What do you think?
Rate this book
Elysium's Multiverse #1
Chalgathi
When Earth gets integrated into the vast expanse of a new multiverse, one young man is game to survive—it’s in his blood—in this apocalyptic adventure.
Everyone becomes prey when Earth is swallowed up and transmuted to a bestial landscape, the first stage of induction into Elysium’s multiverse and a new galaxy in the making. In the blink of any eye, the bloodthirsty creatures of Riven Thane’s worst nightmares are unleashed as he; his sister, Allie; and his friend Jose scramble amid the carnage to live another hour.
But on this nothing of a planet, Riven is more special than he knows. He’s among a select few with a singular bloodline, and the Elysium system has its eye on Riven in particular. He’s already proven his unbeatable will to survive. Now, untapped powers can be his should he succeed at what the multiverse has in store for him.
World be damned, let the games begin: challenging trials of stamina, labyrinthine mazes, and mind-bending puzzles requiring sharp wit and quick thinking. Each consecutive win will bring Riven nearer to an unimaginable undertaking . . . a personalized tutorial in the dungeons of hell itself. And it’s just the beginning—Riven is about to unlock the secrets of his past and learn more about his purpose and the dark arts than he ever imagined.
Whatever unholy chaos awaits him back home, he’s ready. Because as close to death as he may be, Riven has never felt more alive.
Everyone becomes prey when Earth is swallowed up and transmuted to a bestial landscape, the first stage of induction into Elysium’s multiverse and a new galaxy in the making. In the blink of any eye, the bloodthirsty creatures of Riven Thane’s worst nightmares are unleashed as he; his sister, Allie; and his friend Jose scramble amid the carnage to live another hour.
But on this nothing of a planet, Riven is more special than he knows. He’s among a select few with a singular bloodline, and the Elysium system has its eye on Riven in particular. He’s already proven his unbeatable will to survive. Now, untapped powers can be his should he succeed at what the multiverse has in store for him.
World be damned, let the games begin: challenging trials of stamina, labyrinthine mazes, and mind-bending puzzles requiring sharp wit and quick thinking. Each consecutive win will bring Riven nearer to an unimaginable undertaking . . . a personalized tutorial in the dungeons of hell itself. And it’s just the beginning—Riven is about to unlock the secrets of his past and learn more about his purpose and the dark arts than he ever imagined.
Whatever unholy chaos awaits him back home, he’s ready. Because as close to death as he may be, Riven has never felt more alive.
- GenresFantasyPost Apocalyptic
333 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 21, 2023
470 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 13, 2024
Chalathi: A LitRPG with Potential Smothered by Execution
Uninspired Protagonist: The main character, despite being touted as intelligent and cunning, frequently makes illogical and reckless decisions. His inconsistent motivations and questionable choices can cause readers to disengage.
Predictable Plot: The story adheres to familiar LitRPG tropes without offering much in terms of originality. The "death trap with lucky escape" scenario feels overused, and the world's quirks come across as gimmicky rather than engaging.
Lack of Character Development: Supporting characters remain underdeveloped, serving primarily as plot devices. The focus on the protagonist's shortcomings further weakens the overall character development in the story.
Excessive Brutality: The story's dark and brutal nature may not appeal to all readers, especially those seeking a more lighthearted LitRPG experience.
Intriguing Setting: The concept of Earth being intertwined with a corrupt system holds potential for a captivating narrative.
Fast-Paced Action: The story delivers a quick and engaging flow that keeps the pages turning, even if the overall plot remains predictable.
Chalathi plunges into the intriguing scenario of Earth being drawn into a corrupt system, but falters in its delivery. While sparks of promise flicker throughout, the narrative is bogged down by several shortcomings that may leave readers feeling unfulfilled:
Uninspired Protagonist: The main character, despite being touted as intelligent and cunning, frequently makes illogical and reckless decisions. His inconsistent motivations and questionable choices can cause readers to disengage.
Predictable Plot: The story adheres to familiar LitRPG tropes without offering much in terms of originality. The "death trap with lucky escape" scenario feels overused, and the world's quirks come across as gimmicky rather than engaging.
