The Yellow River Saga [ Epic Cultivation Fantasy Series]

Information

Status

Hiatus

Year

2024

Author

Owlsdoom

• Tributary: Chapter 10 - Exploring the Manual Pavilion
  Oct 30, 2024
• Tributary: Chapter 9 - Training Continues
  Oct 29, 2024
• Tributary: Chapter 8 - Meeting Xiao Huang I
  Oct 28, 2024
• Tributary: Chapter 7 - A New Realm
  Oct 27, 2024
• Tributary: Chapter 6 - Training Begins
  Oct 26, 2024
• Tributary: Chapter 5 - The Feng Brothers
  Oct 25, 2024
• Tributary: Chapter 4 - A Mysterious Voice
  Oct 24, 2024
• Tributary: Chapter 3 - Joining the Sect
  Oct 23, 2024
• Tributary: Chapter 2 - Arriving at the Sect
  Oct 22, 2024
• Tributary: Chapter 1 - Leaving Home
  Oct 21, 2024
• The Yellow River Saga: Prologue - A New Beginning
  Oct 21, 2024

Reviews

Community Reviews(10)

• Butters1Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  honestly one of the best xianxia i have read recently, very chill and basic but it is super nice that way. This book is a very good binge read and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in this genre. It doesn't expand on tropes in a classic manner but it knows what it is trying to be and achieves that very well
• Drake_EURoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Style:
  The author tries to follow the path of eastern Xanxia novels, and he doesn’t do a bad job with it. It is a little bit less brutal and reckless written and the MC isn’t the typical mass murdering hero. But all in all, it’s not a bad job in following this goal.
  Grammar:
  There are some errors, but i‘ve seen far worse.
  Character:
  The MC isn’t a standardized flat hero, so we get some in-depth description of his feelings and motivations. Other characters also get described, though that could be better. The artificer for example, we know nearly nothing from him, or the „beautiful girl“ from the sect library.
  Maybe a chapter, now and then, from their perspective would help. Not to forget the snake companion that until now just acts more like an integral hero-part, instead of a separate entity with dreams and aspirations.
  Even the motivations of the MC could be better reasoned out. For example, why he didn’t visit his family, for a cultivator, the journey wouldn’t be far. Or at least write letters. Karma was mentioned shortly, but not reasoned out.
  So not perfect, but also not scheme F.
  Story:
  As I said, a traditional Xanxia, with a single hero, with several stereotypical advantages. (If you want to know which, you’ll have to read it!😉)
  The story shows the journey of a young, naive boy from a simple background, to a cultivation sect. And then to a certain goal, but to name it would be spoilering.
  So relatively straightforward.
  Overall:
  It doesn’t seem to be the first work of the author, but the first serious one. Nonetheless, I don’t have anything greater to critique. Sure it’s no once in a million story, but i think that also wasn’t the goal here and the point is, that it’s enjoyable and the author is still growing.
  As i said the most room to grow, i see in the field of character development and maybe in describing the world a little bit more. The original author of „Wheels of Time“ Robert Jordan - may he rest in peace - did that in excess, maybe not so much, but a l
• Ethan Y CottonRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  First the tldr then the categories for rating, then for those who want to know what I have to say about Yellow River I go into detail about my thoughts.
  TLDR: This is a rare example of a proper and clean Xianxia that is also a great entertaining read.
  Rating stuff:
  Style: This is Xianxia, pure and simple. It might not be for everyone but if you like the genre then you will have trouble finding another that matches this in faithfulness to the style.
  Story: I haven’t gone too deep, but what I have seen our MC has an extra advantage over his peers. In Xianxia that advantage can be a target on his back. Not to mention the origin of this advantage and how dangerous it can be by itself. So, the story is one that still ties into the genre and still remains interesting despite how many other Xianxia stories there are.
  Grammar: This one will be short. I find errors even in fully published works. I personally am a typo and missed punctuation factory. I found nothing like that in Yellow River. Maybe I missed some, probably, but still the fact that I didn’t notice any is full points in my book
  Characters: It will be difficult to make new and interesting characters in a Xianxia story without breaking the genre. That said the main character is quite interesting and shows several glimpses of potential that are intriguing enough to draw your attention even past the other more standard characters
  Now, my thoughts:
  In order to review Yellow River, you have to understand a few things.
  First I want to explain what Xianxia is to me as a reader.
  Within the fantasy genre there are many sub genres, some are more prevalent than others.
  Progression fantasy is a pretty broad fancy term that just means the main character(s) grow in power. It is a very common type of fantasy sub genre, but being so broad progression fantasy has a few notable flavors within.
  Xianxia is an eastern style of power growth story. Without doing ANY research whatsoever I would say it is likely one of the oldest.
  Being
• Redturbans02Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  I have read many xianxia's and i tend to like the slower paced ones where world building is slowly introduced. Feels like AWE (A will Eternal) with the river references so far so good will update as i read through it :)
  Curious to see which direction it takes as there are some differences in the classic cultivation realms.
• Wo7fRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Fresh and straight cultivation story which is an easy read that has laid the foundation for some exciting action with enjoyable world building and some interesting characters.
