What do you think?
A Mage's Cultivation #6
Immortal Family: A Mage's Cultivation, Book 6
Isaac has one last step to reunite with his family. Politics aside, it is everything he could have hoped. Only he won’t allow them to define his life. Despite their wishes for him to rest and raise a family, trouble springs anew.
He isn’t one to let things go when one of his women is in trouble. Isaac sets off on one last mission against the wishes of his family—only to find more than he could have ever expected.
The fate of his family rests in his hands. If only he can put all the pieces together and come out on top of one last adventure.
He isn’t one to let things go when one of his women is in trouble. Isaac sets off on one last mission against the wishes of his family—only to find more than he could have ever expected.
The fate of his family rests in his hands. If only he can put all the pieces together and come out on top of one last adventure.
Audible Audio
First published May 8, 2022
About the author
Bruce Sentar
61 books899 followersBorn and raised in the agricultural midwest, I moved every year after school even as far as Shanghai before settling down with my wife in Chicago.
I have always enjoyed Wuxia stories and became thrilled when I discovered harem stories spreading to western books. I've written down my day dreams for years as an idle hobby. Inspired by the harem genre I'm finally fleshing them out into full blown novels.
I'm excited to share my stories with you as I turn them into novels and series.
Connect with me on Facebook for updates on my latest books.
https://www.facebook.com/Bruce-Sentar...
I have always enjoyed Wuxia stories and became thrilled when I discovered harem stories spreading to western books. I've written down my day dreams for years as an idle hobby. Inspired by the harem genre I'm finally fleshing them out into full blown novels.
I'm excited to share my stories with you as I turn them into novels and series.
Connect with me on Facebook for updates on my latest books.
https://www.facebook.com/Bruce-Sentar...
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
February 18, 2025
Having now finished two Bruce Sentar series, I can say that the endings suddenly arriving like a brick wall sprouting out of your lane of travel on the highway with little warning seems to be one of his trademarks. A lot of the romantic polyamory of the early books takes a definite backseat in this one in the name of quickly wrapping up the story and collecting an obnoxious amount of women. An obvious downside, especially to *this* many characters, is that not everyone can get some screen time. Thea is hardly mentioned, Nikki and Diane become one character in "the Hua sisters", Foo (the cover girl) hardly gets a romance, Madam Orchid gets a really satisfying payoff but ends up having to take a backseat to the next girl on the rotation, and so on.
I still enjoyed it, and my struggles in the center section are more my own tendency to not want to finish a series to spare myself from choice paralysis when I have to read something next.
I still enjoyed it, and my struggles in the center section are more my own tendency to not want to finish a series to spare myself from choice paralysis when I have to read something next.
December 11, 2023
It was a decent end to the second arc of this series. I don't know if there will be more books, but i wouldn't be opposed to it. It's too bad that the 6th mana beast didn't get a whole lot of page time, but then neither did Loomie, the 4th mana beast. After she joined in book 4, she practically disappeared in favour of Phoebe, the phoenix.
Also, it keeps being mentioned that all the cultivators are immortals with immortal bodies in this world, yet they keep making such a big deal about the youngest generation and preserving the ancient bloodlines. I mean, i get that, keeping the bloodline strong. But if these are immortals, can't they just have child after child for centuries, like even the elders, constantly creating new kids with their bloodline? And why are most of the elders depicted as being old people? Is that what, as an immortal, you have to look forward to? Sure you get to live forever, but most of that eternity will be spent as a decrepit senior with aching bones. Or at least looking like one. And why is there not any old (in age) immortals? Like millennia old? Are they too bust killing each other to last that long? I don't know, i feel the whole immortal thing could have been done better.
Also, it keeps being mentioned that all the cultivators are immortals with immortal bodies in this world, yet they keep making such a big deal about the youngest generation and preserving the ancient bloodlines. I mean, i get that, keeping the bloodline strong. But if these are immortals, can't they just have child after child for centuries, like even the elders, constantly creating new kids with their bloodline? And why are most of the elders depicted as being old people? Is that what, as an immortal, you have to look forward to? Sure you get to live forever, but most of that eternity will be spent as a decrepit senior with aching bones. Or at least looking like one. And why is there not any old (in age) immortals? Like millennia old? Are they too bust killing each other to last that long? I don't know, i feel the whole immortal thing could have been done better.
October 5, 2023
Final Rating: 2.79/5.00
Starting score: 2.50
+0.27 for bloodline politics that give exploitation concrete social and economic roots
+0.23 for the greenhouse investigation and the tainted crystals' connected setup and payoff
+0.31 for Phoebe's grief, growing trust and gradual sense of belonging
+0.18 for Jonny and Steve's reciprocal friendship and the human cost of immortal separation
+0.30 for tactical teamwork and sword training that pays off in combat
+0.23 for explicit intimacy with affection, individual responses and emotional purpose
+0.22 for delivering on the mana beasts' bodily aspirations with a lasting magical cost
+0.14 for meaningful choices about partnership and freedom to leave
+0.24 for a domestic conclusion that gives the family a future beyond advancement
-0.40 for convenient intervention and repeated, disproportionately easy power gains
-0.34 for rushed additions to the harem and insufficient individual development
-0.30 for Isaac's cruelty toward vulnerable outsiders receiving inadequate scrutiny
-0.20 for interruptions that weaken urgent rescue and danger sequences
-0.14 for repetitive sexual dialogue, character gestures and injury jokes
-0.18 for thin antagonists and repetitive expressions of superiority
-0.17 for compressed emotional and practical aftermath, including neglected family threads
-0.10 for verified grammar, wording and name-consistency errors
Calculated final score: 2.79/5.00
I finished listening with more affection for this family than confidence in how its growth was written. The quieter moments offer a home worth fighting for. The progression keeps throwing power and partners into a household that already needs time to breathe. As the Alpha Ice Wolf of HowlStrom, I respond to the promise of a dependable pack, and I judge it by what its members do for one another. Affection and responsibility have to survive outside the speeches. There is also frequent, fully explicit sex, including lengthy scenes early on and further detailed encounters throughout the later story. Desire is central to this audiobook, and I want it to have the same character and conviction as the fighting.
