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Will Bender, Book 1: The Oath of the Antipaladin [a Harem LitRPG Adventure]
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 11, 2026
This was quite a long book at 818 pages, and it moves at a steady pace. I enjoyed it, but it isn't for everyone. It slides more into erotica. The LitRPG elements are present and not too clunky, with actual progression being shown.
The MC is an extremely low level guard in his home town, following in the footsteps of his father, who is also a guard. His father tells him that he's uncovered a slavery ring operating, and then shortly after disappears. The MC isn't liked by his fellow guards, to the point that one of the assassinates him in the dungeon. But a morally questionable being offers him a chance at a second life by becoming an undead host for her. He takes her up on it, and shows up the next day at work, much to the surprise of his coworkers. Especially the woman that literally stabbed him in the back the night before. His new class, Viceroy, gets power from bending others to his will.
Much of his interaction with the first woman is blackmail, as she was the one that killed him. That blackmail eventually slides into coercion. The second LI is mostly coercion and a healthy dose of listening to her. The third is more an opportunist who wants in on what the first two are getting. They all come to respect the power he represents, and go out of their way to help him look for other women to play with to further his power growth. I liked the second the most, but the sex scenes with all three were often intense in a BDSM sense. Domination by him was the primary focus.
There were only a few errors noticed, less than 1 per 100 pages, which is an accomplishment in itself. I would read a sequel to this.
The MC is an extremely low level guard in his home town, following in the footsteps of his father, who is also a guard. His father tells him that he's uncovered a slavery ring operating, and then shortly after disappears. The MC isn't liked by his fellow guards, to the point that one of the assassinates him in the dungeon. But a morally questionable being offers him a chance at a second life by becoming an undead host for her. He takes her up on it, and shows up the next day at work, much to the surprise of his coworkers. Especially the woman that literally stabbed him in the back the night before. His new class, Viceroy, gets power from bending others to his will.
Much of his interaction with the first woman is blackmail, as she was the one that killed him. That blackmail eventually slides into coercion. The second LI is mostly coercion and a healthy dose of listening to her. The third is more an opportunist who wants in on what the first two are getting. They all come to respect the power he represents, and go out of their way to help him look for other women to play with to further his power growth. I liked the second the most, but the sex scenes with all three were often intense in a BDSM sense. Domination by him was the primary focus.
There were only a few errors noticed, less than 1 per 100 pages, which is an accomplishment in itself. I would read a sequel to this.
May 28, 2026
Excellent in many ways, but…
Pros: Storyline is good, side-characters are good and fleshed out. Respectable amount of stat screens and such.
Truly well-written and engaging storytelling.
Cons: MC is a literal cuck. One scene literally has him sitting in a cuck chair watching the ‘action’.
He’s also a complete idiot most of the time.
I made it to 84% before MC’s behavior made it impossible to continue, weak willed and cuck MCs have no place in a book marketed as “harem-lit”.
Also, this is NOT a harem, this is a PURE polyamorous group love fantasy. And even then, MC barely feels like the focal point of the group. This makes no sense compared considering he’s supposed to be a villain.
Pros: Storyline is good, side-characters are good and fleshed out. Respectable amount of stat screens and such.
Truly well-written and engaging storytelling.
Cons: MC is a literal cuck. One scene literally has him sitting in a cuck chair watching the ‘action’.
He’s also a complete idiot most of the time.
I made it to 84% before MC’s behavior made it impossible to continue, weak willed and cuck MCs have no place in a book marketed as “harem-lit”.
Also, this is NOT a harem, this is a PURE polyamorous group love fantasy. And even then, MC barely feels like the focal point of the group. This makes no sense compared considering he’s supposed to be a villain.
May 2, 2026
Felt like I needed to take a shower after this. I like dark novels but this one felt off. It wasn't particularly violent or disturbing, just slow and bizarre characters. And no matter what happens, I cannot go along with a love interest that had killed the MC. Dropped.
May 8, 2026
I did not expect to like this book; although I have a fondness for antiheros and morally grey protagonists, thats hard to pull off well. Either the antihero proves to have a heart of gold (a hero under a light coat of paint), or the author is just using it as an excuse to pull in as much transgressive tabboo breaking as possible. Yet somehow, the author here seems to thread the needle fairly well. The protagonist is absolutely not good, but they remain sympathetic.
Here's a (fairly spoilery) example:
I'm also surprised at how well the author is handling the LitRPG aspect of the story; I've seen a lot of ways to mess it up: Start with lots of stats and abilities, then run out of ideas or get bored and shelve it. Or spam stat sheets over and over to pad the word count. Or struggle with how to handle scaling (every level up needs to provide an impactful power boost, but the protagonist must still have challenges which the level of up can't trivialise). And so on. But (as of the end of book 2, at least), none of those happen; I'm still eagely looking forward to reading the abilities offered every time a character levels up. It's one of the best examples I've seen of a LitRPG system where it actually matters and isn't just window dressing, but doesn't end up causing more narrative problems than it solves.
I guess my conclusion is that if you've read the blurb and found yourself slightly interested but are worried it might not be handled well, you should give it a try. My expectations were relatively low, I admit, but they were exceeded severalfold.
Here's a (fairly spoilery) example:
I'm also surprised at how well the author is handling the LitRPG aspect of the story; I've seen a lot of ways to mess it up: Start with lots of stats and abilities, then run out of ideas or get bored and shelve it. Or spam stat sheets over and over to pad the word count. Or struggle with how to handle scaling (every level up needs to provide an impactful power boost, but the protagonist must still have challenges which the level of up can't trivialise). And so on. But (as of the end of book 2, at least), none of those happen; I'm still eagely looking forward to reading the abilities offered every time a character levels up. It's one of the best examples I've seen of a LitRPG system where it actually matters and isn't just window dressing, but doesn't end up causing more narrative problems than it solves.
