Street Cultivation 2

By: Sarah Lin

Narrated by: Travis Baldree

In the modern world, qi is money.

The days of traveling martial artists and mountaintop masters are over. Power is controlled by corporations, modernized martial arts sects, and governments. Those at the bottom of society struggle as second class citizens in a world in which power is a commodity.

Rick may have survived the multitier tournament, but that doesn't mean his life will be easy. He finds the search for a better job is filled with traps and pitfalls, his sister is coming to terms with her dark power, and vendettas old and new plague them. This time, his journey will take him from the city to the wilderness....

©2019, 2020 Sarah Lin (P)2020 Tantor

just as good as the first

I really liked the first book of the series. It showed you a new world with neat new rules, was an urban fantasy novel, something I have grown to love, and had a neat LitRPG aspect as the characters get stronger and talk about their stats. The first book was in a nice and tidy package of a tournament, giving it a very good structure to follow.

This book thankfully took a turn away from the tournament so as not to just be a repeat of the first, but it did seem to struggle at the beginning. It just didn't seem to be going anywhere, and just followed the protagonist thru his life as he searches for a new job and apartment, something that doesn't exactly make for a good book. Once that developed a bit, it really turned into a good book.

soooo.... it starts a little slow, but is just as good as the last one, without being a boring repeat. Highly suggested.

Wow

This was amazing! These characters really seam real! The personality and character development is amazing! I think some of the best things were the constant fights and ricks relationships with the people around him is just as entertaining as the fights. My favorite is how Rick and his sister act with each other, super funny!

Another great one!

The world building for this series is pretty top tier and unique. The modern USA cultivation society that has advanced from a past of xianxia like past is really interesting. In the previous book, we had a good fighter with low resources start to advance and make good gains through underground tournaments, benefactors, and more refined intense training. In this, he is in a better place financially but trying to get a job with an organization that looks into anomalies. More great character growth. It's great. Get it. Favorite moment: Talking to a succubus looking to make a bonded contract with a human, who talks about how bad/messed the job market is for demons, essentially requiring experience at tempting humans for an entry level job, when you need the job in order to be able get the experience tempting humans.

Ohhhh yeah I'm hooked!

Ohhhh yeah I'm hooked on Rick and his sister's story. And surprisingly I never thought that I would say this about an action-driven story ARC but bk2 is kinda a slice-of-life. Explaining how Rick gets stronger after he leaves the quazy legal fighting arena. The day to day chores of finding a new job, dealing with abrasive people, and of course killing monsters like jackalopes and a rabid dragon. Even when confronted by Granny he managed to slip past her without being tripped by her ridiculous schemes...
So if you liked book1, you're gonna find yourself having a good time when you start book2... and Travis Baldree narration is super.

Here's a couple of quotes that gave me a good laugh:

"I own the place, I can have as many real or fake excuses as I want, but I don't like hiring girls."

"Rick you look like you fell out of the exhaustion tree and hit every branch on the way down."

"A long time ago, somebody thought they could take advantage of the legends and twisted normal rabbits into those creatures. The details are sketchy, some kind of lucrim-enhanced manipulation of the shope papilloma virus. I never paid much attention to that part."

5/5 for me

Brilliant sequel . Lots of new stuff without losing sight of the characters from the first book. The world gets significantly bigger , but still keeps track of everything well

Another Knockout

The ridiculously talented author Sarah Lin writes another winner with this sequel. A riff on the LitRPG / Wuxia genre, SC2 weaves familiar tropes throughout, while swerving around the cliche potholes lesser authors drive right into.

Writing is good (very good). Characters are believable. Plot balances daily routine, life planning, relationships, lucrima portfolio management... all life's essentials. Bottom line, Lin is too much fun to not read.

Travis Baldree is the Morgan Freeman of LitRPG. I would listen to him recite the ABCs. Combined with this book: Mmmmmm.

Personally, I hope Sarah Lin gets JK Rowling level successful. Flying around in a lucrim limo, gargling 250K elixir and spitting it out like mouthwash. That stinking rich from these amazing books. She's earning it.

Fun and exciting

I always love Sarah Lin's details. The inventive worlds and characters are as inspiring as the stories themselves. She should do a collaboration with Will Wight.

Travis Baldree is always terrific.

I enjoyed myself and its a good read

The story was shorter than expected. I still enjoyed myself. the first book brought me here and I'm still looking fowaed to the next one.

similar to the first one

a lot of the setup is the same.
he gets an opportunity to gain something he wants, he works really hard, gets allies and some crazy shit happens that helps him along.

and yet, i loved every minute and had a ton of fun.
great writing and better narration

Feels like "Attack of the Clones" of the trilogy!

It has a solid performance, just like the last one. However, the plot of tge book feels unfocused. Often, it is unclear what the main character really hopes to achieve. is it to become strong, to stay safe, to get rich? He even approaches romance in such a wishy washy way that it feels like he should just abstain. Not in a passive way, but rather hang a sign around his neck saying he is incapable of feeling said emotions. That said, there are some neat world building moments and cool fight scenes. Just wish the author would kill off the MC and make his sister the new MC.