A Thousand Li: The Second Expedition: A Thousand Li, Book 4

Nearly gave up on the series halfway through the last book, the protagonist had become so obnoxious and unlikable.It seems he has grown and this was a nice adventure with a good cast of characters and a fair bit of action. I will continue on.

The storytelling was good but the author needs a better editor. There were some egregious mistakes. One example: missing words. Easy enough to fill in but distracting. This could be fixed by listening to a dumb text-to-voice program read the book out loud. Perhaps harder to spot but more annoying was the misuse of some words. For example, people misbehaving at an event are "ejected" not "rejected". It's a shame that these errors detracted from an otherwise very good book. I didn't find them annoying enough to stop reading and I encourage others to read this story despite them.

The author really does need to lose ihs thesaurus. Lol. However before I get into that this fourth book of the series remains appropriate for young adults and above and is a quick easy read that will pull the reader all the way through the story from beginning to end. It is so far a series that is certainly worthy to be in anybody's library and is a still on Kindle unlimited.The characters, settings, plot, and world building all come together to form a pretty good story. It is a legitimate five-star story I believe and a five-star series so far. While there were a handful if that of editing errors and perhaps a couple switch names there has been really nothing inconsistent throughout the story. It is not a story in which the main character is saving the world every book or has become all powerful through four books. In fact it is a slow progression for the main character. In so much as he is still not the fastest smartest strongest or Uber protagonist that is seen in some works, which I do not mind by the way, or even in my own hobby writing lol.I do think that perhaps he lost or dropped the ball a bit on a minor antagonist that's our main protagonist had to face a couple times. by the end of the book when he faced me again it was only in a passing mentioning and they did not face off. I might have missed something and even misinterpreted something but it was not a big deal and certainly did not detract from the story outside of me wondering what was going on with him.So far judging from where the character can go to reach the top and where he is right now I believe that this could be a fairly long series. Depending upon how the author wants to work it and how much passion he has for it of course. once again I've stayed up way past my bedtime to finish a very good story. That said I do want to be honest about the annoying little nat of the story.The author has used in each of his books some hundred dollar words that will pull a reader out of the story while they try to figure out what the heck it meant. The truth is his style of writing is not fitting for the random thesaurus word of the day insertions. You never see the author's hand that is how good he is. That is what many authors want to achieve. Transparent prose can really help keep the reader into the story. I understand that many authors and avid readers have a larger vocabulary to work from. And there is nothing wrong with having an unusual word in the story so long as it fits.But unfortunately there's a few instances in the story where it gets a little awkward or where you do see the author's hand in wanting to insert a word to perhaps fancy it up a more and add a little bit additional spice to the story because plain and simple is boring. In this book he used the term "susurration" only a couple times but it was enough to be distracting. Basically it means whisper or murmuring. You usually understand words by context and he used it once to refer to a crowd and the other time to a sword passing through flesh. I honestly have never seen it in any work I have read as far as I can recall. It just doesn't flow with a story. Another instance was the use of "mien" when manner demeanor would have suffice. So I have seen this word used before so it is a bit more understandable but a little distracting. The funniest was when he used the "equine friends" instead of horses. Throughout the entire story and the series they've been horses for some reason once when referring to severants taking the way to be stabled and another time when having been left while the group search for something temporarily he referred to the horses as such.the vast majority of people would be able to easily understand what he meant but it also did not fit because he has never given horses personality or made them characters within the story. While they have been there and have been useful and even named by a couple side characters they've only been props. It just seemed odd.Okay that's a little bit of whining for a five-star story but it just was nagging at me throughout the books. In any case this is a good read and I recommend it for anyone who loves young adult fantasy martial arts action and fun.

Very good book, and very well written . The premise is that their master is poisoned and they go on a quest to find the antidote . Along the way, they fight the dark sects and monsters , all along growing in strength

When I first started this series, I noticed a lot of very minor things that pulled me out of the book. Sometimes it was stuff that another pass-through of editing would easily fix: text errors, sentence structure, word choice. Other times it was character development, plot hooks, and progression that would just not land right. Nothing egregious but would have me rereading to understand and frowning at the choices. Never enough to stop me enjoying, but enough to notice. This one didn't have that.The story has hit its stride. I understand the greater purpose, I see the characters getting flushed out as more than props, and I value the choices pit to the characters. The action scenes flow with purpose, the protagonist is evolving in logical and meaningful ways, and the stakes have meaning. While not to say previous entries always lacked these qualities, but this entry hit these marks.This book has sold me on this series. I very much recommend it.

All of the thousand li novels share consistency in worldbuilding and pace and character that make them a welcome experience for me. Whenever one comes out I know I'm going to enjoy the journey.They're far from perfect, lacking in some elements of polish, but always consistently solid. It's a struggle to put what keeps me from five starring these things into words and honestly I am not sure a pile of picked nits would not give a more mistaken impression than just giving all the stars would.I buy each one the moment it comes out, which perhaps says more than petty complaints about editing or occasional peculiarities of dialog. The good vastly outweighs.As an American raised on western pop culture I can't say how refreshing the martial arts progression genres (and I struggle with some of the distinctions between subgenres still) are. They generally show us characters more challenged and with a more realistic investment in their own success that I love.Wu Ying is just a really compelling character and watching him struggle with decisions and planning instead of simply leaping from challenge to challenge draped with plot armor is supremely engaging.

Fun book. It literally got better as it evolved, culminating in a fantastic set of challenges and twists. Nice mix of periods in a large city and in the wilderness. I enjoyed the way in which the growth of the characters, the bonds between them, the magic and the surprising evil doers all combined to slowly draw one in and want to read quickly to the end. :) … nicely done. Well worth reading.

Story overall was interesting to say the least , excellent sequel to a good series that I will continue to read.

This storyline just keeps getting better as Long Yu Wing gains more experience and maturity. I am really looking forward to the next book.

After two not-so-great runs in the series, this book showcased why I’m still so invested in this series. So so good, pacing was brilliant, and the storytelling phenomenal. Hope the rest of the books in the series are as good!

Best book of the thrilogy so far. Very entertaining. It starts out a bit slow but is definitely worth it.

Loved the book. Another nice addition to the saga. Wu Ying is growing slowly but steadily and all his adventures feel natural with no random busts of strength or improbably lucky chances for little effort.Can't help but root for the guy seeing him actually struggle on his path to immortality. Great work, keep it up. Will be waiting for more.

This started off a little harder to get into due to the beginning having a lot of narration with little dialogue. However, soon enough, I got immersed again in the story.Wu Ying's master incurred injuries and Wu Ying and his party goes on a quest to gather the materials required for the cure.As I mentioned in previous reviews, I find the author is great at making his characters relatable and give good insight into their thoughts and motivations.Highly anticipating the next book in the series.