What do you think?
Rate this book
Oath of the Survivor #1
Oath of the Survivor: A LitRPG Apocalypse
An apocalypse LitRPG about an underdog who must do whatever it takes to survive against impossible odds.
Stranded on an alien world. Surrounded by enemies. He must learn to fight... or die.
When the apocalypse strikes the world Kyle Mayhew calls home, he is thrust into a struggle for survival.
Alongside his Central Health Autonomous Diagnostic Drone (C.H.A.D.D.), he will have to overcome mutated creatures, ruthless marauders, and his grandfather’s legacy to carve out a new home.
He might even find that he belongs...
Don't miss the start of this Apocalypse LitRPG about an underdog who must do whatever it takes to survive against impossible odds. This rational, Healer Class MC will rise from weak-to-strong together with his sort-of- insane AI companion.
Stranded on an alien world. Surrounded by enemies. He must learn to fight... or die.
When the apocalypse strikes the world Kyle Mayhew calls home, he is thrust into a struggle for survival.
Alongside his Central Health Autonomous Diagnostic Drone (C.H.A.D.D.), he will have to overcome mutated creatures, ruthless marauders, and his grandfather’s legacy to carve out a new home.
He might even find that he belongs...
Don't miss the start of this Apocalypse LitRPG about an underdog who must do whatever it takes to survive against impossible odds. This rational, Healer Class MC will rise from weak-to-strong together with his sort-of- insane AI companion.
507 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 18, 2025
566 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 25, 2025
Disappointing
Perfectly summarised by the review of "the legend" even though i judge the story more harsh.
The plot seemed okay, but just as the the world building and mostly missing description of the environment turned out to be disappointingly minimalistic and lacklustre. The world hardly felt even two dimensional and eas horribly boring and bleak. There were no secrets, discoveries, interesting encounters or enemies, not even scavenging. Everything was just basic and dull.
The main problem is the liberal pseudo moral of the protagonist who acts like a moronic cartoon hero even after the apocalypse which makes him an utterly irresponsible imbecile. Especially, as he proves himself to be learning resistant. He author so empathises on the hypocratical oath that he ignores that a doctor as well has to cut out cancer to save lives. Or in this case remove the absolute dregs of the Earth to prevent them to furter hurting, killing, enslaving and raping.. his passivity in my opinion makes him guilty by association by enabling to continue the misdeeds.
Criticism and comments
The attack on Duielag seems so senseless. The rebels easily could have solved the transition peacefully by escorting the people instead. The same goes for their attacks on refugees. Terror against civilians is a moronic way to start a rebellion to lead people to freedom. Given the strength of the group and their secret means compared to the weakness of their enemy they could have defeated DeRosa with a surprise attack early on..
It is very disappointing that every leader seems to be just a narrow minded sociopath and tyrant. The whole slavery story arc seems pointless as there just isn't any wortwile loot to scavenge anyway..
The character of DeRosa is such an pedantic, bureaucratic and egocentric sociopath that he becomes a parody.His actions to prevent this from continue to happen are so counter intuitive that he has to be utterly insane..
Perfectly summarised by the review of "the legend" even though i judge the story more harsh.
The plot seemed okay, but just as the the world building and mostly missing description of the environment turned out to be disappointingly minimalistic and lacklustre. The world hardly felt even two dimensional and eas horribly boring and bleak. There were no secrets, discoveries, interesting encounters or enemies, not even scavenging. Everything was just basic and dull.
The main problem is the liberal pseudo moral of the protagonist who acts like a moronic cartoon hero even after the apocalypse which makes him an utterly irresponsible imbecile. Especially, as he proves himself to be learning resistant. He author so empathises on the hypocratical oath that he ignores that a doctor as well has to cut out cancer to save lives. Or in this case remove the absolute dregs of the Earth to prevent them to furter hurting, killing, enslaving and raping.. his passivity in my opinion makes him guilty by association by enabling to continue the misdeeds.
Criticism and comments
The attack on Duielag seems so senseless. The rebels easily could have solved the transition peacefully by escorting the people instead. The same goes for their attacks on refugees. Terror against civilians is a moronic way to start a rebellion to lead people to freedom. Given the strength of the group and their secret means compared to the weakness of their enemy they could have defeated DeRosa with a surprise attack early on..
