Condemning the Heavens: Publisher's Pack

Condemning the Heavens, Books 1-2

By: Tinalynge

Narrated by: Scott Merriman

Length: 21 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Contains books one and two of Condemning the Heavens.

World of Beasts, Book 1

On the continent of Chang'an, humans had lived as livestock and slaves to the Primordial Beasts. These beasts were ferocious, bloodthirsty, and overwhelmingly powerful, but even so, the humans managed to prevail in the face of despair.

As the human race grew stronger the Primordial Beasts fought back with relentless fierceness, rousing beast hordes to engage in frenzied battles over the land. Every single child on the continent was taught martial arts for the sake of fighting these Primordial Beasts, yet many of them were sent straight to their death.

In this world filled with constant battle, a young boy was born. This young boy was hoping to become the most outstanding cultivator, but who would have thought that his talent was so poor that he could not even cultivate?

As the boy was filled with despair over his unfortunate situation, a life changing event occurred which would forever leave a scar in his mind, pushing him to transcend his limits and grow to become a legend.

Blood of the Army, Book 2

In the Kingdom of Heping, every youth must enroll in the army for the sake of fighting the Primordial Beasts.

An army is a cruel place where one mistake can cost both you and your brothers' lives.This year another group of youngsters has arrived at the Recruitment Camp where they will be trained to become real soldiers.

These youngsters' hearts overflow with excitement, hope, and expectations for their future, all of them wishing to produce great achievements, and make their ancestors proud.

Xue Wei is one of these youngsters, but things do not go as he expected. Hidden intrigues, personal revenge, and unexpected encounters shake up the young man time and time again, and he is forced to reevaluate his morals and purpose in life.

©2018 Tinalynge (P)2020 Podium Audio

A good story with execution flaws...

So this is another eastern cultivation story and it’s a fairly decent one. If you’re really into the mechanics of the cultivation and the systematics of cultivation then this audiobook is gonna be a bit disappointing in that respect. While cultivation is talked about frequently, its functional mechanics are pretty loosely described.

It feels like this author makes the assumption that you’ve already read some cultivation novels and therefore they didn’t bother to get too in depth with it. There are points where they do get in depth about certain medicinal plants and related procedures, but the author focuses much more on the story and the difference between cultivation levels than creating their own unique take on the cultivation system. All that said, it’s not necessarily a bad thing...

The characters are interesting and compelling. On the other hand this book is not trying to reinvent any wheels... Tropes abound:

The arrogant nobles vehemently hate the MC to the point of murder because they are spoiled dicks and also... because reasons. The cliche of having random important information being “expo-dumped” by the constantly gossiping and moronic bystanders is in full effect.

The weird adjectives and odd word choice is frustrating as usual. There aren’t any translation credits so I’m going on the assumption that the author is trying to authentically recreate the awkward and clunky translations that are a hallmark of Chinese to English movies and books from the 70’s and 80’s. If this is the case then I’m not a fan; if I want to hear bad translations I’d at least prefer them to be necessary rather than an homage to the slapdash translations prevalent in the genre.

However, if this book was translated then the translators really weren’t trying very hard. You may dig phrases like, “Young Master is clearly not simple!” repeated over and over, but personally I’d prefer the translator to be fluent in both of the languages they’re working with... but depending on your tastes this may not annoy the crap out of you like it does for me.

Then there’s the dual issue of the writing and the not great narration. The narrator is either constantly flubbing words or the book needs some proofreading. To my ear it sounded like both are true. My favorite one (which is also indicative of the problem throughout this publisher’s pack) is, “She prostated herself with gratitude,” and we all know how emotional it can get when teenage girls prostate themselves.

Anyway, the story was very engrossing and I enjoyed the book. It just could have been less of a trope-fest, the writing mechanics should have been more polished regardless of my subjective opinion on style, and the narration had decent character voicing but it was also kinda spotty with lots of accidental word replacements.

If you’re into the genre then it’s worth a credit, but if you’re new to cultivation novels there are certainly better ones to start with.

meh

the narrator cant pronounce dantian like everyone else in the world dan*tian (dan tea-an) narrator (danshian) 10 seconds on youtube…. after the mc gets his cultivation going it gets boring he wins super easy barely an inconvenience and then shit gets handed to him and it repeats :(.

