Savage Webs

Apocalypse Cultivation #2

by Blaise Corvin

Jake is no longer human, he’s no longer on Earth, and he is about to find out that in the Murim world, he’s also low on the food chain.

A final showdown with the evil god Ahriman is inevitable, and Jake also needs to survive his time in the Murim world to return back to Earth. Luckily, as a new divine champion, he’s about to be introduced to a special, champion-only reward system.

But other champions are gunning for him now. Enemies who are more powerful, more seasoned, and who also have access to the same reward system that Jake does…

Mere survival won’t cut it anymore. Jake will need to take his first real steps on a path to serious power.

Genres: Fantasy, Post Apocalyptic, Magic

350 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 19, 2022

About the author

Blaise Corvin served in the US Army in several roles. He has seen the best and the worst that humanity has to offer. He is a sucker for any hobby involving weapons, art, or improv.

He currently lives in Texas, in a house full of enough geeky memorabilia to start a museum.

He likes talking about himself in 3rd person and posting pictures of himself holding tarantulas. Sometimes, he pretends he is not an idiot with a terrible sense of humor.

It's all very eccentric.

Blaise currently writes mostly in the GameLit genre and LitRPG subgenre, exciting new classifications of fiction where characters either play a game (usually VR), or live in a world with game-like elements.

Delvers LLC is GameLit, lightly LitRPG, mostly a Fantasy/SciFi Adventure. Secret of the Old Ones is hard LitRPG, complete with XP and leveling...plus has Lovecraftian and steampunk elements (because why not?).

Reviews

[William Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun, but

I enjoyed the story. The MC struggles but he still gets all the breaks.

But this desperately needs to be proofread. Spellcheck doesn’t help when you use the wrong word. Or leave important words out.

I will look for the next book in the series, but I hope a little attention to detail is involved in its publication.

[Steven Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a interesting book with some different idea. I usually don't read GameLit unless the story is good enough. This story is good enough. I like the non-traditional MC. Not quite noir fiction but pretty close.

Will look forward to next book in this series.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

I was looking forward to this book and I wasn't disappointed! What a twist from the first book, so creative! I loved the mc and his growth and his indomitable perseverance! I look forward to the next!

[Daniel J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing but others may like it.

I came into this books expecting an epic cultivation adventure or something similar. That's not quite what I got.

This series seems to mostly be the protagonist 'ping pong'ing from one vastly powerful being to another. Being barely capable of effecting his circumstances. Forced into deals that seems questionable whether it qualifies as a "deal."

It's not very fun watching the MC have little actual free-will in terms of effecting his life or the story. Which is my biggest complaint.


My second major complaint is my main gripe with many cultivation stories. I don't enjoy watching the MC having to overcome the fundamental rules and patterns of his universe. It always feels contrived.

When the very fabric of reality in the story doesn't want the MC to succeed then I have to ask the question; why should I?

[Dave Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much fun! A binge read
Where book one seemed to really truck all over time & space, This one focuses in on fewer locations and this book is shorter (down to 350 pages from 450 pages) And this is riddled with editing errors that jump off the page and trip you up while reading or silently misdirect you and trip you up while reading and you have to go back and puzzle out what he meant to say.
Still it's a fun book, and I lost sleep because I couldn't put it down.
-I do wonder if all those errors are going to be in the audio-book. I guess the their / there things won't be a problem in audio, but "pulling a name out of a hate" might leave some scratching there heads. (wrong "there" used ironically)
-EDIT-
I "read" this again 6 months later as an audiobook and I think I liked it more the second time. I didn't notice any of those editing errors that I mentioned above.

[Aniconomics · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a letdown. This series has so much potential if it’s done right. To summarize, the book was too short, the pacing was off by a mile, there wasn’t enough world building and the power progression was unsatisfying.

I would advise the author to put more emphasis on world building. Since this is a xianxia setting, I expect sect competitions, hidden realms, Secret inheritances and auction events selling rare items. Imagine if the protagonist used an identify skill from the system to find items of hidden value.

