fights scenes are vivid and engaging, really well written. Have to give the author credit here, it's easy to be kind of lazy when getting into these details, but the author stayed vigilant n painted rich images for us filled with impressive and memorable moments.
The narrator was cool, there were points where the performance felt unpolished, but overall he did a good jobs. Just can't give him full marks in good conscience.

Overall though, I like this one, highly recommend!
Well worth the credit to listen!

Excellent Example of LitTPG

This is an awesome new series. Tim Lounibus does an awesome job as the narrator and has the amazing ability to really make you feel the action. Well done.

Editor?

Poor writing. “…Kaito ‘quickly’ ignored it…” Unnecessary adverbs like this and awkward phrasing indicates this is an amateur writer. This being a published work means it is held to a higher standard. A standard this book does not meet. If an author can’t be bothered to edit, then why bother reading it?

Beyond that this is just another generic emo murder hobo story. Primal Hunter, Randidly Ghosthound, and Hell Difficulty Tutorial have practically the same exact character because they all lack depth due to the ‘sociopath’ template.

Audio Edit Needed

Like so many other litrpgs it needs an official audio edit to get rid of the things that are atrocious when read out loud. Stat screens aren't the worst offender here, it's that the skills full name AND RANK are read for every use. So in every fight it's like, "he used dash 2 uncommon to close the gap, closed his fist and delivered a power punch rare to the face." The story and the narrator are both pretty good, it's just yet another victim of no one considering the parts of litrpg that don't translate to an audio format.