Induction

Welcome to the Multiverse #1

by Sean Oswald

The apocalypse is coming but only those lucky or perhaps unlucky few know.Silas is inducted into the System becoming the last in a long line ofEarth's 'Forerunners.'The rewards are great but the danger is greater.We are not alone in the universe. The fate of five worlds hangs on how their forerunners perform.Will Silas have what it takes to win Earth a place in the multiverse or will Earth become another miningworld stripped of all resources and left a barren husk floating in the cosmos?A system enforced secret... a deadly challenge... and only a year to go.The countdown begins now!

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Science Fiction, Magic, Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Fiction

552 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 31, 2023

Reviews

[Roberto Flores · Rating 1 out of 5]

An unbalanced main character surrounded by plot armor.

The sheer quantity of abilities, titles and boons provide an epic level of plot armor that removes any sense of danger. The combat is poorly written making the problem worse. The main character starts off as being described as stoic but instantly becomes a childish teenager. For a story that changes settings as much as this does, that leaves no foundation to holds on to.

[Michael Marciano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh

So the story is so so the biggest issue I have with it is in a week the protagonist manages to achieves like 25% of what people who have been doing what he learns to do for four freaking years. It's just not believable. Add to that that the book only lasts 7 days and the power of the protagonist is also just way too steep. He literally can't even learn to use the power he gains because of how quickly he gains them. It's just kind of silly.

[Christopher · Rating 1 out of 5]

While this book has an interesting take on LitRPG, at best it is an amalgamation of other books. Worse, there is no story arc. I don't know if the race was supposed to be the climax, but I didn't bother reading it. I'm supposed to believe the scrappy hero and his band of low level fighters is supposed to beat max level opponents? Nope, not interested.

I wonder who hurt the author growing up. The jocks read like something out of 1984's Nerds and he must seriously hate cheerleaders. He somehow managed to make the two strongest women on Earth passive enough he could write about mansplaining and our hero isn't like that.

I am particularly annoyed that all of the other Forerunners choose to test the MC to determine if he is worth keeping around but none of them seem to be working towards the same goal. The author doesn't even set this up as a conflict in which the Forerunners pursue different strategies of earning world points. We don't even understand which missions offer more or less points or even how two years worth of points are going to be earned in the last year.

I have very low expectations from LitRPG and this managed to come in even lower than normal.

[Dennis Plante · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read 25% so far

I decided to start my review early. So far, this book is very boring. The MC is an extremely immature 22 year old. Has the maturity of maybe a 12 year old boy. There's a ton of repetitive explanations of the System and how Silas (MC), thinks about everything. I am going to read on, but I am not optimistic I'll finish this book.

[Karl Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish at 17%

Writing style just really wasn’t working for me. Far too much of the narration was focused on the thoughts in the main character’s head, rather than on what was actually happening in the story. Probably just needs a couple rounds of editing, but it doesn’t have them and I couldn’t push through.

[Draco18s · Rating 3 out of 5]

MC is way too overpowered and there are a few points where he somehow manages to forget a piece of information from earlier in the story, one of which was literally seconds prior. The entire book takes place over the course of a week real-world time, with a year and a bit left on the apocalypse countdown timer, and manages to achieve about as much progress as the other four forerunners had in their prior four years.

There's two things that irk me:
One the time distortion. Apparently everyone's portal opens at midnight local time and kicks them out at 6am local time, but everyone appears and leaves at the same time on the other side. As a hypothetical thought experiment, have three forerunners spread across the world with 8 hours time difference between their portals (there are five, but we only need two sufficiently far apart). They all join up for a group quest.

The forerunner closest to the international date line would [i]wake up[/i] after the quest before the second [i]even went into the portal[/i]. Ditto the second guy leaving vs the third guy entering.

Regardless of how the System synchronizes everyone, it's either having to always pull at least one person forward in time 8+ hours, or backwards in time 8+ hours, meaning that at least one of them always has knowledge about another's future with a 2 hour window with which to get in contact.

Two, the other forerunners seem to have their own agendas, and make minimal effort to cooperate with each other despite the fact that (a) they should all want Earth to survive and (b) there are no individual rewards (even if they individually gain "Forerunner Points" which are separate from "World Points", when the transition comes they all share point-currency with which to buy rewards, such as Offworld Travel Tokens to save friends and family).

