LitRPG: An Unexpected Beginning

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

In a world of gray predictability, Kei had settled into a routine that felt never-ending. Every day, Kei wished for something — anything — to change. But when the apocalypse answered, it wasn’t the change he had expected. Instead of sending a forewarning, the apocalypse came crashing like a tidal wave. As chaos unfurled, Kei had to choose between being consumed by despair or embracing the change and finding his destiny amidst the end.

If you would like to read about other stories written by me, you can check them out here:

https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-text&rh=p_27%3ADarkodia+D

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: Darkodia

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.3/ 5.0
Followers: 68
Views: 29,906

What readers say about LitRPG: An Unexpected Beginning

“This one felt like a really easy five stars so far. There's only nine chapters, so it's not like it's that easy to get into character development or story, just yet, so those suffered slightly and I have a strong feeling that they're going to be just fine a…”
VioletMoonRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Overall, it's a pretty great system apocalypse. The main character Kei is rather sympathetic with what we see in the beginning, then he manages to get a lucky break and is able to run with it. It's rather fast-paced as the litrpg elements are introduced and…”
FlameCabbageRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

VioletMoonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This one felt like a really easy five stars so far. There's only nine chapters, so it's not like it's that easy to get into character development or story, just yet, so those suffered slightly and I have a strong feeling that they're going to be just fine as the story goes on.
Style was easy five out of five. I haven't read a LitRPG in awhile, and this one reminded me how fun they can be, and how addictive they are. There is a reason they're popular on RR and if this author keeps putting out chapters like these first ones, I could see it easily joining some of the bigger stories. The author keeps his in-game system easy to understand and view.
Grammar easy five out of five. Didn't see a single error and the prose was well polished and fun to read.
Story was a 4.5 only because of how generic it is. I believe this story is essentially supposed to be a semi-serious parody of the genre, in which case it might be helpful to know that at the start. It really changes how things come across.
Character: Four out five, only because I felt like the MC didn't have much of a personality, and we were given no reasoning as to why he was so unpopular in his class. He seems like a capable and logical fellow, so I would love some rationale as to why his class seemed to ignore him.
Overall, it's a fun read and very well written. The scenes are easy to picture and the author seamlessly integrates his leveling system into the story. Would recommend!
FlameCabbageRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Overall, it's a pretty great system apocalypse. The main character Kei is rather sympathetic with what we see in the beginning, then he manages to get a lucky break and is able to run with it. It's rather fast-paced as the litrpg elements are introduced and fighting gets going. Very much a fun read, especially if you enjoy strong main characters.
Style: Prose is pretty good. Nothing objectionable and easy to read. It fits the fast-paced action story this is and makes it enjoyable
Story: The story so far is all about surviving the apocalypse. I'm hoping for more deep plot later but it is still interesting reading about him fighting his way through the monsters and gaining levels and abilities with the system.
Grammar: Good. No issues I could really see.
Character: The main character is really the focus so far, and he's a rather sympathetic character. Downtrodden and shunned for something he didn't even do, it's easy to cheer for him and his survival in this extreme new action-packed scenario he's found himself in. He's also adapting quite quickly to the situation, though perhaps just a bit to quickly.
Still in the end, I would recommend this to anyone interested in system apocalypses.
LuminstateRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The writing in this story is much better than you find on most of the site - it's grammatical and sweeps the action along quickly without getting bogged down in boring or unnecessary details.
You start out feeling sorry for the protagonist, and there is a bit of scene setting, but the action starts immediately - no waiting around for several chapters for stuff to happen!
The author builds tension nicely, as the protagonist discovers more about the system that he is suddenly part of.
Overall it’s a nice little read and it will be interesting to see what happens next.
200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200 words 200
Nick11179 (Nick Timm)Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
LitRPG - An Unexpected Beginning
Overall - What can I say? You get what you pay for here folks. This is an unexpected beginning in a LitRpg setting! The story follows Kei - the MC as he goes from a pseudo-delinquent at his school based on a mistaken identity - to a zombie-slaying beast who saved some of his classmates. The story flows well, takes its time, and doesn't rush. It goes along as quickly as it needs to and makes sure the reader isn't left in the dust. The prose is good, meaty, and satisfying while not delving too deeply into any one aspect of the world. It's easy to inhabit the characters and feel as if you are right there with them.
Style - I don't comment on Style - Each writer has their own pace. The message in this fiction is conveyed in a fun way - therefore it is 5 stars.
Grammar - No glaring errors. No egregious syntax issues.
Story - The story is LitRpg to the core - the MC gets inducted into the OP MC club right off the bat and gets a good shot of experience to push him above his peers. He utilizes realistic tools around him to make due and relies on his teammates to push through. Very fun romp.
Character - Kei is likable, and the writer makes him relatable right off the bat. Who hadn't been the subject of mistaken identity? This parlays nicely into the story where he's just chilling out in a bathroom stall and then gets sucked into the poop-storm as zombies start to assault him. The progression is straightforward and works well with the characters.
Readers beware! You're in for a fun ride with this one! I can't wait for more chapters.
-Nick11179
PeterRobertsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I found this story through a review swap and it’s really well written and worth your time if you like a litrpg that gets you straight into the action and keeps going at a blistering pace. It’s one of the ones that makes you imagine yourself in the situation.
Style: I like the style of this fiction, it’s quite self aware and leans into the tropes pretty heavily. MC knows gaming and hacks and exploits the system well enough. The stat blocks are done nicely, I don’t need to be reminded of every stat every few paragraphs, there's enough there to be able to track the progression. The action scenes stand out as a strong point, nice descriptions for the antagonists.
Story: Beware spoilers! MC is an awkward kid at school who doesn’t fit in at all, and his home life isn’t much better - the perfect candidate to get thrown into a game world that spells danger from the get-go. I liked the way MC’s intro didn’t take up so much time before we saw some action. Beware, this isn’t for the faint hearted, the stakes are serious from the moment he steps out into this new world.
Character: Apart from a rocky start, Jake begins to really enjoy this new world and you can tell that he’s been waiting for something to put some action in his life and give him a chance to prove himself. I would like to have another character in these early chapters just so it’s not Jake all alone, even an AI or a sarcastic animatron to give stats and bounce the dialogue around, but the story doesn’t suffer from not having this.
Grammar I’m not close-reading for issues. Nothing got in the way of my reading.
Ellen TaylorRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I read the first few chapters and really enjoyed it. It's a great litrpg with some horror elements intermixed.
Grammar is five stars. I don't judge too harshly on grammar. If nothing broke my immersion from the story, it gets a five stars. As far as I could tell, there was nothing wrong with the grammar.
The style was also great. Everything read smoothly. It was a nice first person POV. There weren't any shifts or flashbacks, and I could follow along quite well. I have no complaints with the style.
The story was also excellent. There were horror aspects to it, what with fighting zombies right off. The author did a great job creating an atmosphere of weaving in the high school but also the jarring shift to decayed flesh. It was very well done.
As for character, to the point where I read we were just getting introduced to other characters. For the most part, Kei is a bit humorous, and also a go getter. Which is something we need in an apocalyptic litrpg. I was happy to follow him along and see how he would react. The three other characters that were just introduced seemed interesting, and had some great potential for more growth.
Overall, a great story!
TakeoMasaki889Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
An Unexpected Beginning by Dracodia is one of the first LitRPG novels I have ever read. I know, I know, I'm on RR, but it never really caught my attention.
This book, at least until I read so far, is extremely exciting! It follows a young, introverted student who gets thrown into a Zombie apocalypse / Video Game - two of my favorite things - so what could go wrong?
The Style of writing is good, the author has a knack for describing the situations clearly and by having short, crisp chapters, the story is progressing nicely, leaving the reader on edge at the end of every chapter.
The Grammar is good, absolutely no complaints here. (but I'm not a native speaker)
The story is only at the beginning, so somewhat difficult to judge after 10 chapters only, but there is a plethora of possiblities to where it could go - it will be a pleasure to find out.
The characters are well thought out, but sometimes feel a little flat, and the MC goes from an very introverted and outsider kid to being the leader almost too quickly (although I'm happy for him) It would have been an interesting aspect if he would, for example still be bullied by the other kids, verbally, until he shows his true strength and saves them, giving him the respect he deserves.
Overall, definitely a 4.5/5 stars for now, and I will be looking forward to reading on!
R. BlomRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
LitRPG: An Unexpected Beginning so far is a zombie LitRPG with room to change if the author wants to change the setting after the first arc as it's set in a closed environment.
Style: It's written in a first-person style which is not the problem. The problem is that in the early chapters, there are a lot of 'I muttered' and 'I said' and more dialogue tags. It makes reading repetitive. I didn't notice it much in the later chapters meaning the author has fixed that habit but the first few chapters could use a touch-up.
Story: So far, it's the typical cliché 'world integration' plotline with a focus on horror and zombies for the first arc. I don't know if the author wishes to go zombie only or add eldritch creatures in the later arcs. So far the school setting feels a bit empty and not much world-building is shown.
Grammar: No problems with grammar here. I didn't notice any except for the dialogue tags but that's more a style negative than a grammar negative.
Character: Ho boy this one is a doozy. I heavily debated putting this lower but I'm going to give the author the benefit of the doubt. Kei's character feels really inconsistent. In the first chapter, he's shown as a very shy and nervous wreck due to his parents sheltering him immensely not even allowing him games or TV. However, a few chapters later he references movies and games even though he's not supposed to know them. His personality also changes drastically as he's not a nervous wreck anymore, I could chalk that up to his experience but even that is limited due to the unconventional start of giving him 10 levels. All in all, it feels like the author had wanted Kei to be the typical weak to strong MC but giving him 10 levels and skipping that progression and confidence building leads to a change in personality that feels forced rather than earned.
The other characters feel better showing the author knows how to write characters. Perhaps a touch-up on his backstory to fit the personality the author wanted him
crowrush204Royal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Reviewed until ch 9.
Story 4,5/5
A lot of litRPG windows which is def fun to read from time to time. You get into a vivid gamelit atmosphere for sure.
The novel had a very fast-paced chapter 1. I wish it would've shown more to the mc and his life before the apocalypse. Nevertheless, some people like fast-paced stuff, so it's fine I guess.
The action scenes are pretty fast as well or at least when he's fighting fodder zombies. Vs. stronger zombies, the action is def more thrilling, but we haven't gotten much of that yet.
Style 4/5
Style is okay. It flows pretty well. Language is complex but there's a bit too much telling. Sure you can imagine the scene pretty well in your head, but I would be better with more descriptive/showing. Don't hesitate to use more creative ways to express the scenes and include more senses. What does he smell? Are there any tastes lingering in his mouth?
Dialogue is great.
Grammar 5/5
No grammar mistakes that I could find :)
Good job on this part! Or I'm just bad at spotting grammar mistakes idk lol.
Characters 4/5
Not much to say here honestly. We're still quite early in so I can't judge the characters much yet. My first impression so far is a 4/5.
The MC seems pretty normal so far personality wise, but who knows? That might change soon enough.
Side characters are fine too, but we don't know too much about them yet. They seem a bit weak? At least as of chapter 9.
Overall 4,5/5
An Unexpected Beginning is another zombie outbreak story with litRPG elements. It does this genre enough justice, but so far there aren't many unique aspects (which is totally fine!)
I'm not the biggest fan of chapter 2 which is basically an infodump of the system, but its not a big deal.
I usually don't read zombie apocalypse stories, but I didn't find myself bored reading this.
Would recommend.
squidballsquidRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
I don't usually leave harsh reviews, but I felt like I needed to get this out there since almost all other reviews have been perfect 5/5. No hate for the author or anything; I just thought I'd share my opinion.
Now, the story itself is fine. I liked it. It's about a guy who goes through a zombie apocalypse, starting at his school. It has a lot of the apocalyptic horror tropes, which I'm a fan of.
The fight scenes are okay. Most of them are pretty short but still fun to read.
And the grammar is perfect so far. I wasn't directly looking for grammar mistakes, but I couldn't find any as I read.
Now, my problem with the novel is the style and the characters. The characters are just... kinda bland? Stereotypical is one way to describe them. I know I can't base them off the 10 chapters I've read, but the main character just seems a little unrelatable.
What's his motive? To survive, duh, but other than that, I can't think of anything else. We're in his head all the time, but I still can't put my head around what type of person he is. And the other characters are just kinda weak. They don't feel like they add much depth other than being fodder for zombies or supporting the protagonist. I'll give it a 3,5 for now since I can't judge too much based on first impressions.
The style is the thing I mainly dislike is the style. It's way too poetic or complex. So many unnecessary words, making it kinda weird to read. There's so much detail but none at the same time, which is kinda of abstract. Especially when the novel is written in first person, and the protagonist's thoughts fall under the same writing style. It's hard to explain without reading a section for yourself.