I generally don’t read xianxia (cultivation) fiction or progression fantasy, where the narrative focus is on a character developing power and skill over time. In the fantasy fiction I typically read, characters either already have power, or gain it in order to accomplish their goals, but in the latter case the effort to gain power is not central to the plot, but shown for the sake of verisimilitude. After all, you can’t show a farm boy marching off to find adventure with his father’s sword bouncing off his hip in the first chapter and then cut to him going toe-to-toe with Satan as he goes one-winged angel without explaining how the farm boy gained so many levels in badass.
Until recently, the only cultivation/progression fantasy I’ve ever read to the end was Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe. I tried reading part of Will Wight’s Unsouled, the first novel in his Cradle saga, but the premise reminded me too much of the Gustav scenario in SaGa Frontier 2 and I lost interest.
Unfortunately, many of the other cultivation/progression series that I’ve previewed tend to remind me of shōnen anime like Dragon Ball, Bleach, and Naruto in which their plots tend to involve a protagonist who wants to become the biggest badass around and gets into lots of long, drawn-out fights along the way. There’s nothing wrong with any of this, but it generally doesn’t appeal to me. I’m not generally interested in progression fantasy or cultivation because how a protagonist gains power isn’t as interesting to me as what they do with it and how they deal with the consequences.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed Rowe’s Sufficiently Advanced Magic because of the effort he put into the characterization of his protagonist as well as the supporting cast. It was on the basis of his recommendation, which I’ll reproduce below, that I decided to pick up the Kindle edition of Street Cultivation by Sarah Lin.
I think you might personally like Sarah Lin’s Street Cultivation, for example - it’s got a cyberpunk with magic vibe that reminds me of your own work, even if it leans less toward Final Fantasy and more toward something like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat.
I’ll admit it: I’m flattered when an author that’s more successful than I am in terms of sales and fandom remembers my work. Also, I particularly enjoyed Rowe’s earlier novels, Forging Divinity and Stealing Sorcery, both of which were more my preferred style of fantasy-thriller. It was partially for these reasons that I accepted his recommendation and picked up Ms. Lin’s novel.
It didn’t hurt that the Kindle edition is currently priced at $2.99. I figured that if I didn’t like it, I was only out three bucks. Hey, money’s tight and things are tough all over, so I’ve generally been borrowing books from the public library rather than buying them.
Enough background; let’s talk about Street Cultivation:
- It’s not the sort of novel I’d expect to see on a World Fantasy Award ballot (and that’s perfectly fine).
- Ms. Lin writes in a clear, concise style without any flourishes.
- The protagonist is a scrappy underdog in a capitalist hellscape where chi talks and bullshit walks.
- With some help from somebody who’s exploiting him and from a friend and possible love interest, the protagonist finds a way to help his sister cope with a life-threatening condition and turn it into a potential asset.
- The author takes the time to explain how the magic works and what the numbers mean from the protagonist’s viewpoint.
- It’s not a rags to riches story. It’s more of a rags to knockoffs-from-Walmart story.
- There’s an appendix at the end that provides a fairly detailed explanation of how the magic system works if you have trouble picking it up from the narration.
I have to admit that I’m something of a sucker for underdogs. I tore through Street Cultivation because I could connect with Rick Hunter’s difficulties. Like him, I grew up in a working-class family and clawed my way up to a slightly better life without formal education. I also liked that Lin characterized Rick’s sister Melissa as not being entirely defined by her illness. Lisa and Emily are good foils for each other and Rick, each trying to make better lives for themselves while making hard choices, and Granny Whitney is a more interesting antagonist than rich brat Mike, though that conflict seems to set up a wider plot for the series that involves corporate scumbaggery and further exploitation of the poor, ignorant, and desperate.
Would I buy the sequels or keep reading in this genre? I’m not sure. From what I’ve seen of the sample chapters on Royal Road, the second and third parts of Street Cultivation look like more of the same, but I’m content with the way things stand at the end of part one. Rick and Melissa are probably gonna be all right.
I’d recommend Street Cultivation for cultivation/progression fans, and for fans of speculative fiction featuring pragmatic, working-class underdogs. It pairs well with Elliot Kay’s 2013 novel Poor Man’s Fight despite the latter being military SF.