ProgressionFantasy

This is the first time I have recommended a book on the subreddit but I feel it deserves the extra attention. I'm not going to claim Clanless Cultivator is on par with Cradle, it's closest counterpart as another cultivation fantasy, but it beats most other examples of the genre I've listened to. The author is the same one that wrote the "A Snake's Life" series which I have not read but understand to be popular so I feel it's worth mentioning.

A solid if typical premise, a likable, underdog, smart mouth (my favorite) protagonist who is behind on cultivation but gets an advantage early on in the book. Good, genuinely funny dialogue. A solid if underdeveloped magic system (I assume we'll learn more in future books). Specifically the MC gets ahold of something that provides him with knowledge possessed by a long dead cultivator. It's been done before. The Chinese webnovel Martial World is the best example of this I can think of but I like that it's an mc that has to figure out how best to use the knowledge for himself.

One thing I didn't notice Cradle lacked until reading this is someone for the MC to play off of when making clever retorts. It seems like everyone on Cradle has no concept of sarcasm, especially Lindon's dry, subtle brand of it. But the MC in Clanless Cultivator regularly does a back and forth with his grandma in the later half of the book when my interest initally started to wane. It's not very often that a character's adoptive grandmother is even a major character throughout the book in these types of works so that's one unique element of the book for whatever that is worth.

It's audiobook version is narrated by Travis Baldree and honestly after hearing him, Nick Podehl and Luke Daniels so often I can barely tolerate the sound of any other narrator's voice which is kinda unfair but true. I honestly think their narrating can carry some otherwise lukewarm books I wouldn't have finished.

But most importantly of all there is the total absence of elements typical of the genre that I despise. No MC from Earth that get's isekai'd by an out of control truck in the first chapter making his Earthly origins irrelevant despite being frequently referenced. No child coming straight out his mother's vagina with the mind of an adult, creepily interacting with other children that makes me feel uncomfortable. And most gratefully of all no Twilight for men story elements like harems, dual cultivation and jade beauties who put out for the protagonist within hours of meeting him despite being well above his station. A low bar I know but it's worth mentioning because I specifically screen out books I suspect have these elements and I wouldn't be surprised if other people do too.