It is very disappointing that every leader seems to be just a narrow minded sociopath and tyrant. The whole slavery story arc seems pointless as there just isn't any wortwile loot to scavenge anyway..
The character of DeRosa is such an pedantic, bureaucratic and egocentric sociopath that he becomes a parody.His actions to prevent this from continue to happen are so counter intuitive that he has to be utterly insane..
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 2, 2025
Great Example of why I hate Healer MCs
First off, the story and plot aren't bad. The whole third generation after mana came to a mana-less world is fresh and new. Showing how only the first generation really grew strong and the next ones all got stuck at low levels and with no ambition. It doesn't really make sense why there aren't more than low E grade beasts as it sounds like only a small part of the world is civilized with a frontier with the rest being all wild. So you'd think there would be tons of high grade in the wilds but oh well.
My problem is the MC. He's the typical cares more about his feelings than actual people Healer. How is that? He's the typical, I'll heal even the bad guys and protect them from dying sort. The I won't kill anyone sort. The beat them up then send them on their way sort.
How is that selfish? Because it's cartoon moral hero stuff. He 'beats up' the bad guys and send them all their way. Well what do they do once they are healed? They go back to abusing women and children and murdering. Because he cares more about his own morals and if he's a monster or not, he lets people just 'go'. Hoping they will be better even when they show over and over they won't.
He sees the same people killing women and children and enslaving them and just...lets them go again and again. Why? Because he doesn't really care about them , he only cares about the ones he can see so he can help them and feel better but has no care about the ones who his actions affect by not killing murdering abusers.
Showing all he really cares about is himself and feeling good about himself. If he was a 'true hero' he'd kill the bad guys to stop them from hurting others. Uncaring how it made him feel or seem because he'd care more about people safety than his own 'self view' .
What's more important to someone selfless, how they feel about themselves or protecting others?
I'd understand if he needed to learn, to see those he let go kept hurting others and learn but he doesn't. He repeatedly just ' beats them up' and lets them go. Seeing them joining new bandit camps after he beats up the ones he goes through.
The only time he kills is when the author literally forces him to either kill or let someone die with no other option. Then it turns into this whole stupid moral thing of if he killed is he monster? The height of stupidity and anyone with half a brain could tell him. Does it matter? Monster. Human, Evil, Good. So long as he's saving innocent women and children with his actions. Who cares?
This isn't some happy go lucky time when they can afford to imprison, look after and feed murders when they can't even feed refugees. So the options are let them go to hurt others or kill them.
Hate healer MCs because they look at the people in front of them uncaring of the repercussions. Blindly sticking to their 'heal everyone and do no harm' idiocy. Not realizing they are doing LOTS of harm by returning evil people to the world.
It's like a surgeon who has some warlord show up with a brain tumor and then does the surgery because of their oath. Then that warlord returns to a third world country and commits war crimes and kills thousands of civilians. Sorry doctor but that is ON YOU. You did harm. You helped evil be done. You knew who you were healing, what they were going to do and helped them accomplish that. Can't just claim his actions aren't on you because without you, he wouldn't have been able to do it. It's no different than if someone knew a kid was going to shoot as school and asked for a gun so they gave them the gun. They are just as responsible.
So yes, personally can't stand that disney hero morality where it's only focused on the here and now and what looks good rather than the actual good and logical foresight of the consequences for the character's actions.
If how ever you like the 'do gooder' hero who refuses to do 'harm' because it makes them feel bad and don't care if that means the bad guys they let go then go to hurt more. This might be a good series for you.
For me it's just aggravating. Especially when the author goes out of their way to try to make revenge to put down some big evil doing lots of murdering and terrorizing seem like a 'bad thing' since his reasons were 'selfish'. When it isn't. No matter his reasons, he is still going after someone responsible for thousands of deaths. It's not a 'bad thing' .
First off, the story and plot aren't bad. The whole third generation after mana came to a mana-less world is fresh and new. Showing how only the first generation really grew strong and the next ones all got stuck at low levels and with no ambition. It doesn't really make sense why there aren't more than low E grade beasts as it sounds like only a small part of the world is civilized with a frontier with the rest being all wild. So you'd think there would be tons of high grade in the wilds but oh well.
My problem is the MC. He's the typical cares more about his feelings than actual people Healer. How is that? He's the typical, I'll heal even the bad guys and protect them from dying sort. The I won't kill anyone sort. The beat them up then send them on their way sort.
How is that selfish? Because it's cartoon moral hero stuff. He 'beats up' the bad guys and send them all their way. Well what do they do once they are healed? They go back to abusing women and children and murdering. Because he cares more about his own morals and if he's a monster or not, he lets people just 'go'. Hoping they will be better even when they show over and over they won't.
He sees the same people killing women and children and enslaving them and just...lets them go again and again. Why? Because he doesn't really care about them , he only cares about the ones he can see so he can help them and feel better but has no care about the ones who his actions affect by not killing murdering abusers.
Showing all he really cares about is himself and feeling good about himself. If he was a 'true hero' he'd kill the bad guys to stop them from hurting others. Uncaring how it made him feel or seem because he'd care more about people safety than his own 'self view' .
What's more important to someone selfless, how they feel about themselves or protecting others?
I'd understand if he needed to learn, to see those he let go kept hurting others and learn but he doesn't. He repeatedly just ' beats them up' and lets them go. Seeing them joining new bandit camps after he beats up the ones he goes through.
The only time he kills is when the author literally forces him to either kill or let someone die with no other option. Then it turns into this whole stupid moral thing of if he killed is he monster? The height of stupidity and anyone with half a brain could tell him. Does it matter? Monster. Human, Evil, Good. So long as he's saving innocent women and children with his actions. Who cares?
This isn't some happy go lucky time when they can afford to imprison, look after and feed murders when they can't even feed refugees. So the options are let them go to hurt others or kill them.
Hate healer MCs because they look at the people in front of them uncaring of the repercussions. Blindly sticking to their 'heal everyone and do no harm' idiocy. Not realizing they are doing LOTS of harm by returning evil people to the world.
It's like a surgeon who has some warlord show up with a brain tumor and then does the surgery because of their oath. Then that warlord returns to a third world country and commits war crimes and kills thousands of civilians. Sorry doctor but that is ON YOU. You did harm. You helped evil be done. You knew who you were healing, what they were going to do and helped them accomplish that. Can't just claim his actions aren't on you because without you, he wouldn't have been able to do it. It's no different than if someone knew a kid was going to shoot as school and asked for a gun so they gave them the gun. They are just as responsible.
So yes, personally can't stand that disney hero morality where it's only focused on the here and now and what looks good rather than the actual good and logical foresight of the consequences for the character's actions.
If how ever you like the 'do gooder' hero who refuses to do 'harm' because it makes them feel bad and don't care if that means the bad guys they let go then go to hurt more. This might be a good series for you.
For me it's just aggravating. Especially when the author goes out of their way to try to make revenge to put down some big evil doing lots of murdering and terrorizing seem like a 'bad thing' since his reasons were 'selfish'. When it isn't. No matter his reasons, he is still going after someone responsible for thousands of deaths. It's not a 'bad thing' .
February 26, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. I listened to the audiobook. The narration was great.
The setting was the first thing that made the book stand out for me. It's based in a system based world, but the system apocalypse happened a generation ago. Yet it's still apocalyptic because a new crisis hits in the opening section of the book. We discover the structure of the system as the book progresses, but are never drowned in infodumps. The characters know about the system, so you don't have to deal with pages of characters reacting to the fact it exists.
The class of the main character, Kyle, is another difference. He starts out as a healer. Complete with a diagnostic drone, C.H.A.D.D., who evolves through the course of the book. C.H.A.D.D. is a great supporting character. He's a foil for Kyle when there's no one else around. But it's more than that. He feels more and more alive as the book progresses and he grows past his initial programming.
He is saved from the initial cataclysm by his grandfather, a powerful fighter. He promises him to survive. As the book progresses, he has to balance that oath with his drive to help people and make the world a better place. It's not the usual motivation of a MC in a litrpg, and I found myself not able to predict what would happen yet in a really good way. Right up to the end of the novel, there are twists that you do not expect. I wish book 2 was already out.
