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Road to Mastery #1
Road to Mastery
Alone. Surrounded by monsters. Armed only with his fists... Time to fight. Jack Rust was a disillusioned biologist with a PhD—almost. When an extraterrestrial AI calling itself the System invaded Earth and thrust it into a world of aliens, magic, and violence, Jack hoped to at least get some magic himself.
Nope.
Even worse, the System spawned a forest dungeon around him and a goblin in his face... Armed with nothing but his fists, Jack must grow strong enough to survive hordes of monsters. He needs to return to civilization and find out what the heck is going on. He might even get magic—or not. Surprising himself, Jack discovers that violence is fun. In this battle-ridden new world, Jack finds the life he always dreamed about. He won’t just survive. He will thrive.
Don't miss the start of this action-packed new LitRPG Apocalypse Series from Valerios. Join Jack the brawler as he pummels everything that gets in his way with his fists on his road to mastery and power. It's perfect for fans of Primal Hunter , Defiance of the Fall, and lovers of all things Progression Fantasy and LitRPG.
Nope.
Even worse, the System spawned a forest dungeon around him and a goblin in his face... Armed with nothing but his fists, Jack must grow strong enough to survive hordes of monsters. He needs to return to civilization and find out what the heck is going on. He might even get magic—or not. Surprising himself, Jack discovers that violence is fun. In this battle-ridden new world, Jack finds the life he always dreamed about. He won’t just survive. He will thrive.
Don't miss the start of this action-packed new LitRPG Apocalypse Series from Valerios. Join Jack the brawler as he pummels everything that gets in his way with his fists on his road to mastery and power. It's perfect for fans of Primal Hunter , Defiance of the Fall, and lovers of all things Progression Fantasy and LitRPG.
738 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 25, 2023
2022 people are currently reading
871 people want to read
About the author
Valerios
27 books57 followersValerios enjoys letters and numbers. One day, combining them crossed his mind, and now he spends most of his time placing one after the other until something pleasant appears.
Besides transforming words into worlds, Valerios also enjoys moving figurines over chess boards, spending quality time with quality people, and stubbornly trying to convince machines that cats are not, in fact, dogs.
Besides transforming words into worlds, Valerios also enjoys moving figurines over chess boards, spending quality time with quality people, and stubbornly trying to convince machines that cats are not, in fact, dogs.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 159 reviews
June 6, 2023
I didn't get far before I just couldn't maintain interest. I mean, if your protagonist has a PhD, or nearly so, maybe think of making him smart? Four chapters in and he's shown that he's too big a wuss to enter a cold lake for stat boosts (he stopped at the knees—because it rhymes with freeze? No. That would have at least had a logic to it. Not good logic, but better than "Done now"), too afraid to engage anything that might help him gain levels, and too stupid to form useful plans.
And it isn't helping that the author is over-describing everything. I mean, what physiognomy sweats literal puddles from hiding under a bush for a minute? And what ground cover that can support shrubbery just lets puddles of anything accumulate all willy-nilly without shunting it to the nearest root system?
Anyway, Jack manages to be an overthinking wuss without actually thinking anything useful. Not my favorite kind of protagonist. So let's call it one star and be done before I get more ammo to be more scathing...
And it isn't helping that the author is over-describing everything. I mean, what physiognomy sweats literal puddles from hiding under a bush for a minute? And what ground cover that can support shrubbery just lets puddles of anything accumulate all willy-nilly without shunting it to the nearest root system?
Anyway, Jack manages to be an overthinking wuss without actually thinking anything useful. Not my favorite kind of protagonist. So let's call it one star and be done before I get more ammo to be more scathing...
September 17, 2023
This was a fun read by an author I haven't read before. It felt inspired by, and an improvement on, other gamelit/cultivation hybrids like Defiance of the Fall and Randidly Ghosthound.
Plot - 8/10, Character - 9/10, Setting/Game Mechanics - 8/10, Writing - 8/10, Enjoyment - 10/10
This story falls into the classic System Apocalypse category with the addition of cultivation in the form of Dao. Our MC is out in a nature preserve when the System integration begins and finds himself isolated in a clear-or-die dungeon. Once he makes his way out, he will have to deal with the developing faction politics of a post-System Earth and the addition of powers from outside the galaxy. It's a standard setup if you're familiar with the genre, but it was done well and I felt like the story progressed at a nice and consistent pace. The author knows how to structure a story, which puts them a notch above the genre predecessors like Randidly Ghosthound.
