The Bloodforged Kin

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

"My name is Zavier Torres, and The System didn't just end the world - it turned my family into weapons we never wanted to become. When reality collapsed, people expected heroes. Instead, they got a regular dad who barely knows what he's doing, teaching his kids how to kill so they might live another day. My wife and I had a plan: train together, stay together, get stronger together. That lasted about five minutes. In this new world, mercy is death and family is the only thing worth dying for. Lone wolves have to be perfect every time - but when you fight as a family, you just have to be perfect together. Every mistake we've made, every line we've crossed, every drop of blood on our hands has taught us something The System never intended: We're not just surviving anymore. We're hunting. So to whatever made this nightmare - we're coming. The Torres family doesn't break - we adapt. And we're going to make you regret giving us this kind of power." --------------------------------------------------------- What you should know going in:The Torres family aren't superheroes - at least not in the beginning. They're just regular people trying desperately to keep each other alive, and the start of their journey shows that - intently. (But don't worry - once they figure it out... just hold on for the ride) Book 1:The Bloodforged Kin -will be stubbed as near end of May.Enough people asked for an extension that I decided to leave it up until the artwork is doneBook 2:The Trialborn Legacy- fully releasedBook 3:The Cryptid Challenge- current book, fully scheduledBook 4:The Deviant Path- fully scheduledBook 5: Homecoming- fully scheduled Book 6: Cryptid's End- currently being written What you get:✔️ A System, powerhouses, massive fights, boss battles - all your favorite LitRPG tropes✔️ A family that fights and grows strongertogetherinstead of everyone being loners✔️ Realemotional and mental strugglesthat come with fear of death and killing real people✔️ MCs that start of weak and grow really,reallystrong✔️ Maybe a little system cheating 😉✔️ Multiple POVs and characters✔️✔️✔️ One of the MC’sis a cat.For realFYI:- Slow burn - the family doesn’t know what they’re doing so they have to figure it out the hard, long way. But oh man, once they do…- Emoootionaaal daaamaage… (it gets grim at times, but doesn’t stay there) --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Crunch:- Chapters: 1200–3000 words- Posting: 3×/week (Mon/Wed/Fri)- Roadmap: Enough ideas to outlive me.- Hit #4 in RS

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2025
Author: R. W. McRae

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.0/ 5.0
Followers: 1,539
Views: 433,631

Chapters(257 total)

What readers say about The Bloodforged Kin

“This book starts with a bang, straight into action, and only then does the author give the audience a chance to catch up to The System. That’s its first act of trust. The System arrives, the world changes, but we aren’t in a rush here. It gives you a family…”
Adrian SixRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“As a father with 2 kids myself this has been a really good read with aspects that hit close to home for me, such as the mindset of the father character at times. Reading the dynamics of how each family member discovers their own unique class and abilities h…”
Badger91Royal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

