Rise of The Infernal Paladin, Book One: A LitRPG Apocalypse

by Emrys Ambrosius, Declan Darkmor (editor), niinawo (editor)

They took everything from him. Now, he will take their world.
When the System integrated his universe, Ambrose Severen lost everything -his world, his loved ones, his very purpose.
Now, all he has left is revenge.
With nothing to lose, Ambrose embarks on a ruthless quest for power, determined to tear down everything the First Forerunner has built.
No price is too high, no challenge too great, as he fights to carve a path of retribution through a shattered world.Get ready Weak to Watch Ambrose grow from powerless to unstoppable.Deep Character Beyond levels and stats, Ambrose's journey transforms who he is at his core.Detailed Stats A mid-to-heavy focus on stats for those who love number-crunching.Unique Power Fresh twists on progression to keep you hooked.Evolving From Common to Mythic -skills that grow in unexpected, powerful ways.Dark Bounty Hunter Ambrose steps into the System's shadows to hunt down those who wronged him.Revenge-Driven A gripping tale of loss, obsession, and unyielding justice.Intense Brutal, heart-pounding confrontations that pull no punches.If you crave LitRPGs with dark revenge, relentless action, and gripping character evolution, Rise of the Infernal Paladin will take you on an unforgettable ride.

Genres: Fantasy

450 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 20, 2024

Reviews

[Roberto Flores · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, but nothing special. The main character is very simple and shows little promise. The balance is off, which makes the antagonist just a plot device. The twist at the end is obvious and unremarkable.

[Dantegideon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ambrose is a one-trick pony and unfortunately I tired of it long before the end.

[CygnusCrux · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a John Wick in King Arthur's Court! (Because why not?)

I find myself having a really hard time reviewing this book as I must clearly not be the target audience here. I came for lit RPG and an interesting concept and left with a bizarre fanfic and a bad aftertaste.

I was initially very interested in the prospect of an infernal paladin, but the narrative quickly shifted into a strange retelling of a certain film franchise in a system apocalypse/Arthurian lit-rpg setting. The power creep is off the charts, and it feels like the lit-RPG was merely a vehicle to facilitate a bunch of over the top super Saiyan moves into what is essentially a tale of an emotionally unstable assassin thug wishing revenge against a comic book villain. Almost all of the relationships were two-dimensional, and the only one who experienced any character development was the main character, but only in the weirdest and most abrupt of ways.

I am a huge fan of slow-burn weak to strong protagonists and the lit RPG genre, but that is not what this comes across as to me. I whole-heartedly applaud the author's efforts, as writing a book is certainly no easy task, but I simply cannot recommend this book as it is.

[George · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fantastic premise, but poorly written. The author repeats themselves constantly. Every time the main character reviews their stat sheet it’s “something they haven’t done in a while!” The MC reviews their stats after every level up or point allocation.
Plagiarism is fine if it’s done with a cheeky nod. However the whole “John Wick” back story, and stealing a direct quote from the first film was a little too much. Not to mention the obvious Ghost Rider rip off scene.
The characters have potential, and the over reaching idea behind the book is good and could turn into a great series. Sadly, too many rip offs, bad writing and a stupidly over powered character have made this a no go for me going forward.
If the author can make the fight scenes a little more believable (instead of the MC winning everything handily) and get rid of the constant repetition of stat reviews and MC angst then I might return for the second book.

Overall this book just annoyed me. Too simplistic in the writing style, too many grammatical errors and way, way too much plagiarism. To give you some idea of just how much this irritated me, this is the first and only review I have ever left on here. This could’ve been so much more than it was, and I’m annoyed it didn’t live up to its premise. The author has a great idea for a book, but should’ve at least reread their work before publishing it.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring and somewhat unoriginal. I don't mind OP MCs, but this one takes it to a new level. When level x he fights monsters 4-5 times his level and seems to win easily. This would be due to his upbringing, which has a lot of violence in it. Furtermore, he feels quite like John Wick but sans dog and dead pregnant wife included.
I don't know, this story feels very very flimsy. The first half of the book our MC is rushing through levels, fights being over after 1-3 pages and without to much damage to our MC. Again, OP MC but still....at least some fights should have more meat to it than monster attacks 3 times MC attacks 3 times and fight is over.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a good book, but much too dark for me these days. The MC is just barely still an anti-hero, more like a one-track minded thug who isn't quite amoral. The nemesis in this one is absolute pure evil with no mitigating factors. Partial spoilers follow.




These are defintely artistic choices, but the unforgivable lterary sin to me is to present such a caricature of a villain and not let him be killed by the end of the book. I honestly don't want to read any more about what he gets up to, so this is the end of this series (book 1) for me.

[Steven]

DNF @ 40%

I really liked the start, a LitRPG version of John Wick - but then we get removed from the system apocalypse and thrown into this lesser-King Arthur story for some reason. MC is pretty bland.

I just find the whole 'MC is alone for a good chunk of the beginning as he gets random powerups' to be a bit trite.

Also, really disliked the villain. Not in a 'he is villainous and thus i hate him' way but in a 'this dude is super cringe' way.

[Nina Moye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic read! This is not a slow burn and in the best way

Really enjoyed this story. Came from Royal Road originally and so happy to see it here. Definitely hits with the feels and the action.

[Erin Janice Madden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great start

I love this story until the 4th quarter. It's almost like the MC became surprisingly forgetful about Eric. Extremely frustrating barley describes how I felt allot this segment. However, overall I really enjoyed this story.

[gordon musgrave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good to a point

I really don't understand why the people he saved thought he owed them. I did not like them at all they acted like today's generation. What made it bad was the disruption of the story.

[Manolo Macchetta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scritto ok, MC assolutamente poco interessante, personaggi secondari tagliati con l'accetta, crescita senza senso (10 livelli alla volta senza aver fatto nulla di che), sconfitte che servono solo per proseguire la trama, Poteri caduti dal cielo.
Mediocrissimo

[Ratul Chatterjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Litrpg

Good guilty pleasure read. Some minor typos and grammatical errors annoyed me slightly but otherwise the story is as engrossing as some of the top royal road webnovels

[Wade V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

decent

This is a good and decent book. Good pacing gritty character…. However this is John Wick the litrpg. Still a solid 5/5 due recommend

[Amber Kluttz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid premise

A solid story through and through with a very compelling set of characters. If you enjoyed Defiance of the Fall and First Necromancer, you'll probably enjoy this.