Our MC, Jack Rust, is a 25-year-old graduate student who's out in the field collecting specimens when we meet him. He's in the middle of what I would consider a pre-midlife-crisis as he feels simultaneously bored with the idea of his life being 30 more years of the same, while also stuck on his current path after progressing so far along it. I live in a college town, so I've met quite a few grad students like Jack, who feel aimless and have gotten stuck in the ABD (All-But-Dissertation) cycle. They've mentally fallen into a rut and can't quite wrap up their Phd, so they take more field or teaching assignments to maintain their stipend and buy more time. The universities love this sort of thing because the more classes they can pawn off on grad students to teach, the more time tenured faculty can spend on research and publications, which add reputation points for the school.
Jack ends up taking a Pugilist class after beating a goblin to death with his bare hands and feels revitalized, like he's found the spark that's been missing in life. Jack was a pretty fun character that had a bit more personality than the typical bland MC. The supporting cast is pretty diverse as well, mostly from class and skill set more than personality, but it's only Book 1 so I'm fine with the extras being standard archetypes.
The game mechanics and cultivation were standard, but well-done. Everything felt familiar but also consistent within the world. The System with its skills is more like a springboard in this universe, with your Dao path progression really dictating the limits of your strength. I felt like this story did a good job with the Dao explanations and visions by spreading the info out through the story rather than doing a massive infodump. The Dao visions also felt like they were a more reasonable length and not as self-indulgent as in other stories. Maybe that's just my opinion/preference.
I thought the writing was better than most in the genre. The prose wasn't really poetic or literary, but everything was pretty clear and easy to visualize. The author seems to have a better vocabulary than genre average as well, which then led to less reliance on adverbs and adjectives. He clicked a button, and his flashlight burned to life, shooting a wide beam of light into the darkness, dispelling it. This was a pretty straightforward sentence, but I always appreciate strong verbs. Other authors would have likely muddied up this line with some simile about how the flashlight lit the cave like a bonfire or some random nonsense. This was one way it was an improvement over stories like Defiance of the Fall, which seemed to have a fetish for adverb overuse.
I really enjoyed this story and I'm glad I picked it up. I think Defiance of the Fall stopped being enjoyable a few books in, so it's nice to find another alternative when I'm in the mood for a gamelit/cultivation hybrid. I'll admit the humor made me roll my eyes as often as it got a laugh, so that might be an element that varies by reader. But otherwise, I would recommend this story for any fan of the System Apocalypse genre. Fans of DotF and Randidly Ghosthound will also likely enjoy this.
Plot - 8/10, Character - 9/10, Setting/Game Mechanics - 8/10, Writing - 8/10, Enjoyment - 10/10
This story falls into the classic System Apocalypse category with the addition of cultivation in the form of Dao. Our MC is out in a nature preserve when the System integration begins and finds himself isolated in a clear-or-die dungeon. Once he makes his way out, he will have to deal with the developing faction politics of a post-System Earth and the addition of powers from outside the galaxy. It's a standard setup if you're familiar with the genre, but it was done well and I felt like the story progressed at a nice and consistent pace. The author knows how to structure a story, which puts them a notch above the genre predecessors like Randidly Ghosthound.
Our MC, Jack Rust, is a 25-year-old graduate student who's out in the field collecting specimens when we meet him. He's in the middle of what I would consider a pre-midlife-crisis as he feels simultaneously bored with the idea of his life being 30 more years of the same, while also stuck on his current path after progressing so far along it. I live in a college town, so I've met quite a few grad students like Jack, who feel aimless and have gotten stuck in the ABD (All-But-Dissertation) cycle. They've mentally fallen into a rut and can't quite wrap up their Phd, so they take more field or teaching assignments to maintain their stipend and buy more time. The universities love this sort of thing because the more classes they can pawn off on grad students to teach, the more time tenured faculty can spend on research and publications, which add reputation points for the school.
Jack ends up taking a Pugilist class after beating a goblin to death with his bare hands and feels revitalized, like he's found the spark that's been missing in life. Jack was a pretty fun character that had a bit more personality than the typical bland MC. The supporting cast is pretty diverse as well, mostly from class and skill set more than personality, but it's only Book 1 so I'm fine with the extras being standard archetypes.
The game mechanics and cultivation were standard, but well-done. Everything felt familiar but also consistent within the world. The System with its skills is more like a springboard in this universe, with your Dao path progression really dictating the limits of your strength. I felt like this story did a good job with the Dao explanations and visions by spreading the info out through the story rather than doing a massive infodump. The Dao visions also felt like they were a more reasonable length and not as self-indulgent as in other stories. Maybe that's just my opinion/preference.
I thought the writing was better than most in the genre. The prose wasn't really poetic or literary, but everything was pretty clear and easy to visualize. The author seems to have a better vocabulary than genre average as well, which then led to less reliance on adverbs and adjectives. He clicked a button, and his flashlight burned to life, shooting a wide beam of light into the darkness, dispelling it. This was a pretty straightforward sentence, but I always appreciate strong verbs. Other authors would have likely muddied up this line with some simile about how the flashlight lit the cave like a bonfire or some random nonsense. This was one way it was an improvement over stories like Defiance of the Fall, which seemed to have a fetish for adverb overuse.
I really enjoyed this story and I'm glad I picked it up. I think Defiance of the Fall stopped being enjoyable a few books in, so it's nice to find another alternative when I'm in the mood for a gamelit/cultivation hybrid. I'll admit the humor made me roll my eyes as often as it got a laugh, so that might be an element that varies by reader. But otherwise, I would recommend this story for any fan of the System Apocalypse genre. Fans of DotF and Randidly Ghosthound will also likely enjoy this.
July 3, 2023
A Biologist Must’ve Hurt the Author
I stopped reading pretty early on when he wasn’t sure if a bear could smell him. Even children in the city know animals can smell you? But a Biologist at the end of a PhD program freaking out about “can a bear smell blood?” is more fantasy than the System. I don’t want to see what else they say about nature. I have roughly the same complaints as other reviewers about the MC and skimmed the Dao of spanking chapter but it was a repeated joke about hitting your kids. Worse to me than just being cringy.
I stopped reading pretty early on when he wasn’t sure if a bear could smell him. Even children in the city know animals can smell you? But a Biologist at the end of a PhD program freaking out about “can a bear smell blood?” is more fantasy than the System. I don’t want to see what else they say about nature. I have roughly the same complaints as other reviewers about the MC and skimmed the Dao of spanking chapter but it was a repeated joke about hitting your kids. Worse to me than just being cringy.
November 1, 2023
3.5/5
A usual litRPG troupe with a neat execution that shouldn't be nearly as long as it is
I gotta say I nearly DNF'd it in the beginning but I'm glad I didn't. You gotta bear through the first 200 to 300 pages.
The tournament arc is a blast.
The main drawback is, it's unnecessarily long, you could cut down nearly 200 pages easily.
Will definitely read the sequel.
A usual litRPG troupe with a neat execution that shouldn't be nearly as long as it is
I gotta say I nearly DNF'd it in the beginning but I'm glad I didn't. You gotta bear through the first 200 to 300 pages.
The tournament arc is a blast.
The main drawback is, it's unnecessarily long, you could cut down nearly 200 pages easily.
Will definitely read the sequel.
June 1, 2023
Quit two thirds in.
This is a cultivators book, not a litrpg. It is a very basic one at that. The obvious cheating, the last minute wins, the mysterious characters, none of it is creative or original. With the amount of exceptions that occur, the system is pointless. The human factions are barely brushed on, and the cultivating is basic and boring.
This is a cultivators book, not a litrpg. It is a very basic one at that. The obvious cheating, the last minute wins, the mysterious characters, none of it is creative or original. With the amount of exceptions that occur, the system is pointless. The human factions are barely brushed on, and the cultivating is basic and boring.
February 14, 2024
This has been sitting on my TBR for a little while and I decided to take it for a spin after hitting a lull on releases.
I'm glad I did.
It takes a step away from the normal post-apocalypse stories insofar as there isn't mass annihilation of the population as part of the introduction of the system. It's quite nice.
Feels a lot like Defiance of the Fall, lite.
I'm glad I did.
It takes a step away from the normal post-apocalypse stories insofar as there isn't mass annihilation of the population as part of the introduction of the system. It's quite nice.
Feels a lot like Defiance of the Fall, lite.
July 6, 2023
Seems to be a sub-par ripoff of Defiance of the Fall. Did like the Brorillas though that was original & funny
October 26, 2023
Needs Editing
Only got in about 2% before the lack of copy editing started to bother me too much. Main character seemed a bit flat, too, but maybe that was just the copy.
Only got in about 2% before the lack of copy editing started to bother me too much. Main character seemed a bit flat, too, but maybe that was just the copy.
June 8, 2023
good story, could’ve been cut by 300 pages
Too long to verbose. Good character a little wishy-washy in the beginning with his vacillation concerning does he want to fight or does he want to hide until he’s rescued. Half of this book could’ve been cut, the fight scenes were too long, three or four chapters for a fight, I found myself skipping forwards quite a bit. That was good world building, but the arena sequence took up too much of the book. Will probably read the next book in the series if it’s not this long.
Too long to verbose. Good character a little wishy-washy in the beginning with his vacillation concerning does he want to fight or does he want to hide until he’s rescued. Half of this book could’ve been cut, the fight scenes were too long, three or four chapters for a fight, I found myself skipping forwards quite a bit. That was good world building, but the arena sequence took up too much of the book. Will probably read the next book in the series if it’s not this long.
June 13, 2023
KU Review
The purity of violence. Serious tones but there are definitely funny and silly additions that temper the edge. Great alien/system apocalypse story. Look forward to more.
General disclaimer: I want to be clear in that I do not factor cost into any review and as such, this is simply a reflection of my enjoyment of the book and in no way reflects cost to value analysis.
The purity of violence. Serious tones but there are definitely funny and silly additions that temper the edge. Great alien/system apocalypse story. Look forward to more.
General disclaimer: I want to be clear in that I do not factor cost into any review and as such, this is simply a reflection of my enjoyment of the book and in no way reflects cost to value analysis.
July 1, 2023
Mayhem, maybe too much
The first third was really solid. The second half, the fights got to be overly long and unnecessary to the story and the pacing started to drag. There's lots of things I appreciated in this tale, but I'll have to admit that by the halfway point, the combat was getting surreal and too superheroic for me, and I started skimming the constant fights between secondary characters.
The first third was really solid. The second half, the fights got to be overly long and unnecessary to the story and the pacing started to drag. There's lots of things I appreciated in this tale, but I'll have to admit that by the halfway point, the combat was getting surreal and too superheroic for me, and I started skimming the constant fights between secondary characters.
June 6, 2023
Book one
I greatly enjoyed reading this book. In my opinion it's better than Defiance of the Fall.
But remember that it is only my opinion.
I only found one mistake and listed it on Goodreads.
The Bros are some of my favorite characters.
9/10
I greatly enjoyed reading this book. In my opinion it's better than Defiance of the Fall.
But remember that it is only my opinion.
I only found one mistake and listed it on Goodreads.
The Bros are some of my favorite characters.
9/10
June 12, 2024
I started this book yesterday and within a day finished it. I couldn’t put it down.
One of the best of this genre I’ve read yet.
One of the best of this genre I’ve read yet.
December 7, 2023
very fun, and a tad cheesy
This very clearly took heavy inspiration from defiance of the fall. From the system, to the mcs awakening, the mcs combat style, the dao, etc. however it has one aspect I find missing from defiance of the fall. This book has more comedy. The other books this draws inspiration from have a tendency to give the reader a sense of helplessness. Like defiance of the fall being insurmountable in the scope the author gave it. Whereas this book also has a large scope, but is a bit smaller and more personal.
This very clearly took heavy inspiration from defiance of the fall. From the system, to the mcs awakening, the mcs combat style, the dao, etc. however it has one aspect I find missing from defiance of the fall. This book has more comedy. The other books this draws inspiration from have a tendency to give the reader a sense of helplessness. Like defiance of the fall being insurmountable in the scope the author gave it. Whereas this book also has a large scope, but is a bit smaller and more personal.
February 26, 2024
5 In Danger, He Smiled Stars
Road to Mastery is the first book in the LitRPG Apocalypse Adventure by Valerios.
Honestly, for a good portion at the beginning of this book, I thought I was gonna hate it. That it was inevitable I would put it down. While, even I, daydream about gaining unbelievable powers and discovering my true potential, outside the rat race that defines our capitalist society. The way Jack spoke in the beginning of the book, before he'd discovered Dao and unearthed his hidden killer, was so cringey. And yet, this book evolved into such an entertaining adventure.
Cultivation combined with Apocalypse style world ending, system changes? Fascinating. Discovering the ways in which not only similar core beliefs can differ, but the variety of those defining singularities allows for such open-ended fun. When you add in the alien species yet to be discovered and an entirely new system of laws and nations to decipher, the world expands.
Now, this story will branch into many. As his allies face the dangers of the three surviving scions on Earth, and prepare for the end of their first year. Jack will travel to other worlds, across space, to force himself into evolutions of power most believe impossible. All with the hope of being the hero of his world. The one who can stop, with certainty, the Animal Kingdom from enslaving their entire planet to its whims.
Road to Mastery is the first book in the LitRPG Apocalypse Adventure by Valerios.
Honestly, for a good portion at the beginning of this book, I thought I was gonna hate it. That it was inevitable I would put it down. While, even I, daydream about gaining unbelievable powers and discovering my true potential, outside the rat race that defines our capitalist society. The way Jack spoke in the beginning of the book, before he'd discovered Dao and unearthed his hidden killer, was so cringey. And yet, this book evolved into such an entertaining adventure.
Cultivation combined with Apocalypse style world ending, system changes? Fascinating. Discovering the ways in which not only similar core beliefs can differ, but the variety of those defining singularities allows for such open-ended fun. When you add in the alien species yet to be discovered and an entirely new system of laws and nations to decipher, the world expands.