Minor point three, one of Earth's forrunners is in jail for being a terrorist (he tried to prove that magic was real and blew up a building, because reasons) and has gone inactive. Except at the end of chapter 42, the MC is told by (the Moroccan?) forerunner that he can always teleport back to his portal at any time (the also MC [b]immediately[/b] forgets this information and buys himself a plane ticket). So... Why is the one guy stuck in jail? Can't he just teleport back home? And its not like there's a limit on how often he can do that, as the portal itself is supplying the power to do it and is constantly charged (go inactive long enough and that power starts leaking out into the surrounding area anyway).

Updating this after reading book 2 (I was in a hurry and grabbed it for something to listen as I went out the door). The one concern about the guy in jail [i]is addressed[/i] in book 2. I wish the remark about the fact that "oh yeah he could leave any time he wants, he's chosen not to and won't talk to us."

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Promising start to this series. As I have experienced with several series in this genre, the first 10% was awkward, but the storyline developed well from that point.

[Bob · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well it's an interesting take on an oft repeated story. Standard system integration story with a slight twist. The writing is pretty good. The stats and skills etc are a bit muddled and convoluted but only a bit. The only big issue is the MC. He's extremely meh. He's supposed to be college student age but he's written like a 10 year old. He's unambitious, unassertive, self deprecating, immature and naive. He's never had a girl friend. But he is a good boy. When he learned about "the system" his first impulse was to run and tell mommy. When tasked with obtaining something he said "gee I don't think I could steal something". Remember the fate of the entire world is at stake. ugh. He survives with plot armor basically. Also a ridiculously cringe skill called "cute and helpless" or something like that.
You ever seen one of those memes where it compares a cute, domesticated puppy with it's vicious wolf ancestor? Well the MC is the puppy. I'd rather read about the wolf tbh.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Induction is an exercise in pure LitRPG. A university sophomore inherits a building with a gateway to a multiverse dominated by corporations that control a multidimensional role-playing game that determines the future of the gamer’s planet. Think Hunger Games with lots of gamer stats.

Here is a typical paragraph from about 50 pages in: “Stealth- this Dexterity based ability will allow you to move with supernatural stealth for the duration. Attacking will break the effect, but being attacked will not. Exercise a supernatural level of stealth. Duration: 1 minute per level. Cool-Down: 5 minutes. (Basic)”

Riveting, ain’t it?

There is evidently an audience for such books, but I don’t have the stamina points to get through the seven volumes of this series with my sanity intact.

[GaiusPrimus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another masterpiece by Sean Oswald.

In a genre that seems to have a lot of apocalypse stories, how does one go around writing a pre-apocalypse story. Ask Sean, cause he did it.

Really well done.

[Andy Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Induction

The apocalypse is coming. Silas even knows what day it will be on. He is now a Forerunner. There are five worlds in this competition. First place loses about 10% population and is inducted as full members. Second and Third place become dungeon worlds and losses are expected around 50%. The other two planets are mined for resources with no survivors. Earth is currently in third place.

This was a fantastic induction into this series! Silas is very relatable and likable character. The overall themes of this book was just overall fun. I’m really looking forward to continuing this series! Travis Baldree did an amazing job with the narration!

Content warning: none

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book one

I found this book to be really enjoyable. It has a smart MC, not some wimpy Mary Sue.
It has a very interesting system for leveling and learning.
The MC is like me in the sense that loot is important, and I love the fact that he doesn't sit on his points.
I didn't find any mistakes to post on Goodreads, but I wasn't really looking since I was enjoying the story so much.
Haven't found this series yet on Royalroad, so if you do please drop me a comment.

10/10 Well done! I don't give these out often.

[Russell Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was in the mood for a System gamelit story and this series fit the bill perfectly.

Plot – 10/10, Characters – 8/10, Setting and Magic – 9/10, Writing – 6.5/10, Enjoyment 9.5/10

Plot
Earth is being inducted into a System, but with a bit of a twist: five people are chosen as Forerunners to compete against the Forerunners of other worlds about to be inducted. The stakes? The winning world will be welcomed with open arms into the multiverse, but the other worlds end up being dungeon worlds or are simply decimated and turned into mining planets. When a Forerunner dies, a new one is either randomly chosen or the role is passed on to an Inheritor based on the deceased Forerunner’s wishes. The System also prevents the Forerunners from discussing anything relating to the System with regular people. The story offered all the standard tropes of a System story and mixed them with an isolating survival game similar to Gantz.

Characters
We are introduced to a pretty large cast of characters: the various alien Forerunners and adventurers, the Earth Forerunners, and some various mundane humans. Despite that, I had no problems keeping track of everyone and overall the story kept pretty tight with Silas, our MC.

