Duellist's Road: No Shortcuts - A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure

by Rafael Kalleen

Carr, a master swordsman from Earth, is forcibly transported to another world after being betrayed by his best friend. It was an act of treachery that left a deep scar on his heart, causing him to be unwilling to make use of the strange magical system that runs his new world. But even without utilizing any stats, levels, or skills, he still believes himself to be the greatest swordsman of them all – and he'll prove it again and again, stopping at nothing to face his old friend once more and settle the score.

Dueling fierce opponents while traversing a hostile fantasy world is just the tip of the iceberg. He is cursed with being unable to engage in the system everyone else does. But that won't stop him from becoming the strongest - and kill the one who designed this world if that's what it takes.

After all, what is swordsmanship if not an eternal quest of self-improvement? Especially on a journey to achieve the sweet satisfaction of revenge.

This world is a litRPG - kindle the fire in your heart and you just might survive. But will he manage to free himself from the flames of revenge, or will he burn himself out?

573 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 30, 2021

Reviews

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book one

Mistakes: Well written and edited. I only found two mistakes. Posted them on Goodreads.

Plot: This is a litrpg book where the MC refuses to level up.
While the fighting is good, the conversations drag on. I skipped a lot of pages that had nothing going on except talking or internal thoughts.

Characters: The changes to other characters was annoying and could have been left out.

5/10

[Brett Finnicum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Been happily following this story on RR since it began, and the rewrites have only made it better. Duellist's Road's is one of those stories that wear its heart on its sleeve and isn't afraid to pick a concept and go 120% with it. The protagonist Carr has a strong personality, his personal ideals setting him totally at odds with the world he's been transported to, and it's this commitment to proving his ideals through words and actions that make him a very fun protagonist to follow. There's a good number of interesting side characters as well, but I won't get into them so they stay fresh for new readers. Suffice to say that the core cast has a variety of interesting personalities that set them apart from each other, and I enjoyed reading about them just as much as Carr.

Aside from the characters, the story's biggest strength is its ability to navigate between differing tones with ease. Sometimes the story feels like a hotblooded shonen manga, sometimes it feels like Berserk, and there's even a villain that feels uniquely sinister in a way that you rarely get in this genre. These aren't token efforts at variety, either; whatever tone the story is going for at the time is executed with 120% effort. Which, considering the main plot's overarching theme, is fitting.

tl;dr - I heavily recommend Duellist's Road to people who want an engaging story with a surprising amount of depth to it.

[Sundeep · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested in the book as it was about a fencer who refuses to use stats/skills in a litrpg setting. The first few chapters were awesome to read. However, most things went downhill when the backstory started to come into play. Not only do I not like close friends betraying, but the manner in which it was done was so bad that I wonder how I was able to finish this book. There were good ideas and nice action (especially everything about fencing skills), but the story just didn't work out for me.

[Debatanu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshingly Exciting

I loved the writing and the story and the characters.
I had no idea fencing can be so much fun and the main character being stat-less is such a new and refreshing take. I am looking forward to the next part.

[Reuben · Rating 2 out of 5]

It certainly is a book

There's way too many fencing deep specifics that the author hasn't bothered making it the fights read well for a layman or that the characters don't act like real people either.

[Chunq · Rating 5 out of 5]

JOOOHAAAAAN

JOOOHAAAAAAAN

JOOOHAAAAAAAAAAAAANNN

The villain was fun to hate, the hero fun to laugh at.

After reading Fight Town by Hondo Jinx, and this, it seems like I enjoy the taste of competitive sports fiction fused with litpg/gamelit/whatever they want to call it.

[Johnie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read

I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend this book to anyone who like progression type of books with lots of action.

[Kyle Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting twist on LitRPG. The love for fencing comes through, and the central conflict between skill and [skill] is a good one.

[Brennok · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s fine

I had no issues with the writing, but I never grew to like the MC or care about him. The MC must comes across as unlikeable and I just never cared what happened to him.

[MATTHEW S BEEKS · Rating 5 out of 5]

A world most of us don't imagine

This was a passionate story.1 I would never have imagined coming out of something like fencing. You want to delve into it.