A Thousand Li: the First Step: Book 1 Of A Xianxia Cultivation Series
Long Wu Ying never expected to join a Sect or become a real cultivator. His days were spent studying, planting rice on the family farm and spending time with his friends. Fate, however, has different plans for Wu Ying and when the army arrives at his village, he and many other members of the village are conscripted. Given the opportunity to join the Verdant Green Waters Sect, Wu Ying must decide between his pedestrian, common life and the exciting, blood soaked life of a cultivator.
Join Wu Ying as he takes his first step on his Thousand Li journey to become an immortal cultivator.
The First Step is the first novel in A Thousand Li series, a book on cultivation, immortals, wondrous martial art styles and spirit beasts and will be loved by wuxia and xianxia fans. The First Step is written by Tao Wong, the bestselling scifi and fantasy LitRPG author of the System Apocalypse, Adventures on Brad and the Hidden Wishes.
Reviews (161)
Great Xianxia story for Western Audience!
Let me preface this by saying I am a fan of this author's other works, but this is very different from the normal stories he writes. The quality, however, is the same and just as awesome in this book. If you enjoyed Tao Wong's other works (System Apocalypse, Adventures of Brad, Gamer's Wish, etc.) feel free to pick this up. I really enjoyed this cultivation story. And for anyone not familiar, a cultivation story is a story where the main character is focusing on personal growth and power in order to achieve goals - typically through hard work and effort - versus being awarded it for no reason. This is an example of that kind of story - a wonderful main character who is thrown into new situations and has to adapt to the world or die. I like that the story explains itself as it goes, some cultivation stories just make assumptions that the readers understand their "magic system" and that isn't an issue in this book. I also liked how it sets the tone for the rest of the series. This isn't necessarily an "overpowered" main character, this is a person from the world trying to go further than the people around him. Go ahead and give it a try! You'll enjoy it.
Cultivation of a not hyper-fortunate protagonist
Starting a fairly standard xianxia story, the author skips standard plot elements of protagonist being outrageously fortunate in finding some supporting artifact/cultivation manual/inheritance which provides a deus ex machina for overcoming adversity. Instead, the main character has what seems fairly reasonable good (and bad) luck in background, friends, foes, mentors and opponents. Important events are detailed well, and training time is allowed to pass, without inordinate detail. Author doesn't seem to depend on reader having significant background in xianxia stories - cultivation basics introduced well throughout the story, without dense infodumps.
A Welcome Addition
Thoroughly enjoyable, this book hits upon a great many classic elements: a low born protagonist a lifelong noble antagonist a school setting adventures a tournament and, of course, advancement The author takes care to add enough action and adventure to keep the story moving and adds the beginnings of a supporting cast. I expect more will be revealed as the books continue. The fight scenes are well-described and provide tension. The moments of growth the main character experiences during fights are particularly well-done and fit the genre.
Entertaining cultivation novel
Wu Ying is a 17 year old simple peasent with no talents or prospects. He is recruited into the army, nearly dies and manages to save a few important officers. As a reward he is allowed to enter a sect as an outer discipel. Here he gets into trouble because of his lack of curiousity and helpfulness. It makes him a good pawn in the politics of the elders. Wu Ying is a likeable protagonist. His naivity, lack of knowledge and curiousity make sense even it borders stupidity at times. The fact that the difference between ordinary and talent is not overly big, means that hard work and a bit of luck can overcome it. No weird gifts. No extreme lethalness, life is cheap, but not as extreme as in most cultivation novels. Pacing is relatively fast as well. As for the cons, there is no overall plot and the motivation of the protagonist is lacking. World building is a bit flat, mainly because the mc knows little, but it is similar to most cultivation novels. Side characters are flat as well. Still, I enjoyed reading it, especially for a cultivation novel. Looking forward to the next part.
If you loved "The Forbidden Kingdom" film, this is better.
I never heard of a "cultivation novel" before, so I wasn't sure what I was getting. Had they mentioned Kung Fu movies, lit rpg, and other Western cultural references to what is essentially an Asian genre, I would have understood better. Fortunately, Amazon kept shoving it in my face on their site. :) From my perspective, the character arcs are awesome. You care about the characters. The main character is not a "Mary Sue," who right away can do everything very well right away with no effort (the latest Star Wars trilogy?). He has to struggle to achieve what he wants. Review of second in series coming soon. :)
A "cultivation" tale that almost keeps the characters human
My biggest issue with most cultivation tales has always been that it becomes a tale of taking pills and potions and meditation/drill without any real human interaction. The characters become props for an endless recital of what path the "hero" is following. Tao manages to avoid that here, with a most unlikely of aspirants. Unfortunately there was a bit of a problem there with his hero entirely too cognizant about the peasant/noble divide and in truth all of the characters seeming interest in keeping the peasant in his place. it was a bit of a hard push to the tale. But the rest was exciting with the hero getting some good adventures and entertaining moments.
Great series
Okie, everyone has read the typical wuxia/xianxia MC where they find some artifact or suddenly get some cultivation method where they swiftly become OP and easily ascend into godhood. This series is not one of them. The MC here is no Mary Sue. He is barely above average. His cultivation method is the same given to every peasant, and he works hard and breaks through to new levels usually after his friends do. They are wuxia geniuses compared to him. However, he is young, eager, and charismatic. He likes to mission for his sect mostly by finding and collecting herbs for them, and practicing his family sword techniques as well as some unarmed stuff he picked up to close his weaknesses. After reading the entirety of "painting the mists" "king of Gods" "rise of humanity" and the Silver Fox/Western Hero series, I thought this was a bit too westernized for me to like. Yet, a few chapters in I started to get hooked, and really liked the series. Easy to relate to the MC, and he's a nice guy. Like a very good natured teen. Super world building, and everything seems to "realistic" *cough cough* for a fantasy world anyhow. Get them, they're great.
Good start on the Xianxia genre
As I had never read a Xianxia book before, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I knew it was a form of fantasy based on Taoism, often set in traditional Chinese society, but other than that, I had few expectations about it. This exceedingly well executed book has convinced me to try more of it. Tao Wong writes in an easily accessible and smoothly flowing fashion, telling a story which on the surface is familiar (a peasant boy leaving home, having adventures), but quickly evolves into a universe where everyone is focused on self improvement. The book is well balanced, gives a good explanation of unfamiliar terminology, and can easily be read on its own. If I were to find a flaw, it would have to be that the book is a little weak on character development and heavy on technical exposition, but this is most likely an inherent trait of the genre. If you’re interested in trying Xianxia, but find the idea of starting with 600+ pages of fan translation a little intimidating, this book is perfect for you.
Well written
Very enjoyable Xianxia-style story. I've had several in that genre suggested by Amazon lately, but this was the first one with what I would consider professional-quality writing. The others have been interesting, but the writing was slightly awkward in English due to being translated from other languages, whereas this one kept the same semi-archaic feel to the style without the awkward translation wording when translating concepts.
Sub par for the Author
I really enjoy Tao Wong other series' so happily jumped on this one. Sorely disappointed, slow, boring, set it down twice to read other books because i just couldn't force myself to trudge through this one. Finally finished it but not a good read at all.
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