Wu Ying is well on his way on the Thousand Li Journey. He has moved from being an outer sect member to an inner sect member in just a few short months. Now he has to keep working on his cultivation and choose a secondary occupation. The options are many and varied, and Wu Ying feels a little lost. His mentor isn’t much of a guide either, so he decides to explore several options. But Wu Ying is drawing attention at the Sect. Elders notice him and begin making plans for him. Wu Ying has some important decisions to make once he finishes reflecting on his future during The First Stop by Tao Wong.
[Warning: My review of The First Stop contains some spoilers!]
So many options and so little guidance
To Wu Ying, it seems like there are infinite ways he can move forward on his path at this point. But he’s very aware that choosing a secondary occupation is crucial to his future. If he chooses correctly, his occupation will advance his journey along his Dao. But if he chooses the wrong occupation, it may hinder his growth. Even if he figures out the mistake quickly, it will mean wasted time and effort, plus a lot of backtracking and catching up.
Because he’s so aware of the importance of this choice, Wu Ying is reluctant to lock himself into any one occupation and spends his time exploring several different options. Martial specialist, pill maker, blacksmith, and more are explored by Wu Ying. He also has to find tasks to do to earn credits so he can fund his education. Not to mention continuing to practice his cultivation and fighting styles so he can improve all of those. It’s a very busy time for Wu Ying, but a happy one.
Luckily for Wu Ying, not all of the elders at the Verdant Green Waters are as hands-off as his mentor. There are several elders watching him. Some hope that he will fail, but some see promise in the young cultivator. They help to guide him, drawing out strengths he didn’t even know he had. And it’s a good thing; he’s going to need those strengths if he’s going to survive the trials ahead and continue along his thousand li journey to immortality.
The First Stop is exactly what it sounds like
In The First Step, Wu Ying was constantly fighting. First in the army, then with the other new sect members for position, then on his special assignment, and finally at the competition to gain inner sect status. Now that Wu Ying is on the inside, he can take a minute to breathe. Not that he really does. Wu Ying is constantly training and working to better himself.
Technically, now that he’s an inner sect member, he could take things slow, and as long as he shows some progress, no one is likely to bother him. But that’s not Wu Ying’s style. In The First Stop, Wu Ying is in a weird holding pattern: constantly training and studying but refusing to decide. Admittedly, the decision he has to make is huge, but the title makes sense because even though he is constantly busy, Wu Ying is also stopped for the first time since coming to the sect as he tries to figure out his plans for the future.
The book feels a little odd because there isn’t a whole lot of action. As the title says, this is a stop. That doesn’t mean that nothing happens. Wu Ying experiences growth, has a moment of enlightenment, and goes on a harrowing adventure that he almost doesn’t survive. Yet he makes no significant progress on his cultivator journey, and he is basically in the same spot at the end as he was at the beginning. No plans are made for his future. It makes the book feel almost like a placeholder, even though some very exciting things do happen. Most of them are on the special assignment at the end of the book. There is one very interesting interaction between Wu Ying and a spirit animal during the trip that hints towards a greater destiny for the young man, which is exciting. Not that he wants a greater destiny. He just wants to be a valuable member of the sect and send money back to his parents. But that wouldn’t be very exciting for us readers, so Wu Ying has a greater destiny whether he wants one or not. And hopefully he starts moving towards it soon.
Eager for some forward motion
Okay, so I’ve already said that the title says it all with this book, The First Stop. Wu Ying is stopped in this novel. He doesn’t really move forward on his cultivator journey. I guess he does gain another level of body cleansing. And he does find some hidden (or not so hidden) talent for herbology. And I suppose after everything he did in the first book, some reflection and recuperation were necessary. But I want to see Wu Ying continue on his journey. I want him to become a kick-butt cultivator who saves the world. To do that, he has to stop being paralyzed by fear and indecision. He has to just make a choice and hope for the best. Hopefully, in the next book he’ll start moving forward on his journey again; a stop can only last so long before it becomes a stay.
Rating: 7/10
The First Stop by Tao Wong is available now!
Learn more about the book on the official website for the title.
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