The setting was the first thing that made the book stand out for me. It's based in a system based world, but the system apocalypse happened a generation ago. Yet it's still apocalyptic because a new crisis hits in the opening section of the book. We discover the structure of the system as the book progresses, but are never drowned in infodumps. The characters know about the system, so you don't have to deal with pages of characters reacting to the fact it exists.
The class of the main character, Kyle, is another difference. He starts out as a healer. Complete with a diagnostic drone, C.H.A.D.D., who evolves through the course of the book. C.H.A.D.D. is a great supporting character. He's a foil for Kyle when there's no one else around. But it's more than that. He feels more and more alive as the book progresses and he grows past his initial programming.
He is saved from the initial cataclysm by his grandfather, a powerful fighter. He promises him to survive. As the book progresses, he has to balance that oath with his drive to help people and make the world a better place. It's not the usual motivation of a MC in a litrpg, and I found myself not able to predict what would happen yet in a really good way. Right up to the end of the novel, there are twists that you do not expect. I wish book 2 was already out.
January 7, 2026
Fine
Overall this book was neither good nor bad, but it did have fairly frequent editorial mistakes (mostly omitted words mid sentence).
The concept and plot are fine, but several of the situations/ events left me puzzled or questioning their reasoning.
The MC becomes half bug, and it's never explained. Like, why??? The apocalyptic event mutated only bugs (no enhanced mamals, birds, reptiles, plants, etc). Did his grandpa saving him do something? Did he accidentally swallow a fly? Why is his robot the only only one memtionec even being affected by the new mana (at least give us a scene where other bots are affected and factory reset quickly!)
Most humans can't use mana, but do have guns and weapons that kill them and mana beasts. The final fight occurs between mana users at the fortified location containing hundreds of trained soldiers and not one of them shows up during or after a fight to help their side (even after more than an hour).
This is in future earth, and no one uses vehicles (aside from a running ambulance joke telling me they exist). We get no mention of cars not working, truck's blocking roads, or someone riding a bicycle.
I don't expect to pick up the sequel.
Overall this book was neither good nor bad, but it did have fairly frequent editorial mistakes (mostly omitted words mid sentence).
The concept and plot are fine, but several of the situations/ events left me puzzled or questioning their reasoning.
The MC becomes half bug, and it's never explained. Like, why??? The apocalyptic event mutated only bugs (no enhanced mamals, birds, reptiles, plants, etc). Did his grandpa saving him do something? Did he accidentally swallow a fly? Why is his robot the only only one memtionec even being affected by the new mana (at least give us a scene where other bots are affected and factory reset quickly!)
Most humans can't use mana, but do have guns and weapons that kill them and mana beasts. The final fight occurs between mana users at the fortified location containing hundreds of trained soldiers and not one of them shows up during or after a fight to help their side (even after more than an hour).
This is in future earth, and no one uses vehicles (aside from a running ambulance joke telling me they exist). We get no mention of cars not working, truck's blocking roads, or someone riding a bicycle.
I don't expect to pick up the sequel.
February 25, 2025
It's a fun series with a decent magic system. The problem is the narrative solely exists to take away the main character's agency and any decisions that the main character could make to regain agency is always suspiciously never taken.
The story and the main character develop plenty of motivation to progress and plenty of impetus for conflict. Unfortunately the writing doesn't support these and instead forces drama and conflict down our throats unwillingly, as if natural reasoning would be insufficient for conflict. It is wrong.
Expect either the main character or the narrative itself to drop all sense of intelligence at random points in order to facilitate more drama and conflict.
The most heinous crime of this series is that all these problems are wholely unnecessary because the worldbuilding supports progression and conflict very naturally, yet the author doesn't trust his own universe to provide him with interesting stories.
I'd still overall recommend the series, but be wary of these problems if they're deal breakers for you.
The story and the main character develop plenty of motivation to progress and plenty of impetus for conflict. Unfortunately the writing doesn't support these and instead forces drama and conflict down our throats unwillingly, as if natural reasoning would be insufficient for conflict. It is wrong.
