The Last Ship in Suzhou

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Ripped from the comfort of our world, David and Alice must face the demons of the past and enemies of their own making. The dictates of Fate and Karma push the universe to behave in a certain way and cultivation is an act of defiance. To defy the heavens is to change the world, and nothing ever changes. Except when it does.

Xianxia and isekai, done in a different way.

Everything has happened before and every instrument sounds the same.Grudges held for generations, with no sure source of blame.From this world seed would the skies cast a die.But it doesn't change, it doesn't learn why.

Who would dare to challenge the lie?

[participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]

Discord link

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: lungs

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 2,568
Views: 1,352,024

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

AerylifeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I hate Isekai stories. The characters are bland and boring, the "cheat" powers are plain and pitiful, and the protagonist as well as his love interest tend to be dumber than people that enjoy Isekai stories.
This story is a rare exception, the lead up and descriptiveness are a breath of fresh air compared to the usual "oh no that truck came out of nowhere and brought me into a world of catgirls". When I read about David exploring the library, it felt like I myself was wandering through a ruined library that had been struck by disaster.
The banter and interaction between Alice and David is top tier. It feels like they're close friends, but not so close that the relationship feels unreal. It helps that the dialogue is witty and snappy in a way that hooks you in from the start. Even the small instances of dialogue, when David and Alice are reassuring the boy getting casigated by his mother, or when he's asking Mr.Watterson not to kick them out into the rain, it's enjoyable and flows like a normal conversation you could hear in real life. It's a rare pleasure to enjoy every instance of dialogue and not feel like it's just there to fill space to pad word count.
10/10 I would reccomend (I'd say 5/5 but I don't have a good rhyme for that).
CromajoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It's a good time to be a xianxia fan on Royalroad.
Lungs has a flair for prose that leaves the rest of us in quiet envy. There is an economy of phrase where he implies a tremendous amount of depth in even innocuous descriptions, betraying the vast amounts of knowledge and research that go into his setting. The viscerality of reality, brought to life through words in a way you didn't know you were missing from other works.
The grammar is impeccable, and there's really not much else to say about that.
The characters are paradoxically exactly the kind of person you've met before but such that you couldn't pick out the people it reminds you of. David and Alice are clearly well crafted characters whose growth trajectory can almost be seen from chapter one. Their interactions are fun, funny, and adorable.
The story has a level of meticulous word-by-word care applied that you only see in authors like Patrick Rothfuss. It's the sort of thing you can reread multiple times and find new depth and nuance on every reread, even when you think you know what you're looking for.
David and Alice's adventure is something I'm anxious to see more of, and I could not recommend this more to anyone who has an appreciation for literature as an art form.
HaltWriteRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
When we were in the qi cultivation stage, we liked the ancient chinese aesthetic of xianxia, but found the phrasings weird. When we reached core formation, we became able to tolerate the first 500 chapters of meh writing. As we became old monsters, we embraced the memes. 500 chapters? I spit blood on you and your ancestors to the 9th generation! Read 1000 chapters and kowtow 3 times and your body will not be desecrated in death!
Thankfully, lungs doesn't seem intent on committing war crimes against us.
Lungs clearly has an appreciation for Chinese culture (assuming he isn't Chinese himself). He adds a lot of obscure references to ancient instruments, and has really captured the feel of what it's like being the son of a Chinese immigrant in America.
It's still in the first chapter, but we're progressing very quickly through the plot. Hopefully, it keeps this up and doesn't become a meandering mess that other xianxia become prone to, but I have hope.
Character - I would give this more than 5 stars if I could. David and Alice are really distinct identities with their own character voices. Also, Alice is best girl fight me.
Grammar - Flawless. There's really not more to say, other than he clearly has put a lot of effort into making this piece read well.
Style - Lungs has a flair for prose, even describing mundane everyday things, and making it just work. I mean just read this:
"No one wants to pretend they care about someone playing a song they've never listened to on an instrument they'd never heard of at a talent show hosted at a library which probably revoked their card for forgetting to return a Harry Potter book when they were nine"
And tell me that doesn't hit you harder than a truck trying to drive you into a world that runs on LitRPG mechanics.
If there are any flaws to this work, it may be too high brow for some people, for you need a certain level of IQ to truly appreciate it.
With all that said, this is an isekai / xianxia, but the realms involved are an int
Homeless_OneRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The First Couple of chapters are a little rough, the prose is...interesting, but i chalk it off to there being a while Moment, where things are Happening, and give it a pass. Then comes an exposition interlude. It had a lot of info that i had difficulty absorbing and may come back to later in the story. But the remaining chapters are wonderful. The story draws you in, the way the author frames concepts heard time and time again in other wuxia stories are a breath of fresh air, the grammar practically impeccable, and the characters are very individualistic. Can't wait for more to come!
JMWebbRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Look, this review is early in the story. But the prose. THE PROSE. I cannot get over how good this prose is, so I am writing fifty words to tell you how good the prose is. This is probably the best thing on this site rn, and it's just kinda sitting here without nearly enough followers.
