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Vae Victis #1
Vae Victis: An Apocalypse LitRPG
When an alternate Earth is subsumed into a new reality comprising many worlds, a young vampire is the only one with the knowledge needed to save her planet.
Sold to a vampire cartel at a young age so her starving family could eat, Marianna Rojas is accustomed to fighting for her survival. When her temper leads her to make a terrible mistake, the vampire master of the Lágrima Sangrienta Cartel decides to make an example of her. Near death, her life is spared by mere chance, but she opens her eyes in the wilderness to find two moons hanging in the sky above her.
Earth is being subsumed into a new reality by a spell with godlike power, and Marianna has been chosen as one of thirty Exemplars to experience the new world ahead of the rest of the planet’s denizens. As a vampire herself, she’s used to striking fear into the hearts of all, but now it seems like every monster lurking in the shadows is out for her blood. She’ll have to learn this new realm’s rules and level up her skills—and fast.
Accompanied by a tiny dragon named Saia, Marianna works to master the mysterious Mask, which seems to be the source of all the new skills now available to her. With it, she sets out to discover the path to fulfillment of her destiny. Suddenly flush with magic, she’s more powerful than she’s ever been, and the Thirst is thrumming in her veins. But she only has a month before she’s sent back to the freshly integrated Earth to help with its transition.
Determined, Marianna trains to fight, and between the Dwarves, the Elves, and the warlike YoKai-ni, she has plenty of opportunities to practice. But to what lengths will she go to survive—and save as much of the Earth she left behind as possible?
The first volume of the hit LitRPG adventure series—with more than 200,000 views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!
Sold to a vampire cartel at a young age so her starving family could eat, Marianna Rojas is accustomed to fighting for her survival. When her temper leads her to make a terrible mistake, the vampire master of the Lágrima Sangrienta Cartel decides to make an example of her. Near death, her life is spared by mere chance, but she opens her eyes in the wilderness to find two moons hanging in the sky above her.
Earth is being subsumed into a new reality by a spell with godlike power, and Marianna has been chosen as one of thirty Exemplars to experience the new world ahead of the rest of the planet’s denizens. As a vampire herself, she’s used to striking fear into the hearts of all, but now it seems like every monster lurking in the shadows is out for her blood. She’ll have to learn this new realm’s rules and level up her skills—and fast.
Accompanied by a tiny dragon named Saia, Marianna works to master the mysterious Mask, which seems to be the source of all the new skills now available to her. With it, she sets out to discover the path to fulfillment of her destiny. Suddenly flush with magic, she’s more powerful than she’s ever been, and the Thirst is thrumming in her veins. But she only has a month before she’s sent back to the freshly integrated Earth to help with its transition.
Determined, Marianna trains to fight, and between the Dwarves, the Elves, and the warlike YoKai-ni, she has plenty of opportunities to practice. But to what lengths will she go to survive—and save as much of the Earth she left behind as possible?
The first volume of the hit LitRPG adventure series—with more than 200,000 views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!
- GenresFantasyScience Fiction
317 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 20, 2024
280 people are currently reading
86 people want to read
About the author
Ivan Kal
42 books384 followersIvan Kal writes science fiction and fantasy, and is the author of the space opera series Rise of the Empire.
For most of his life he had been studying in the fields of electronics, IT, and web design.
But because of his great love for books and his need to tell stories, he decided to start writing.
His other interests include martial arts, movies and tv, and gaming.
For most of his life he had been studying in the fields of electronics, IT, and web design.
But because of his great love for books and his need to tell stories, he decided to start writing.
His other interests include martial arts, movies and tv, and gaming.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 29, 2024
Fun premise, but it was bogged down by tedious exposition and clumsy setting descriptions.
June 10, 2024
Well... Long time no review. Probably because long time no read. 😅
So, what do we have here this time? LitRPG meets Twilight?m, for better or worse.
