Arcane Cultivator

Arcane Cultivator, Book 1

De: Harmon Cooper

Narrado por: Neil Hellegers

Build the deck. Cultivate power. Slay the gods.

When a magic ritual goes disastrously wrong, Jaden is exiled to the heart of the desert and left to die. Battered and bruised, Jaden encounters the outcast Nomadwater Sect, who grant him a second chance at life as a mysterious arcane cultivator.

With its savage beasts and cryptic mysteries, survival in the sprawling desert of Southfall is a dangerous game. Yet Jaden and the Nomadwater Sect persevere, growing closer and forming bonds over the course of a long summer.

This changes the day the Gods kill their leader, seize the sect, and task Jaden with competing in the legendary Tournament of the Gods.

If Jaden survives the tournament, the members of his sect live. If he dies, they die alongside him.

Jaden now has just ten days to rank up. Ten days to master the dragonessence system. Ten days to save those who have become his new family.

Arcane cards, mana cultivation, martial arts, elemental magic, a LitRPG system, and incredible relics are all at his disposal. And even then, it might not be enough . . .

©2023 Harmon Cooper and Boycott Books (P)2023 Tantor

Another Harmon Win

Arcane Cultivator is a title I was hyped about since Harmon announced he was writing it! The world intrigued me and the overall system threw me through the loop and it was better than I hoped it would be. I love that we are seeing more deck building books in LitRPG/Progression Fantasy. Neil Hellegers did an outstanding job and I’m so happy to see another Cooper/Hellegers team up and I can’t wait for book 2!

the story was fun and action packed.

love the magic system and the adventuring story line. cant wait for more books to come out. audio is way more immersive and great for driving

So so good

Harmon’s love for his craft shines bright in this wonderful story. Loved this book so much, the world building, the characters and character development, it all really pulls you into the story. Get ready for some sleepless nights! I can’t wait for the next installment in the series !

A bit derivative but still worth the credit

Harmon Cooper is an excellent author and this book was worth the credit. However, without giving away too much, the MC starts out similarly to Will Wight's "Cradle series" Unsouled MC. The author's path for the MC diverges from there and makes him a bit too dependent on his sect members throughout most of Book 1 but seems to suggest that Book 2 will make him an equal of or surpass the others in his sect. There also seems to be a feel of The Chosen about the MC, even though it's unclear if the fortuitous situations aren't orchestrated from the gods.

Neil Hellegers' performance was excellent, as I've come to expect.

I plan on continuing the series.

Fantastic!

Wow, loved this one! Really great storytelling and characters with great narration from Neil Hellegers. Perfect duo, can't wait for the next one! 😁

Exciting story!

I loved reading this book, and I enjoyed listening even more! It's going in my go-to book rotation. Can't wait for book 2!!

Really enjoy the story and can’t wait for book 2

Great story, very well thought out and researched world building. I really enjoyed the sun strider the best! Always nice to have a fun and interesting animal companion

With Harmon Cooper at the helm and Neil Hellegers as first you can't go wrong.

It seriously was a happy coincidence that 5 newly released deckbuilding litRPG's were released within the last couple of months... And I just happen to adore this type of story ARC. I decided that I should actively seek out more... and this is one of the titles that I found not only was it written by Harmon Cooper whose written some really fine books, but Neil Hellegers adds his voice performance into the mix.
This is the story of Jaden a young man who was rejected by his clan and exiled into the desert. Where everyone anticipated his death. Only Jaden had other plans on account'a Jaden was a fighter and wasn't planning to go down easy. So yeah grab this book to follow Jaden's exploits.

Here's a great quote:

"The nightmare vision of stone and malevolence..."

Author always starts strong then gets bland.

By the end of the book im just left thinking how much more interesting is it going to get. Knowing my track record with some of the authors other works makes me shaky that i bought all the first three books in this series. But i guess ill find out. So far interesting concept but really borring ending, i dont know how the series will continue but im hoping for better.

one of harmon coopers best books to date

just everything here worked, the pacing was good, the world was interesting but also somewhat familiar to those that understand the genre, the whole desert cultivator was kind of a new spin but not so alien that it needed too much extra explanation.

harmon tends to at least write interesting books, while this one was also fun.

i also found the characters to be mostly likable
which is sometimes a problem that I have where if PoV characters are to unpleasant i find it hard to care about their ability to overcome adversity

the narrator is always good, Neil is just a top tier voice actor, you can't go wrong with him.

full marks all around.