Uh hello? Why was this book so damn good. It had me hooked right from the start and I adored it the whole way through. Great job

I thoroughly enjoyed this action packed adventure!
The author sets the scene wonderfully and I like that while the RPG elements were familiar, the plot was different.

Everything was clearly explained and made sense for the book. I liked how it was a second chance to live and felt it was really heart warming how he got to have friends, travel and drink wine - all things he thought he’d never see. I also felt the end of his mortal life was written well.

The world, skills and side characters were all enjoyable. Some elements were similar to other lit rpgs but nothing major so although I found myself thinking “that happens in that book too”, it wasn’t often so it didn’t bother me too much.

I liked that the character had a lot of internal conflict - seemingly at war with his mortal morals and new species norms.

I also liked that Darian acted how I do in games (like getting attached to a safe base and not wanting to leave - aka the cave!)

I would absolutely recommend and will eagerly await the next in the series!

4.5 ⭐️ (rounded up as netgally doesn’t do halves)

Thank you so much to Netgalley for the arc to The rise of the blood god. It was a pleasure to read

This is a litrpg novel, of which I have limited experience. I've read most of the dungeon crawler carl books and have played many rpg games in my time. So I really wanted to read this book.

Firstly this book does the litrpg aspect very well. It sets up the world in which we find our reluctant hero transported into this new universe. The game mechanics are well presented, easy to understand and flow well within the story.

I love the fact the protagonist is a vampire and watching him level up and gain news powers as well as wrestle with his conscience was executed well. It feels as though the story is just starting for Darian here and I'm excited to see where the rest of the story goes.

As with a lot of rpg games the beginnings can feel like a bit of a slog, learning how things work and leveling up. Which did feel present here and I felt the story dragged a little at the beginning.

However, this is the first book in the series and I can see the story taking off. The last 100 pages showed us where the plot will be going, introduced new characters, gave us a new villian, and much more background. The pacing improved and I found I couldn't put the book down.

I hope there is more back story and development of the found family in book 2, as I enjoyed all of the characters.

I would recommend this book if you're a fan of the genre as it worth it.