Adrian SixRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This book starts with a bang, straight into action, and only then does the author give the audience a chance to catch up to The System. That’s its first act of trust. The System arrives, the world changes, but we aren’t in a rush here. It gives you a family and tells you: stay with them, because when it goes down, you’re going to care. And when the world does fall apart? The story stops holding back.
This is a survival story sharpened through love and connection. A family doing their messy best to make it through. This is a concept I had never seen in a genre filled with lone wolves.
Zavier and Tess are both trying to protect their kids, but their different approaches is what makes their dynamic so interesting to read. Zavier is thoughtful and pragmatic, sometimes a bit overconfident; she’s practical and proud, doesn't want to risk putting her kids in danger. It creates a tight wire of tension that never fully resolves. They’re both right, and that’s the problem.
We’re not dealing with characters that are steeped in LitRPG lore. They don’t know the perfect way to level. They stumble, they fail. Sometimes they chase power for the wrong reasons or misread a situation entirely. But there’s always someone there to catch them. That’s what makes this story worth following despite the MC's not being perfect. It’s not about power fantasies, it’s about connection. It’s about siblings who argue but still throw themselves in front of danger. Parents who are terrified but show up anyway. The reason the characters are allowed to make mistakes and be imperfect is because when one of them stumbles, the others are right there to help them out. They have so much trust and faith in each other that they're not afraid to make mistakes. Unlike the standard litRPG trope of "The individual loner guy needs to always succeed or he'll die", this family is allowed to make mistakes and live through it, since they're together.
Also, the side characters are weird, sharp, and fun. And the cat? Do
Badger91Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
As a father with 2 kids myself this has been a really good read with aspects that hit close to home for me, such as the mindset of the father character at times.
Reading the dynamics of how each family member discovers their own unique class and abilities has definitely given me some food for thought on how me and my family would approach things to form a cohesive 4-person party in a similar situation.
Overall a really fun read.
- A few pretty dark moments.
- Occasionally very detailed skills/character sheets will take up a lot of page space. Can always just read the skill name and skip the details if it feels too excessive. (I've seen other books use the "spoiler drop-down section" to house this information, which might work better here).
- Awesome loot finds! :D
- Occassional relatable character moments
- Chihuahuas scare me intense shudder through my body and soul
Thanks for the enjoyable read so far ^_^
DiplomancerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I really love some of the poignant little moments that crop up during the integration. The fact that the cat is involved is just great. The cat getting an achievement is even better.
The first monster fight was really intense and made me want to run away from the screen for a moment. I almost lost it at the command: "Tauntaun it!!” And I liked the moments between the terror, where the humans can be human and then panic all over again when something else bad happens.
The family seems to be believable and well written, the story's free from any major grammar or spelling issues, and it seems to be getting interesting as we delve further into the system integration. One fun thing is that technology appears to be working during the integration, which is rather uncommon.
I'm really hoping that this comes out on Kindle at some point so I can sit down and read it end to end, which I think would make the slow burn feel all the better.
Here are some extra words to help make up the 200 needed for an advance review, and here are some more. I'll get there eventually, I think. This is a great story, please to read it.
Glenn AstonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
There’s a quiet gravity to The Bloodforged Kin that hit me harder than I expected. You don’t just read this story - you walk it, step by dangerous step, alongside characters who feel real enough to curse at, cry with, or fight beside. What stuck with me most wasn’t the violence (though the violence lands when it needs to), or even the broader worldbuilding (which is sharp, dangerous, and just alien enough to unsettle). It was the tenderness laced through the steel. The way kinship - chosen or bloodbound - becomes its own kind of forge, shaping these characters into something stronger, stranger, and often sadder than they were before. And Madison? Madison is a gift. I’ve written my fair share of engineers, inventors, and dreamers with soot-smudged cheeks and a wrench in hand, but she feels singular. Her creations don’t feel like narrative tools - they feel like expressions of her. Grief, hope, intelligence, loyalty - all soldered into brass and steam. She builds because she has to, because it’s the one language the world hasn’t taken from her yet. That’s beautiful, and deeply human. If book one is the kindling, I can already feel the spark catching. And I’ll be here, gears turning, waiting for the blaze.
JeddGoldmanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
After reading this story, I figured I should stop and review.The Bloodforged Kin opens with a slow-burn tension that immediately pulls you in. Zavier, just an ordinary family man in his 40s, is suddenly caught in a terrifying nightmare as a red mist descends over the world. The peaceful suburban setting flips on its head fast, and the writing does a great job at building dread. You feel it when the mist pulls into living creatures, when the birds stop singing, and when the mutated spiders start attacking in the garage.I loved how natural the characters felt. Zavier isn’t a superhero — he fights clumsily while trying to stay alive, and his wife Tess steps up just as fiercely, taking quick shots with a pistol and holding her ground. Their teamwork during the garage fight was a highlight, it should make the exciting novel very exciting. The later fight inside the house, with Luna and Cass desperately holding off a monstrous mutated squirrel while their parents try to save them was honestly cinematic. It was like straight out of a movie. It felt like a real family fighting to survive, not some overpowered video game characters.The sudden System Announcement scene catches you off guard in the best way possible. The way the characters’ stats were assigned based on what they actually did during the fights (and even calling out their mistakes) made the world feel alive and fair. There’s also already a few exciting twists in this story!Overall, this story is a fantastic mix of grounded survival horror, family dynamics, and the exciting start of a true LitRPG evolution. Strong characters, fast pacing, and a world that feels like it’s just barely holding together. You will enjoy this awesome novel!
carrieguevaraRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Fantastic read and a great adventure told in a unique view of what it’s like to survive as a family unit in a world crisis. The author takes us on a journey that will leave you breathless and filled with emotion and even hope. This one should be at the top of your current reading list!
Zagarinutzo3Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The Author clearly has a good direction with the book and is world building at average pace while’ giving the characters obvious and not so obvious flaws so they can change later into better characters and individuals it’s a creative take on the genre which I can say as I’ve been reading this genre since 2018 soo. But the absolutely worst part about this book is the absolutely brain-dead, idiotic, selectively ignorant fan base siding with the obvious flaws of the characters which is just so bloody irritating because these are supposed to be obvious red flags but here comes these smooth-brained troglodytes doing mental gymnastics to justify them🤦‍♂️. And if you can’t tell I’m mad I usually text like a chronically online elementary schooler so this just shows my irritation with the “Fans”
GalamasorionRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Kind of standard Start litRPG System apocalypse, but with cool familydynamics and lovely Charakterdevelopment.
The interludes are great was to get to know even more interesting Charakters, that are mostly not "standard".
Very fun reading experience. Especially since it lacks the standard op protagonist or wannabe random perfect hero. The family each has their own demons to battle and it makes the Story way more relatable.
It is also nice how lgbtq themes are spun in in a very natural way.
MocchiRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
A good story to pass the time, with good grammar, that I almost didn't see any mistakes, and grammar is one of the most important things in fiction.What drew me more attention was the characters and their family dynamic. The author tried to make everyone different with their quirks, and it was a refreshing experience reading about a family against the apocalypse.In my opinion, the world-building lacks. I think the author should go back a little and put more effort and thought into the world descriptions, about what is going on in the rest of the world.I would say the fiction is not bad or good; it has potential, but it is a little rough at the edges. It is a good fiction to pass the time, I will continue reading it in the future.
DarkSoulStarRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
Up to Chapter 47 and it's a good start. There are some things that I think should have been addressed but I don't really know what age range the author is aiming at so maybe that's a thing. Idk. I like it, though. Definitely has a lot of potential. I'll keep reading for sure.