I guess my conclusion is that if you've read the blurb and found yourself slightly interested but are worried it might not be handled well, you should give it a try. My expectations were relatively low, I admit, but they were exceeded severalfold.
June 27, 2026
Good, but ...
I thoroughly enjoyed this until around chapter 67. The introduction of the masks for anonymity was laughably bad and so poorly implemented it almost completely destroyed my trust in the continuity and consistency of the world.
Other than that awful plot hole, writing quality is good: definitely not traditional publisher level, but better than most self-published KU fiction I've read. Grammatical errors are moderately frequent -- I didn't keep an exact count, but I feel like I spotted closer to 200 than 500, which is better than usual KU for the length -- and there are quite a number of other little inconsistencies and plot holes, but nothing else too severe or distracting. A few little anachronisms jumped out at me, too (some clothing choices, and the concept of fraternal twins in particular). A professional proofreading and editing pass would be helpful to address these issues.
The premise of the story is not dissimilar to Fostering Faust, but the implementation is much more complex and involved. The LitRPG system is well thought out and consistent, and the choices at level up are better than the "give the main character exactly what he wants" trope that pervades so much LitRPG. There's also a consistent logical reason for the main character being OP. Stats and LitRPG system messages, while frequent and occasionally inconsistent, are not overbearing or distracting; the author strikes a good balance.
Combat is exciting and dangerous and the author is not afraid to kill off characters. Dialogue and behaviour are consistent and believable, and the intimate scenes are wonderfully spicy and reasonably varied. The harem element is well implemented and makes sense in context, rather than just being an excuse to collect love interests.
Overall, apart from the mask subplot, this was one of the best LitRPG books I've read recently, and one of the best harem books as well.
I thoroughly enjoyed this until around chapter 67. The introduction of the masks for anonymity was laughably bad and so poorly implemented it almost completely destroyed my trust in the continuity and consistency of the world.
Other than that awful plot hole, writing quality is good: definitely not traditional publisher level, but better than most self-published KU fiction I've read. Grammatical errors are moderately frequent -- I didn't keep an exact count, but I feel like I spotted closer to 200 than 500, which is better than usual KU for the length -- and there are quite a number of other little inconsistencies and plot holes, but nothing else too severe or distracting. A few little anachronisms jumped out at me, too (some clothing choices, and the concept of fraternal twins in particular). A professional proofreading and editing pass would be helpful to address these issues.
The premise of the story is not dissimilar to Fostering Faust, but the implementation is much more complex and involved. The LitRPG system is well thought out and consistent, and the choices at level up are better than the "give the main character exactly what he wants" trope that pervades so much LitRPG. There's also a consistent logical reason for the main character being OP. Stats and LitRPG system messages, while frequent and occasionally inconsistent, are not overbearing or distracting; the author strikes a good balance.
Combat is exciting and dangerous and the author is not afraid to kill off characters. Dialogue and behaviour are consistent and believable, and the intimate scenes are wonderfully spicy and reasonably varied. The harem element is well implemented and makes sense in context, rather than just being an excuse to collect love interests.
Overall, apart from the mask subplot, this was one of the best LitRPG books I've read recently, and one of the best harem books as well.
March 18, 2026
fantastic start for a series
I was not expecting this to be such a good novel. I could not put it down once I started reading. I did a marathon reading and stayed up to 3 am to finish this book only to be sad to find out it ended. Bravo
I was not expecting this to be such a good novel. I could not put it down once I started reading. I did a marathon reading and stayed up to 3 am to finish this book only to be sad to find out it ended. Bravo
May 31, 2026
Interesting beginning
Really enjoy the basis for this series, it seems to be very well thought out. But for me, I just wish it wasn't so wordy. I want to read the next book so much. But do I want to endure all the extra fluff?
Really enjoy the basis for this series, it seems to be very well thought out. But for me, I just wish it wasn't so wordy. I want to read the next book so much. But do I want to endure all the extra fluff?
June 7, 2026
Great start to a new series
Great rags to OP story. Somewhat numbers-lite but great sense of progression. Explicit scenes are well-placed and don’t drag on too long. Definitely will be snagging the next books in the series
Great rags to OP story. Somewhat numbers-lite but great sense of progression. Explicit scenes are well-placed and don’t drag on too long. Definitely will be snagging the next books in the series
June 29, 2026
Really Good!
I was definitely not expecting this to be such a good start! I really enjoyed the characters and will bending that is being done. Overall, this was a great start and I’m looking forward to more!
I was definitely not expecting this to be such a good start! I really enjoyed the characters and will bending that is being done. Overall, this was a great start and I’m looking forward to more!
May 10, 2026
End to end fun
Best haremlit i have read in years. Spicy to the max. I would deffinitly recomend it to fans of the genre
Best haremlit i have read in years. Spicy to the max. I would deffinitly recomend it to fans of the genre
May 25, 2026
Chaotic evil... She good
Character development, secondary character development, world building, great story, different and unique fantasy tropes. Can't wait to start boom 2
Character development, secondary character development, world building, great story, different and unique fantasy tropes. Can't wait to start boom 2
May 31, 2026
Excellent
An excellent dive into dark fantasy, spicy scenes, and what makes good and evil. I’m looking forward to seeing the story unfold. Keep up the good work!
An excellent dive into dark fantasy, spicy scenes, and what makes good and evil. I’m looking forward to seeing the story unfold. Keep up the good work!
June 24, 2026
Maybe this means I'm a degenerate but I REALLY enjoyed this book.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews