Prodigies

Heaven's Laws, Book 1

By: Apollos Thorne

Narrated by: Cindy Kay, David Shih

Length: 35 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

The apex of the martial arts calls out. It challenges all to ascend.

Long Chao is the son of a hedge mage — a heretic cultivator. He doesn’t cultivate for power, but to satisfy his endless curiosity.

One fateful day, Xiao Huifen, a girl aiming to be the youngest Sky Realm cultivator in the Monolith continent’s history, crashes into his life. She’s from the world of top-ranked sects and strict cultivation methodologies. They share nothing in common except for the unquenchable desire to unlock heaven’s every mystery.

This is their journey.

However, the brightest glory casts the darkest shadow. Strength begets brutality. Long-life begets the foulest perversions. To those who dwell in the darkness, young cultivators such as them are nothing more than some of the finest resources. To use them as slaves. Refine them into pills.

When faced with such depravity, this unorthodox pair must do all they can to survive. Even if they do, how can they hope to remain unchanged?

This is a coming-of-age story that follows two paths to power. For one, it's long and arduous. Despite his unique insights, Long Chao must always strive to keep up with those around him. For the other, strength comes easy. Xiao Huifen isn't competing against her peers, but the vague legends of Divine cultivators.

©2021 Apollos Thorne (P)2021 Podium Audio

My Guyski... Another, ASAP PLZ

I already love Cultivation, but my goad.. the way science, and cultivation was blended was absolutely amazing, I've always had ideas/thoughts that if "Magic" were real (technically it is in a matter of speaking), it would be like this, but I've not read anything where they've done built a world like said ideas/thoughts, but this.. keep in mind, just my opinion, is absolutely amazing! well worth the listen 10x over!

Remarkable story hopefully a series to come

I enjoyed this book the author did a great job painting varying points of view. In the beginning there was slow progress towards the story; however, the progress of the book beginning allowed for the universe to be understood to the point of appreciation. This coming of age story has great character that you can come to love. Additionally, the author does a great job of showing the internal struggles a lot of people have to come to terms with. I don't usually write review, but one must " give credit where credits due."

I hope there is expansion on the storyline, because I'm interested in seeing the the growth of core characters and am intrigued by the introduction of new characters.

Great job keep up the good work!

Not a fan of the narration

Cindy sounds like she is whispering loudly at all times. I won't say this is the worst narration, but it was difficult to know which characters were actually speaking at times. The book overall is amazing. The story is well fleshed out and the power structure is decently explained. I look forward to book 2.

superb

I can't wait to see what's next in the series. great story progression and plot twist.

took a Lil while to get over some of the dialogue

but pretty good all around I look forward to the next part of this

Good story

It started off a little slow, but got better as the story went.

Can’t wait for the next book.

The start of a great series.

this book was an excellent addition to cultivation fiction. the characters were well done and the narration was top notch. My only issue with this book is the scale and focus. The entire book focuses on the 2 main charters with minor appearances from others with everything taking place in the same 5 locations. I would have enjoyed a wider cast an greater opportunity to see the wider world. I hope such opportunities happen enough subsequent books and I look forward to them.

Great audiobook

One of the best cultivation stories I have heard. The story was great and the narration was great aswell. I will be waiting for book 2.

Surprisingly excellent

I very much enjoyed Thorne’s “Level Up or Die” series of LitRPG books, so thought I would give this straight fantasy novel a chance. I have to say that the first few chapters didn’t particularly grab my interest, and I was not initially impressed with the female narrator Cindy.
However, given its length, I decided to keep listening through the first 10 chapters or so, to give it a chance to grow on me. And GROW ON ME IT DID!
The excessive verbal humility and formal Asian-style names take some getting used to for this western mind, but it’s well worth it.
The narrators were actually perfect for the material, although Cindy still annoys me a little with her poor attempts at male voices, and constant whispering. Still though, I wouldn’t want any other narrators.
I don’t usually like multi-narrator books in general, but again, in this case, it was perfect for the way this book was written, and I think adds to the experience.

The world(s) built here is interesting and unique. I had never read a pure cultivation novel before, and didn’t really know what that category meant. That also took some getting used to, but eventually became comprehensible. Particularly the strange overloaded use of the term “laws”, which still seems like a slightly slippery concept.

I love the main characters, and many of the secondary characters. Some of the villains were written a bit thinly, although I thought at least the prince’s brother had reasonable motivations and inner dialog, and the main characters had complex speculations about the motivations of the unexplained “evil” characters, even if the truth of some of the background isn’t explained. Therefore I don’t consider that a damaging aspect.

Thorne still continues to vastly over use the phrases “capable of” and “you’re incredible”, which I’ve noticed in other books. Those might just be personal gripes of mine, however—particularly my dislike of the often mis-used word “incredible” (not to be credited, or believed) where “amazing” or “wonderful” or “delightful” might be better choices.
Also there are some comicly out of place American/western phrases that show up from time to time, though that is more amusing than anything.
A few incorrect word uses here and there—such as “encroach” where “approach” was intended, and vice-versa—but that is common place in this age of publishing with limited professional editorship.

The book feels very complete on its own, and even though I will be happy to buy any sequel: if none ever shows up, I will still believe I got a satisfying conclusion and my credit’s worth from this “book 1”.

Over all, I am very pleased with this book, and strongly recommend it. Also, it is shockingly devoid of expletives without feeling necessarily YA or as if it was a stretch to write it that way. I don’t mind the odd curse for effect here and there, but Thorne’s books are proof that a book doesn’t need to be dripping with F-bombs or GDs in order to have impactful dialog and action. Other authors could learn something from that.

A different take on Cultivation

Full Disclosure: I'm not sure if I've read a book by Apollos Thorne that I didn't enjoy.

This book follows two main characters, both prodigies of the Cultivation world. The Cultivation system is similar to others in the genre and it holds up well.

This book also deals with many if the tropes of cultivation world differently than the stereotypes. This, include the fact that women or often seen as a means to an end instead of fleshed out people, by making the female mc both stronger and more experienced.

This book won't be for everyone. It's slower paced than a lot of its fellow cultivation novels, but the characters feel more human.

Note: It also deals with the effects of sexual assault and recovery from it. I've noped out of other books that touch on that topic, but this book handles it with care. The scene in question also "fades to black" so there is no glorification of such a terrible topic.