READ IT.
FOR THE.
PROSE.
eugene2kRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
You generally expect xianxia stories to be about protagoniss that meditate, grow stronger, find cultivation resources to meditate more efficiently, rinse, repeat. This cycle sounds boring and so most xianxia stories focus on the conflicts the protagonist experiences on their path to greatness. Pissed off young masters and old monsters, sometimes bandit kings and beasts are par for the course in such novels.
If you're into that, then you still haven't had enough of the classic tropes to fully appreciate this story.
This story features reasonable protagonists, that don't go pissing off, challenging, facing, beating those they can, and running away from the rest. This story features vaguely philosophical discussions about cultivation, making it seem like all these immortals are actually trying to understand the Dao and aren't just arrogant assholes with too much power. It is slow-paced because of all these discussions, and the protagonists aren't just thrown from one fight into the next. It's a refreshing take on cultivation stories.
Of course, like in many Isekai novels, the protagonists in this one are stronger than the natives. Unlike many Isekai novels, protagonists aren't stronger because they have superior abilities or cultivation techniques or because they evolved on a "death world", but because they are much smarter and more knowledgeable than the average cultivator. Cultivation speed here isn't linked to some stars or certain special techniques, but rather to the cultivator's understanding of the Dao principles. In other words, protagonists are better than others because they are smarter, not because they are more lucky.
kaoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I really liked this story.
I've read alot of cultivator storys on many a site : wuxiaworld, webnovel, etc.
If you like a tale that grows on you. Give this a read. In some ways it does remind me of Beware of Chicken. (the more modern think vs older world think conflicts) There were some funny moments, mixed with some super serious series of consecutive events.
Overall I think the writer pacing is well done, NOT OP off the bat. But...you know it will get there. Our MC's are NOT complete idiots and plot does and will power them up. Something to look forward to. After all, what's a good cultivator story if the protags don't get more powerful. They WILL be splitting mountains and pulling down stars some day...
occipitallobeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The Last Ship in Suzhou is good.
Really good.
Most xianxia novels have weird quirks, tricks, or cheats, trying to subvert or do something different with the genre. Suzhou plays it completely straight - this is a xianxia novel, people cultivate, it gives them power and they effect the world.
What makes it special is that it focuses on cultivation in and of itself rather than merely is effects. How do people cultivate? Do they use poetry or song as a focus to understand the world, do they follow scriptures or the like? Instead of "The Burning Phoenix attack struck Tim's dantian, crippling him", the combat feels like an extension of the characters understanding the world itself.
This is all somewhat jumbled, but the best way to explain it is this. Most xianxia novels fit a theme and that is "Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation..." and those are clearly-marked power levels that the main character seeks to obtain much like a video game character.
Here, it feels magical. Cultivation is a bizarre, peculiar, magical thing, the world is mysterious and interesting despite the stock-standard setting. All the tropes are here, but played well. The characters are by description not that different to ordinary xianxia ones, but the depth of their characterization and their relationships is beyond anything you'll read elsewhere. For this, the style gets 5/5.
It's the difference between reading a LitRPG novel where everything is codified and structured and characters are attempting to optimize a somewhat-known system, and a genuine piece of fantasy and exploration. This feels like reading a fantasy novel as a kid did in many ways.
The story is simple - it gets 4.5/5 for implementation, not originality. The amazing thing is that it feels special, it feels interesting, it feels completely different to all the other isekai xianxia stories you've read before. If you described it on a piece of paper "People from Earth get taken to a cultivation world, get an ancient
MeerkatsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
You would be hard pressed to find another story this well written on Royal Road. The prose is exemplary, bordering on poetic. Every sentence is well crafted and has weight behind it. Even if you are unafmiliar with the context, setting, or genre it is clear that there is well written and meaningful subtext here that deserves time to develope.
If you are a fan of the genre or china, this is an absolute recommendation. A very promising story.
ParcatRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've read a lot of xianxia and a lot of isekai's but I haven't read an isekai into a xianxia world that's like this before. Usually, they're full of tropes, boring, and too quickly OP, but this one blows them all out of the water. The last Ship in Suzhou has wonderful writting, has an engaging plot and is really enjoyable. It takes a few chapters to get to the isekai part though, so keep that in mind and don't give up too soon on it, you'll regret missing out.
The grammar and prose are brilliant, the writing style straight forward but eloquent. The world-building is very promising so far. It's delving more into what cultivation is than you usually see from xianxia's on here. It's more artful a description of Qi than I've ever seen. Seeing how David and Alice deal with people from this world has been fun.
The two main characters are interesting, Chinese-Americans that know the culture they've been isekai'd into, even if they're still blindsided by being in a xianxia world. Also, I think they will talk about the culture and arts more in this, and that's pretty refreshing to see.
Alice and David are both well-written, three-dimensional characters, you can tell that the author has thought out their character development. I'm looking forward to seeing more of the world and how they'll explore it.
So far in the story, every new chapter is better than the last, and it's been great seeing it ramp up. It's worth reading and keeping an eye on. The author definitely knows what they're doing.