  building in these small hints of adventure adversity and excitement to come, I have enjoyed the the novel thus far chapter 43 and am excited for more.
• Yubyub1Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  A well written and nicely paced introduction to the cultivation genre without being full of over blown hype and hyperbole. A relaxing and calm read with a likeable protagonist with a stable and understandable range of emotions that slowly explores what it means to be  a cultivator. Good job author
• zazookiRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  This is a surprisingly satisfying read! The only thing I can think of to criticize is that sometimes, it becomes a little unbelievable that the protagonist is so young. Thankfully, my mind can hand-wave this issue away as "cultivation hijinks", and it actually makes sense. Like others have said (including the author, if memory serves) this story is playing the cultivator storyline very straight, and man, it's good! If you love a solid OP MC, give this a read. It's just getting more and more juicy, and it's already very tasty. Highly recommend for any xianxia fan.
• ThrillianRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  I've be honest - a lot of these genres are now to me and I'll still learning the subtle differences between them all.
  That said, I thought this was a brilliant introduction to the cultivation genre.The author said from the jump this is a pretty straight example of the genre, without subversion and deconstruction.
  This only makes this particular work stronger. The story doesn't rely on tropes (or at least, the subversion of tropes) and relies entirely on a deft use of atmosphere and story beats to propel the reader into this genre.
  The story focuses on a young boy named Yu Chen who finds himself learning to be a cultivator after the onset of war. He must quickly adjust to new surroundings, including bullies and mentors both quirky and mythical, all while learning about his own origins and destiny.
  The atmosphere is amazing, with great descriptions and prose. The web fiction is just well-written, and it makes it fun to read. Rarely there is some awkward phrasing, but it never takes the reader out of the story too much. Overall, it's a very fun introduction to this genre, with a relatable main character and excellent style that’s well worth a read!
• storybookknightRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  While I applaud the author for attempting a straightforward xianxia tale, without attempting to subvert or deconstruct the genre, playing a story straight comes with its own challenges, and I'm not quite convinced that Yellow River rises to meet all of them.
  When I look at the story from a stylistic perspective, it feels solid but unexceptional, and like the author is perhaps leaning a bit too much on classic xianxia tropes rather than leaning hard enough into their world-building. One specific example is the titular Yellow River. The choice of having the cultivation world be built around a single ultramassive River is superficially in-tune with the xianxia genre  -and in fact A Thought Through Eternity follows the same conceit - but in comparison to ATTE, Yellow River lacks thematic resonance. (Not that there's any particular shame in underperforming compared to one of the best writers in the genre, mind.) In the former, the sect is built on the river, the river is the source of all qi, the river is powerful enough to destroy the bodies of anything that falls into it, etc. The landscape has numinous power and it makes the fantasy world feel larger than life, because Bai Xiaochun interacts with it. In Yellow River, even though we've heard about the River and its grandeur multiple times, the protagonist has still never seen it - which is fine, it emphasizes how Yu Chen is from the boonies, but it loses out in giving the world some of that immortal charm. The same goes for the various cultivation arts the protagonist has encountered - they mostly do the job, but I don't find a sense of magic or wonder from them - they mostly feel like fighting techniques with some supernatural assistance.
  From the narrative perspective, I get the same sense of 'solid but unexceptional.' It feels like the author was content with telling a story set in a xianxia universe, without having a clear goal as to what kind of story it is and how it could accomplish that. As things stand, the st
• StrgRoyal Road

  ★★★ 3.0

  It's pretty much just another xianxia. It is what the synopsis promises and that's what you get. However, I would say it is not even close to contend with the best of the genre as it aims to.
  As far as I read there wasn't any harem (I'm using the term loosely and to mean "too many possible love interests" instead of an actual harem) but I can see the early signs with all the talented characters in the sect being females slightly older than the MC. He even got a female familiar which is either gonna become a daughter and bring in the "cute small girl" bs or just another possibile love interest. Seeing as this is just another xianxia I'm not even entertaining the idea of it going any other way.
  The writing quality is not that great either, the author needs a beta reader or something. There's way too many instances of repeating the same words or saying the same thing twice in a row but with slightly different words. Altough, I guess, you could argue that is pretty standard for the genre too.
  If you can get past the annoying writing habit and are quite new to the genre, this story could be of mild interest to you. If you already read plenty but want just another exact copy paste of what you read so far, this could be of mild interest too.
  If you're looking for a bit of originality or even just plain good cultivation I would say this is not it. If you want to be generous give it 10 chapters to see if it's worth your time.