I also find it strange that the system arbitrarily lists down his cultivation advancement but mentions none of his racial abilities and magic. Imagine if a god chose a mage as their champion and it only listed cultivation advancement which the mage knows nothing about. The nature of cultivation would also conflict with the mages abilities. Unless the system provides a solution

The introduction of a system enables a story to visually quantify a protagonists growth. Which will make the progression even more satisfying for the viewer. But you introduced a system that doesn’t quantify most of the protagonists abilities. Which is disappointing.

Have the system explain his racial characteristics. Which will help Jake develop his abilities faster by knowing their theoretical limits. Have the system retain abilities from previous evolution's which can be potentially used to guide his evolution path. Jake can purchase a passive skill that makes his body compatible with both Qi and Mana. Which alters his future monster evolution paths.

Jake never fully utilized his shadow ghoul racial skills because he lacked the information and time to to figure it out. Now we will never know the full extent of his abilities because he has already evolved into a new monster. This is unsatisfying to say the least.

The story going forward should focus on Jakes adventures in the xianxia realm. Earth should only enter the picture after he finishes his training. It feels like the author wants to rush through this part of the story because of the large time frame. Time Skips can be jarring if poorly implemented. The pacing was also really bad and the story felt too chaotic

Enter Xianxia Realm > Get captured for 10 years > Enter Challenge Portal Dungeon > Get summoned to a goddesses domain > Get teleported to Earth > Get transported to an alien world > Re-enter Challenge Portal Dungeon > Leave Challenge Portal Dungeon and escape confinement > Travel on foot to another location > Enter undead city and find a secret area

I also suggest Jake evolves in a monster with shape changing capabilities. With a negligible cost to using the skill. This would enable him to look like a human again, while maintaining the benefits of a monster. On the cultivation side of things, his cultivation transformations were terrible. The cultivation technique he uses was taught to him by his master, a polymorphed dragon and was further altered by his time in the demonic realm. Which would effect the results of his cultivation transformation. I expected something closer to a demonic dragon. A gecko transformation was disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, I like geckos but they are far from dragons. His second transformation was wasted on a human form despite the fact you could have easily achieved the same results with a racial skill.

I found the progression in this book very unsatisfying. I can't picture Morrigan being satisfied with his growth either. Looking back at the description of Morrigans satisfactory expression as if she was predicting the protagonists future growth is really cringy now.

This book needs a serious rewrite. Have him join the same sect his masters daughter trains at. Then introduce arrogant young masters ad infinitum, who wish to court said daughter and take offense at the protagonists association with her. Queue a lot of fighting. Which snowballs into larger conflicts. Maybe make her a love interest in further books. It would be cool if he followed his masters footsteps and eventually evolves into a dragon.

The second volume (in my opinion) should have served multiple purposes. Getting Isekai’d into a xianxia style fantasy setting is meant to level the playing field. Increasing the relative strength of everyone else thereby reducing the protagonists overall abilities. You're no longer overpowered when you’re in a world filled with people and creatures attempting to reach immortality. The newly introduced system is supposed to quantify all of the protagonists previous progression and future growth going forward.

If I was to create a list of several goals the MC should achieve. It would be this

1. Reach higher cultivation stages
2. Evolve into stronger monsters (I personally think it should be an undead variant or dragon)
3. Use the system to quantify all progression and retain abilities from previous evolutions as well as acquire new titles & skills
4. Evolve into a monster with a shape changing racial skill to obtain a human form (Preferably at no cost)
5. Use the system interface to get a skill that would fix the interference between his cultivation and magic.
6. Reach enlightenment in various dou and master the supreme martial techniques he acquired from the trial portals

I also suggest introducing a tier system to monsters. Which the system interface can display. Or else we won’t know what would hypothetically be the last evolution. He can’t just keep evolving forever. Reaching a hypothetical final tier in evolution would be a good progression indicator.

I don’t know if introducing trial portals into the cultivation realm makes all that much sense. The techniques the protagonist acquired from the trial portal are supreme martial techniques. It’s stuff even his master, (A seeking enlightenment cultivator) couldn’t get his hands on. Any cultivator with knowledge of the trial portals would probably kill others to get their hands on the possible rewards. Including those very same techniques. But that would also imply the techniques would be a lot more prevalent in proportion to the amount of trial portals that are discovered. Earning S+ rank rewards wouldn’t be all that difficult either since this is a cultivation setting. You would think all the seeking enlightenment cultivators would possess the same high level techniques as the protagonist. Unless you want to claim the portal Jake entered was run by a very wealthy clan and they had access to a very rare limited copy of the supreme martial art he wanted.

It seems all the high level cultivators have knowledge of the systems existence. That's fine but i wish he wasn't found out so easily. A bit subversive since narratives featuring protagonists with personal systems usually try hiding the existence of those systems as a matter of convenience. Well, not personal per say but only available to the gods and their champions. But exclusive enough that most people don’t know about it. Secret Identities tend to be appealing, so revealing his cards felt underwhelming.

[Paps · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read, action packed adventure. I just lost some enjoyment with the bait stuff, I mean he only advanced at the last chapter, when it was supposed to be one of his first objectives, not to mention the wonderfull way of derailing expectations. Either way it was a nice book.

[Lester Covax · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointing after the first book. It's extremely repetitive, being 'all filler, no killer'. Was basically a 3 hour audiobook stretched out to 10 hours to meet the teacher's word count requirement on the assignment.

Ugh.

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh

An okay continuation of the story. Somewhat of a yawn though. Nothing much happens and then the book ends… if food, it’d be fast food.

[Chris Flores · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't stand how this author writes. This and the first book 3/10

So my issues with this series are with how the author writes and how the book is advertised as a Litrpg, which is false.

On the Litrpg front, there's no stats or way of following progression. The cultivation BS that is implemented has no real impact because, to me, if seems like the authors to scared to have an OP MC. The MC spends years cultivating, brags internally that he's so much stronger than the rest of the area he's in on earth, then is surprised how fast his enemy is and almost gets stabbed in the back. Just let him be OP, he's supposed to be a Gold tier cultivator but it's a close fight in almost every fight he's in.

I wish that this book had been written by so many other authors so that fight scenes lead into and execute better. Example from the first book, MC heads to a screaming girl needing help but instead listens to the ppl who killed her family while discussing killing her for being loud who then decide to carry it out, MC still waits outside listening while she's killed, then internally discusses everything for pages about what they talked about and then describes all the problems he faces with getting into the building and fighting the monsters and people before actually doing anything. This happens every time anything interesting might happen, just an eternal internal monologue that detracts from the story.
If you recall the scene I'm talking about and it didn't bother you then you're probably fine with this book, but if it did then know it's worse in this book.

I've read most of the author's first book in each series, then have to call it quits because I can't stand how they read. I've read books from other authors that I didn't like but then find one later that is great and I enjoy following so I try not to hold it against an author too much when I don't like a book. This book though just cements my feelings for this author's writing "style" and that his books are just always going to be horrible to me. That these books had over 1000+ reviews and over 4 stars just fooled me into thinking there was a chance that I'd enjoy the book and not be frustrated throughout each one.

[Jon Svenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was completely on board with book 1, and book 2 had enough action and gory parts to keep me interested.

Jake is still hanging around, despite dying twice and coming close countless times. He is the champion for Morrigan, and while that sounds important, the reality is less so. He immediately gets trapped in a mining cavern while trying to escape from something else, and spends a long time there learning how things work before trying to escape. I won't spoil anything after that.

The plot does get pushed and pulled various ways to make things happen for Jake, but I was alright with that.

The notifications are good while not being too lengthy, and we don't see endless stat sheets at the end of every chapter.

What's less good is the editing. At first the preorder showed the book being 217 pages long, which is less than half book one. That number went up to 350 before launch, but both fall short of book one's word count of 452 pages. I can only guess that the late addition of a hundred plus pages caused the editors to protest.

I'm still enjoying the series, despite the editing, and I will read book three when it comes out.

5/5*

[Doug Sundseth · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the end of the first book in this series, the protagonist had been reincarnated as an undead and tricked into a millennium of servitude. The plot in this book is a bit scattered, going from one existential threat to another and from one world to another regularly. There is a throughline of plot, but it's not a straight throughline.

The main character is sympathetic, but his personality isn't particularly deep, and the supporting characters don't often show much depth. But they work well for this style of book.

The book lives on its propulsive narrative; there's not a lot of time to think about anything other than the current problem. And to that end, the action scenes are done well, as is the "game" system that the MC uses to solve his problems.

This isn't deathless prose, and it's not much of a book for anyone looking for deep dives on character, but as an action piece, it's pretty good and certainly entertaining enough for me to continue the series.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good author good book

Another good book by good author. The series is enjoyable If you're a progression fantasy fan. However it takes place over a lot of time. There are some Time jumps But they've been here since the beginning of the series. As usual the MC is trying to gain power fast but is an unwitting pawn in almost everyone of his adventures. Still that said it is a great read a lot of bouncing around between worlds Had a lot of desperate fighting. Some fights he's OP other fights he is a definite. But I Enjoy enjoy that he fights with his wits as much with his strength. If I were to have a complaint it is the time between books. A lot Of the reads in between it's hard to catch up to speed When starting the book. Need synopsis. A great series for cultivation Without much cultivation.

[Doug Lohse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Attention Grabbing

This book severely impacted my sleep schedule. The author does a spectacular job in pulling the reader through the story with action and the constant feel that you just have to know more. The world(s) he is building are engaging and the MC's path through them is great to read.

Despite being able to punch above his weight class, our MC is time and time again finding himself outclassed. It is refreshing to see him react intelligently in these situations and not just mouth off to powerful beings while surviving through plot armor.

All in all, this is a great second book and leaves so much open for the next books in the series while still providing significant growth and progress.

Yes, I can say I'm fully addicted to this series.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid story, good pacing, and I still like the MC. I did however realize that I had blanked on book 1 when I started this one. Despite that it still works, and hopefully book 3 comes along a bit faster so I don't need to re-read this one to catch up. Once again, "the story so far" intros in serial books which are months (or more) apart are never a bad idea, and a small time/effort investment from the author which is easily skipped if the reader doesn't need it.

The major problem, as others have noted, was the proofreading. It seems that the low-hanging spell-check errors were caught, but a number of incorrect words remain. It wasn't as bad as some reviews paint it, but if the author doesn't yet have reliable beta readers he should consider recruiting some.

[John #Audible · Rating 2 out of 5]

1) Story is weak and not much forward
2) Stop with the previous lives statement, based on the MC's current actions he must have not lived pasted 20 years each time, because he's a fking idiot.
3) Stop with run down of every fking gun. Guns are useless now, he is a cultivator.
4) Stop with the whole Master this Master that. This HUGE fking build up with his master and we sorta meet him. He is basically a dead beat Master. He doesn't teach him crap, he pawns him off onto his daughter and well that basically goes no where.
5) The MC is the king of being caught, see #2
6) The story is all over the place, a good editor would have slapped the author in the head and told him STOP with the time jumping BS.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Savage Webs is the second book in the series, and it's a pretty good one. The main character advances quite a bit, and we get to see some interesting environments during the story. I'm a bit puzzled why it ended where it did, I don't think it was a good stopping point, but that could just be me. It was a bit of an abrupt ending, so I hope the next book has a bit more of a gentle let down than this book has when it ends, almost like the author said the heck with it, this is good enough.
Other than that though, the story is pretty good, and I'll certainly be reading more in this series.

[John-Torleif Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can’t wait to see more of Jake’s journey

I loved this book, but had to take away at least a star for such poor editing. This book was littered with homophones, or just simply the wrong word at odd places. It was irritating to be thrown out of the story so often to try and figure out what the author really meant to say.

Jake is evolving in some interesting ways. Will his third form become pivotal soon? Will he share his findings with Slim? Why, exactly, would a ghoul be susceptible to Death magic? And is he now immune? Might he even gain strength from it? Will he tell Big Sis of his knowledge of the city?

[Jennifer King · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's good 👍

I really enjoy this book it's the second book in the series you would like the first one you enjoy this one if anything I enjoyed it more I struggle to explain what I like about it without giving too much of the pot away but it allowed the character for you in both physicians where he was instantly powerful and also the underdog but mostly showed how clever and thoughtful of the
character was and how that leads to his ultimate success and some of the good luck and bad luck that he enjoys I'm writing this review with voice to text I hope it's helpful but if you like the first one you'll like this one looking forward to the third so I can buy it Hope it helps

[Leslie Baptiste · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is very good, could’ve been a bit longer.

If you like RPG books, you will enjoy this one. Very streamlined, not a lot of stat pages but very well done. Wonder why the MC doesn’t have an identity spell. Plenty of action could’ve been a bit longer in length because the story really did not go anywhere. This was kind of a holding pattern, the character started to gain strength only at the end of the book which left me wanting more. I won’t even discuss the MC’s new forms that he can transform into, not too crazy about one of them. Will have to wait for the next book, hope fully it will be a bit longer maybe 50 pages or so.

[Tony Hinde · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

There's a slow start to this one, by which I mean it didn't grab my attention. Everything was enlivened with the side trip to Earth. That's what I'm looking for... human drama, existential threats, and epic battles. And then the ending sort of whimpered out. Hmm.

The good news is that all signs point to book three being set in a sect, for some good old-fashioned student rivalries. What makes that a little uncertain is the inclusion of a new companion with an undefined relationship. Friend or eventual foe? It's hard to say.

I'm still keen to continue so, overall, this is a recommended read.

[Bert Babb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written cultivation novel where the MC has a shadow ghoul body - nightmare fuel.

The MC gets imprisioned on a new world after getting tricked by his dark goddess sponsor Morgana. After ten years, he has leveled and is planning an escape, while still trying to get even stronger. After finding a dungeon, he levels more and even gets a quick visit back home.

Once again, the story is interesting and well written, but rather dark as the MC is in a monstrous form, fighting more powerful monsters quite a lot. At the end he does get some interesting options.

[Adam Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Also known as “Jake can’t catch a break”

Man poor Jake! Sent to the new world, and immediately dropped in the hot water! And it just keeps getting worse! Overall this one was lighter in action than book 1, but sets up a lot of potential for the next book! We get an awesome new form at the end of the book as well! It was also interesting to see the book really lean into the cultivation tropes here too. Really be interesting to see what book 3 brings!

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

a different look at monster cultivation

Really enjoyed the first book and this one helped grow the character. We get to see a little of the new world and we don’t loose track of what’s happening on earth. I just really like how Blaise tells his stories. There is good world building and character growth. He makes it a fun read without it seeming to simple or cliché. Take a chance a read this series.

[Forrest · Rating 3 out of 5]

needs an editor

I would likely have given another star if there weren’t so many errors in the book that I felt the need to make many notes in the kindle app.

If you liked the first book, you’ll probably like this one. The lack of an editor REALLY stood out in this one, though. So if you hate spelling errors, wrong words being used, or inconsistencies in things like the number of years he will be trapped… you’ve been warned. Lol

[Keith Clauson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, but a bit of a let down

Honestly this book was entertaining, but took a couple of steps back from the first one. Significant amount of typos, meandering and often rehashing plot, and not even a really good twist to tie it together. Just felt a lot more muddled than the first in the series. The MC is still highly entertaining and with enough growth to make it interesting and worthwhile to read, but I hope the next book has a bit more nuance, purpose, and focused plot...

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was less than book one. So much took place in that novel, while book two was mostly being in one place for a long stretch of time.

When the book started, I didn't even recognize what was going on.

Guess I will pick up book three. Which will probably be another disappointment and end with a cliffhanger.

I guess the author has to leave things vague enough to pull shit out his ass when he is in a corner.

3/5 Stars

[Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rushed, but still an enjoyable romp

The interesting take on cultivation continues as our intrepid hero finds and causes mayhem and mischief. Book is a bit unpolished though (words, phrasing, etc.) - those who are sensitive to that be warned. I still really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next book.

[Benedict Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story, horrible editing

I’m a fan of Corvin’s work and the assistance he’s provided to other authors, but the editing in this book was just… bad. I actually had to put it down a few times when it became too distracting, which was a shame, as this series is one of the best I’ve read recently. Hopefully it will improve for Jakes continued adventures in book 3.

[Dannan Tavona · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Tangled Skein

Alternate universe, LitRPG, cultivation, multiverse, apocalypse

Jake continues to push himself, advancing along his skewed cultivator path. Fortunately, The Morrigan likes him. Each time he thinks he's made progress, he lands in another predicament. Engrossing tale. Enjoyed.