Expect either the main character or the narrative itself to drop all sense of intelligence at random points in order to facilitate more drama and conflict.
The most heinous crime of this series is that all these problems are wholely unnecessary because the worldbuilding supports progression and conflict very naturally, yet the author doesn't trust his own universe to provide him with interesting stories.
I'd still overall recommend the series, but be wary of these problems if they're deal breakers for you.
June 18, 2025
A really solid book.
So this one is I guess double post apocalyptic? It's set on earth but a hundred years and change since mana came to earth, but then some new apocalypse happens and changed things up and wipes out a large percentage of the population again. Talk about your rough breaks!
Kyle the MC just wants to be a healer and this new apocalypse isn't going to let that happen. So surgival is the name of the game, even if that means becoming less and less human as he grows stronger. The system is simple enough, stats aren't overdone, and skill gains etc are spaced enough to feel impactful without being too sparse I think. The numbers go up, but by the end of book one haven't totally skyrocketed, but we will see how that changes in book 2. Overall a fun read.
So this one is I guess double post apocalyptic? It's set on earth but a hundred years and change since mana came to earth, but then some new apocalypse happens and changed things up and wipes out a large percentage of the population again. Talk about your rough breaks!
Kyle the MC just wants to be a healer and this new apocalypse isn't going to let that happen. So surgival is the name of the game, even if that means becoming less and less human as he grows stronger. The system is simple enough, stats aren't overdone, and skill gains etc are spaced enough to feel impactful without being too sparse I think. The numbers go up, but by the end of book one haven't totally skyrocketed, but we will see how that changes in book 2. Overall a fun read.
February 21, 2025
I loved this edge-of-your-seat litRPG. Kyle is a Doctor, a Healer, and I adore it when a Healer takes center stage! The book starts while Kyle is doing a wellness check on his grandfather the only D class human on earth. Just as a Cataclysm occurs, grandfather Clark saves Kyle's life but was injured beyond Kyle's ability to save him. But before death Kyle made an Oath to Survive to Clark. No matter the price. So Kyle along with his personal diagnostic robot, C.H.A.D.D. set off looking for other survivors. If you don't already know I love systems like C.H.A.D.D. as this spunky little robot stretches his abilities and develops his own personality.
So find out how Kyle and C.H.A.D.D. are doing as they level... yeah grab the audiobook and let James Meyers and Adam Verner tell you a story.
So find out how Kyle and C.H.A.D.D. are doing as they level... yeah grab the audiobook and let James Meyers and Adam Verner tell you a story.
February 20, 2025
Pretty good story, only it's not exactly the beginning of the story. This one takes place when the system has already existed for a while, only now it's changed, so things just don't behave quite the way they did before, or at least that is the impression I got. It seems though that the main character just needs to survive, get stronger, and kick the crap out of those trying to take advantage of those weaker than themselves. It's a shame these books have to parallel real world happenings, but what the heck, knowing people is part of what makes a good author I guess. In any case, it's a decent story, and relatively long as well, so it will keep you busy for a while.
March 12, 2025
This is unbelievably painful to listen to and grasp because this kid is a healer and has know real knowledge out side of the medical field and that is generous. The author protects this MC over and over again. . The reader or listener in this case is not described any real world building or setup of any kind. We definitely don't get a baseline of stats on what a typical awakened person is, but the author loves to point out the MC's grandiose stats; but 10 minutes later the MC is struggling to deal with an encounter. It's gets old fast and it repeats over and over.
June 14, 2025
So far Kyle is soft as cotton I feel like he is going to have way to many morals and just from reading the reviews I feel like I'm not going to like him not for the kind of litrpg books I like plus it starts off with with people that have had a system for along time and the system does not give updates or xp he killed a big bug and no xp so I'm hoping they get a system otherwise not sure how you can even call this a litrpg at all I don't like it but will listen for a little while to see. Uggg no this is dull 😴 it's like a strange cultivation DNF..
February 22, 2025
Pretty unique setting for a LitRPG. There is lot of portal fantasy and post apocalyptic scenarios. But we don’t have a lot of post apocalyptic settings years after the the main event happened. The MC is cool and the has an OP class. I just feel like the doctor occupation could be researched more. I work in a hospital closely to doctors and the way our MC spoke didn’t feel authentic. I really like the plot though.
March 23, 2025
Open of Action
This story has a lot going on in it with lots of fightings between different groups! Do to powerful people in government caring more for the mana strong and the hell with the weak. Although one man tries to overcome this problem by fighting for them while becoming stronger by fighting monsters? Now the aliens have come to Earth. Now What????
This story has a lot going on in it with lots of fightings between different groups! Do to powerful people in government caring more for the mana strong and the hell with the weak. Although one man tries to overcome this problem by fighting for them while becoming stronger by fighting monsters? Now the aliens have come to Earth. Now What????
June 13, 2025
pretty good. not amazing
A few strange turns of phrases and other editing issues. But generally written well enough.
Magic & System could be a bit more fleshed out. This is another of those series where the characters don’t really have a “mana pool” but just have the ability to use their “skills” until they can’t for plot/suspense reasons.
A few strange turns of phrases and other editing issues. But generally written well enough.
Magic & System could be a bit more fleshed out. This is another of those series where the characters don’t really have a “mana pool” but just have the ability to use their “skills” until they can’t for plot/suspense reasons.
February 22, 2025
Very good
I loved this book. I pretty much inhaled it in a day. I don't think it would be unfair to say that it is one of my favorite books of this year, if not of all time. Do yourself a favor a pick this book up. You'll not be disappointed.
Highly recommended.
I loved this book. I pretty much inhaled it in a day. I don't think it would be unfair to say that it is one of my favorite books of this year, if not of all time. Do yourself a favor a pick this book up. You'll not be disappointed.
Highly recommended.
March 16, 2025
Overall a decent read but it quickly becomes apparent that this is a black and white world where the MC is good and the other people are all stupidly evil with no nuance or semblance of logic to their actions. Give it a shot maybe you'll like it. Hopefully the second one has better character depth
March 30, 2025
Potential was good
The book started off with such potential. Then it just got….hokey. MC wants to save everyone, even the bad guys, and made no sense whatsoever. Author seems to be a bit of a beta and the book screamed beta.
The book started off with such potential. Then it just got….hokey. MC wants to save everyone, even the bad guys, and made no sense whatsoever. Author seems to be a bit of a beta and the book screamed beta.
April 16, 2025
Liked This Book!
This book had very interesting world building and battle scenes. Lots of stuff happening in this story including an ending to the first book in this series that made me add the next book to my Kindle waiting list. Excellent!
This book had very interesting world building and battle scenes. Lots of stuff happening in this story including an ending to the first book in this series that made me add the next book to my Kindle waiting list. Excellent!
November 19, 2025
It was interesting how much the doctor changed that he was rejected by the power of the city just because he was different, but all he wanted to do is help, and he ended up being the strongest human in the world by the end, but now he has a bigger problem to deal with.
December 28, 2024
rr version is solid
March 26, 2025
something new in litrpg
Slightly different system. Needs some development. Area of story seems a bit small. Let’s see what the next book brings.
Slightly different system. Needs some development. Area of story seems a bit small. Let’s see what the next book brings.
April 9, 2025
I enjoyed
I enjoyed this book. I do feel that everything didn’t quite work. A character seeing everything morally as black and white works as a superhero but not so much in a real world setting. Especially when everyone else powerful is morally gray. I do plan to read the next book.
I enjoyed this book. I do feel that everything didn’t quite work. A character seeing everything morally as black and white works as a superhero but not so much in a real world setting. Especially when everyone else powerful is morally gray. I do plan to read the next book.
April 8, 2025
Fanfreakingtastic!
What an amazing book! I absolutely loved this book and such wonderful characters! I can not wait for the next book to come out!
What an amazing book! I absolutely loved this book and such wonderful characters! I can not wait for the next book to come out!
didn-t-like-it
August 13, 2025Note to self: not my jam.
February 5, 2026
I enjoyed the world building and characters. Thankfully, there are no f-bombs. I immediately purchased the 2nd book.
March 4, 2025
There’s nothing wrong with this, it just didn’t quite hold my interest. None of the characters really grabbed me.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews