A mysterious “System” transports millions of humans to an Evaluation planet while it reforms the Earth. The humans are given a very short time to select a combat Class or a non-combat Profession for the evaluation period. Magic has replaced technology, and humanity will have to adapt or perish. Only about 1% of humans will survive.
Unfortunately for Ivor Kemble, there was an error and he was sent to a harder Evaluation planet… a much, much harder one. However, he isn’t some orphan boy with no skills and resources or a clueless frat bro that has never been in danger. He spent his entire career as a contractor for various government agencies operating in some of the most dangerous places on Earth. He’s the man they send to do the dirtiest of dirty jobs the government wants no one to know about. He is very good at his job.
Ivor intends to survive and return to the reformed Earth to find his daughter. He may be alone and in danger, but, well… thats just an average Tuesday. In the Evaluation, survival is the only metric.
This book has game-like stats, skills, spells and level progression. No AI was used in the creation of this book’s content.
starts off promising, with a solid setup and some genuinely exciting fight scenes. The action sequences are well-paced definitely one of the stronger aspects of the book.
Unfortunately, the dialogue holds the story back in a noticeable way. Much of the conversation feels stiff and unnatural, like the characters are reciting lines rather than actually talking to each other. This awkwardness becomes especially glaring around the 46% mark during an extended conversation between the protagonist the smith.
The biggest issue for me was the protagonist’s sudden shift in behavior during that scene. For most of the book, hes portrayed as a secretive former agent/contractor type who's own daughter does not know what he does, but he abruptly unloads most of his entire life story to someone he has talked to less then 5 minutes. DNF
I enjoyed just about everything. if you like competence porn and OP MCs then this book is for you.
My only criticism is that we are constantly told how skilled Ivor is, but he rarely demonstrates 4-D chess strategies. Yes he wins fights, but I imagine it takes more that martial skills and a high pain tolerance to be the world's premier fixer.
I think so much more could have been done with this. I don't mind that he's like supposed to be this super awesome soldier. That's actually what drove me to the book. The fact that we spend so much time with him communicating with either the AI of the trial planet or the merchant and his daughter and his friend or his own daughter actually takes away from the book. I was expecting Way more single scenario type stuff. Too much time was spent on the training and the learning of rune crafting. I wasn't in this story For him to be Going to school basically. I actually skimmed entire sections because of that. I wanted more single combat less of everything else. Plus I was highly disappointed when he didn't take the weapons because Of whatever dumb reason he had Loot is loot you take it regardless There were also Some editing issues but not a whole lot that I found like 6 or 7Yes I know a bunch of you are giggling in the background doing your hands up and down.
OK, so this book was pretty weird. It starts off as your bog-standard military fiction, everyone grunting about how tough they are etc., then talking breathlessly about the Baddest Guy in the world, with a bit of a contrived hook to switch the viewpoint. So now we've got the Baddest Guy, he's going to be slaughtering people and being all terse and stuff, right? No way! His chapters are unbelievably verbose, it's like listening to my Nana, who I loved dearly but she could not stop describing everything that happened as it happened and what she thought about it. Except this is a bunch of made up stats and equipment and stuff, so it's really, really, boring. Just considering every option in minute detail. Not what I was expecting at all! Oh well.
The text is more of an outline of a story line with two dimensional characters using stilted monologues instead of real dialogue to posture instead of interact. Author has a typical penchant for using an overpowering material character to obviate any need for a plot; all advancement is artificial. The only good points are the essential rationale that the ‘system’ is acting to curb emergency AI and nanotechnology, and that ‘magic’ is merely the manifestation of the superior technology that the he system employs. Of course no rationale is provided as to why a system invests in providing avenues for personal advancement; nor, why it ‘allows’ cheating; gaming the system.
I read the description for this on Amazon and ended up diving in through Kindle Unlimited, and I’m really glad I did.
The premise hooked me right away: a mysterious “System” yanks millions of humans off Earth and drops them onto an Evaluation planet while the world is being “reformed.” Magic replaces technology, everyone has to quickly choose a combat Class or non-combat Profession, and only about 1% are expected to survive. High stakes doesn’t even begin to cover it.
What makes this stand out in the sea of LitRPG/System-apocalypse stories is Ivor Kemble. He’s not a teenage gamer, not an underdog orphan, not comic relief. He’s a seasoned government contractor who’s spent his life operating in the worst places on Earth, doing the kind of jobs no one wants on record. When there’s an “error” and he gets sent to a much harder Evaluation planet, it doesn’t feel like a cheap plot device, it feels like the universe made a mistake picking on the wrong guy.
I really appreciated that Ivor’s competence feels earned. His tactical thinking, situational awareness, and willingness to make brutal decisions all line up with his background. He’s not overpowered in a flashy way; he’s dangerous because he’s experienced. Watching him translate real-world black-ops survival skills into a magic-and-monsters setting was incredibly satisfying.
The game mechanics stats, skills, spells, level progression are clear without being overwhelming. The progression feels steady and believable, and the stakes never disappear behind number crunching. There’s always that underlying tension: only 1% survive. Every fight, every choice matters.
But for me, the emotional core is simple: Ivor wants to get back to his daughter. That motivation grounds everything. It keeps the story from becoming just another grind-heavy survival tale. Under all the grit and blood, there’s a father trying to claw his way back home.
If you’re into System apocalypse, LitRPG with meaningful progression, and a protagonist who’s already a hardened operator instead of a wide-eyed newbie, this is absolutely worth checking out on Kindle Unlimited. I’ll definitely be continuing the series to see just how far Ivor can push the odds.
It's fun, but the writing is mechanical, not a lot of passion or description. I understand the overpowered MC was intentional, but give us some danger and some overwhelming hordes of monsters, Ivor can handle it. He should be fighting for hours, taking damage, about to get overwhelmed, but using his skills to hold a doorway so the monsters don't get behind him or something. Things never get out of control, he's good but he's going into unknown environments.
Also, not only is he the most powerful dude, he gets the best equipment. Armor that makes him almost invulnerable. There is only one close call in the whole book for Ivor.
The author lost my trust a bit when the Ivor is transported to a planet with 3x gravity, no warning, and he stands there are fights some goblins. And he's like, "I definitely weigh more here". This is before his strength is enhanced. The mistake was putting a number to the higher gravity. Just say it's higher gravity instead of picking a number that doesn't make sense, it doesn't at all match the severity of what the affect would be on a person. It would be difficult to breathe, there would be no kicking or spinning.
I admire that Botz, unlike many LitRPG writers, doesn't show us every scene, play by play of every silly and trivial thing that happens. It's 3rd person, and Botz will be like: "Ivor did 10 more dungeons before he raised his stats enough to yada yada". The overall story advances quickly that way. But Botz probably takes this too far, and makes too many occurrences into footnotes on Ivor's road to being the most awesome guy with the most awesome stuff and the most awesome allies. We need to care, and we need to see more details more often, not just lists of accomplishments.
In spite of all that, I enjoy some things about the story, I like Ivor, and I'm on book 3 now.
I recommend the book, Evaluation, if you can ignore the typos & grammar issues. The good first: I loved that the characters were all adults, and in fact, the main character is a senior, around 60 years old, when the book starts. Also, the book was probably most effective at showing us his personality once the author stopped bashing us with his dangerous reputation. Despite being a sausage fest, two of the female characters were smart and capable - hooray! In fact, one of them is a smart-ass and slightly foul-mouthed -- my kind of lady, lol. Sadly, issues with writing kept taking me out of the story. The bad: Unfortunately, this book suffers from the issue with LitRPG in general: weak writing and terrible editing (verb tenses, lack of synonyms, weak sentence structure, etc.). The characters were super shallow, and the MC's legend was pushed too much. There's also something weird about the overuse of periods and short sentences. It made me wonder if it's possible to suffer from an allergy to commas, conjunctions, or compound sentences. Unless the book is meant to be for younger readers, but even then, there are typos from beginning to end. I would not recommend it for those under 18 because of some of the violence and themes (the worst, imo, was off page). Still, the writing wasn't awful for this genre, and the story was fun enough that I'm immediately going to Book 2.
My favorite type of story idea, but I had to drop it because the dialogue was tedious to get through. Like, everyone sounds the same. The same vibes and style of speaking, no real touch of personality, even for the alien people. And people talk waaay too much, and usually stuff that doesn't add anything to the story - from my perspektive. It feels like these scenarios where you want the talking person to get to the point and stop blabbering. The protagonist also doesn't match his background for me. He doesn't feel at all like what he's supposed to be, and I guess that is just a tool to make him a super-soldier so he can get overpowered quickly. Like, he claims to have been part of this secretive military world, but will tell everyone and their mother about his past, in detail, and then repeat it a few times later on in talks to explain why he is so good at what he's doing.
The idea of the story was nice however, and if you are new to it, you might enjoy it. I could not cuz I've read so many version of it that I will get bored quickly, and if the dialogue makes the story hard to read, then I can't motivate myself to continue.
**3 stars (rounded up), this book desperately needs an editor**
This sits squarely in the modern progression fantasy lane: a uniquely special main character undergoing a mysterious evaluation that inevitably reveals he’s… well… uniquely special. If you’ve read the genre before, you’ll recognise the pattern immediately.
The main issue is the writing. The book would benefit enormously from an editor. We’re constantly reminded that everything is from Ivor’s point of view, as though the reader might forget between sentences whose head we’re in. It becomes repetitive enough to pull you out of the story.
None of that makes it unreadable. In fact, there’s still a certain pulpy charm to it. It feels a bit like a modern penny dreadful: fast, dramatic, and clearly written by someone enjoying themselves.
With tighter editing and less repetition, this could have been a much stronger book. As it stands, it’s entertaining enough, just not particularly original.
A good start to the series with a Mc who is actually likable. Not some clueless fool or nerd who should know stuff but for some reason doesn't. A great story of someone who's already deadly getting placed in a System ran universe.
Perhaps I'm just tired of the whole 'I've read LITRPG boos,, I know what's going on' then proceed to know nothing. Like don't even know what subclasses are or what attributes do. Doesn't know about dungeons and blah blah. Hate it when the MC is supposed to have read the genre but besides knowing to say 'Status' ...nothing else. Ever.
While this character isn't a know it all, he at least has reference to such ideas. Can think of what typically happens in books and what things might be. That is refreshing. Then the story itself is quite enjoyable without getting bland. Good pacing. I look forward to the next one.
This is a fantasy LitRPG with an Earth-based system apocalypse and this new system rewards people for the skills that they have already developed. Ivor Kemble is an old assassin and government agent with a scary reputation not unlike John Wick. When the system arrives he gets pulled into a more difficult tutorial than everyone else. Ivor was over-powered before the system arrived but it snowballs quite a bit under the system to where it seems like almost nothing can beat him.
Usually these kind of stories where the protagonist is OP from the beginning are not my favorites and that is the case here. The story was OK but a lot of it just felt like Ivor being nice/helpful until he runs into a bully or someone tries to wrong him and he punishes them severely. I enjoyed this series enough that I will probably read it again when more books are available or the series is finished.
I've finished the three available books in the series and am hoping the fourth comes out soon. I came back to write this review:
The beginning of the first book fooled me as to who the MC was going to be, but I figured it out quickly enough. The premise is the standard, "system comes to earth and people have to adapt" but it's well done and engrossing. The MC becomes greatly overpowered and I know some people don't care for that, but in this case the explanation for how he got that way was logical enough and not just plot armor. The bad guy/good guy comparison is very black and white, but the good guys are fairly ruthless when necessary and not always sickeningly noble. It helps that the writing and editing are very good, with very few distracting typos or grammatical errors. I liked the series and am looking forward to the next installment.
The story is not perfect, but it comes pretty darn close to being so.
I usually loath books with multiple main characters. On Royal Road, I even filter books with that tag out of my search results.
For this book, I will make an exception to my rule against such.
I also like the characters, but their Righteous, Boy Scout like natures are a bit of a turn off. Dudley Do Right, is NOT a believable character type. Also, there seems to be a bit of an age discrepancy thing going on between the former SEAL commander and the contractor. How can they be BUD/S contemporaries if one is in their 60's and the other is in their 40's?
Update: I may have misunderstood the author's descriptions of the characters relative ages...
This started off good, the back story of the main character and the way he was introduced gave me John wick vibes. However, the world building was not what I was anticipating; the power cap is extremely low apparently (as far as I read up to) people can only advance to level 10?. This is something I fundamentally disagree with. You should never put caps on levels.The whole point in these stories is the system eventually should give these people the power to become immortals, or what the point in the struggle?
So yer it had potential but just didn’t hit the mark for me that’s why it’s a 2 stars and not a 1.
wow this book was the bomb. Its a kung-fu training montage. I loved it.3
The MC is a high level contractor for the govt. Think Jason Statham in Mission Impossible. When the system arrives he has just gotten word that his daughter was attacked by an unscrupulous businessman’s goons. He has a heart attack and the system thinks he’s gonna die, but his willpower rejects that and he ends up in a mythical evaluation world.
By himself.
He levels his stats against monsters, quests and dungeons. Excellent writing, storyline etc. This was a joy to read. Looking forward to further adventures.
There are some really idiotic ideas in this book. The explanation of the "System" is one of them. It makes no sense at all. The "System" is "saving humanity" from itself, by murdering a very large percentage of the population, and then "evaluating" the rest of the population to see if they are worthy of existing. All because supposedly "AI will inevitably go rogue in the future and control humanity". Idiotic.
Nothing rings true:
The book explains that most humans won't be integrated, and gives the most nonsensical reason: "Most will be defiant or unwilling to pick a Class or Profession" LOL? Why would a human not choose a class or profession? The alternative is INSTANT DEATH. They would all choose one.
"Might makes right" type fantasy. Main character acts like a robot. Writing is boring and dry.
I found myself about 80% through the book just ready for it end. The writing is ok definitely average or slightly below for self published works. It felt like some explaining what their story was going to be rather than a story itself. The introduction of the main character was quite cleverly done, and was the high point for me for the book. Everything else is just getting told how awesome he is doing. Nothing is hard. He never fails at anything. He gets super silly powerful while killing everything and is bored the whole time because even the MC realized the story lacked anything exciting.
if you like, sensible pragmatic OP characters like Derek Hunt in system universe, you will enjoy this book
An excellent book, bravo, a well-rounded OP character who’s not suffering from loads of anxiety, bravo. if you like Derrick Hunt or the character loosen, you will enjoy this book. Good world building pragmatic character story well developed. Like any independent book and in the author there are a few errors, but it’s not worth mentioning. We’ll definitely go on and read the next book and hope this story continues. Very well done
The book starts out great but then there’s a lot of inconsistency. Like he’s been doing covert operations for 40 years hasn’t even told his daughter but he discloses all this information to people he just meets online. (Basically). The level up is a little confusing but maybe that’s just me. How can he be level 100 in all his stats but the dragon only sees him as level 7? He’s way too OP for my taste. And he didn’t have to struggle all that hard for it. The only reason I would consider reading the next book would be to find out what happens with the daughter’s team. Even then I don’t know.
This is a genuinely interesting idea with a likeable MC. Even though the MC is very OP, his skills feel honestly gotten.
The one hangup I have with the book is the preponderance of grammatical issues. There are many sentence fragments and verb tense shifts that a decent editor should have caught, and many times are significant enough to pull me out of the story.
I'll still be reading the next book, but hopefully the editing improves!
4/14 Edit: I read books 2 & 3, and they continue in the same vein. Editing still needs work, but the story itself continues to be interesting!
Really enjoyed this one. Felt like it found that sweet spot with a total bad ass over powered MC who still has to struggle a little bit. Not everything falls in his lap, just a lot of it does. Some cool world building and character development, a couple side characters that I hope we see much more of in the nest book. Yeah, great combo read to the litrpg scene- highly recommend!
Outstanding book. Very much holds your interest all the way thru. The only negative in the book was brief but still a small negative. The idea that a man of his age and logic focused behavior would include pronouns and gender ideology were a bit immersion killing. Outside of that everything from pacing to character development was very well done and easily one of my favorite reads of this genre.
Great concept. Unusual start in that the MC doesn't appear until chapter 2. I love the MC though I'll admit others may not. Lots of material for philosophical brooding. Lots of depth and detail without to much repetitive statistic boilerplate.
Great way to start the New Year with a New Author.
Best recommendation I can make is that I started the series late yesterday and was so engaged I pulled an all-nighter not going to be until after 9am.
A breath of fresh air in the genre, not your normal weak to strong progression more a what if some one with existing expert skills was given a new life that would radically enhance what he had. A mix of martial arts a smattering of cultivation throw in magic and an op likable protagonist who is not a nerd or cringe boy shut in and a decent system world building and you have a page turning excellent read.
I think this is my first exposure to a adult/mature Litrg series. Most Litrg seem to target teens/young adult and are written in a way that doesn't really translate into realistic experience that an adult can relate to. I don't believe you need to be a fan of the Litrg genre to enjoy this series. If your are a fan of the adult fixer/action/apocalypse type genre you will enjoy this series.
I decided to rate the books only after reading all three of them.
The start of the first book is a bit odd as it starts with one protagonist who later on only has a very minor role. The daughter and her team felt merely like a plot device to humanise the new main protagonist and to serve as motivation for his actions.
A big flaw of the series are endless rehearsals of the achievements of the mc in his old and new life and constant repeated statements. Everybody keeps swooning over the mc and he keeps showing how selfless and truly egalitarian he is at cost of action, discovery and adventure..
Criticism and comments
The author keeps using they/them for single persons and has an alien ask about the protagonist's "gender roles"..
Love seeing a book where it is not someone who wasted their life with no skills getting the lottery ticket to being OP. MC is fantastic with a background that gives depth and context to their abilities with no plot armor required to make them better than everyone else. Great story, fluid narrative, engaging characters and mechanics that pull the reader in immediately.
I don’t write many reviews, but I do read a lot of Lit RPG / system apocalypse books. This is one of the best I have read in quite a while.
If you enjoy these genres then take a chance on this book and the sequel. For a first-time author very few mistakes, errors or issues. Good plot, a caring father,
What an excellent series, just finished the third book and can’t get enough. Before I started the first book, I had my doubts (not a big fan of OP MC plots) but wow, it is done in such a way that you can’t wait to see what MC does next. Deep down he is still a good guy at heart, especially with his daughter and her friends but if you cross him,look out. Highly recommend.