The Good
I'd say that the book works hard at keeping a sedated growth rate, which is duly noted and appreciated as the rarity it is in the subgenre. Having a female protagonist also helped, I think, as they don't tend to rush to OPness by the first book.
The premise of the story is also quite interesting, even if we've barely touched on it in this book. Ending the first book just after the "tutorial" is a clever move.
The writing is mostly competent, with a few repetitive sections here and there.
Audio narration was decent. Not earthshaking, but not distracting either.
The Less Good
The lore is a bit messy. Maybe I struggled with allowing familiar concepts to be redefined in a new story.
The mentor character was a miss for me. I couldn't match his backstory with his presentation, especially power-wise.
The side plots were interesting and helped give some perspective to the tale (not often the case), but they brought in sharper focus the issue I had with power levels.
The sidekick being so bland and a literal swiss knife was unfortunate.
The Bad
There is a LOT of telling in this book. Author might have swallowed more than they can chew by having to world-build BOTH Twilight-Earth AND the new world.
The Conclusion
I'm torn. There's a lot of decent storytelling in this book, but I'm not convinced that there is enough to make me actively look for the next volume.
So, what do we have here this time? LitRPG meets Twilight?m, for better or worse.
The Good
I'd say that the book works hard at keeping a sedated growth rate, which is duly noted and appreciated as the rarity it is in the subgenre. Having a female protagonist also helped, I think, as they don't tend to rush to OPness by the first book.
The premise of the story is also quite interesting, even if we've barely touched on it in this book. Ending the first book just after the "tutorial" is a clever move.
The writing is mostly competent, with a few repetitive sections here and there.
Audio narration was decent. Not earthshaking, but not distracting either.
The Less Good
The lore is a bit messy. Maybe I struggled with allowing familiar concepts to be redefined in a new story.
The mentor character was a miss for me. I couldn't match his backstory with his presentation, especially power-wise.
The side plots were interesting and helped give some perspective to the tale (not often the case), but they brought in sharper focus the issue I had with power levels.
The sidekick being so bland and a literal swiss knife was unfortunate.
The Bad
There is a LOT of telling in this book. Author might have swallowed more than they can chew by having to world-build BOTH Twilight-Earth AND the new world.
The Conclusion
I'm torn. There's a lot of decent storytelling in this book, but I'm not convinced that there is enough to make me actively look for the next volume.
June 27, 2024
I liked the author's Infinite Realms series, so I'm willing to give this a go.
This really wasn't my cup of tea. I'm not into these introspective type protagonists. The built in weakness that people can easily exploit against the protagonist is another strike.
I really don't know if I will read a sequel. I read at least a hundred books with vampires when i was doing Urban Fantasy, and I'm not really interested in them.
For some reason while reading this, Kim Harrison's The Hollows Series is going through my head.
The book is nearly done, and now I know that
The explanation of how magic works was too headache inducing. I expected some Ryun from Infinite Realm levels of OP, but the protag was meh.
We will see how I feel about drinking down things to get their power.
3/5 Stars
This really wasn't my cup of tea. I'm not into these introspective type protagonists. The built in weakness that people can easily exploit against the protagonist is another strike.
I really don't know if I will read a sequel. I read at least a hundred books with vampires when i was doing Urban Fantasy, and I'm not really interested in them.
For some reason while reading this, Kim Harrison's The Hollows Series is going through my head.
The book is nearly done, and now I know that
The explanation of how magic works was too headache inducing. I expected some Ryun from Infinite Realm levels of OP, but the protag was meh.
We will see how I feel about drinking down things to get their power.
3/5 Stars
April 11, 2024
One of the best "Earth gets isekai'ed" stories
Very well written story. Well-written characters. Well-written dialogue. Interesting plot and world.
I have read several stories where Earth suddenly gets captured by a foreign magical system. Sort of a magical apocalypse. Most of them involved some game-like system taking over. Everyone suddenly has stats and stuff like it's an RPG.
I like how the system in this book is so different. It's way more magical and explained way better. Not like a game. It is pretty simple once you figure it out, but I can't explain more without spoilers.
