Shade's First Rule: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure

Divine Apostasy, Book 1

By: A. F. Kay

Narrated by: Travis Baldree

Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

A new LitRPG world has arrived!

It's Ruwen’s Ascension Day, and he finally dies for the first time. His newly revived body can learn spells and abilities for the class given him by the Goddess Uru, and dying is no longer permanent.

Ruwen’s high intelligence makes becoming a Mage inevitable. With his new powers, he will locate his parents and clear their family name. But nothing goes as Ruwen imagined, and when a rival God tries to kill Ruwen shortly after his disastrous Ascension, his focus turns from his future to just surviving.

His choices place him in the middle of an ancient war, and he must overcome the limitations of his unexpected class to reach level five. Only then will he have the tools needed to survive. But dying now comes with a terrible penalty, and failing Uru might not only cost him his life and loved ones but his entire world.

It turns out dying on your Ascension Day is the easy part.

*****

Hey, LitRPG readers! I've created an FAQ for Shade's First Rule to answer some of the common questions and to help you decide if this book is for you. It can be found at: afkauthor.com/faq.

©2019 A. F. Kay (P)2020 A. F. Kay

One of my favorite LitRPGs!

This series is absolutely amazing. I wasn't sure because of the choices that were made in the first couple of chapters, but I decided to stick to the story, and I was pleasantly surprised. As such, it has become one of my favorite litRPGs. If you want intrigue, grinding, interesting RPG elements, unique abilities, and awesome fight scenes, this is the book series for you.

Travis Baldree is a wonderful narrator, has an excellent range, and really brings this story to life.

100% recommend

A unique spin on the genre

I really liked this book. It is litrpg but its bridging the gap between litrpg and traditional fantasy novels. that pulled me into the story more than many litrpg books

A waste of such good potential

I loved the beginning of this story, but as I kept reading it just got worse and worse. It has a great story foundation, but just has too many problems. This story could be retitled “1001 examples of Deus ex Machina” The MC can never seem to fail or make the wrong decision, characters are too black and white either being perfectly good or trying too kill the MC (even the assassin chick wants to be a “good” assassin!), character development is 0% as no one ever fails and everyone just forgives each other. Finally, I love witty banter; but this book takes it too far. Every conversation is banter. Talking to your friends? -Banter. Making battle plans? -Banter. Talking to people they’ve never met? -Banter. Meeting a god? -Banter! It’s never even new banter! I’ve heard the MC and his friend use the same tease over 100 times and they still fall for it every time! One says, “you stink” and the other confusedly sniffs himself to check. Couldn’t even finish the second book.

Sore start

Book has a slow start. The MC frustrates me, but it gets better in books two and three. I am interested in seeing where the series goes from here.

I enjoyed it but

I enjoyed it but the stats were too long for an audiobook. I'd highly recommend the editors either simplifying this or speeding it up a lot. I don't need two minutes of statistic updates every few chapters

I have not read anything like it!

This was amazing story. A new world of fun. Great narration. Safe for young teens.

great story telling

The adventures of ruin our unexpected and a great adventure. From the moment the book begins to the end is wanted venture weather be smallie grand after another period from chasing to killer chickens to bugs that explode to near death incidents what a great story..

A great new series

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series and it starts with a bang!! The world becomes increasingly complex and deep as you progress but the characters feel real to themselves and that makes it a great story to follow along

Slow story but a great read

Slower paced story but a lot of training and development. Baldree does a fantastic job as usual.

LOVED IT

I loved this book so much, I can't wait to jump into book 2. A.F. Kay really showed some good writing skills, shades first rule has made its way into one of my favorite litrpg books, This was one of the best litrpg books I've read in a while.


Let's talk about travis baldree, he does good as always. he always does good, Travis truly is a superb narrator with unmatched skill. he has so many voices, and his main voice is really soothing. he performed this book so good, and I rate it a 5.


Now let's talk about the characters, I like them there written really well, they have depth and unique personalities. I also really like the mc, I do have some complaints though. i feel like the mc makes dumb decision after dumb decision, I hope in the 2nd book he'll get more common sense, other than that this mc is actually really good. I didn't see much character development in this book, but I think there will be more in book 2. I rate the characters a 4.8/5.


now let's talk about the plot, I actually like this also. I feel like the plot is really good, I just don't think it's as good as everything else, I think it'll be better in book 2, but right now i feel the plot pales in comparison to other things about this book. I do think the plot has depth and it is detailed with not very many plot holes. With all this involved, I rate the plot a 4.5/5.
I actually really like the world building, it certainly was very enjoyable and intriguing, I felt like the world was detailed and I sometimes found myself falling into the world. I rate the world building a 5 star.
The action I feel is kinda iffy. I wanted more... kinda, I do think there will be more in book 2, but I feel like there wasn't really enough in this book. This book does have its big chunk of action, but not enough for me. I do think that it was pretty detailed, and I honestly can't wait to see what he grows into in later books.


I can't wait for book 2!, I really recommend this book to anyone who likes litrpgs. Travis did good like always, and most of this book was very enjoyable. I give this book a 5 stars all around!.