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.

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.

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.

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!!!!

new spin

It's good to get a book about cultivation actually set in the east. the narrator does a good job and sounds like they're having fun.

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.