I also like the main character. It's really fun seeing vampires and shifters exist before the magical apocalypse. And then it's fun seeing the vampire get isekai'ed. It's not just a gimmick, it's very important to the whole plot.
Very well written story. Well-written characters. Well-written dialogue. Interesting plot and world.
I have read several stories where Earth suddenly gets captured by a foreign magical system. Sort of a magical apocalypse. Most of them involved some game-like system taking over. Everyone suddenly has stats and stuff like it's an RPG.
I like how the system in this book is so different. It's way more magical and explained way better. Not like a game. It is pretty simple once you figure it out, but I can't explain more without spoilers.
I also like the main character. It's really fun seeing vampires and shifters exist before the magical apocalypse. And then it's fun seeing the vampire get isekai'ed. It's not just a gimmick, it's very important to the whole plot.
August 13, 2025
I discovered and read this story in three days, and now I'm so damn sad there isn't another book and I have to wait for new chapters every now and then. This is the first book I've read so far where I found the video game-like dynamics of the "System" interesting and plausible. I really enjoyed the isekai dynamic, the return and subsequent opening of "gates" into our world—all traditional elements, but somehow this interaction feels fresh. I also loved the vampires, so damn hard to find decent ones these days, and the fact that they're the result of a symbiosis with alien bacteria, while not a new idea per se, was a good one. I like the contrast between their non-supernatural nature and the entry of magic into the world. The protagonist is interesting, not annoying, and relatable, and the secondary characters are likable enough.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2024
A Fantastic Start
When I read a book and I think to myself "It would be really cool if this thing happened next", sometimes the thing actually does happen.
In a rare few books, the thing I was hoping for is the thing that keeps happening, again and again. It's as if the author was writing the book just for me somehow as I was reading it.
Vae Victus is one of those books. It takes some of the best parts of the LitRPG genre and weaves them in a believable way with several tropes that normally don't go together, such as "vampires", "a chosen few selected for education ahead of an apocalypse for Earth", and "thrust into a deeply hostile environment with almost no resources".
When I read a book and I think to myself "It would be really cool if this thing happened next", sometimes the thing actually does happen.
In a rare few books, the thing I was hoping for is the thing that keeps happening, again and again. It's as if the author was writing the book just for me somehow as I was reading it.
Vae Victus is one of those books. It takes some of the best parts of the LitRPG genre and weaves them in a believable way with several tropes that normally don't go together, such as "vampires", "a chosen few selected for education ahead of an apocalypse for Earth", and "thrust into a deeply hostile environment with almost no resources".
April 16, 2024
There's a lot to like about this story, but the execution is flawed.
The premise takes a long time to settle. What starts as a vampire organised crime story switches to a Isekai progression plot and then adds a System Apocalypse layer. There are long segments of exposition as Marianna's mentor teaches her all about this new world and what is to come with the integration. That's a slog.
I'll admit I just wanted to skip to the part where she returns to Earth with a boat-load of new powers, but that seems to be what book two is about. I'll be happy to continue, if that's the case.
The premise takes a long time to settle. What starts as a vampire organised crime story switches to a Isekai progression plot and then adds a System Apocalypse layer. There are long segments of exposition as Marianna's mentor teaches her all about this new world and what is to come with the integration. That's a slog.
I'll admit I just wanted to skip to the part where she returns to Earth with a boat-load of new powers, but that seems to be what book two is about. I'll be happy to continue, if that's the case.
April 23, 2024
fantastic
Ivan kal is a master at his art. He creates such rich worlds, he does an amazing job of truly sending his characters on the hero’s journey and has them grow and mature throughout. Not just with the mechanics of the system, but emotionally as well. This book is more of an Isakai to start, but has none of the traits of that genre. Book 2 seems to be leaning towards apocalyptic earth. I’m going to be starting it right now. I can’t wait to see how the author twists that to his particular style. 5 out of 5.