TRASH

This is the word used at least 100 times throughout the book. Someone who cannot cultivate is called trash. Not something ingenious or clever like Unsouled (Will Wight's Cradle series), but Trash. The author should of just named the book Trash because that's basically what it is. Is it the worst book I've ever read? No. But there is much better out there. The author has no ability to write dialog. None. It's just not interesting. Narrator is ok at best. Save your credit for something better. Try Eric Uglands Good Guy series.

One of my new favs

I can not wait til they make the rest of the books for audible. Hopefully soon or I’ll actually have to read

This story is slow in the intro. But that is about the only part that was not screaming for my attention. After that it was one of the books you have on every second possible. The character development is amazing for the main character. I really can’t wait to find out more.

Great start to series

I mean who doesn't love publisher packs. But I did really enjoy the book it does have a somewhat OP MC compared to his peers. But still has a long way to go to just beat everyone. overall I do recommend this book if you like cultivation novels. I can't wait for the next one in the series to come on audible.

One of the best Wuxia I've read.

I've recently finished listening to the publisher pack of Tinalynge's Condemning the Heavens, containing volume one and two of the series. The book is narrated by Scott Merriman.

What to say? This is another Wuxia novel. It feels like I've read quite a few of those lately…

That said, this is probably one of the better wuxia series I've read so far. While I do have a few grievances with it, it's the first book in quite a while that I just couldn't put down. There was something with it that compelled me to continue listening. I think I can attribute it to it feeling like one fluid story, rather than being "cut up" into chapters. It also has a very fast pace that makes the book easily digestible.

The main character, while not perfect, still isn't as insufferable as many other power fantasy self-inserts. He has flaws, like not being good at making friends, or how he easily loses himself to his bloodlust, and actually is hold to them. While he is disgustingly OP, at least compared to others at his cultivation level, that is not unusual for wuxia novels, and it's still obvious that he isn't the strongest person in the world (yet). 

Tinalynge manages to create a mystery from the beginning of the series; who is Xiao Lei really? What is Xue Lei? How are they connected to the Primordial Beasts? And they don't reveal the answer immediately, unlike many other stories I've read. It keeps the story interesting without having to create a "story of the novel" to keep up interest. It makes the series feel more like one story.

With all that said, I still have some grievances; Tinalynge has a bad habit of repeating themselves. It happens more than a few times that a piece of information, e.g. how a skill works, is revealed, just to be repeated a few paragraphs later. The language in the book also reminds me a bit of the fan translated light novels I read before I found professional translated works. The sentence structure and word choice, while not grammatically incorrect, makes it feel like the book has been directly translated from Chinese with its unnessesarily pompous language.

Tinalynge also has a bad habit of having Xue Lei talk about how stuff works in a tell-not-show kind of way, which makes the info dumps a bit annoying and sometimes makes the flow awkward.

That said, these are all not bad enough to ruin my experience fully, and it's still a book that I had a difficulty to put down. It would had felt a bit insufficient if I had gotten only volume one instead of the publisher's pack. The story is fast paced enough for the content of volume one to feel like it ends too quickly.

I have no complaints about Scott Merriman's performance. He manages to portray each character with personality and doesn't lower the experience. It's like film music; it enhances the experience without being that noticeable.

In total I want to give this book an 8/10. 

Very good cultivation book

I enjoyed this book. Hoping there are publisher packs released for the sequels. The only criticism I have is there are several grammatical errors. But all in all I really enjoyed it.

good book

i liked the book alot cant wait to see how strong he gets and cant wait to uncover all the mysteries about this book if it seems to be just a little conspiracy im going to be really mad bc this should be a good book imma get the whole series

Great book!

Highly recommend if you like cultivation novels. I really liked this book, if you’ve read any of the novels below you will like this one:

Cradle, Will Wight
The Beggining after the end- TurtleME
The Dao of Magic- Andries Louws
Immortal Swordslinger, Dante King
A Thousand Li series
Dragon Heart
Painting the mists

enjoyable book

for fans of cultivation stories, not an absolute over powered main character and decent supporting characters along the way. although the pace is much slower than light novels, there is a decent development progress of the characters.