Now, this story will branch into many. As his allies face the dangers of the three surviving scions on Earth, and prepare for the end of their first year. Jack will travel to other worlds, across space, to force himself into evolutions of power most believe impossible. All with the hope of being the hero of his world. The one who can stop, with certainty, the Animal Kingdom from enslaving their entire planet to its whims.
June 2, 2023
Interesting variation
Yes, this is "inspired" rather heavily by Defiance of the Fall, but it has a different twist and path. If it can sustain it, it can be better as DotF is getting mired in overly complicated plots and politics. The biggest bonus is the divorcing of 90% of the faction crap from the main storyline and not making the plethora of side characters and plots clog up the main story.
In fact, most of the failures of this genre come from overcomplicated outside issues and rinse,repeat power ups. We'll see how it goes.
Yes, this is "inspired" rather heavily by Defiance of the Fall, but it has a different twist and path. If it can sustain it, it can be better as DotF is getting mired in overly complicated plots and politics. The biggest bonus is the divorcing of 90% of the faction crap from the main storyline and not making the plethora of side characters and plots clog up the main story.
In fact, most of the failures of this genre come from overcomplicated outside issues and rinse,repeat power ups. We'll see how it goes.
December 15, 2023
Ok book
Very wishy-washy one moment he is a fighter the next he is bemoaning his fate ,don't really like the main character and the brogrillias was really not good the book did not need that , don't know why the writer thought that the book needed that?
Very wishy-washy one moment he is a fighter the next he is bemoaning his fate ,don't really like the main character and the brogrillias was really not good the book did not need that , don't know why the writer thought that the book needed that?
September 25, 2023
Good Enough
Fun concept that is consistent with progression/cultivation aspects of the genre. My biggest complaint was that the book didn’t feel fleshed out. Every interaction felt childish and surface level. The attempt at romance/seduction was difficult to read.
Fun concept that is consistent with progression/cultivation aspects of the genre. My biggest complaint was that the book didn’t feel fleshed out. Every interaction felt childish and surface level. The attempt at romance/seduction was difficult to read.
May 12, 2024
Names a gorilla Harambe and millennial ass jokes (bro-rillas, you got to be strong in here too *points at heart* type of “jokes”)
December 1, 2025
DNF @ 25%. Before I crap on this book, let me say that it was absolutely not the fault of the narrator, who tried his very best to read this drivel.
Twenty five percent is somewhere around eight hours into the audiobook, and I just cannot be bothered to care. The writing is so absurdly hyperbolic that if this book had been narrated by one of those Movie Trailer voices that attempts to make everything sound enticing and dramatic, I wouldn't have felt it out of place.
There are extended sequences of pondering that take place during fisticuffs but aren't actually of any real value, and besides often reading a stat sheet to me that is mostly empty and thus not worth reading - even if our witless protagonist has earned two more points for distribution - the author makes basically no attempts to introduce the character to us in any meaningful way. Sure, we know his name, and that he was bored in his scholarly life, and that he seems to have a weird idolization of his professor, but that's practically it. Actually, that might actually be it.
I was ready to check out of the book much, much earlier than I did, but was held captive by poor wifi at my workplace, so I couldn't get anything else to listen to. The author stated more than once that the protagonist was beset by tension and danger, and I never once felt it. There's no depth, there's no character development, there's no personality. The dungeon the protagonist spawns into is bland, and he's handed various stat boosts and victories after basically no effort. The hyperbolic writing absolutely undercuts any action, because every single blow is 'crushing' or 'devastating' . There's even a fight where the character literally thinks how amazing he is and how handily he's winning the fight, only for the next sentence or so to be 'crippling' self doubt, followed by a 'narrow' victory against the foe.
This book might have been good, if anyone who had actually knew what a good book was had stopped the author at some point and suggested they find an editor. Twenty five percent of the way into your book, past the major difficulty thus far presented in the story, and all I can tell you about the main character is that he's an idiot. I know the author says he isn't. But that's not what was written.
I hope I can find a good book with a MC who mostly uses melee though. The concept has merit.
Twenty five percent is somewhere around eight hours into the audiobook, and I just cannot be bothered to care. The writing is so absurdly hyperbolic that if this book had been narrated by one of those Movie Trailer voices that attempts to make everything sound enticing and dramatic, I wouldn't have felt it out of place.
There are extended sequences of pondering that take place during fisticuffs but aren't actually of any real value, and besides often reading a stat sheet to me that is mostly empty and thus not worth reading - even if our witless protagonist has earned two more points for distribution - the author makes basically no attempts to introduce the character to us in any meaningful way. Sure, we know his name, and that he was bored in his scholarly life, and that he seems to have a weird idolization of his professor, but that's practically it. Actually, that might actually be it.