Ivan kal is a master at his art. He creates such rich worlds, he does an amazing job of truly sending his characters on the hero’s journey and has them grow and mature throughout. Not just with the mechanics of the system, but emotionally as well. This book is more of an Isakai to start, but has none of the traits of that genre. Book 2 seems to be leaning towards apocalyptic earth. I’m going to be starting it right now. I can’t wait to see how the author twists that to his particular style. 5 out of 5.
May 10, 2025
Ok this starts off amazing then turns into a woo-woo teen drama where the mc what my master said what my master did on sickening repeat her repeatedly explaining how weak vampire's are how this is supposed to be a LitRPG I have heard none of that where are the stats and levels this is a fantasy book with magic. This could have been amazing but the author chose to turn this into a book the equivalent of watching ice-cream melt.
February 27, 2024
I enjoyed reading this one! The story was exciting, well-written, and interesting. It also had a good amount of action. I liked how the author paced the story. The characters were solid and compelling. I also found the class system very interesting. I would say that it added intrigue to the story.
Definitely looking forward to reading more.
Definitely looking forward to reading more.
March 12, 2024
Phenomenal, must read, litrpg in its finest!
I love the way Ivan Kal builds this world with intricate layers. Every character has depth and their backstories are well thought. I read this book with the knowledge that I will be following Mari until the end of this series however many books it takes.
I love the way Ivan Kal builds this world with intricate layers. Every character has depth and their backstories are well thought. I read this book with the knowledge that I will be following Mari until the end of this series however many books it takes.
September 16, 2024
A really novel approach to the trope theme. New author so getting a 1/2 * benefit of the doubt. Well written but not quite up to best seller standards. However the new approach to the material as well as a unique and interesting vampiric MC makes it a worth while read. Volume two is already here so we'll see how it goes.
May 20, 2024
Such a great beginning. From the author I like (Ivan's Infinite Realm is so well written).
But for some reason as soon as someone turns self righteous, the story becomes bland. MC views turned too simplistic: people and corporations are bad because greedy.
Not reading Book 2.
But for some reason as soon as someone turns self righteous, the story becomes bland. MC views turned too simplistic: people and corporations are bad because greedy.
Not reading Book 2.
May 30, 2024
Great first book
Beautiful story and female MC.. Original take on litrpg from the system to the world creation.. Highly recommend
JD Glasscock
Author of the Series Blood Brothers and Nocturne
Beautiful story and female MC.. Original take on litrpg from the system to the world creation.. Highly recommend
JD Glasscock
Author of the Series Blood Brothers and Nocturne
July 31, 2025
good
This was really good! I actually can’t believe now that I have read this one that there aren’t more stories similar. I need to look for more. I recommend to you this book and hope that you enjoy it!
This was really good! I actually can’t believe now that I have read this one that there aren’t more stories similar. I need to look for more. I recommend to you this book and hope that you enjoy it!
February 24, 2024
Excellent
Very much enjoyed reading it. Plenty of mystery, emotion, action, to keep you turning pages until the end of the book.
Very much enjoyed reading it. Plenty of mystery, emotion, action, to keep you turning pages until the end of the book.
March 8, 2024
Interesting take on Vampires
I really enjoyed this story and the interesting take on both the vampires and magic system. Look forwards to book 2!
I really enjoyed this story and the interesting take on both the vampires and magic system. Look forwards to book 2!
April 27, 2024
Very busy, but in a good way.
dnf
December 3, 2024DNF @17%
July 25, 2025
4.5 stars
A really interesting take on the apocalypse litrpg genre. A lot of editing issues drops the rating for me, but I liked it enough to want to help the algorithm.
A really interesting take on the apocalypse litrpg genre. A lot of editing issues drops the rating for me, but I liked it enough to want to help the algorithm.
August 7, 2025
New author for me. A vampire cartel enforcer gets zipped to another world instead of executed. 😳 Really enjoyed this and will most likely continue the series.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews