Protector of the Grove: An Apocalypse LitRPG

Path of Dragons, Book 1

De: Nicholas Searcy

Narrado por: Eric Jason Martin

When Earth is transformed into a realm of myths and monsters, one man finds both purpose and power in the fight for survival, in this fantasy adventure.

Elijah Hart is dying. Wracked by cancer and weakened by chemotherapy, all he wants is to spend what little time he has left with his sister and her family in Washington. But fate has other plans. When the mysterious World Tree extends its branches to Earth, Elijah's Seattle-bound flight crashes into the Pacific Ocean and a game-like system takes hold—reshaping humanity's future as well as his own destiny.

Waking up on an island in the Pacific Northwest, Elijah finds himself suddenly gifted with magical powers and an innate connection to the natural world. As a Druid, he has the particular ability to wield Ethera, a mystical energy he hopes can cure his cancer . . . if he survives long enough to master it. It seems the influx of magic has rendered most technology useless, throwing humankind back into a preindustrial age. But the world hasn't just changed; it has expanded, in both scope and danger.

Now Elijah must level up quickly. Because Earth is under siege: Reptilian Voxx emerge from dimensional rifts, wreaking chaos and destruction. Desperate humans battle for resources, seeking to harness Ethera for their own survival. Even worse, dragons and other ancient beings with the strength to destroy the planet on a whim are beginning to stir.

With each trial he faces, Elijah becomes healthier, stronger, and more powerful. But will it be enough to save himself—let alone the world?

The first volume of the hit LitRPG apocalypse series—with more than fifteen million views on Royal Road—now available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

©2025 Nicholas Searcy (P)2025 Podium Audio

don't like the double narrative

I didn't really like the back and forth between the MC and his sister. Wish it would just be the MC's pov.

excellent start

I started this on Royal Road and got the audiobook right when it came out. Definitely solid, and I really look forward to the next installment.
Progression is good, and I actually really enjoy the abilities and magic that develop. The system is really well done. Not too crunchy.
Characters are real, though there aren't all that many important people.

Amazing, one of the most realistic takes on a post-apocalypse with magic

This is one of the best paced Litrpgs I’ve read/listened too in a while. The MC is not some over powered monster the whole time. He also isn’t an obvious sociopath waiting for the day he can murder his neighbors.

I also thought it was interesting how the author made him weird after being in the woods with no social interaction. But in an obvious just forgot how to interact with others. Definitely a positive and better thought out response to being alone in the woods.

As for his sisters part, I know that seems to be a sticking point for a lot of people. But I honestly think her addiction into the book is a good choice and made the series way more exciting. It can be a little dull in the start but it definitely picks up in the later half.

Fantastic adventure

This story has me hooked from the very beginning with the story plot and everything else in between I will eagerly be downloading the next one when it’s available

Great book

Finally a good book that doesn’t turn into political grandstanding or a some kind of weird harem situation

cliffhanger

cmon man!!! that ending . story was s tier until the last two chapters. I'll give you a chance on the next book. It was a close thing however.

MC is boring

The MC and his story is just boring murder hobo stuff until the last 20% but the side story is like 5/5 but the books ending is disappointing.

this is a great story.

so I've read the first 9 books on Royal road, and I won't spoil it for you but this is a great story line. a lot of these litRPGs are all the same, this one is quite a bit different and always enjoyable. the narration is awesome as well.

Amazing Series. Highly recommend to anyone

First [I will attempt to not include anything in the form of spoilers].

I've read a large number of long lasting multi hundred/thousand chapter litrpgs and progression novels. I will say that compared to MOST novels this author has shown a level of foresight, long term planning, nuance, and understanding of quirks within the genre that speaks volumes of his experience with writing this still growing and relatively new genre.

It says a lot when an author is able to come up with a world system, rules, and situation that outright explains BY ITSELF why the main character is both constantly challenged and needs to fight for his life but (at the same time) able to have moments of showing how far ahead he is from others. Many MANY fail to do this in advance, instead opting to contrive new ever escalating enemies that break the previously set rules or expectations of the world and big bad dudes with no pre-set plans or explanations (within world) for this. They just suddenly... appear.

Nrsearcy understands this common flaw within the genre and gradually introduces us to the rules of his world (rather than narrative dump painfully for 10 chapters) expertly melding a fantasy world system with a modern world apocalypse narrative. His world explains the presence of powerful people and factions within the first book and those rules are still relevant in book 9.

His characters feel realistic. They aren't caricatures of certain archetypes. He also avoids some of the worst aspects of the genre (no harems and no giant 2 page long status pages). Again, speaking to his experience with dealing with this genre, he created a system that streamlines our experience in understanding how power works in his world. Instead of giving us 100 new skills and never using many of them many skills will instead evolve. Most New Skills and evolutions FEEL impactful instead of cluttering us with pages of things we eventually stop reading because the novelty wears off. Within the system there are different metrics of power and they blend together to provide multiple means for which we can see the characters improvement without just chain spamming us with more and more skills and more and more levels (again common issue for a lot of beginning Litrpg writers) or page long skill chains of equipment.

This book has some IMPRESSIVE highlight moments. Also there are some chapters where people go to war in the comments but that is because they are invested in the characters. Give this book a chance whether its stubbed or not. You won't regret it. Highly recommend to anyone that enjoys LitRPGS.

The narration is top notch as well.

pretty good start

narrator did good job. story was interesting, only complaint i have was how preachy it was constantly writing in stuff about environment.