Not a single death all year. All of the four newborns had survived their first six months. Illness seemed to have fled their village—they had not even used half the medicine they had to use last year. They even had a bumper crop—a quarter more rice had been harvested compared to last year. But before that happens the old Jin Rou's soul leaves and a new one steps in. This one is from Canada in the present day, and wants to bring some modern amenities to his life in medieval Xiansia China. After breakfast most people had gone off to do their own thing. Jin had to show the Azure Jade Trading Company people around to get everything set up to ship the rice. So, how did that meeting go last night, anyway?” Yun Ren asked as he tied a rope around the deer’s legs and then hoisted it over a tree branch one-handed to begin to clean and bleed it. The ching ching ching of the bells before the inevitable voice yelling out Ho ho ho ho ho ! Booming laughter coming from his son-in-law Jin. The wild cheers of the children.

Ri Zu giggled from behind him and he dutifully ignored her too. He already dealt with teasing from the others, to have Sister Ri Zu to add her own was a betrayal most foul, and obviously Sister Ri Zu would never betray him. Jin Rou was a soul who worked for the Cloudy Sword sect as a lowly outer realm sect member. He is beaten badly by an inner sect member, and he takes his leave. There is a lot of stuff going on, from Washi drinking some of senior sister's equivalent of Red Bull and taking off down the river to Tiguer wanting to change, but the entire time I was reading I had one thought.I absolutely loved this story! It's even better than the first with some great developments and more of all the things I loved. I even loved the PoV hopping that normally breaks pace and makes me disgruntled (though I still hate villain PoV which is thankfully a very small part of the hopping). The author has a great hand at putting those breaks in the perfect spot for the story and continuing with them to natural conclusions.

Next there was Bei Be. The ox trotted at an easy pace just beside them, his plow stowed safely within the sleigh.

About

For the first time in millenia, the shattered remains of something once greater thought. It was lesser than even the least animal… but it chose. Gou Ren had been using Jin’s recording crystal more, especially when they had carved all the gourds. From Tigu’s unsettlingly lifelike one, to Chun Ke’s gourd with a crooked smile. But mostly, he seemed to be sneaking recordings of Xianghua and Bowu. But still no pain came. Instead.. There were feelings. Feelings beyond pain. Happiness, contentment, care, respect. There was hurt too. A feeling of profound loss, but determination to continue. Yeah, we talked about it. She said it was a good idea. We have to do a lot of planning. Between her sect stuff and the farm… well, we need to decide where to settle down. What about Biyu and you?” The original Jin Rou was an orphan and street urchin from Crimson Crucible City. At the age of 12, he was taken in by a vagrant old man living in the slums, named Shen Yu, who taught him how to write, as well as the mystical art of cultivation. At some indeterminate point in time, his master and adoptive grandfather abandoned him, not before telling him to seek out the Cloudy Sword Sect.

Honestly? When Yun Ren thought about Xianghua all he could think was that he liked her. She was a bit weird… but hells, in this madhouse, who wasn’t? She fit right in as far as he was concerned, and was a regular riot when she started on the act she put on as a Young Mistress. This year, there would be no second guessing himself. This year, the tiny pool of Qi he had, not enough to be called a cultivator, allowed itself to be directed. Everything else faded away. His father said he only had to last for the first repetition of the dance if he felt like it. Travis Baldree, of course, delivers a trademark performance. Easy to listen to, excellent pacing and time, and top-notch production values.

Follow Us On

What I liked a lot was that the characters are good-hearted people, including the ones who are animals, even the arrogant ones. They mostly have some kind of significant progression during the book, too, and that progression is different for each of them. The characters are distinct; they have different voices and different personalities and different conflicts and aspirations and abilities, and you'd never confuse one of them for another. I can think of at least one Hugo-winning author who could take lessons from this book in writing well-defined characters. Indeed, Eighth Master. First time this question has been postulated to Summer’s Sky. Interesting. Approval. Summer’s Sky names you the most interesting Master after the Seventh.” The fact that he has the memories of the person who previously inhabited the body makes for a smooth transition into society, so we don’t need to go through awkward encounters and the like. Knowing the social norms makes the whole thing flow so much easier.