I was ready to check out of the book much, much earlier than I did, but was held captive by poor wifi at my workplace, so I couldn't get anything else to listen to. The author stated more than once that the protagonist was beset by tension and danger, and I never once felt it. There's no depth, there's no character development, there's no personality. The dungeon the protagonist spawns into is bland, and he's handed various stat boosts and victories after basically no effort. The hyperbolic writing absolutely undercuts any action, because every single blow is 'crushing' or 'devastating' . There's even a fight where the character literally thinks how amazing he is and how handily he's winning the fight, only for the next sentence or so to be 'crippling' self doubt, followed by a 'narrow' victory against the foe.
This book might have been good, if anyone who had actually knew what a good book was had stopped the author at some point and suggested they find an editor. Twenty five percent of the way into your book, past the major difficulty thus far presented in the story, and all I can tell you about the main character is that he's an idiot. I know the author says he isn't. But that's not what was written.
I hope I can find a good book with a MC who mostly uses melee though. The concept has merit.
October 31, 2023
good system apocalypse story
The MC is in a cave that becomes a dungeon when the system invades earth. He levels up with the dao of the fist and becomes one of earths mightiest. There was some silliness such as brorillas and the gym-whatevers.
Of course the animal kingdom clan cheats its way into the integration as a tried and true way to extend their influence before they are supposed to. Everyone knows but strength rules! Still the MC does gain some allies to fight back, but he’s got a long difficult road to travel and less than a year to become ridiculously OP to stand against the animal kingdom once integration is complete.
All told this is a pretty interesting story done in a sci-fi/ fantasy mix. The world-building for this iteration of a system apocalypse holds together pretty well. Its no stretch that clans who’ve been around for a long time seek incumbent advantage by whatever means are necessary. Since strength rules, no surprise they are ruthless and arrogant bottom feeders.
I dd enjoy some of the supporting characters, LiXiang the king fu master, Dorman the rogue and of course his gf Vivi. Rufus was a good enemy who was coddled which caused him to be less than he thought and Gan Salin was an interesting psycho with the dao of insanity…. really?
The MC is in a cave that becomes a dungeon when the system invades earth. He levels up with the dao of the fist and becomes one of earths mightiest. There was some silliness such as brorillas and the gym-whatevers.
Of course the animal kingdom clan cheats its way into the integration as a tried and true way to extend their influence before they are supposed to. Everyone knows but strength rules! Still the MC does gain some allies to fight back, but he’s got a long difficult road to travel and less than a year to become ridiculously OP to stand against the animal kingdom once integration is complete.
All told this is a pretty interesting story done in a sci-fi/ fantasy mix. The world-building for this iteration of a system apocalypse holds together pretty well. Its no stretch that clans who’ve been around for a long time seek incumbent advantage by whatever means are necessary. Since strength rules, no surprise they are ruthless and arrogant bottom feeders.
I dd enjoy some of the supporting characters, LiXiang the king fu master, Dorman the rogue and of course his gf Vivi. Rufus was a good enemy who was coddled which caused him to be less than he thought and Gan Salin was an interesting psycho with the dao of insanity…. really?
March 7, 2025
I'm going to use this space for my thoughts/comments regarding the first three books of this fantasy LitRPG series as I'm not planning to read any more of it. Jack is a biologist graduate student exploring a cave when Earth is inducted into an alien system. After the world shifts he is now in a dungeon and has to progress quickly to return to the outside world. Below are some general comments/thoughts. I'm going to rate Books 1-3 as 4 stars to combat the rating algorithm that indie authors face but if I was being honest I would probably rate them as 3 stars.
- Jack progresses too quickly and everything feels rushed.
- Jack makes too many decisions that don't make a lot of sense.
- The Sage character saves Jack and his friends way too often.
- Too many instances of people shouting the name of their skills or attacks as they do them when it is not required.
- Too many instances of the bad guys saying "How?" when the good guys survive or do something they think is impossible during a battle.
- Too much monologuing by both the good guys and the bad guys during battles.
- The system is OK but maybe a little basic. The Dau parts were OK.
- I never liked the Brock sidekick character and all the bro stuff.
- The ending of book 3 had so many cringey/cheesy fights that I don't feel like continuing with the series.
- Jack progresses too quickly and everything feels rushed.
- Jack makes too many decisions that don't make a lot of sense.
- The Sage character saves Jack and his friends way too often.
- Too many instances of people shouting the name of their skills or attacks as they do them when it is not required.
- Too many instances of the bad guys saying "How?" when the good guys survive or do something they think is impossible during a battle.
- Too much monologuing by both the good guys and the bad guys during battles.
- The system is OK but maybe a little basic. The Dau parts were OK.
- I never liked the Brock sidekick character and all the bro stuff.
- The ending of book 3 had so many cringey/cheesy fights that I don't feel like continuing with the series.
October 5, 2024
I almost dropped this book after the first ~2-3% because there were an atrocious number of grammatical errors, to the point where it was incredibly distracting. Especially, turns of phrases were used incorrectly. (think: "for all intensive purposes") However, that seemed to taper off and the remaining ~90% of the book had far fewer issues.
The book itself is solid. It's good, not great. As with nearly every book that comes from Royal Road, I felt this was significantly longer than it needed to be and I found myself glossing over significant chunks of the book because I just didn't care about whatever was going on.
On the positive side, there is plenty of action in the book and a decent amount of crunchiness. The world building was good, not great, but it did get better in the second half of the book once they got to the tournament. That said, overall the second half of the book was significantly better IMO - I'd give the second half a solid 4 stars, where the first half was 2.5 at best.
Anyway, at ~800 pages, and with so many other choices out there, this book didn't really grab me enough to make me want to continue with that level of time investment.
The book itself is solid. It's good, not great. As with nearly every book that comes from Royal Road, I felt this was significantly longer than it needed to be and I found myself glossing over significant chunks of the book because I just didn't care about whatever was going on.
On the positive side, there is plenty of action in the book and a decent amount of crunchiness. The world building was good, not great, but it did get better in the second half of the book once they got to the tournament. That said, overall the second half of the book was significantly better IMO - I'd give the second half a solid 4 stars, where the first half was 2.5 at best.
Anyway, at ~800 pages, and with so many other choices out there, this book didn't really grab me enough to make me want to continue with that level of time investment.
August 4, 2024
The support characters are awesome... BROCK!!!!!
This book is difficult to put into words... Hmmm...
This book is a hybrid of western thoughts of "The System" and eastern thoughts of "Dao Cultivation." Past experience has proven that the hybrid books don't work very well conceptually; in my opinion this book isn't much different. It seems to start off with just the system and "stats" but then later ends up introducing the Dao and cultivation.
The only thing that kept me going were the support characters. They were a lot of fun to read and see how they interacted with the hero Jack. Brock is the best!!!
This book repeated itself quite often so I found myself skimming through sections. A big running gag is the almost doctorate, be prepared to hear about that one a lot. The scions were all annoying. They were split into two factions so I had high hopes for the faction of two; spoiler... They were awful as well.
Also... Why didn't we get to see how the fight in the coliseum ended? I would like to know if Jack's allies survived!
Hope you like it better than me!!
This book is difficult to put into words... Hmmm...
This book is a hybrid of western thoughts of "The System" and eastern thoughts of "Dao Cultivation." Past experience has proven that the hybrid books don't work very well conceptually; in my opinion this book isn't much different. It seems to start off with just the system and "stats" but then later ends up introducing the Dao and cultivation.
The only thing that kept me going were the support characters. They were a lot of fun to read and see how they interacted with the hero Jack. Brock is the best!!!
This book repeated itself quite often so I found myself skimming through sections. A big running gag is the almost doctorate, be prepared to hear about that one a lot. The scions were all annoying. They were split into two factions so I had high hopes for the faction of two; spoiler... They were awful as well.
Also... Why didn't we get to see how the fight in the coliseum ended? I would like to know if Jack's allies survived!
Hope you like it better than me!!
August 11, 2023
Damn I loved this series and it has so much promise. The world is initiated into the multiverse and things become chaotic and dangerous for everyone on earth. This is all pretty well known tropes but there is nothing wrong with that. Our MC ends up in the middle of a Jungle like Dungeon. Now he has no choice if he wants to survive he has to defeat the dungeon and the only way to do that is by leveling up and defeating the dungeon boss. Now some might think a I know everything that will happen next because that is how most Wuxia/Litrpg apocalypse type stories starts. Let me start by saying that no things go quite differently from how most stories will go after this point. There is great plot flow, good world-building along with amazing and detailed characters. This series has it all action, drama, pursuit of the peak of strength, unusually deep emotional ties between certain non-human characters.
December 8, 2023
Wow great first
Wow this is a big 1st book. At this point it's very similar to DOTF. Alexa still a fun book. All about cultivation and Dao. This is a lit RPG there are stats. The cultivation portion is mostly not existent but referenced. Is it all about your Dao for power At least against other powerful practitioners. Against monsters it's all about skill and stats and will. This is a pretty big book. Oddly not a lot of happens time wise but very intense. A lot of introspection by the MC. The introspection isn't necessarily about himself it's about the power. There is not much world building. What you see is what you get. The characters are interesting and different. There is only a little love interest And it's not obtrusive. Pretty good read I enjoyed it. Probably not the best of this genre but not a bad 1 to fill in the gaps. Can't argue that you get your money worth though.
