starting strong with Cults & Cultivation Fantasy
One thing that I personally love about indie fiction is the variety. Without being beholden to the whims of the mainstream publishing industry, indie authors are free to explore new and unique sub-genres, styles and take interesting risks. Keon Shore’s debut, The Bad Apothecary, is a perfect example of the kind of cool, genre challenging variety that’s coming out of the indie scene.
I received an ARC copy of this book without knowing anything about cultivation novels or their history. For those uninitiated, this style of writing draws its roots from Asian literature and was popularized by webnovels, focusing on a style of magic system called “cultivation”. In practice, this means the characters are focused on developing their abilities through a sort of defined leveling system, in this case called tiers. Comparisons can be drawn to the massively popular LitRPG genre, but these novels have a whole slew of their own tropes and conventions, and it was interesting to dive into this new world for someone who’s spent his life mostly safely nestled in the embrace of western speculative fiction.
I freely admit that at first, the structure and style took some getting used to. But once I got into the rhythm it was quite enjoyable and I found myself flying through this and having quite a bit of fun with it. Shore’s story is dark and gritty, but heavily emotional and full of strong moments that help you develop a real sense of connection to these characters. She does an excellent job of balancing her characters strengths with their struggles and weaknesses. Big wins feel earned and we are allowed appropriate room to properly feel their failures.
The story moves at a quick pace, throwing you into a world that is both alien yet easily accessible. The Asian inspired, “arcane punk” setting is fun and feels different than most other fantasy. Between the setting, the magic system and the characters, I found myself reminded of some of the classic anime shows movies I remember watching as a teenager, but with a more mature edge. If that sounds like it would be up your alley, I would recommend you check out this awesome new series!