The bloodline politics give the conflict something solid to bite into. Isaac's usefulness to the Yunpi affects protection, marriage and trade. Women's value is calculated through the children they might bear. Help comes with ugly conditions when someone's safety depends on whether she carries the right bloodline. Cloud City's mountain, concentrated mana and controlled access make privilege physically visible. The Leon family's treatment of people without its prized inheritance pushes that logic into organised brutality. Labour, bodies and cultivation become resources for those at the top. Employment and family obligation can both conceal a trap. That gives Isaac's desire to protect his household credible pressure, while raising a question the story handles less thoroughly: what happens to everyone who cannot marry, inherit or fight their way into protection?
The greenhouse investigation works because the apparent job and actual danger gradually stop matching. Instructions about permitted cultivation, unusually generous rewards and the management's behaviour invite suspicion before the explanation arrives. Isaac and his friends work inside those circumstances, so discovery comes through action. The dangerous plants are entertaining, and the shift from magical agricultural labour to a much uglier business gives the setting a purpose beyond another monster encounter. The tainted crystals belong to this same strength. Their wrongness is established, their movement matters, and their purpose receives an answer. I appreciate a mystery that remembers its questions. A functioning scheme connects the middle and ending, and uncovering it changes the meaning of earlier events. The clues have somewhere to go.
Jonny and Steve give Isaac companionship less arranged around his importance. Steve's practical competence and Jonny's outspoken energy shape the group, and Isaac has to protect and depend on them. The loyalty is reciprocal. The conversation around a mother's kebab recipe carries particular weight for me. Passing it to a mana beast preserves something intimate as an immortal son moves beyond the reach of a mortal mother's lifetime. Ordinary food holds the distance between people who love each other. I know the pull of wanting a familiar presence to remain available when life will not promise that. In HowlStrom terms, this is the scent of home caught in the fur after the den has grown far away. A domestic detail makes immortality costly without a lecture about eternity.
The fighting works best when different abilities solve different problems. Scouting, poison, arrows and distraction have distinct jobs. The later use of shared space and coordinated attacks develops that principle, while keeping someone positioned to support an escape gives the family an actual plan. I also value Phoebe's sword instruction. Extending intent through a blade, separating it from the weapon and learning what that permits provide steps I can follow. The lessons receive attention before a crisis demands the result. That progression holds my interest: someone attempts something, gains understanding and uses it under pressure. The audiobook has substantial movement and confrontation. Its explanations usually lead to somebody trying a technique or making a tactical choice, giving the magic a practical presence in the action.
The larger advances are much less satisfying. Isaac damages himself through a reckless overload, then benefits from restoration and opportunities that send his household's power sharply upward. Lanhua's cultivation becomes an especially generous source of advancement, and shared bonds carry others across supposedly formidable barriers. Bai's intervention follows an attempt to contact her, but its timing still supplies a powerful outside answer to an overwhelming opponent. Her restrictions leave convenient room for assistance. These solutions accumulate until I expect danger to produce a reward before its cost has settled. Even the climax adds another acceleration. The sword training shows how much more satisfying this could have been. Let the damn climb leave some wear on their paws. When years of cultivation can be overtaken through the next fortunate connection, the world's insistence on difficult advancement loses force.
Phoebe carries the strongest emotional development because her loneliness has a history. She has outlived the world that gave her life meaning. Power cannot give those people back, and usefulness to Isaac cannot automatically make her feel at home. His quiet response matters: holding her, listening and recognising that she needs experiences beyond waiting inside a bond. A chosen gift and time with a lonely child help build a present she can participate in. Their relationship has to move beyond his need for her knowledge. That touches my own need for a dependable pack. Loneliness can survive company when all anyone wants is what I can provide. Phoebe's better scenes recognise the difference between being needed for a task and being wanted nearby. Her eventual belonging has roots in those acts, giving it credibility that another declaration of eternal devotion could not supply alone.
Lanhua's revenge grows out of exclusion and exploitation, while the places she has built give her interests beyond becoming another partner. Isaac questions how she uses him; his dependence on Phoebe makes that suspicion uncomfortable. I value his recognition of a resemblance between behaviour he resents and behaviour he benefits from. Lanhua's history gives sexual power an ugly context, with cultivation designed to serve someone else's appetite for control. Her concern for vulnerable girls gives that experience a constructive direction. Living after such exploitation deserved more sustained attention, though. The movement from danger and self-sacrifice into secure romantic devotion happens quickly. Difficult emotional work gets absorbed into the relief of joining Isaac's household.
Isaac's treatment of vulnerable outsiders is the point where my respect for his protective identity runs into a wall. After extracting information from an enslaved worker, he kills the man to avoid the risk of being reported. Elsewhere, he threatens a frightened captive's entire family. These are people caught beneath the same machinery of power the story has taught me to condemn. A brief expression of regret cannot examine what Isaac has chosen to become, and the narrative soon returns to his devotion to the people he loves. I want dark fiction to follow its characters into ugly places and stay long enough for the damage to matter. Here, compassion narrows to the household while the heroic warmth continues almost untouched. The innkeeper's treatment by Mei exposes the same problem: a weaker person faces pressure from people capable of destroying her, and the protagonists treat her compliance as grounds for abuse. My idea of an Alpha includes responsibility for the force in his claws. A stranger doesn't stop being a person outside my den. This selective sympathy leaves a serious hole in the family ideal.
The mana beasts' wish for real bodies deserves the space it receives. It addresses a fundamental limit on their lives through physical autonomy, ordinary experience and the futures they want. A finite resource underlies the preparation, so pursuing this goal closes off another use of that power. I appreciate that lasting cost. Foo makes belonging concrete in a different way. Her instinct to guard the home persists even during play, and Isaac's support when the game turns against her gives their connection an everyday setting. Having lost the home she once defended gives that instinct a history. I recognise the weight of duty that follows an Alpha into the den when everyone else has settled down. Around these characters, transformation has personal meaning: what life becomes possible, what habits remain, and whether a protector can feel secure enough to enjoy the household she protects.
Choices about partnership deserve direct credit. Tabitha wants a different relationship, and Isaac supports her departure and protects that decision from family pressure. He accepts an answer that takes somebody away from him. His willingness to offer the mana beasts freedom also matters, especially given the unequal conditions around earlier bonds. Later, a woman's boundary around childbirth receives support even when it frustrates him. Those actions give consent a life beyond declarations of love. They are useful movement in a series whose bonds can make dependence difficult to separate from desire. For a pack built on unusually permanent connections, the ability to say no needs practical protection. Isaac supplies that protection in these moments, and I respect the difference it makes.
The expanding harem strains individuality badly. Ai receives enough warmth, playfulness and contact with the children to suggest someone I can begin to know. Several other women arrive through cooking, attraction and willingness, then move toward extraordinary commitment with little development. A favourite dish cannot carry a relationship. The household eventually contains dozens of wives, many without a distinct emotional shape. I want to know how they disagree, what makes them difficult and what they value outside Isaac. Formal agreement to a bond answers a question about consent while leaving love largely unexplored. New attachments move too quickly from availability to permanence. I can remember the dumplings more clearly than the woman, and that's a problem. The number becomes evidence of success before the individual relationships are convincing.
I want a good book and good porn, and the best intimate scenes understand that explicit detail and feeling can occupy the same space. Encounters develop at length through physical responses and participation. Familiarity between established partners makes the affection feel lived in. Women sometimes direct the pace, express different needs or respond to one another, giving group scenes movement beyond a queue of admirers waiting for Isaac. Reassurance, vulnerability and the wish to share a future give desire emotional weight. I like that the audiobook follows through on its sexual premise throughout the story. Pleasure and playful familiarity can sustain an encounter without a new plot revelation. The strongest scenes provide those things through the characters' responses, and that is where the explicitness earns its place for me.
Placement causes a separate problem during urgent sequences. Lanhua's captivity should exert pressure on what follows. Isaac's injury creates a real obstacle, but the extended sexual recovery and relaxed social detours let the urgency drain away. Danger exists elsewhere while the immediate scene settles into another rhythm. Later, with a poisoned friend under care and a deadline threatening Isaac's household, the intimate diversion with Thea has a similar effect. Mana replenishment explains a benefit; it cannot preserve tension by itself. I need choices and transitions that keep endangered people present in the characters' priorities. These stretches make the rescue feel as though it can wait. A winter storm loses its threat when everyone repeatedly behaves as though there is time for a leisurely afternoon before reaching shelter.
The dialogue and jokes wear grooves into the characters. Repeated praise of Isaac's body, possessive declarations and calls of "Master" flatten different women into the same approving voice. Desire should reveal temperament, embarrassment or an unexpected need. Too often it returns to proof that he is irresistible. Steve's silent reactions and Jonny's commentary establish a rhythm, then become readily reused signals. The injury jokes are worse. Feeding, guarding and helping an injured partner show care through unglamorous effort; hurting him again for a comic reprimand cheapens that vulnerability. I want the tenderness to stand. Reaching for familiar teasing or punishment interrupts the relationship detail that could make the household feel more intimate.
The antagonists have a similar shortage of range. Individual confrontations lean heavily on contempt, boasts and disbelief that somebody beneath them could be dangerous. Edmond's sadism gives Lanhua an obvious target, but his threats reveal less than the system he serves. Hostile cultivators repeatedly follow the same pattern: status produces arrogance, Isaac refuses submission, and surprise arrives when he proves stronger than expected. The opposition becomes predictable even when the abilities change. I want adversaries capable of reconsidering or recognising a failed assumption before it destroys them. Repeated snarling gives my ears little new information. Superiority substitutes for personality until these people resemble obstacles placed along Isaac's route.
The wording needed another editing pass. "She crushed me to her chest as spun about" is missing the subject of the second action. A damaged soul palace is described as "resorting itself" where the context calls for "restoring itself." The same widow is introduced as Tabatha and subsequently called Tabitha. The missing word damages the sentence; the wrong verb describes the wrong action; the changing name adds inconsistency to an already crowded cast. These avoidable slips make the storytelling less precise than it should be.
The aftermath needed more attention. The main conflict concludes, but practical work around the mines remains intended follow-up. Later time jumps do not clearly establish its completion. Isaac's older children receive too much of their place through updates and too little through substantial interaction with him. New babies get the spotlight while existing relationships could use a reunion with weight. A child's grief is hurried toward reassurance and cheerfulness, leaving little room for the unevenness of loss. These omissions matter in a conclusion built around family. I need to feel whom Isaac still owes time, what damage survives victory and what responsibility continues after the threat is gone. The final years pass faster than some obligations can acquire a scene.
The ending earns its value by letting a life together become enough. Terrance's preference for family, Phoebe's isolation and Rutu's absorption in advancement offer different answers to what immortality is for. The domestic conclusion brings that question home. Trade, reconnaissance and household protection give the wives responsibilities beyond reproduction, with room to change roles. Friends retain interests of their own, including Steve's work with mana beasts. Care becomes work carried into the future. I appreciate a conclusion willing to stay there instead of treating another level of power as the only worthwhile destination. I would choose a dependable den over an empty throne above HowlStrom's highest storm. The quieter companionship understands that desire; the rush to expand the family gives it too little patience. There is warmth here worth keeping, with thin ice beneath too much of the path home.
Starting score: 2.50
+0.27 for bloodline politics that give exploitation concrete social and economic roots
+0.23 for the greenhouse investigation and the tainted crystals' connected setup and payoff
+0.31 for Phoebe's grief, growing trust and gradual sense of belonging
+0.18 for Jonny and Steve's reciprocal friendship and the human cost of immortal separation
+0.30 for tactical teamwork and sword training that pays off in combat
+0.23 for explicit intimacy with affection, individual responses and emotional purpose
+0.22 for delivering on the mana beasts' bodily aspirations with a lasting magical cost
+0.14 for meaningful choices about partnership and freedom to leave
+0.24 for a domestic conclusion that gives the family a future beyond advancement
-0.40 for convenient intervention and repeated, disproportionately easy power gains
-0.34 for rushed additions to the harem and insufficient individual development
-0.30 for Isaac's cruelty toward vulnerable outsiders receiving inadequate scrutiny
-0.20 for interruptions that weaken urgent rescue and danger sequences
-0.14 for repetitive sexual dialogue, character gestures and injury jokes
-0.18 for thin antagonists and repetitive expressions of superiority
-0.17 for compressed emotional and practical aftermath, including neglected family threads
-0.10 for verified grammar, wording and name-consistency errors
Calculated final score: 2.79/5.00
I finished listening with more affection for this family than confidence in how its growth was written. The quieter moments offer a home worth fighting for. The progression keeps throwing power and partners into a household that already needs time to breathe. As the Alpha Ice Wolf of HowlStrom, I respond to the promise of a dependable pack, and I judge it by what its members do for one another. Affection and responsibility have to survive outside the speeches. There is also frequent, fully explicit sex, including lengthy scenes early on and further detailed encounters throughout the later story. Desire is central to this audiobook, and I want it to have the same character and conviction as the fighting.
The bloodline politics give the conflict something solid to bite into. Isaac's usefulness to the Yunpi affects protection, marriage and trade. Women's value is calculated through the children they might bear. Help comes with ugly conditions when someone's safety depends on whether she carries the right bloodline. Cloud City's mountain, concentrated mana and controlled access make privilege physically visible. The Leon family's treatment of people without its prized inheritance pushes that logic into organised brutality. Labour, bodies and cultivation become resources for those at the top. Employment and family obligation can both conceal a trap. That gives Isaac's desire to protect his household credible pressure, while raising a question the story handles less thoroughly: what happens to everyone who cannot marry, inherit or fight their way into protection?
The greenhouse investigation works because the apparent job and actual danger gradually stop matching. Instructions about permitted cultivation, unusually generous rewards and the management's behaviour invite suspicion before the explanation arrives. Isaac and his friends work inside those circumstances, so discovery comes through action. The dangerous plants are entertaining, and the shift from magical agricultural labour to a much uglier business gives the setting a purpose beyond another monster encounter. The tainted crystals belong to this same strength. Their wrongness is established, their movement matters, and their purpose receives an answer. I appreciate a mystery that remembers its questions. A functioning scheme connects the middle and ending, and uncovering it changes the meaning of earlier events. The clues have somewhere to go.
Jonny and Steve give Isaac companionship less arranged around his importance. Steve's practical competence and Jonny's outspoken energy shape the group, and Isaac has to protect and depend on them. The loyalty is reciprocal. The conversation around a mother's kebab recipe carries particular weight for me. Passing it to a mana beast preserves something intimate as an immortal son moves beyond the reach of a mortal mother's lifetime. Ordinary food holds the distance between people who love each other. I know the pull of wanting a familiar presence to remain available when life will not promise that. In HowlStrom terms, this is the scent of home caught in the fur after the den has grown far away. A domestic detail makes immortality costly without a lecture about eternity.
The fighting works best when different abilities solve different problems. Scouting, poison, arrows and distraction have distinct jobs. The later use of shared space and coordinated attacks develops that principle, while keeping someone positioned to support an escape gives the family an actual plan. I also value Phoebe's sword instruction. Extending intent through a blade, separating it from the weapon and learning what that permits provide steps I can follow. The lessons receive attention before a crisis demands the result. That progression holds my interest: someone attempts something, gains understanding and uses it under pressure. The audiobook has substantial movement and confrontation. Its explanations usually lead to somebody trying a technique or making a tactical choice, giving the magic a practical presence in the action.
The larger advances are much less satisfying. Isaac damages himself through a reckless overload, then benefits from restoration and opportunities that send his household's power sharply upward. Lanhua's cultivation becomes an especially generous source of advancement, and shared bonds carry others across supposedly formidable barriers. Bai's intervention follows an attempt to contact her, but its timing still supplies a powerful outside answer to an overwhelming opponent. Her restrictions leave convenient room for assistance. These solutions accumulate until I expect danger to produce a reward before its cost has settled. Even the climax adds another acceleration. The sword training shows how much more satisfying this could have been. Let the damn climb leave some wear on their paws. When years of cultivation can be overtaken through the next fortunate connection, the world's insistence on difficult advancement loses force.
Phoebe carries the strongest emotional development because her loneliness has a history. She has outlived the world that gave her life meaning. Power cannot give those people back, and usefulness to Isaac cannot automatically make her feel at home. His quiet response matters: holding her, listening and recognising that she needs experiences beyond waiting inside a bond. A chosen gift and time with a lonely child help build a present she can participate in. Their relationship has to move beyond his need for her knowledge. That touches my own need for a dependable pack. Loneliness can survive company when all anyone wants is what I can provide. Phoebe's better scenes recognise the difference between being needed for a task and being wanted nearby. Her eventual belonging has roots in those acts, giving it credibility that another declaration of eternal devotion could not supply alone.
Lanhua's revenge grows out of exclusion and exploitation, while the places she has built give her interests beyond becoming another partner. Isaac questions how she uses him; his dependence on Phoebe makes that suspicion uncomfortable. I value his recognition of a resemblance between behaviour he resents and behaviour he benefits from. Lanhua's history gives sexual power an ugly context, with cultivation designed to serve someone else's appetite for control. Her concern for vulnerable girls gives that experience a constructive direction. Living after such exploitation deserved more sustained attention, though. The movement from danger and self-sacrifice into secure romantic devotion happens quickly. Difficult emotional work gets absorbed into the relief of joining Isaac's household.
Isaac's treatment of vulnerable outsiders is the point where my respect for his protective identity runs into a wall. After extracting information from an enslaved worker, he kills the man to avoid the risk of being reported. Elsewhere, he threatens a frightened captive's entire family. These are people caught beneath the same machinery of power the story has taught me to condemn. A brief expression of regret cannot examine what Isaac has chosen to become, and the narrative soon returns to his devotion to the people he loves. I want dark fiction to follow its characters into ugly places and stay long enough for the damage to matter. Here, compassion narrows to the household while the heroic warmth continues almost untouched. The innkeeper's treatment by Mei exposes the same problem: a weaker person faces pressure from people capable of destroying her, and the protagonists treat her compliance as grounds for abuse. My idea of an Alpha includes responsibility for the force in his claws. A stranger doesn't stop being a person outside my den. This selective sympathy leaves a serious hole in the family ideal.
The mana beasts' wish for real bodies deserves the space it receives. It addresses a fundamental limit on their lives through physical autonomy, ordinary experience and the futures they want. A finite resource underlies the preparation, so pursuing this goal closes off another use of that power. I appreciate that lasting cost. Foo makes belonging concrete in a different way. Her instinct to guard the home persists even during play, and Isaac's support when the game turns against her gives their connection an everyday setting. Having lost the home she once defended gives that instinct a history. I recognise the weight of duty that follows an Alpha into the den when everyone else has settled down. Around these characters, transformation has personal meaning: what life becomes possible, what habits remain, and whether a protector can feel secure enough to enjoy the household she protects.
Choices about partnership deserve direct credit. Tabitha wants a different relationship, and Isaac supports her departure and protects that decision from family pressure. He accepts an answer that takes somebody away from him. His willingness to offer the mana beasts freedom also matters, especially given the unequal conditions around earlier bonds. Later, a woman's boundary around childbirth receives support even when it frustrates him. Those actions give consent a life beyond declarations of love. They are useful movement in a series whose bonds can make dependence difficult to separate from desire. For a pack built on unusually permanent connections, the ability to say no needs practical protection. Isaac supplies that protection in these moments, and I respect the difference it makes.
The expanding harem strains individuality badly. Ai receives enough warmth, playfulness and contact with the children to suggest someone I can begin to know. Several other women arrive through cooking, attraction and willingness, then move toward extraordinary commitment with little development. A favourite dish cannot carry a relationship. The household eventually contains dozens of wives, many without a distinct emotional shape. I want to know how they disagree, what makes them difficult and what they value outside Isaac. Formal agreement to a bond answers a question about consent while leaving love largely unexplored. New attachments move too quickly from availability to permanence. I can remember the dumplings more clearly than the woman, and that's a problem. The number becomes evidence of success before the individual relationships are convincing.
I want a good book and good porn, and the best intimate scenes understand that explicit detail and feeling can occupy the same space. Encounters develop at length through physical responses and participation. Familiarity between established partners makes the affection feel lived in. Women sometimes direct the pace, express different needs or respond to one another, giving group scenes movement beyond a queue of admirers waiting for Isaac. Reassurance, vulnerability and the wish to share a future give desire emotional weight. I like that the audiobook follows through on its sexual premise throughout the story. Pleasure and playful familiarity can sustain an encounter without a new plot revelation. The strongest scenes provide those things through the characters' responses, and that is where the explicitness earns its place for me.
Placement causes a separate problem during urgent sequences. Lanhua's captivity should exert pressure on what follows. Isaac's injury creates a real obstacle, but the extended sexual recovery and relaxed social detours let the urgency drain away. Danger exists elsewhere while the immediate scene settles into another rhythm. Later, with a poisoned friend under care and a deadline threatening Isaac's household, the intimate diversion with Thea has a similar effect. Mana replenishment explains a benefit; it cannot preserve tension by itself. I need choices and transitions that keep endangered people present in the characters' priorities. These stretches make the rescue feel as though it can wait. A winter storm loses its threat when everyone repeatedly behaves as though there is time for a leisurely afternoon before reaching shelter.
The dialogue and jokes wear grooves into the characters. Repeated praise of Isaac's body, possessive declarations and calls of "Master" flatten different women into the same approving voice. Desire should reveal temperament, embarrassment or an unexpected need. Too often it returns to proof that he is irresistible. Steve's silent reactions and Jonny's commentary establish a rhythm, then become readily reused signals. The injury jokes are worse. Feeding, guarding and helping an injured partner show care through unglamorous effort; hurting him again for a comic reprimand cheapens that vulnerability. I want the tenderness to stand. Reaching for familiar teasing or punishment interrupts the relationship detail that could make the household feel more intimate.
The antagonists have a similar shortage of range. Individual confrontations lean heavily on contempt, boasts and disbelief that somebody beneath them could be dangerous. Edmond's sadism gives Lanhua an obvious target, but his threats reveal less than the system he serves. Hostile cultivators repeatedly follow the same pattern: status produces arrogance, Isaac refuses submission, and surprise arrives when he proves stronger than expected. The opposition becomes predictable even when the abilities change. I want adversaries capable of reconsidering or recognising a failed assumption before it destroys them. Repeated snarling gives my ears little new information. Superiority substitutes for personality until these people resemble obstacles placed along Isaac's route.
The wording needed another editing pass. "She crushed me to her chest as spun about" is missing the subject of the second action. A damaged soul palace is described as "resorting itself" where the context calls for "restoring itself." The same widow is introduced as Tabatha and subsequently called Tabitha. The missing word damages the sentence; the wrong verb describes the wrong action; the changing name adds inconsistency to an already crowded cast. These avoidable slips make the storytelling less precise than it should be.
The aftermath needed more attention. The main conflict concludes, but practical work around the mines remains intended follow-up. Later time jumps do not clearly establish its completion. Isaac's older children receive too much of their place through updates and too little through substantial interaction with him. New babies get the spotlight while existing relationships could use a reunion with weight. A child's grief is hurried toward reassurance and cheerfulness, leaving little room for the unevenness of loss. These omissions matter in a conclusion built around family. I need to feel whom Isaac still owes time, what damage survives victory and what responsibility continues after the threat is gone. The final years pass faster than some obligations can acquire a scene.
The ending earns its value by letting a life together become enough. Terrance's preference for family, Phoebe's isolation and Rutu's absorption in advancement offer different answers to what immortality is for. The domestic conclusion brings that question home. Trade, reconnaissance and household protection give the wives responsibilities beyond reproduction, with room to change roles. Friends retain interests of their own, including Steve's work with mana beasts. Care becomes work carried into the future. I appreciate a conclusion willing to stay there instead of treating another level of power as the only worthwhile destination. I would choose a dependable den over an empty throne above HowlStrom's highest storm. The quieter companionship understands that desire; the rush to expand the family gives it too little patience. There is warmth here worth keeping, with thin ice beneath too much of the path home.
May 9, 2022
Absolutely loved it
Bruce continues to be my favourite author of this genre. Mana was the series that introduced me to his work and it’s almost sad to see it potentially be the end. I noticed a “slightly open” end hope one day this series is revisited. But all in all it’s a very very satisfying end to Isaacs and his families story. Seeing them all get a well rounded happy ending was very fulfilling. And each character I will miss reading about. The journey from one ring in a tiny town to top immortal in another world with a full happy family, has been a truly epic journey that feels a bit nostalgic to look back on. I hope to see it back one day and give this a 5/5 for potentially being the end of the series. It’s hard to end such a massive journey and it was ended well here. Great job mr. Sentar
Bruce continues to be my favourite author of this genre. Mana was the series that introduced me to his work and it’s almost sad to see it potentially be the end. I noticed a “slightly open” end hope one day this series is revisited. But all in all it’s a very very satisfying end to Isaacs and his families story. Seeing them all get a well rounded happy ending was very fulfilling. And each character I will miss reading about. The journey from one ring in a tiny town to top immortal in another world with a full happy family, has been a truly epic journey that feels a bit nostalgic to look back on. I hope to see it back one day and give this a 5/5 for potentially being the end of the series. It’s hard to end such a massive journey and it was ended well here. Great job mr. Sentar
February 27, 2023
sighs, man…I need more
Well, I truly wish I could have gotten more at the end. I wanted to knock off .5 stars for that ending and just rounded up to 5 stars. I would have liked a more cleaner ending with the family and the kids. All in all this was a beyond fantastic series. Man, I’m actually sad this one is over. The characters was so likeable and one thing I love so much is at the end of the books Sentar talks to us about his thought process and what’s going on with his life and his books. That’s AWESOME! I wish more authors did this. That personal touch right there goes above and beyond to me to give fans some reassurance and something to look forward to, it also gives us a glimpse into what the author was thinking about when they wrote a particular scene. Love that very much. This series was superb. Please read it and support sentars endeavours. Onward, lads!
Well, I truly wish I could have gotten more at the end. I wanted to knock off .5 stars for that ending and just rounded up to 5 stars. I would have liked a more cleaner ending with the family and the kids. All in all this was a beyond fantastic series. Man, I’m actually sad this one is over. The characters was so likeable and one thing I love so much is at the end of the books Sentar talks to us about his thought process and what’s going on with his life and his books. That’s AWESOME! I wish more authors did this. That personal touch right there goes above and beyond to me to give fans some reassurance and something to look forward to, it also gives us a glimpse into what the author was thinking about when they wrote a particular scene. Love that very much. This series was superb. Please read it and support sentars endeavours. Onward, lads!
May 10, 2022
A great ending for a series
Unfortunately this is the last book in the series. The challenges in the adventures that I main character has cinder finally culminates and him and his wife's becoming stronger and protecting themselves from their adversaries. The story has lots of action has lots of intrigue and a little bit of spicy times here and there but done tastefully and not overdone. I can't really say too much about it cuz I don't want to give it away but it has a brilliant ending for a awesome and fun story. This story may be the ending but it's also the beginning of another story which only time will tell if we were here anymore.
Unfortunately this is the last book in the series. The challenges in the adventures that I main character has cinder finally culminates and him and his wife's becoming stronger and protecting themselves from their adversaries. The story has lots of action has lots of intrigue and a little bit of spicy times here and there but done tastefully and not overdone. I can't really say too much about it cuz I don't want to give it away but it has a brilliant ending for a awesome and fun story. This story may be the ending but it's also the beginning of another story which only time will tell if we were here anymore.
May 12, 2022
A great series and this takes it out in a strong fashion. Unlike the last book I reviewed (which I finished after this one), our hero knows how to take out the trash and does so enthusiastically when his family is threatened.
I could say "mo' honeys, mo' problems" about this book, but he seems to have retained his sanity despite having more wives by the end of this than any any sane man should wish for (and he didn't, but...)
The author has a few other series to close out, so I look forward to those, and to whatever he comes up with next. A book/month is pretty ambitious, but as long as it's good I'll read as much as he can write.
I could say "mo' honeys, mo' problems" about this book, but he seems to have retained his sanity despite having more wives by the end of this than any any sane man should wish for (and he didn't, but...)
The author has a few other series to close out, so I look forward to those, and to whatever he comes up with next. A book/month is pretty ambitious, but as long as it's good I'll read as much as he can write.
May 24, 2023
Short but good to end the series
Always sad when I finish a series, but its goo that I made it to the end, so many series I have just stopped reading about book 9 or 10 as I lost interest in reading the next book as I discovered new stories to read. I finished this book very quickly as I liked the story and the characters although by the end of the book his harem was way too big, and the number of kids was impressive. Very good series. Thanks Bruce, might try one of your other series now and see if the writing is just as good.
Always sad when I finish a series, but its goo that I made it to the end, so many series I have just stopped reading about book 9 or 10 as I lost interest in reading the next book as I discovered new stories to read. I finished this book very quickly as I liked the story and the characters although by the end of the book his harem was way too big, and the number of kids was impressive. Very good series. Thanks Bruce, might try one of your other series now and see if the writing is just as good.
October 22, 2024
Quest finished
This is my first review after completing all of the books to date. I am a long time fantasy fan (40) years. I would like to tell you thank you for continuing to make the movies of our minds. Your grasp on when to move on in a story is perfect. I never looked at publishing dates but could tell this series was the first. You character depth just got better and better in you ensuing series. Love the grand parents..Crimson..Demoness(aka Mei) Bruce your really outstanding. I recommend any adult read all of your work . Thank you again.
This is my first review after completing all of the books to date. I am a long time fantasy fan (40) years. I would like to tell you thank you for continuing to make the movies of our minds. Your grasp on when to move on in a story is perfect. I never looked at publishing dates but could tell this series was the first. You character depth just got better and better in you ensuing series. Love the grand parents..Crimson..Demoness(aka Mei) Bruce your really outstanding. I recommend any adult read all of your work . Thank you again.
May 22, 2025
A sweet ending to a tale carved in blood
Read all 6 books back to back and have to say; it is by far one of the most fun cultivation stories I have read. While book 6 ends in a very sweet happily ever after, the potential for more is there with Bai and her mysterious family. I almost hope it is one of the kids that begins that journey so dad can continue to rest, or maybe it will be far into their future when we get a new story for Isaac. Plus, we needed more time with all the kids!!! Hopefully, we get a short story with them.
Read all 6 books back to back and have to say; it is by far one of the most fun cultivation stories I have read. While book 6 ends in a very sweet happily ever after, the potential for more is there with Bai and her mysterious family. I almost hope it is one of the kids that begins that journey so dad can continue to rest, or maybe it will be far into their future when we get a new story for Isaac. Plus, we needed more time with all the kids!!! Hopefully, we get a short story with them.
May 12, 2022
Good ending to a wonderful series.
This was a good book to end the series with. It wraps up everything nicely. It feels a little rushed, but with cultivation books, once you reach a certain level a lot of things can feel rushed. I enjoy the world and characters, but don’t feel another book in the series is needed. A new book with new characters in the same world would be good.
Overall, if you read the others in the series, I believe you will enjoy this one.
This was a good book to end the series with. It wraps up everything nicely. It feels a little rushed, but with cultivation books, once you reach a certain level a lot of things can feel rushed. I enjoy the world and characters, but don’t feel another book in the series is needed. A new book with new characters in the same world would be good.
Overall, if you read the others in the series, I believe you will enjoy this one.
October 24, 2022
Excellent end to a brilliant series!
Mana very quickly became one of my favourite series by Bruce Sentar after finding his works, and after following Isaac and his family through two adventures full of cultivation, battle, war and struggles, this is the perfect end of the families stories with just a hint that there is more still out there to explore!
If you haven't started the series yet, you really need to!
You won't be able to stop!
Mana very quickly became one of my favourite series by Bruce Sentar after finding his works, and after following Isaac and his family through two adventures full of cultivation, battle, war and struggles, this is the perfect end of the families stories with just a hint that there is more still out there to explore!
If you haven't started the series yet, you really need to!
You won't be able to stop!
December 16, 2023
Book 6
I just finished book 6 of th series. I loved all the books. They women were warriors and can hold their own. I liked that they continued to grow in strength alongside Isaac. I think the kids & marriages were excessive, but for what needed to be done maybe not. I mean there was not anyone else that could have helped out with carry on the bloodline? They are Immortals, so it would seem like they could all have many, many children.
I just finished book 6 of th series. I loved all the books. They women were warriors and can hold their own. I liked that they continued to grow in strength alongside Isaac. I think the kids & marriages were excessive, but for what needed to be done maybe not. I mean there was not anyone else that could have helped out with carry on the bloodline? They are Immortals, so it would seem like they could all have many, many children.
January 9, 2025
Good ending
I liked reading this series however I felt the harem was rushed as I didnt remember or get to know the women.
I'm unsure if he was setting up more books in the future with mention of bai family and who they might be.
I would more information on his relationship with his adult children from the mortal world but this was brushed over. We didn't know if they found the mines and where did all the mana crystals go?
A lot of loose threads for the final book.
I liked reading this series however I felt the harem was rushed as I didnt remember or get to know the women.
I'm unsure if he was setting up more books in the future with mention of bai family and who they might be.
I would more information on his relationship with his adult children from the mortal world but this was brushed over. We didn't know if they found the mines and where did all the mana crystals go?
A lot of loose threads for the final book.
June 10, 2025
Disappointed at the End
It felt rushed. Like Bruce was just trying to end the series. There are a lot of unanswered questions. What about Leo Leon? Jade, Tian Jin and the other top 10? Old Jin just being a wander? No. Meng identified his bloodline as the Jin families’ bloodline. Always don’t like it when an author rushes an ending. It could have been wrapped up so much better. Disappointing.
It felt rushed. Like Bruce was just trying to end the series. There are a lot of unanswered questions. What about Leo Leon? Jade, Tian Jin and the other top 10? Old Jin just being a wander? No. Meng identified his bloodline as the Jin families’ bloodline. Always don’t like it when an author rushes an ending. It could have been wrapped up so much better. Disappointing.
May 14, 2022
Great ending
A good ending to the series that still leaves it open to be revisited later if Bruce decides to. Some big battles and plenty of awww moments made it such a fun journey. I really hope some time in the future he returns to this series hundreds of years later to show us what has been built and what the larger universe has still to share.
A good ending to the series that still leaves it open to be revisited later if Bruce decides to. Some big battles and plenty of awww moments made it such a fun journey. I really hope some time in the future he returns to this series hundreds of years later to show us what has been built and what the larger universe has still to share.
June 26, 2022
Isaac gets to meet his mother's side of the family an reunite with his mother an his dad .
Isaac travels from Blueheavens to Cloudcity to meet his mother's people for the first time an reunited with his mother an his dad also . Since coming to Immortal World an trying to my a place for his family has been a struggle an meeting new challenges . Fending off ancient families an rivalries an starting a new generation for himself an strengthing the ancient family .An at the end living the good life he always wanted .recommend reading excellent series .
Isaac travels from Blueheavens to Cloudcity to meet his mother's people for the first time an reunited with his mother an his dad also . Since coming to Immortal World an trying to my a place for his family has been a struggle an meeting new challenges . Fending off ancient families an rivalries an starting a new generation for himself an strengthing the ancient family .An at the end living the good life he always wanted .recommend reading excellent series .
May 11, 2022
What a wonderful series!!!
Amazing how this story was able to unfold and not feel rushed at all!!!! As always amazing storytelling at its finest!!! My attention was captured at the beginning of the series and still is even at the end!!! Thank you for such masterful adventures!!!!
Amazing how this story was able to unfold and not feel rushed at all!!!! As always amazing storytelling at its finest!!! My attention was captured at the beginning of the series and still is even at the end!!! Thank you for such masterful adventures!!!!
May 11, 2022
A lovely ending for Isaac and his family
All's well that ends well. It was an amazing series, filled with wonderful characters. There is room for further adventures, but the author says we'll just have to imagine them. I can live with that, albeit reluctantly.
All's well that ends well. It was an amazing series, filled with wonderful characters. There is room for further adventures, but the author says we'll just have to imagine them. I can live with that, albeit reluctantly.
May 11, 2022
Great finish
Loved the finish of the series I did think the harem aspect got out of hand with the large number or lady's making it so some had no or little page time except from that a fantastic finish to a series I loved this work.
Thank you Mr Sentar.
Loved the finish of the series I did think the harem aspect got out of hand with the large number or lady's making it so some had no or little page time except from that a fantastic finish to a series I loved this work.
Thank you Mr Sentar.
May 12, 2022
Hell yeah
This is a great conclusion to an even better series. If you liked the books before this one you'll love it too, and finally it's nice to see a writter actually give a fulfilling conclusion to a series. NO CLIFF HANGERS HERE.
This is a great conclusion to an even better series. If you liked the books before this one you'll love it too, and finally it's nice to see a writter actually give a fulfilling conclusion to a series. NO CLIFF HANGERS HERE.
May 13, 2022
Great way to end
I thoroughly enjoyed the entire series. Normally, these the things peter out and endings are unsatisfying. Not so in this case. The ending drew up everything well.
I thoroughly enjoyed the entire series. Normally, these the things peter out and endings are unsatisfying. Not so in this case. The ending drew up everything well.
May 19, 2022
A good read, with a good plot
Enjoyed the 6-part series, in the Author's own words, a little bit too fast paced on the harem side but all in all, a good read. Would recommend and definitely excited for the future of this Author.
Enjoyed the 6-part series, in the Author's own words, a little bit too fast paced on the harem side but all in all, a good read. Would recommend and definitely excited for the future of this Author.
May 20, 2022
Good way to wrap it up
Really well written as always and you stay invested in the characters throughout. Good closure on a story that’s carried at a great pace for 6 books. I try to read everything he writes as soon as it’s available.
Really well written as always and you stay invested in the characters throughout. Good closure on a story that’s carried at a great pace for 6 books. I try to read everything he writes as soon as it’s available.
May 24, 2022
What a ride!
While I’m a bit sad that Issac’s story as come to an end, it is a very satisfying conclusion. This last chapter in the story as everything that made the success of the story
While I’m a bit sad that Issac’s story as come to an end, it is a very satisfying conclusion. This last chapter in the story as everything that made the success of the story
June 10, 2022
Great conclusion to an already great trilogy.
The first trilogy was a great start up for me on reading these types of books and it really brought me out of my shell. Loved seeing the final and am sad to see it go.
The first trilogy was a great start up for me on reading these types of books and it really brought me out of my shell. Loved seeing the final and am sad to see it go.
July 3, 2022
A very good conclusion
A little rushed at the end but that was fine and the ending is perfect 😂 with lots of lots of kids. Just loved that there is still story that left out some things which can be visited later.
A little rushed at the end but that was fine and the ending is perfect 😂 with lots of lots of kids. Just loved that there is still story that left out some things which can be visited later.
July 24, 2022
Thank you!!
Thank you Mr Sentar,
I've read the whole series and I fell in love with the characters, storyline and the adventures they went on.
If anyone out there is looking for something to put your teeth into, then I strongly suggest reading this series!!
Thank you Mr Sentar,
I've read the whole series and I fell in love with the characters, storyline and the adventures they went on.
If anyone out there is looking for something to put your teeth into, then I strongly suggest reading this series!!
October 26, 2022
Absolutely beautiful
This is truly one of my favorite series of all time and really want another 3 books to help finish the series. The progression of the protagonists family is great and his morals are a splendid example of what I think a powerful role model should be.
This is truly one of my favorite series of all time and really want another 3 books to help finish the series. The progression of the protagonists family is great and his morals are a splendid example of what I think a powerful role model should be.
October 28, 2023
conclusion…fitting!
Great series…well done with great dialogue and visual appeal in my mind’s eye! I ed to read more of the same, dynamic, fun fantasy world…with an adult attitude!
Great series…well done with great dialogue and visual appeal in my mind’s eye! I ed to read more of the same, dynamic, fun fantasy world…with an adult attitude!
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