Hades Online: Vampire Sorcerer

The premise of the book is promising, but the execution is poor. The story is all over the place, the main character is weak to the point of being annoying, the leveling system is arbitrary. One minute they are killing enemies 10 levels higher the next they are struggling against enemies lower than them. I wanted to like this book, but it needs work. Character development is nil and I find it mildly infuriating and there is no clear character relationships. All of this puts the book at a 3 out of 5 but the butchering of grammar in this novel is to the point i feel a 2 out of 5 is appropriate.

Fan of anime? Light novels? Freaking vampires??? Yeah, so this book caught my eye right away as it appealed to way too many elements of my nerdy self. The art is awesome, interior art as well. It a fast and entertaining read through and through. Oh yeah, and dungeon core stuff too! haha… book 2!

I had the pleasure of reading Hades Online: Vampire Sorcerer for the author around the time of its release. The novel is full of vivid imagery, sex and adventure, and dynamic characters. If you are interested in the light novel/MMORPG genre, I highly recommend this book for you.

Told in first-person perspective, the audience readers about a character named Athanasios who is a citizen of Elysium, a virtual game world. His life changes when he receives a message asking if he would like to play a new game, resulting in an Alice in Wonderland-esque tumble into a new world, a world where some things are different and others are quite the same. Athansios begins to love it in this new world as he advances in level and encounters new challengers. Issues arise when he unintentionally drinks the blood of a Vampire Lord, resulting in some trouble from him and his crew. How will Athanasios escape this one? Can he return of Elysium, even though some parts of the Real World are too sweet to leave behind?

My review will be spoiler-free and 100% honest. I read the novel on my phone in a .PDF file that was 702 pages long.

I am new to this narrative genre, but Im familiar with other forms of media similar to it and the narrative. That being said, the novel is very well written. The writing style is immersive and exciting. I am a reader that reads slowly and in short bursts, but during my reading sessions, I was able to fly through the pages.

The novel does well to establish the world that Athanasios lives in, both in Elysium and the world of the Vampire Lords. The worldbuilding requires a lot of framework to keep the reader in the loop, and the author does that well from the beginning. There is plenty of exposition and background provided to create a smooth reading experience.

The author uses the MMORPG terminology and gameplay well in the novel. The video game aspect is integrated in such a natural way visually appealing and easy to follow on the page.

Once Athanasios begins the new gaming experience, the action and sex take off from there. Sex scenes are included almost as frequently as action scenes, and they are described very in depth. If you are not interested in sex scenes, or prefer light descriptions of sex, this novel isnt for you. Ive read stories with heavily described sex scenes, some similar to the themes that happen here. The author is great at delivering sexual content in a way that isnt completely hokey those kinds of scenes can end up that way very fast, and though phrases like my seed make me giggle, the rest of the scenes play out very straight and engaging. Additionally, the plot is interwoven into the sex scenes as well as the adventures, which makes them less gratuitous than sex scenes are by their nature.

The plot is pretty easy to follow: consistent but evolving throughout the novel, remaining fresh over all 702 pages. I was impressed by the sustained energy in the story. The pacing is even, and the plot arcs are well-thought out and structured. The ending fittingly pays off the story that is established. I was satisfied with the ending of the story, and I believe other readers will be too. Again, I will not discuss spoilers! But I wanted to leave you guys with that note. Overall, the read is fun and exciting and enjoyable every step of the way.

The characters are engaging and fitting of the genre. By nature, its a little over the top some characters referencing Athanasios as Hero in the novel made me chuckle a bit but it works for the nature of the story. They all fit a happy medium of fulfilling their larger than life roles while also remaining accessible emotionally and logically.

I received an uncorrected proof for my review, so there were quite a few typos throughout the manuscript. I hope the final version has less of these typos and grammatical inconsistencies, because they were prevalent enough to distract an editor/proofreader such as myself.

Overall, if you are a person that is interested in the genre, I highly recommend this book. It is made for fans of RPG games and harem light novels/manga. For someone not as immersed in that genre, I still enjoyed the read the whole way through. Elements of it were very over the top for me, but it all flowed well and kept me engaged. I was thoroughly impressed by the novel.

I believe this novel would also be great for people entering into this genre for the first time, that have not read erotic fiction or RPG fiction, and want something with both elements. The writing style is so clear and detailed that the average reader wanting to dip their toes into the genre will have a good experience.

While the premise and story is engaging, the MC is infuriating. Not only is his strength story dependent, he is a massive idiot to boot.
He acts like a big shot in his head while literally getting pushed around like a little b by everyone.
He can be smart when the story needs it but then act like an idiot when there is need for conflict.
Like with the encounter with the reaper.
Dude want’s to do what the reaper wishes and it in no way is harmful to anyone. His companion for some reason doesn’t and the reaper explained that they are just like everyone else that scorn her and her cooking. The MC’s companion hears this and gets the genius idea to try and leave as fast as possible, confirming the reapers assessment of them. The MC does f all and ask for take away instead to which the reaper feels insulted since she believes they’ll just throw her food away and unnecessary conflict ensued.
Ow, did I mention that the reaper is 20is lvls above the MC and should have killed everyone instantly but PLOT ARMOUR!

Was an ok harem story a bit convoluted and tended to drag at points, found myself checking how much remained quite often wanting to get to the end, loads of proofreading errors, read if you want.