Changing Tides: A Portal Cultivation Fantasy Saga

by Chris Vines

325 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 16, 2026

About the author

I am an Air Force Veteran and graduate of the Air Force Academy. I have wanted to write for the entire of my adult life and finally decided to just do it.

Reviews

[William Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I’m done

It’s really nothing *new*. Aiden continues to progress rapidly, he’s still a cheerleader, and the harem/relationship thing is still awkward.

But there weren’t any substantial changes. This was more of a slog, as the various battles were interminable. He never really runs out of power, his injuries all seem to evaporate under another round of pills/powders, and everybody thinks he’s awesome.

It was better when he had a competitor, even if Nicholai was weak and ineffectual.

I started skipping through the fight scenes, because it was a never ending churn of using various techniques and it just got repetitive.

[kwhgen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing

Let me start by saying that I will read the next book. I will not be really looking forward to it so it will be towards bottom of my list. It has been a great series up up until the last couple of books and is now getting to long with no plot movement. This one did not move the plot at all. It just added a new set of antagonist that will now have to be resolved before the plot can move forward.

With that being said, I'm not really sure how to describe this one. The last couple of books felt like filler from an author who has grown tired of the story. This one felt like the author is still bored with the story but has no idea how the saga is going to conclude so there is no way for the plot to move forward. All the story has left is for the MC to grow stronger while his enemies grow even faster. The fight scenes have taken on a "Dragon Ball Z" likeness where convoluted plot devices are used to keep the fight going until it is so ridiculous that dues ex must now be used to end it. The battle at the end takes place weeks out to sea, but harpies can fly all the way there without issue. Why are boats needed then? This world has flying disks that are much faster that any sail boat. As of now the two entities that brought the MC to the world are much weaker than the antagonist "god". I say entities because rules apply to them while not to the antagonist god. Lastly, through the whole series, the MC has delayed his own growth using the excuse that he wants everyone to grow. He is now behind everyone in level and the plot device of "I am stronger even though I am lower level" is now reaching a comical level.

[Thorsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tedious. Everything is over-detailed and over-explained. I lost track of all the aether tiers long ago, and I find myself reading like three pages of Aiden experimenting with Kinetic, Thermal and EM energies and trying to set up a formation in his heart and his foot to form a circuit for tempering ... maybe? I'm losing the story in all this superfluous information. It's a lot of narrative complexity with no payoff; it's the author expanding on something that I think excites him but is confusing and distracting for a reader invested in the story, not the underlying implementation details of the magic system.

This book really leaned into this problem because there's very little story; once the journey to the war zone begins, it's non-stop fights with long descriptions of techniques and aether interactions, broken up by bouts of alchemical aether interactions and tempering experiments with, wait for it, aether interactions. I was bored out of my mind by the made-up aether physics by the end of this book; I was just skimming for the text to stop mentioning aether or techniques.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh.man all. All battle. Sweet

So the progression continues of course. The focus is back on the water, trying to join the war front. New enemies enter the fray much to their chagrin. Our intrepid and versatile MC must battle and grow.. fast, he adapts on the fly and creates new techniques to hammer the new enemies while trying to save as many allies as possible. Great book lots of battle.. non stop goodness.

[James Brock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big battle with injuries to heal

Seems like repetition has set in. Heal up from last battle (book), gain some strength, get injured in skin if the teeth battle, okay on to the next book. No real forward movement on the storyline. Wondering if Vines is getting tired of this series.

[Adam Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

good but felt like the same battle over and over again

I really do love this book series. This one was probably one of my least favorite though. I still gave it 5 stars because I did enjoy the book. It just got a bit repetitive with the plot being a bit one thing repeated with not a lot of progress. It’s mostly just one long battle with the same things happening.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

This was an absolute pleasure to read. I love this series and am excited to see more in the next book

[Zack Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fanfreakingtastic!

What an amazing book! I absolutely loved this book and such wonderful characters! I can not wait for the next book to come out!

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Stellar work once again from Chris Vines! Lots of action and adventure, magic and monsters. Looking forward to the next one!

[Michelle & David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very very good

Loved the book! Great characters, great action and fantasy elements. Also it was clean and had no profanity.

This is one of the best series that I read.

[Jamie Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best one yet of the series! Need the next.

Love this series. I've been reading it for some years n9w and find myself reading it in 2 days because I can't put it down.