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

Very niiiice

we are Krop loved it. However, the innocence in da boy is sometimes nerve wracking,but we understand why. Maybe when he gets laid it will have him get more understanding the human as struggle.



Know Circle LLC

Story really drew me in.  Neg. reviewers miss...

I really like all the characters in this book.  Everything everyone does in this book has a reason.

A lot happens in this book and I can't figure out how to tell you about all the cool content and the intrigue that draws you in, without spoilers.

There isn't a single unlikeable character in the book!

I noticed some reviewers complaining about the Main Character (MC) making stupid decisions. This only happens over a limited span of time.  There is a story reason for it as well, which those reviewers ironically missed.  To explain, allow me to backtrack.

In the beginning of the story the MC makes intelligent, reasonable decissions.  But then [spoiler redacted] damages his wisdom stat dropping him from average wisdom to below average.  This also causes him to become afflicted with a "Foolish" Debuff, which COMPOUNDS with his below average wisdom.  Later he fixes his Wisdom stat and removes the debuff, from then on he resumes making intelligent, even insightful, decissions.

MC even intellectually recognizes the debuff and how it hampers every decission he makes, but because the debuff is a mind altering effect there is very little he can do about it until he clears it (although he does cleverly use math to circumvent it at one point in the story).

I think a lot of readers assume that because the debuff gets applied to him as a result of his stat falling below average, that it must meerely be descriptive of low wisdom stat at the time.  However, the debuff is listed as an active effect not a calculated value (there is a specific section for those in the character's interface).  The debuff is the same type and severity as a "Clumsy" debuff we see, and the Clumsy debuff litterally causes a character with a dex identical to MC's wisdom to crit themselves, and are seemingly incapable of catching anything thrown at them.

Also, worth mentioning.  The MC's "stupidity" while under the debuff is exactly par with the stupid decissions of your average YA book protagonist, the difference is--unlike your typical YA MC--once he fixes his stats his decission making improves!

Some reviewers called him "whiny," but that is really excessive.  He complains less than Luke Skywalker, but MC has far more justification.

I loved every character in this book, and can't wait for my next credit so I can buy the next book!

good story

the story is well thought out but the main character is stupid despite his "high intelligence"

Travis Baldree is an amazing narrator!

The story is good, I wished Ruwen wasn't a complete dits when it comes to fighting, but still, very enjoyable. Travis Baldree has done an amazing job! He has gained a fan!

Excellent, Fun story

I have about 1000 books in my audible library and I must say that I really enjoyed this story. The narrator is excellent, great voices, and easy to listen to. I liked the mixture of dungeon diving, cultivating, and character interaction. The MC starts off weak and grows slowly over a couple of books. For some people that may be a turn off but I like it because the author won’t have to nerf the MC later because he gets too powerful. I enjoyed it and I think most people will too.

Naruto but more thoughtful than courageous

main character is basically a more intelligent and less courageous Naruto, just flip the charisma and wisdom stats. the world is vastly more interesting than many of the lit RPGs with an interesting world dynamic that draws off fantasy epics rather than video game legends

fantastic series

fantastic series and this book in particular is very good well worth a listen if your a fan of the genre

Definitley give this series a chance!

I almost didnt buy this book because of some of the negative comments left here. I am now on the fourth book and very happy I kept reading. Some comments have said how stupid the main character is and how he makes so many dumb mistakes. This is especially true in the first book but he is learning from his mistakes and growing as a person. Later on he realizes how dumb he has been so it isn't bad writing. In fact, I'm impressed with the authors world building, magic system and how likable they have made the characters. I highly recommend.

It was decent, not as bad as other reviews made it out to be

Pretty decent book and good cliffhanger, I think other reviews of it are a little unfair about the MC being annoying. Really like the skill tree descriptions and monsters. Recommended

Excellent all around

Very good beginning to a series. Narration is top notch, Travis Baldree is the man.