We don’t know much about him other than that he’s 22, his father died recently after a two-year battle with cancer, and his sport of choice is distance running. We get various vignettes of past interactions with his father as Silas progresses through the story to somewhat provide a background to some of his choices. Overall, I somewhat liked him as a character even though he made a few questionable decisions in his mundane life after acquiring superhuman abilities. Then again, I’m old now, so maybe it’s expected that I think a 22-year-old’s hot-blooded actions are dumb at times.

Setting and Magic
The System mechanics are similar to what you would expect with various classes that rank up. This is one of those stories where early momentum serves as a force multiplier, so it’s one of those The Rich Get Richer Faster kinda Systems compared to everyone having equal opportunities Systems. Luckily for our MC, being a Forerunner comes with some additional bonuses, though with the drawback that the majority of Forerunners die quickly. There’s a nice variety of skills and magic with a leveling system that gives the impression the author put some thought into it. The caveat of rich getting richer and earlier advantages giving momentum kind of undermine a lot of the leveling system as you might have some characters hitting way above their weight class. It just depends on whether that bothers you or not.

The setting was a strong point for this story as various missions take our MC to other worlds. It was interesting to see the variety and meet the various alien races. Other System stories tend to have no cultural diversity, even when traveling from world to world, since they’ve all been homogenized by the System (or at least that’s the justification for lazy worldbuilding).

Writing
The writing was a bit of a mixed bag. Luckily, the most common mistakes were misplaced punctuation, so audio listeners won’t be affected by 90% of the errors. I’ll be honest, there were a lot of proofreading errors, so while they were minor trifles, they were noticeable due to their frequency. They tended to pop up in bunches, so it just seemed like an inconsistent editing job. Otherwise, the prose was fairly straightforward and didn’t hamper the clarity. I felt like the author was trying a little too hard at times, but if you take a drink every time the word “symphony” is used or any time the author uses figurative language relating to music or dancing, then you’ll quickly be too buzzed to care about that odd floating quotation mark or ten.

Enjoyment
While I’ll nitpick the large number of punctuation errors and poke fun at the various musical and dance-related language coming inexplicably from a random 22-year-old point of view, this was a fun book and one of the better System Apocalypse stories I’ve come across.

[Jordan Short · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty entertaining multiverse apocalypse LitRPG. I enjoyed the world building, system, and writing. The MC was also fairly well developed for the genre. This is a serialized story so the book is just a chunk of a larger narrative and doesn't really have a beginning middle and end in the traditional sense of a narrative arc. The prose was much better than many Royal Road stories, which was nice. I enjoyed it overall and will likely continue the series at some point.

[Jon Svenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silas is an eighteen year old who graduated from high school and is ready to go to college. Then his father dies and the family is strapped for money. A distant uncle also dies shortly after, and he is willing to give the family his inheritance with one stipulation: that the oldest male of the household live in the shed behind the house.

That's the setup for the book. In the shed Silas finds a portal device, books on various topics, and much more. He discovers that Earth is in a fight for it's very life. Four other worlds are being inducted into the system, and right now we're in third place. The first place world gets to stay as they are with no loss of life. Second and third place will become dungeon worlds, with 90% loss of life and new dungeons coming into being.

Fourth and fifth place have it the worst. On those planets everyone dies and the worlds are turned into massive mines.

I enjoyed this, but with a few caveats. Silas comes across as an eighteen year old fairly well. He gets his start by adventuring and dungeon diving on another world, where he builds his team. The other forerunners, because that's what he is, all come over to check him out.

There are a lot of good parts of this book, but I didn't feel the story matched the gravity of what could happen to Earth in the future until the very end. I do plan to read book two as Silas levels up and gets better at what he's doing.

The editing is fine and there are plenty of stats for people who enjoy those. For me this book comes in just shy of five stars. 4/5*

[Slayerwolfx2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The age of the main character is wrong. The book says 22, but in reality 15 is more accurate.

It feels like the author wrote a teenager based on old popular tropes. The main character is juvenile, and it was hard to ignore those moments to focus on the good parts of the book. And I'm not all that impressed with the good parts either. Not that they aren't well written, just that they don't have that extra spark to make them exciting. No outside of the box thinking, just... a straight line.

Another part I was excited about was his abilities. Abilities though... he got so many of them in such a little time it seems like he barely knows how to use them. When he does something interesting with them it's because something ends up happening.

He has been saved more than once by plot armor which is a continuation of the previous problem with his abilities. He didn't overcoming the odds, but more like something happened which helped him solve the situation.

This isn't a book I would lose sleep over, this isn't a book that would make my heart race, this isn't a book that would make me giggle unintentionally. I've read books like that, and this is not one of them.

[Wilhelm Eyrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pretty excited for an OP MC book based on some comments and I went in and he really just has one broken ability and is otherwise pretty average, at least so far.

Lots of room for growth and a cool system. Hope we start getting more time jumps, one week is way too slow

[Lester Covax · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much fluff, annoying MC, annoying gen-Z MC, grating narration, cookie-cutter LitRPG

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a generic apocalypse LitRPG with stats, titles, aliens, and monsters. The combat is mediocre and the characters are one-note. One thing I really couldn't get past was the way that the author writes about the women in the books - in fact it's so annoying I won't be continuing the series. Here are several examples:

We begin with the main character's tragic backstory where his dad dies of cancer and he has to take the mantle that was meant for his dad . Of course he has to become "the man of the house". It is stressed several times that the burden to taken care of his mom and sister is on him, as if his mother is not a full adult. It's a nice sentiment, but there's a way to describe being a protector and provider without making it about being the only male left alive in the family.

Another instance is the introductions of some of the other Forerunners - mainly how the two introductions differ. When we first meet Jiang Bai in "Interlude 2", we get a sense of his personality, his experiences through the years, and we get his thoughts on what's happening to Earth in depth. We also learn he absolutely looks down on women (why is this necessary?). And of course, it just so happens that the author makes a point that the MC absolutely thinks women are equal to men - directly in the next chapter. In any case, not once in this entire character introduction is anything mentioned about his appearance. We don't know if he's muscular, tall, bald, black hair, what he's wearing etc. His physical presence in the world is only noted when talking about his resistance to cold and when "His body hurtled through the air faster than the speed of sound...". The only mention of nationality/ethnicity is when the author directly mentions where the scene is taking place - Sichuan Province in China. It's almost as if his thoughts matter more than his appearance. This all takes place over 13 paragraphs.

This is all in contrast to the introduction for Nuri Khalid in Interlude 3. Her introduction is 14 paragraphs, for comparison's sake. In the first paragraph, we learn about how her skin is bronzed, "a reflection of the sun-kissed Moroccan lands", and "a seamless blend of cinnamon and clove hues". We also get a detailed description of her facial features. In the second paragraph, we learn about her hair ("raven hair...cascaded down her shoulders in a wild tumble, a dark river glistening...") and gear ("drenched in the exotic aesthetics of interdimensional exploration"). In the third paragraph, we learn she's in her Moroccan home, and, more importantly to the author, what her body is like: "Her fingertips, their grip hardened from wielding artifacts of power, delicately unclasped...her armor. Layer by layer, her combat attire was peeled away, revealing a physique chiseled by relentless inter-dimensional expeditions, every muscle a testament to her strength and resilience." The next three paragraphs describe her civilian clothes. In total, the number of adjectives and metaphors that describe her skin/face: 10; her hair: 6; her body/muscles: 9; her gear: 12; her clothes: 13; and her home/heritage: 6. As opposed to Jiang Bai's zero for anything. It's almost as if her appearance matters more than her thoughts.

The inequality is astounding. I don't mind colorful adjectives, truly. But why is it only applied to the women? I know all about Jiang Bai's personality and experiences, but little to nothing about Nuri. It only adds insult to injury that Jiang Bai is a ranging misogynist - why does he deserve a semblance of personality and the women don't?

Not to mention that every time a woman - alien or otherwise - is introduced we immediately know 1) what she looks like, 2) how hot the main character finds her, and 3) if he is romantically interested in her. Obviously, none of this is specified for the men.

All in all, the author sucks at writing women.

[Thai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sean Oswald's "Induction: A LitRPG Apocalypse (Welcome to the Multiverse Book 1)" sets up a familiar scenario: Earth thrown into a multiversal competition with apocalyptic stakes. The premise of a world racing against others to avoid a catastrophic population cull is certainly intriguing, but unfortunately, the execution thus far feels somewhat...average.
The book falls squarely within the established tropes of the LitRPG genre. We have the system notifications, the stat progression, and the introduction of a world undergoing rapid, game-like changes. However, what's missing is a spark, something to elevate it above the countless other titles in the subgenre.
Our protagonist, Silas, is unfortunately, rather unremarkable. He's competent enough to navigate the initial challenges, but he lacks any defining characteristics that would make him truly compelling. He feels like a passive observer rather than an active participant, simply reacting to the events unfolding around him. The battles he engages in, while functional, lack a sense of urgency or strategic depth. They feel like routine encounters rather than pivotal moments in a world teetering on the brink of destruction.
What I found particularly lacking was a sense of personality from Silas. I yearn for a protagonist with more edge, someone who isn't afraid to be a little arrogant, cunning, or even darkly humorous. A character who actively seeks to exploit the system, rather than simply following its rules. Silas, in contrast, feels too bland, too predictable.
The world-building, while adequate, also doesn't quite capture the imagination. We get a glimpse of the altered Earth and the emerging system mechanics, but the exploration feels superficial. I was hoping for a deeper dive into the lore and the intricacies of the multiversal competition.
Ultimately, "Induction" delivers a competent but uninspiring LitRPG experience. It's a solid 3 out of 5 stars – a perfectly acceptable read for fans of the genre looking for a familiar comfort food experience. However, it fails to truly stand out from the crowd.
Whether or not I continue with the series remains to be seen. I'm hoping that the subsequent books will introduce more compelling characters and a more engaging storyline. If Silas can develop some personality and the battles gain some real stakes, then perhaps "Welcome to the Multiverse" will evolve into something more memorable. But for now, it feels like a fairly standard grind.

[Malissia Sellars · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure I would like this book since it’s a gamer perspective. I loved it so much I listened twice and I’m on the waiting list for book 2. If you like gaming and action, you’ll love this book too!

[Charli · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting take on a portal/system apocalypse

I really enjoyed the novelty of this book’s premise. While it combines a lot of different extent ideas from the genre, it does it in a unique way that brings some novelty I haven’t seen in a while. Sometimes the protagonist annoys me, but he’s fairly true to the young adult that he is, thrust into an impossible situation. I’ll probably continue the series to see what happens to earth and the multiverse.

[William Howe · Rating 5 out of 5]

solid

A good use of tropes and solid world building. Placing the character sheet in its own chapter is a nice touch.

I am going to buy book 2.

[Aubria L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am onboard with this series! So far I find this first book interesting, not to mention I am listening (audiobook format) to Travis Baldree bring this story to life, I am having fun right now.

[Joshua Blanchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars Definitely a bit boring at the beginning, but by the end I was hooked in and hoping the second book is worthwhile.

[GiGi · Rating 3 out of 5]

hmmm🤔🧐
Some issues, like; aliens using Earth based expressions that don't make sense within the parameters we're given. I'm interested to see where the story goes though, so I shall continue

[Ray Ritchey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun Read

His best yet. Lots of action, good story line, good future arc. Stats are done nicely, and not over done.

[Lisa Valdespino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not too bad, but not too good either. Interesting topic, but way too much time spent on gamming terms, actions, titles, powers, spells etc.. Considering I am not a "gamer" - unless playing pickleball counts as a gamer - I was dazed, lost and confused - and at times... bored.

I will pass on reading book two - I guess I'm not that interested in finding our whether our planet earth survives the Induction or not.

[Fat Frog · Rating 2 out of 5]

MC gets an insanely OP Title that doubles stat gains. The MC says it is "pretty awesome.... not gonna complain about that". As if it is totally normal and just kinda cool.
Looks like we got another dumb MC... (sigh)

*meets other people* I don't understand why everyone else doesn't have high stats like me.... durr... I don't get it, i'm low level and I still have higher stats... durr... You don't have 55 perception like me? durrr. I'm stooopid guys. I can't understand that my Title is completely ridiculous.

Football coach: We really really want you on the team!!
MC: Nah bro, now that I've wasted everyone's time, let me just say Nah, I'm too cool for you guys.

Girl: You are so cool, plz drive me to my place, my roommates are away, and i'm so lonely.
MC: Nah, I have so much Charisma now.... so much Charisma... like i'm so cool... I'm gonna have to turn you down, I need to stay a virgin forever. Cuz you know, wouldn't want to take advantage of you, when I am so good looking now... and have you heard about my Charisma? it is like...HIGH

The race at the end of the book is so stupid that I just started skipping and skimming.

[Forrest · Rating 4 out of 5]

a bit all over the place, but I liked it.

A few too many instances where the author annoyingly makes pop-culture references by saying he won’t make them.

A ton of editing issues and at least one chapter where it seemed like the narrator was reading from a different version of the book. Worse, their version seems to be better edited. lol

What could be considered spoilers below:






The MC swears the he wants to focus on being a magic user, but then focuses on defense skills. He starts being a “healer” but then switches to something like a Druid/Paladin? He says in the beginning that he isn’t the type to leave stat points unassigned, but does exactly that most of the time. lol

Obviously, I have a bunch of gripes about the story, but will certainly be reading the next one.