Vae Victis: An Apocalypse LitRPG

Vae Victis, Book 1

By: Ivan Kal

Narrated by: Kyla Garcia

When an alternate Earth is subsumed into a new reality comprising many worlds, a young vampire is the only one with the knowledge needed to save her planet.

Sold to a vampire cartel at a young age so her starving family could eat, Marianna Rojas is accustomed to fighting for her survival. When her temper leads her to make a terrible mistake, the vampire master of the Lágrima Sangrienta Cartel decides to make an example of her. Near death, her life is spared by mere chance, but she opens her eyes in the wilderness to find two moons hanging in the sky above her.

Earth is being subsumed into a new reality by a spell with godlike power, and Marianna has been chosen as one of thirty Exemplars to experience the new world ahead of the rest of the planet's denizens. As a vampire herself, she's used to striking fear into the hearts of all, but now it seems like every monster lurking in the shadows is out for her blood. She'll have to learn this new realm's rules and level up her skills—and fast.

Accompanied by a tiny dragon named Saia, Marianna works to master the mysterious Mask, which seems to be the source of all the new skills now available to her. With it, she sets out to discover the path to fulfillment of her destiny. Suddenly flush with magic, she's more powerful than she's ever been, and the Thirst is thrumming in her veins. But she only has a month before she's sent back to the freshly integrated Earth to help with its transition.

Determined, Marianna trains to fight, and between the Dwarves, the Elves, and the warlike YoKai-ni, she has plenty of opportunities to practice. But to what lengths will she go to survive—and save as much of the Earth she left behind as possible?

The first volume of the hit LitRPG adventure series—with more than 200,000 views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

©2024 Ivan Kal (P)2024 Podium Audio

A Vampire in a System Apocalypse - YES PLEASE!!!

I really enjoyed the book. It weaves together two worlds: our own Earth, home to humans, werewolves, and vampires, and a magical realm populated by elves, dwarves, beastkin, and magic. The plot kicks off with a vampire who's been condemned to death by her own master. But, in a twist of fate, she's whisked away to this magical alternate reality right before her execution. This little plot twist was incredibly engaging for me, and I can't wait to see if she gets her revenge later in the series. Plus, I was glad to see the story steer clear of the goofy, slapstick humor that's become a bit too common in LitRPGs, opting instead for a more serious vibe.

In this alternate reality, the MC has to fight for survival in a forest full of monsters way out of her league. Being a vampire, she gets stronger by feeding on their blood. I was a bit worried she'd quickly become too powerful, but thankfully, the story managed to balance her power growth well. That being said, I wouldn't mind if she eventually becomes OP... Huh, I guess I've got a thing for overpowered characters, even though I sometimes gripe about them.

Anyway, I absolutely adored the story, but it's a bummer that I have to wait five months for the sequel to come out on audiobook. Looks like it's time to revive my old Kindle and see if I can grab the second book there. That's how eager I am to find out what happens next. LOL

vampire isekai?/Apocalypse?

I felt the start after the initial bit of the story to be a bit slow and boring since it consisted mostly of fights without much story relevance or motivation beyond survival. Thankfully after that things picked up for me and we actually get to the meat of things. All the fundamentals end up pretty solid and thus it's a decent book (and thus one of the better ones in the genre). It Held my interest till the end except for the initial hickup.

The premise is an alternate urban fantasy earth which is then shaken up and transportation to another world.

Alternate Earth gets Systemed

A pretty interesting book and story line with a unique magic system. Takes a few hours to get the main story part going but by the end you want to read the next one.

Lol I think the author is anti feet...

Overall i would say this book is fairly good. Not the first vampire litrpg i have seen so i can't really call it unique, but it is done pretty well and the way they implement the system IS quite unique. The action is good, and the author takes care of the OP vampire problem by dropping the MC in the most difficult setting, so all her advantages just barely let her live. The world building is interesting and i certainly want to see how this all comes together. The MC is pretty smart and intuitive, and the side characters are interesting and adorable, WE LOVE YOU SAIA!!!!
All that said it does have a few problems, some info gets overly repeated, we get it vampires can see in the dark!!! It also takes a while for things to actually start making sense so it can make the beginning feel pretty slow. I like the narrator, but i have to admit that she doesn't really emote all that well. Felt like she was recording at night and trying not to wake up her partner or something. It could numb some of the action scenes, or make some of the comedic scenes feel bland. Finally there is this thing where the author will not mention feet or foot ware at any point through out the story. They won't mention shoes while the MC is running through the woods getting torn up by various creatures, they won't mention getting replacements after all her clothes get destroyed, nor wwill they mention her taking them on or off for various mundane tasks like bathing and putting on pants. Heck they don't even say how she pushes off trees or the grond when jumping. lol I know i am the weirdo that wants the author to describe the MC's footwear state, but once you notice it, it is hard to miss how much the author avoids mentioning anything to do with feet. Anyway super weird observations aside, i found myself greatly enjoying the story and will wait for the next one with barely contained patience.

P.S. Eh, the religious overtones can be a bit annoying for non religious peeps.

Im glad i gave this book a chance.

Im not much of a fan of the authors other works, but i feel like this one was way better. It was a slow start, with definate running on as you get introduced to the amorphic dragon robot. After that it picks up and isnt too bad, with nice action.

Great new series!

I’m very impressed with this series so far. I’ll definitely be listening to future book.

What an intriguing take!

I really found this take on LitRPG interesting. I will definitely go on to book two. Five stars all around! I highly recommend it to anyone!

Great story

Very interesting read. A good rpg system concept and very interesting world. Can be a bit wordy and philosophical at times but overall very enjoyable. Looking forward to the next book.

Slow start but worth it

There’s definitely a slow build up before it really starts but it’s good world building. Starting book two later today.

Not seeing what others like here.

The book has an interesting concept, that of a vampire being taken into your standard system type deal and being shunted off somewhere else, cool. After the decent first chapter the book however begins to drag... and drag... and drag. The narrator really just sort of reads whats in front of her and while she does a good to decent job voicing the actual character the rest of it is rather plain. Which is a shame because not only does it take forever for anything to actually happen but there are tons upon tons of fight scenes that don't really add much to the plot.

The littrpg elements are novel, but convoluted. I think the author had a decent idea going for something different than the standard stat blocks but the whole system is rough around the edges and takes more away from the story than it gives.