Path of the Berserker

Path of the Berserker #1

by Rick Scott

A world destroyed. An axe to grind. And a path to infinite power. Welcome to my reality.

When the cultivators came to Earth, they destroyed our entire civilization in a matter of hours. Armies fell, cities burned, and that was before the moon turned red and filled our world with monsters.

Now, over a decade later, what's left of humanity slaves under the heels of our Qi-infused masters. The luckiest of us might even become one of them, they say—if we serve the Dynasty well enough and harness the power of Qi.

But I want none of that.
 
I'm sick of serving and I want nothing to do with their world. Instead, I want them to pay for what they did to mine. Maybe that's why she found me. The fearsome, angry goddess who showed me a different path. Apparently, Qi is not the only route to power.
 
Now I'll fight to take back my planet, to grow strong enough to beat the cultivators at their own game. Through the power of blood, rage, and pain, I will free humanity or die trying.
 
For that's the Path of a Berserker.

Path of the Berserker is a progression fantasy novel that contains immortal cultivators, an oppressive intergalactic dynasty, rage-inducing imperial bureaucracy, magical spirit beasts, fantastical martial arts and one pissed-off MC who's sick of it all. Fans of western-style cultivation fantasy, post apocalypse, and xianxia should enjoy.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Action, Young Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic

934 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 5, 2023

Reviews

[Mia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Conflicted. For the subgenre, this is well written. The world building is decent, and the plot is fast and well directed. It's full of good tropes, and generally, the story is high quality. However, the issues with characterization are glaring. The MC is perhaps the most "ick" male character I've ever read. To give an idea, there is literally a scene where he sees his long time female friend near death and thinks how pretty she is without her glasses. I literally laughed out loud.

The premise of Max/Chun's character is that he's powered (literally) by anger at injustice. That is a cool concept, but the more I read, the more I think he's empowered by his desire to be a "Chad". The weird chauvinistic white knighting is constant throughout the novel. His flexing to women, his constant cheesy smiles and dumb one liners are just cringe. The true injustice of the story is that the author writes the female characters to ADORE all of Max's "icky" behavior. Ha! Hysterical!

The MC is obsessed with himself and playing hero. The basis of a hero archetype is being selfless. Max is the opposite of that. He's self aggrandizing, desperate for approval, thirsty for attention and admiration. If he cared about others, he wouldn't be so short sighted. He repeatedly puts others in terrible situations so he can bolster his ego and put the bullies in their place, not even realizing he's just as bad as the bullies. And if he can't get any worse, he's also just a misogynist. He talks about other men taking away his female friend's "innocence" and comments how she'll "thank him later" for white knighting her and making her life harder--so patronizing for someone so dumb. He calls random girls "whores" and "bitches" just for fun after meeting them for 2 seconds (this one is sort of forgivable because you can say it's battle fervor or he's trying to make them mad, but he calls them that in his internal monologues too). Just gross, man. And what's killer, Max lacks any self awareness of his own skeeviness. I'm fine with morally terrible characters, but the ones that think they are heroes when they're just cringe...I can't abide. My cringe tolerance is not high enough.

The most unlikeable mc I've read in a while. I tried to give it a solid shot because of the pros mentioned, but in the end, Max is such a flaming turd of a human, that I don't care if he succeeds. If this was an effort from the author to be true to the xianxia genre's tendency to write women characters terribly, the author has succeeded.

[Clint Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

KU Review

Really interesting cultivation story. The apocalypse elements are barely even touched upon so far. Great open note for what should be an epic series.

General disclaimer: I want to be clear in that I do not factor cost into any review and as such, this is simply a reflection of my enjoyment of the book and in no way reflects cost to value analysis.

[Mario Palomino · Rating 2 out of 5]

white savior complex, good plot bad execution, renamed qi as lemonade

It’s honestly not a bad story. The setup and plot have a lot of potential.

I don’t usually have a problem with the mc being white but the author also makes his other characters fall into racial stereotypes:

White mc: main character and savior
Hispanic friend: single and pregnant
Indian friend: really smart
Asians: all the bad guys w kung fu

It’s not overly racist it just felt a bit off with the racial stuff and then all the hot female cultivators wanting to hav sex with him

Also the author decided to substitute the feeling of in taking qi/energy with word lemonade and it got really freaking annoying. The word lemonade must’ve been used over 100 times

[Caylon M · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this one, but the main character popping up chic references for a late teenager even though he was abducted when he was so young and would have never been exposed to such things - it's just too jarring for me.

The youth of the earth were put through a supremacist reform school. Even with going through that, as well as the trauma of the whole world being taken over and reformed, he reads like a spoiled child with a chip on his shoulder freshly thrown in the outside world.

Part of his gripe is he doesn't believe in the cultivators way of power, partially with due to how they get it from taken in the energy of the universe which he seems to revile. But if he truly had the grudge and hate he assumes to have, he wouldn't have any reservations about it and it makes his motivation seem shallow.

Another issue with the story that may be explained later, is the Emperor from the 14000 year old dynasty sensed Earth's inhabitants, both human and otherwise, had an unnatural gift for cultivation. Yet everyone from earth is weak which just seems silly. Let alone the dynasty only being 14000 years old when it's ruled by literal immortals and spans across universes.

All in all definitely only a book for younger teenagers to read, though it definitely promotes some unhealthy levels of chauvinistic views.

[Sonny Woods · Rating 3 out of 5]

***Audiobook Review***

First, given that this is an audiobook, the narration should be as important as the story. The narrator for this book is terrible when it comes to female voices. You will eventually get used to the female voices, but it is very distracting. The narrator also screams a ton. He wants to show emotion, but it just comes off as over dramatic screaming. I would very much recommend that the author choose a different narrator for future books.

As for the story, the overall themes and premise of the story is good. The details of the story are lacking. The MC just reads about techniques and can just perform them. Little or no training is needed for almost any of the skills the MC uses. At times he just knows how to do a skill from just thin air. I mean this literally. The skill just comes into his head. There's little to no explanation of what the skills are actually doing. There's little to no explanation to why he is stronger than people at the same cultivation level. There's little to no explanation for a lot of things in the story. If you just ignore all of this then you will most likely enjoy this story.

All this in mind, the story does get better towards the end, but you must stop thinking about these details or else you'll end up ruining the story for yourself. I will read the next book because the story is good enough, but you must turn off your brain for this read.

[Adam Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable new entry into the cultivation genre!

Man this book was a ride! If you read the description then you have the basics down. What I liked about this one was the seemingly insurmountable odds that Max/Chun has to overcome, and the way the author manages to write in plausible ways for him to overcome them. Sure there are some “wow that’s a heck of a coincidence” moments, but not to the point where it feels like our guy is a Mary Sue.

The cultivation system differences are really interesting too! In most systems you have orthodox/unorthodox methods, but I’ve never seen one where Qi is the standard and then Dao/Path based is viewed as heretical! Kinda wild and also fun! There’s also other paths we find out, which is neat!

Power growth for our main man was very good as well! I can’t complain a bit about his starting vs ending points in power! The political and cultural backgrounds he’s overcoming were very standard cultivation/young master-mistress tropes. But they were also done well, with at least some depth and background for them. Definitely recommend!

[Sunday Okafor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let's see, the book is called path of the berserker, obviously the MC is the said berserker. There are certain traits that could be associated with that title, which ultimately comes with a lot of downsides, like being emotionally driven into stupid acts and taking actions without thinking it through.

I just hoped maybe, just maybe things would be done a bit differently but that didn't happen, you get what you'd expect from a berserker. The protagonist here is another dummy and this book feels like it's written for ten year olds .

For emphasis there was a scene in the book where the lead character suggested a face slapping competition to settle a dispute.

[mark mercier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lemonade

For the most part I had lemonade for this book. The mc was a bit of a smart ass that by all rights should have been killed outright early on, but I really started flushing lemonade towards him as he developed. I lemonaded him so hard it was embarrassing. I like my hero op, so lemonade. Did I mention lemonade?

[Anas Alrowaili · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rick Scott’s Path of the Berserker offers a richly imagined world with compelling encounters and strong thematic ambition. The worldbuilding is impressive, with vivid sequences like the Blood Moon events, the Firebird sect interactions, and the bunker human encounters. Themes such as oppression, brotherhood, trust, loyalty, patriotism, and personal growth are threaded throughout the story, often naturally emerging from the protagonist’s experiences. Fight scenes are cinematic, dynamic, and well-described, capturing the intensity of combat effectively.

However, the book struggles with consistency and execution in several key areas. The protagonist is presented as both a “dumb” berserker and a prodigy with photographic memory, creating tension between instinctive rage and technical skill that the narrative doesn’t convincingly resolve. Mood swings are abrupt, and verbal aggression—especially toward younger characters—feels jarring and poorly justified.

A particularly noticeable stylistic flaw is the literal, manga-inspired naming of attacks. While the narrative already conveys the action in detail, the forced labeling interrupts the flow, draws attention to itself, and feels tonally dissonant with the English narrative. Instead of enhancing immersion or depth, it comes across as unnecessary and underwhelming, breaking the otherwise strong worldbuilding and narrative momentum.

Additionally, the pacing of cultivation and physical feats stretches credibility. The protagonist achieves extreme skill, rapid mastery of abilities, and remarkable physical endurance in impossibly short timeframes. While such exaggerations are a common LitRPG trope, the scale here conflicts with genre expectations of internal logic, making it difficult to suspend disbelief fully.

The relationships between the protagonist and side characters, meant to convey brotherhood and trust, sometimes feel underdeveloped or awkwardly executed. Although thematic intentions are clear, the emotional resonance is occasionally undermined by abrupt interactions or inconsistencies in character behavior.

In summary, Path of the Berserker succeeds in worldbuilding, imaginative encounters, and thematic ambition, but inconsistencies in character logic, pacing, combat presentation, and stylistic execution undermine the reading experience. While it may appeal to fans of fast-paced, high-powered LitRPG or cultivation-inspired fantasy, it fell short for me personally, and I do not plan to continue with subsequent volumes.

Pros: Strong worldbuilding, vivid combat, thematic depth, imaginative encounters.
Cons: Abrupt mood swings, inconsistent character logic, rushed cultivation and physical feats, awkward verbal aggression, and jarring, unnecessary attack naming.

3 out of 5 and this is enough for me won't be going to the next book

[Jessica Zu · Rating 1 out of 5]

a weird myth of redemptive violence with lots of chinese flavors/stereotypes—like the floating golden pagoda—the symbol of a heavenly oppressive bureaucracy & of course the qi-paradigm. and of course the savior is a berserker, the norse (aka white) savior driven by vengeance for ‘justice’ and welcomed/desired by all chinese ladies.

[Nina K Damas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh I love a good ending. This book was amazing, fun and very well written. Waiting to see what comes next

[Tiuri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great with a lot of action, interesting storylines and characters that are fun to read about.

[Dantegideon · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s a “life is suffering!” style book, which I personally don’t enjoy, and the MC is a bit of a blunt instrument. Not really any surprises.

[Alesay · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 48%. I am quite disappointed with this book. I really wanted to like it, but unfortunately, I strongly dislike the MC and the author's writing style. While I understand that the premise of this story is for the MC to push himself, face challenges, and fight (be a berserker), there must be a better way for the MC to go about doing things. He is rash, not that bright, selfish, and self-centred. While his heart may be in the right place, he doesn't care how his actions affect the people around him. The MC has the end justifies the means mentality.

I also hate how the MC keeps referring to Qi energy (emotions that he can absorb from others??) as lemonade. You can make a drinking game from the number of times the word lemonade is used.

Also, this book feels like a YA book, even though it isn't listed as one. While not necessarily a bad thing, it's not a genre I'm currently interested in.

On the plus side, the plot is very interesting. Maybe in a few years, I'll look up the ending.

[IU_read · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoa, i like this book. Strong willed MC with brute force.

[PunkHazard · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF at 60%. Not a bad book just nothing that really gripped me. I just found myself not caring about the story or the action or any of the characters. I also think the book didn’t do a good enough job in making us hate the cultivators and what they did to earth. It was strangely glossed over. Non of the antagonists felt truly threatening or engaging. Honestly just felt bland and by the numbers. Another victim of the serial format

[Chris Chaser · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably an average book overall. Pretty interesting anti-cultivator arc, but a bit rushed. The angst the MC feels over not being the most powerful person in the world after *checks watch* like 2 weeks was frustrating. But I consume books via Audible and the narrator made me pine for the good old days of self-narrated books (for younger listeners, this is facetious. They were awful) I couldn't get through it.

[Jason Bucher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Setting and advancement were interesting but the sexism was really hard to look past. I almost DNFed but I kept with it to see how the final fight would turn out. This book would really benefit from an editor that could trim down a lot of the bulk and catch a lot of the typos. I will not be reading any other books by this author.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite a lot of clunky writing I was drawn in enough to read this very long book. There’s just enough interesting character work to keep it fresh as it goes along and I liked the nature of the struggle. It was enough to smooth over the usual eye rolling tropes of the genre/fantasy.

And, yeah, the whole lemonade thing made me laugh.

2.5 okay+

[Cameron Prestwich · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty fun, but it was also very gory and a little bit difficult to understand the different levels of progression and what those mean for combat. For example, it wasn’t very easy to know if a blow should kill someone or not. Also, I listen to the audiobook and the narrator would like angry yell some of the parts and that was kind of annoying.

[Danial Ashmun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Berserker Path

The Path of the Berserker is a lively twist on both the apocalypse and cultivation themes. Rick Scott blends them seamlessly into a story that keeps the reader engaged and wanting more. Can’t wait to read the next chapter.

[Alex Wilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dope

Really cool take on cultivation that had me snared the entire read. The pacing of it was pretty good as well it felt like it was the appropriate amount of time. Highly recommend!

[Lester Covax · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd like to give it a 4/5, but it was a chore to finish as the last half is drawn out to DBZ proportions. The premise is cheesy/stupid which I'm fine with, but the book fell prey to the destroyer of cultivation novels -- ad nauseum copy/paste repetition akin to a CW series.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long. So long. I listened to the audiobook. The narrator felt the need to “act” everything. So much shouting. The book itself wasn’t dreadful. Reasonably well written, but the same things kept happening over and over again. Oh and plot holes galore! But readable.

[Tobias Granberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice worldbuilding. The last 10% of the book the main character acted quite out of character and angsty in an attempt to build stakes for a climactic showdown. The story would have been better served by being constistant

[Di Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good plot, bad dialogue

It was at least good enough for me to finish, but I must have skipped at least half of the characters' dialogues to avoid cringing to death.

[Tye Fortenberry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok

Not a fan of characters becoming OP in a month. Parts were rushed and the world building needed some help.

[Al Parks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great!

I was happy to see a cool barbarian class in litrpg. I can't wait to read the next book, and see where Chun goes with his mastery of berserker cultivation.

[Jeremy Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read.

If you like action and fantasy type books , this will be up your alley. Looking forward to reading more from the author.

[Scott Estrella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrilling to the end!

Lovable characters and an amazing world! I ate this book up! well done. I highly recommend it to you all