Rise of the Cheat Potion Maker, Book 1: A Cultivation LitRPG Saga

I put off reading this for awhile, whether it was the manga esque cover (despite reading hundreds of light novels) or some other reason my subconscious made up.I ended up binge reading the first volume. The world, so far as it is limited to a small area, is well put together. The protagonist is the right level of cocky, amusing but not grating like you can sometimes find.The supporting cast is that, the view point from spirit beasts was a nice touch although it would be great to see more viewpoints from the others.Technically it is well written, I think I can only remember one or two typos.Looking forward to starting the next installment.

I would like to start by saying that I seldom leave reviews on Amazon, but I believe the author needs to receive one. First of all, sincere congratulations on finishing and publishing a complete book, nonetheless with a sequel. I will not concentrate on the system aspect of the book, nor the items, abilities, and so on in this review.I first found out about this work from RoyalRoad, while casually browsing and noticed the good ratings there as well as on Amazon. The anime-styled cover did put me off for a second, but I thought - what the hell, I love the premise, the power level the MC promised to display and the twist offered to the isekai genre.The narration handled by Matt Hicks was just awesome. As a terrible listener to audiobooks, this narrator did kick it off for me with his tone of voice, ability to read various characters, and the general way how to engage an audience. Good job on choosing him - I will keep him in mind when searching for other works!Now on to the part about why I left 2-stars instead of a higher rating. First of all, it boils down to the plot and characters. While the MC spells out his reasoning multiple times, and it is more or less clear what his aspirations are, I found them shallow. Character development is non-existent for the MC, besides gaining some new abilities and trinkets. I do not demonize the approach taken to his cultivation progress - it is fine by me, as it fits the system goals. What puts me off is that it gets repetitive after a while. There is no substance to events and how they are bound (I assume) to lead to something.Next, supporting characters. Besides the descriptions given of them, they are just that - supporting. I found them poorly written, with little to no mind spent on developing their personalities and how they fit into the overall goal of the story. There are some facts given about them and then they (the characters) just integrate into some sort of position for the MC. That is it.What the above two points boil down to is basically this - a chain of events described in a slice-of-life style manner, with textbook MC participating in unconnected events. Some fight scenes, with overall good descriptions fitting the genre. But that is it. For me it lacked the “cool moments” that grip your attention and make you want to read more and more, binging it.To sum up, author-san, please continue to write and polish your craft. I see that you have some cool ideas as to how to twist a genre, and write an overpowered MC. But please study story structures and developing characters more, there are some good books for that. I believe you will be able to write a gripping work in the near future.Good luck!

Not quite the "slice of life" litrpg I was expecting, but all the better for that. Yes the protagonist is massively OP but it's a fun angle that he sees that as almost a disability!

Hilarious what would you do if all you wanted was a quiet life and not to be the hero of the story, every trope is tackled the heros party is found to be woefully undertrained, he recruits several animals and apprentice while trying to keep out of being forced into fighting by the system.Loved this book had to read it from cover to cover.

A good story with interesting characters that are likeable. The MC follows the "I don't want to be a Hero and you can't make me!" trope, which I tend to like. It's decently written and fairly well polished. I'll definitely be reading Book Two.

I love an OP MC story where it’s almost a detriment rather than a bonus.This one is definitely right up there in terms of quality, with an easy to read style, characters that aren’t all completely hollow and systems that exist alongside the story but only rarely poke their heads out.

This is exactly what a light novel should be with just the right balance between slice of life and saving the world.

A truly different sort of adventurer. Interesting with a fully developed world to enjoy. It mixes wuxia with Alice of life but gives enjoyment and action in equal parts, plus a decent but if humor, roll on book 2