Battle Bard: Bards of the Broken Empire

By: Robyn Wideman, Cooper Wai

Narrated by: Alex Perone, Marissa Parness

They laughed when he brought a drum to a cultivation fight. They weren't laughing long.

Max Stone's laid-back life ends abruptly when a foolhardy rescue attempt earns him a ticket to the afterlife. Instead of heaven or hell, his soul becomes a poker chip in a game between gods. Winning a second chance, Max chooses to keep his memories through an agonizing process, awakening reincarnated not as a baby, but in the frail, teenage body of a recently deceased boy on Eedan—a world of chi cultivation, magic, and monsters straight out of fantasy epics.

Starting weaker than the lowest level cultivator and immediately attracting the ire of arrogant nobles, Max must leverage his Earth-born wits and a unique blessing to survive. He needs to learn the ways of chi, overcome his pathetic beginnings, and navigate a world where power reigns supreme.

This LitRPG Cultivation Fantasy features a reincarnated MC starting from scratch, a unique magic system involving chi and elemental affinities, status screens, meddling gods, and a world full of peril and opportunity.

©2025 Robyn Wideman and Cooper Wai (P)2025 Royal Guard Publishing LLC

Loved it

I can't wait for book 2. I need more battle bard in my life. Narrators gave a great performance too.

Good start

You have a pretty typical reincarnation/iskeai scenario to start things off. The world has an interesting magic system with cultivation in it. The characters were interesting. I liked that we had 2 perspectives because it got to show two aspects of the magic system more in depth. I loved that it had two narrators for the different genders. This definitely increased the value of the book for me.