Wow this is a big 1st book. At this point it's very similar to DOTF. Alexa still a fun book. All about cultivation and Dao. This is a lit RPG there are stats. The cultivation portion is mostly not existent but referenced. Is it all about your Dao for power At least against other powerful practitioners. Against monsters it's all about skill and stats and will. This is a pretty big book. Oddly not a lot of happens time wise but very intense. A lot of introspection by the MC. The introspection isn't necessarily about himself it's about the power. There is not much world building. What you see is what you get. The characters are interesting and different. There is only a little love interest And it's not obtrusive. Pretty good read I enjoyed it. Probably not the best of this genre but not a bad 1 to fill in the gaps. Can't argue that you get your money worth though.
October 7, 2023
Help me read more books
Vicious and very brutal is the only words that come to mind after finishing this one. I know it was deliberately written that way, and every event in the story lead to the point at which it ended, so really, there was no other outcome, but still. This story is a good one, but not one I'd recommend to folks who aren't enamored with extreme violence. As I said, it all happened as it needed to, but I'm not sure it will win any popularity contests. Even so, it's worth the read if you're a LitRPG fan, and/or if you like your progression stories with a hefty dose of don't back down, and serious retribution. I don't see it getting any easier for the main character in the next book either, but nontheless, I'm off to read that one as well, I'm curious to see just how our hero intends to solve his latest batch of problems.
Vicious and very brutal is the only words that come to mind after finishing this one. I know it was deliberately written that way, and every event in the story lead to the point at which it ended, so really, there was no other outcome, but still. This story is a good one, but not one I'd recommend to folks who aren't enamored with extreme violence. As I said, it all happened as it needed to, but I'm not sure it will win any popularity contests. Even so, it's worth the read if you're a LitRPG fan, and/or if you like your progression stories with a hefty dose of don't back down, and serious retribution. I don't see it getting any easier for the main character in the next book either, but nontheless, I'm off to read that one as well, I'm curious to see just how our hero intends to solve his latest batch of problems.
July 8, 2023
I really enjoyed the first half of the book, well written, nice pacing, interesting plot. Once the tournament started, however, it was just interminable fight after fight in too much pointless detail. And once the tournament ended, and I was hoping the plot would continue, we get an EPIC BATTLE with a few more chapters of insipid "fight" prose. The author actually panned the practice of announcing the name of a skill when it was used, rightly calling it cringe, but after MC hits E-level, the fight scene is full of METEOR STRIKE and GHOST STEP and other cringe technique names when the MC uses them.
Other reviews accused this book of being a clone of Defiance of the Fall so I went off to read that next. This story was so much better than that one.
Other reviews accused this book of being a clone of Defiance of the Fall so I went off to read that next. This story was so much better than that one.
July 19, 2023
This was an AWESOME book. You have the typical annoyance of the initial doubt and concerns surrounding a human going into a gaming world, but that vanished quickly to be replaced by tons of violence and mayhem. A little romance towards the end, but it plays well and isn't distracting; the battles are spectacular with the end mega battle well worth the time and filled with plenty of surprises The only issue I have with the book is book #2 isn't done yet, but it is due in a few, weeks, so I can wait. The first book is complete with no cliff hangers, so the wait is only to see what happens next, not to close a particular story arc. I need to get on a game. Now I need to work off my energy from finishing the book. All in all, one of my favorites for the year!
March 15, 2024
This book has me perplexed. I think the author knows the elements people like in the genre, but is a terrible writer. I really like the story, but the MC's motivation and internal dialogue is SO BAD.
OP Character - Check
Decent magic system - Check
Tournament arc - Check
Big bad Antagonist - Check
The reasoning of the MC is so terrible. Everyone has said multiple times that the character is an idiot, but for me it was so much worse. The author clearly had an outline of progression, but could not find the motivation for the character to go through this progression.
I don't think I'm going to read past book 2, unless I get told the writing gets better.
By the end I was skipping through the final fights just so I could get to the end of the book.
OP Character - Check
Decent magic system - Check
Tournament arc - Check
Big bad Antagonist - Check
The reasoning of the MC is so terrible. Everyone has said multiple times that the character is an idiot, but for me it was so much worse. The author clearly had an outline of progression, but could not find the motivation for the character to go through this progression.
I don't think I'm going to read past book 2, unless I get told the writing gets better.
By the end I was skipping through the final fights just so I could get to the end of the book.
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