Engineer's Odyssey: An LitRPG Adventure in the Apocalypse Parenting Universe

by Erin Ampersand

Vince and his co-workers were waiting to catch a plane back from their business trip when aliens turned Earth into the setting for a deadly reality show. Now monsters are crawling the tarmac, everyone has super powers, and the planes, cars, phones, and guns have stopped working.

Vince is more than a thousand miles from his wife and kids, but he's determined to make it home and bring his friends along with him.

A party-based system onset LitRPG adventure

Genres: Fantasy

650 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 22, 2025

About the author

I'm going to start putting reviews up on Goodreads! A note about my reviews: I object to the star system for books. I don't think it's helpful, and would prefer a simple thumbs-up/thumbs-down system. Since that's not offered, I'm just going to be giving 5 stars to any book I'd give a thumbs-up. If I wouldn't give it at least a thumbs-up, I'm not going to review it at all!

To help differentiate between different books, I'll also post tiny review for each stating why a book might particularly draw someone in, and what kind of person might want to avoid it, since no book is for everyone.

You can browse more of my posts and reviews on my Instagram or Bluesky:

https://www.instagram.com/erinampersand/
https://bsky.app/hashtag/%26microrevi...

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Erin Ampersand is from a lesser-known branch of the Punctuation Peerage. Neither as elegant as the noble Parentheses, nor as well-regarded as the heroic Dashes, the Ampersands are instead considered little better than the scurrilous Interrobangs.

In addition to writing and reading, Erin loves games of all sorts, from tabletop RPGs to videogames, although she is rather bad at platformers and hopeless at first-person shooters. She and her husband own enough board games to capsize a standard canoe.

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was only because I was reviewing books for the 2023 Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) that I read Time to Play: Apocalypse Parenting. This book one of the series introduced us to a suburban mom hero, a worldwide life or death game, superpowers, aliens, and a talking stuffed turtle. While this is not a book that would normally find its way onto my reading list, by the time I finished Erin Ampersand’s first book I was hooked. I’ve now read all three Apocalypse Parenting books and have pre-ordered the fourth.

Engineer’s Odyssey is a side story in the Apocalypse series. It follows suburban mom Meghan’s husband, Vince, as he tries to get home after being stranded on a business trip with a bunch of co-workers. I had “met” Vince months ago when I got a free short story from Ampersand’s website titled: Grounded: An Apocalypse Parenting Short Story.

If you are not familiar with the storyline, a group of aliens have turned the earth into a giant video game. All electronics, mechanical machinery, and other modern tools have been neutralized, relegating human technology to things from hundreds of years in the past. In addition, they keep dropping monsters for the humans to battle in order to stay alive. Fortunately, in the game you can also earn superhuman abilities such as projecting fire or super strength in order to battle the monsters.

Vince and his group are engineers who are determined to stay alive and get back to their homes and families. Unfortunately, a thousand mile journey on foot while constantly battling monsters and other alien obstacles is nothing to take lightly so, just like the Apocalypse Parenting books, this story is action packed.

While this is definitely not a hard science book, Ampersand presents the abilities and obstacles in a rather realistic form. Even I, not a fantasy fan, quickly got swept into this fantasy/horror world. While there are a few gory scenes, this book’s focus is about working together, solving problems, friendships, and overcoming adversity. Each character has a unique personality and enough depth that you will understand a lot of who they are by the end of the book.

While you can read this as a stand alone, I think you will find it much more enjoyable if you have at least read one of the Apocalypse Parenting books.

[Doug Sundseth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a side novel in the Apocalypse Parenting series. It covers the same period as the first four books in the main series, and should probably be read between books 3 & 4.

Here we see the odyssey of Vince Moretti's (the husband of the protagonist of the main series) return to Huntsville from Denver International Airport. And "odyssey" is an apt description of the journey. Initially, they decide to head south from Denver because they are traveling with a group that wants to return to southern California and it's convenient to travel together.

Vince's party consists of his fellow aerospace engineers on a business trip, and they use their experience and training to solve problems in a very different way than Megan and her allies do in the main storyline. The characters are written very well, with individual personalities, strengths, and weaknesses, and their interpersonal dynamic is believable and compelling.

This book is aimed directly at an audience that thinks of game systems as puzzles to be solved. The protagonists approach the problem in front of them methodically and efficiently. Their solutions are innovative, and they reveal more of the game world through their results.

While I really love this book and the series, it's pretty clear that the author has not spent much time traveling from Denver to Albuquerque. I've driven that road dozens of times, and it's much more barren than Ampersand describes it: there are no towns between Raton and Las Vegas or Las Vegas and Santa Fe that have "a couple of thousand residents". Also, for much of that drive, there are no side roads that make any sense to take, especially in the mountains between Las Vegas and Santa Fe. On the other hand, Santa Fe itself is easy to avoid, since the interstate bypasses the city and there _are_ roads to the south of town that could be used as well.

Also, one of the stops the group makes is in Clovis, NM, which is the location of Cannon AFB. Given the way other military installations are described in this series, that should have been a significant part of the story.

While a bit distracting (the phrase "engineer's disease" comes to mind), they do not significantly detract from the story.

The plot is compelling and the characters are sympathetic and entertaining. As with the rest of this series, this book is excellent. This has become my favorite straight LitRPG series since I first started it in March. Both the book and the series are highly recommended.

[Mella aka Maron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this book, from start to finish. There was not a moment where I wasn’t excited about reading it. I laughed and I cried. This story is so heartfelt at its core and I’m so excited for more - especially knowing both Megan and Vince now.

So, Vince is amazing. He is this very blunt guy; not afraid to just say whatever needs to be said. But he’s also extremely loyal… and also extremely quick to make decisions. He’s reckless at times and also thoughtful of others’ needs. It’s funny how realistic he is. I can picture him so CLEARLY in my head. And I love his coworkers too. They’re all so endearing. You get to know them over their journey and you just want to be a part of their group. It’s so much fun.

What I love most about this series is that Erin has taken this event that is so out of this world and created such a realistic take on it. We have characters who feel like our friends and family and neighbors. They’re trying their best with what they’re given. You can’t help but root for them and want to be their friend.

I also really loved that even though Megan and Vince had the same starting point, their journeys were so different! I had to laugh at all the times Vince was worried about Megan, knowing that she was kicking ass over in Huntsville. The black and white armband appearance made me want to cry, knowing what they mean in the original series. 🥹 This book had so many moments where I just wanted to cry happy tears or sad tears. But also so many moments of hilarity - and its hilarity that isn’t forced!

“I’m a support build, Vince!”
“You’ve always been a support build! You’re a manager!”

I adore this series. I need more immediately but have to wait a few more weeks for book four on audio 😭 I need more Vince and Megan and their kids now.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, very well written, and I liked getting to know Vince better. I felt as though the beginning of the book suffered from the audience knowing too much about the Maffayir already. This caused the author to try to speed things along, which is understandable, but there were many times I thought to myself there is no way they'd react or catch on this quickly (especially while they were still in the airport). My other main complaint is that the side characters around Vince are somewhat annoying, but this at least makes since. If you got to choose who to be with in an apocalypse it wouldn't be your co-workers even if you get along with them at work an apocalypse is a different story.

Aside from those issues, I found myself very interested in what happened to our characters, and finished the audiobook in a few days. I'm excited for a continuation of Apocalypse Parenting, and glad to know Vince better now.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed Vince's story, having read the first three Apocalypse Parenting books, and I am happy to know him. The author is amazingly good at writing character-driven stories, despite the distractions of an alien game world. Every character has a believable profile and contributes to the plot. My only disappointment is that I was so excited to have the story set in Colorado (instead of Alabama)--before I began reading--but it could have been anywhere in the States...not even a word of mountains. It's just the old airport I knew well, and Pueblo, but the area is not germane to the story except how very far away they are from Huntsville. I digress! Please read this story for the humanity of survival, with heart, ingenuity and more of the human experience.

[Arthur King · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lazy writing. The book starts off by giving the MC (everybody) a choice of one free skill, presumably from a curated list. What's on that list? Dun know. There are "many options" but the MCs group of 5 picks firebolt, heal, operate machine, powerful blows and shield. Not the most boring possible setup, but not extremely interesting.

Maybe my expectations were high, but I kindof expected an engineer to take the time to use his left brain a little more.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best litrpg series available. I very much enjoyed learning Vincent's story! It is well written and easily relatable. The characters are likable, and the storyline is believable within this genre. I almost want to start over at book one before the next book comes out later this month.

[Travis Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolutely excellent book! I like the pacing a bit more than the main series (Apocalypse Parenting) and the multiple settings, not just one neighborhood in Huntsville, Alabama. The emotions hit a bit harder too, probably since everyone important is an adult. Plus that ending was fantastic and almost made me cry! 👍🏽👍🏽

[Cheryl Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super solid stand-alone story for the Apocalypse Parenting series! For me personally, it was a little harder to invest in this one compared to the series, although a full group of adults made it interesting in a different way.

[Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this addition to the parenting apocalypse universe. Imagine getting stuck with the group from your Tuesday morning meeting... and having to survive a roadtrip from hell...

[Will Knight]

Note to self: not my preference.

[Chris Ludlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the desperation, the rush across the country mid apocalypse. Such a different feel from the main Apocalypse Parenting series. Both are great, the diversity was a blast!

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really wish I had half stars, 3.5.
Loved the characters and plot, felt it got bogged down some overall

[Cee · Rating 5 out of 5]

He made it home!!!! 😭😭😭😭
I’m really excited to see how he will meld with his family now that he’s back and the town since it’s so different.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this originally on Royal Road, after bingeing the Apocalypse Parenting books 1-3. This book begins at the same time as book #1 and ends shortly after book #3, and is told from the the POV of Vince, Meghan's husband. I loved this story. It doesn't have the parenting interactions of the main series, but is instead all about the engineering, teamwork and courage of a group of coworkers, struggling to survive and return home after a world wide apocalypse, brought on by an alien system.

Fabulous Lit-RPG at its best.

[H3dakota · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the back story here, but took issue with him body shaming his wife in his head & thinking that she'll be unable to take care of herself & their kids without a man around. It's especially weird after 4 books of her kicking ass just fine. She's a flawed character, as we all are, but I expected much better from him. 🤷🏼‍♀️