Bleh

Though excellently narrated this is both a terribly written and terribly plotted story. It reads like a first draft from a teenage writer and hits nearly every trope featured on the 'Terrible writing advice' YouTube channel. If you are looking for long duration audio wallpaper and have a high tolerance for poor grammar, clumsy wording and mary sue level power fantasy then this may be for you, otherwise best avoid.

amazing loved it

Great series absolutely loved it great narration and a epic story can not wait for the next one

I dont understand the positive reviews

There is nothing wrong with the performance, but the writing itself is atrocious.
The people dont speak like humans, they dont act like humans, and they dont keep to what has already been said.
Early on the main character is looked down upon.
So his uncle murders a man in broad daylight for doing so, and says that he will kill anyone else who even dares to try again.
So obviously the neighbourbood kids instantly try to bully the main character.
But
”This ten year old had read too many books in the last week to be bullied by mere words”
(Yes, thats what happens)
So they hit him.
Knowing these two things, do you think the uncle kills them?
No
Because he doesnt know?
No, its clearly stated that he finds out
Because he doesnt care?
No, its written out that he has problems holding himself back from murdering several ten year old children.
But he doesnt
For no real reason
After having warned them, wanting to and already having murdered people.
It just goes on and on.
People shit-talk their bosses in front of them, new details are invented on the spot or after the fact with no buildup (like why the main character is weak) and people change their mind and whole personality on a whim.
Its a gary-stu powerfantasy, and a badly written one.

MC is strangely overpowered and it annoys me

This will contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

The writing is mediocre. I can accept that. It happens..
MC loses everything and is adopted by his uncle. I found this to be a decent start to the story. Tragic beginning, builds him self up under the guidance of his warrior uncle. All of that is fine with me.

But the story and MC annoys me. MC is strangely overpowered and has a robotic personality.

For 5 years he is unable to cultivate and for some unknown reason, everybody else can apparently cultivate and those that cannot are called trash and is hated, but only our MC it seems is affected...

Another unknown reason, he is known from the start as being unable to cultivate and everybody calls him trash. So many times it is just the plot line that he is trash and everybody hates him.
Why? Surely some commoners and other nobles have hit this problem? Surely someone can be useful even if they cannot cultivate. Someone has to sell at the market, fish, cook food and so on. All done by cultivators? well apparently yes...

An entire town, which by the way, must consist of at least a few thousand people at a minimum, just hates our MC. Surely most people would just be on their own way, live their own lives and not care. Just random commoners, the maids, the nobles, everybody somehow knows our MC as that guy that cannot cultivate.. Makes no sense to me that he is the center of attention throughout the entire thing whenever he is in public.
He just reads books, no training, no cultivation, just reading books until he is left with a manual that finally works after 5 years.

Okay, so after 5 years, he is left with some resources and NOW he can cultivate, and he gets all the resources to sky rocket up in ranks. He has more techniques, more power and just more of everything than everybody else. At a rate where their rank no longer matters. He only has a year to train martial arts, new techniques and gain power. Seems to be a little short to learn all of that? Always picks up a new technique that just happens to be the next big thing to save him?

The villains are nobles whom for some reason just dedicates their entire life to destroy him, even at the cost of their own cultivation... From bullying to wanting to kill our MC in a matter of months. Again, why do they even bother to notice a 15 year old boy?
Even someone two ranks above him cannot catch him during a failed assassination attempt.

Is there nothing our MC cannot get away with? He has had no time to build up a fighting style, muscle memory, train his body and receive pointers through sparing. Just zero to hero by locking himself in and read the manual that was left to him...
Sure.. That's how that works..

Overall. you might enjoy it, if you can ignore the above, maybe its for you.
I personally enjoy cultivation novels that are more in line with A Thousand Li.
Overpowered or plot armour MC's are just not for me.
If I think like this on the first novel then I do not think I will enjoy the rest of the series..

Uninteresting

Just uninteresting and did not add anything to the genre. Also it just hitts most of the generic stereotypes.

a good wuxia audiobook

Great narrator, and the story was what one expects of a wuxia story, over the top and spectacular. loved it. I'm going to buy the next book. recommend it to people who like wuxia story's.

Brilliant

I have Listened to over 120 titles and it has been a long time since I have been so engrossed and absorbed in an audiobook. I have never listened to an audiobook narrated by 'Scott Merriman' and I am verry pleased with his performance.

To simple and boring

A very straightforward story with lacklust world building and simple minded villans. Even skills named forbidden* have no negative effects.

Deep coming of age book

It is brutal and usually not my cup of tea, However the story is superb, well written, and fanatically performed. I cannot understand the two negative reviews as this a professional product.

MC has no redeeming features

Couldn't get past half way thru second book, I managed to survive the MC being called 'trash' 400 times in first book, but the fact he beckons a psychopath with no redeem characteristics was the final straw.