Lack of Character Development: Supporting characters remain underdeveloped, serving primarily as plot devices. The focus on the protagonist's shortcomings further weakens the overall character development in the story.
Excessive Brutality: The story's dark and brutal nature may not appeal to all readers, especially those seeking a more lighthearted LitRPG experience.
Positive Aspects:
Intriguing Setting: The concept of Earth being intertwined with a corrupt system holds potential for a captivating narrative.
Fast-Paced Action: The story delivers a quick and engaging flow that keeps the pages turning, even if the overall plot remains predictable.
Overall Assessment:
Chalathi presents a mixed experience. While the setting and pace offer some intrigue, the uninspired protagonist, predictable plot, and lack of character development ultimately hinder its potential. If you're seeking a novel and innovative LitRPG, this may not satisfy your expectations. However, if you enjoy fast-paced action and don't mind encountering familiar tropes, you might find some enjoyment within its pages.
Recommended For: Experienced LitRPG readers who appreciate dark and brutal settings, and are willing to overlook predictable plots and questionable character choices.
November 29, 2023
great book
Great start to the story really enjoyed the progress
Mc who becomes more powerful
Small bits of litrpg
No harem yet
Good old savage violence !
Great start to the story really enjoyed the progress
Mc who becomes more powerful
Small bits of litrpg
No harem yet
Good old savage violence !
December 6, 2023
Lacks direction.
One twist is fun, two is a bit much, three means you have lost the plot. This just bounced around with no direction. The character progression is slow and the constantly shifting side characters are just pointless.
One twist is fun, two is a bit much, three means you have lost the plot. This just bounced around with no direction. The character progression is slow and the constantly shifting side characters are just pointless.
December 16, 2023
Super disappointed, the obvious attempt to mimic the famous litrpgs is obvious, but the execution is poor, and the story is just like a grand design with the overall parts taken from more successfull stories, and yet the details are too simple for the complexity it wants to display, let me explain, imagine star wars, and then replace all the Jedi stuff with a generic man swinging a cool lightsaber and using mind powers,now while the imagined scenario still has cool lightsaber and powers, what it lacks is the character and same is true in the story, the mc lacks a foundation of personal choice, and all the choices he makes are more like forced between "cartoon evil and do good only to be fked", it's like the author refuses to put effort beyond the first 2 thoughts.
Now all that can be forgiven and could be said to be minor inconvenience if the power system was good, but that is the problem, all the good litrpgs have op characters with the mc going through countless death scenarios to gain the edge over others and even then it's more like a normal thing on the grand scale in those worlds , since being in those death encounters and getting lucky is a true path to power in those books, but in this one, the author is too scared to make the mc op and yet follows all the paths to power from those books, putting the mc in death traps where the mc survives by sheer luck like those old movie tropes where the plot Armor is thicker than your mama,and the world is so freaking quirky like wtf, have u ever played a game my man?, no one like powerup that is gimmicky at best and a disguised curse at worse, I get the author wants the double edge vibe, but what it feels in this book feels is like an unavoidable death trap that will not trigger for the mc since he is the mc, but will kill everybody else to make the situation feel oh so dangerous, seriously man its just disappointing all along.
Now all that can be forgiven and could be said to be minor inconvenience if the power system was good, but that is the problem, all the good litrpgs have op characters with the mc going through countless death scenarios to gain the edge over others and even then it's more like a normal thing on the grand scale in those worlds , since being in those death encounters and getting lucky is a true path to power in those books, but in this one, the author is too scared to make the mc op and yet follows all the paths to power from those books, putting the mc in death traps where the mc survives by sheer luck like those old movie tropes where the plot Armor is thicker than your mama,and the world is so freaking quirky like wtf, have u ever played a game my man?, no one like powerup that is gimmicky at best and a disguised curse at worse, I get the author wants the double edge vibe, but what it feels in this book feels is like an unavoidable death trap that will not trigger for the mc since he is the mc, but will kill everybody else to make the situation feel oh so dangerous, seriously man its just disappointing all along.
January 1, 2024
DNF 80%
I thought this book had great potential in the beginning: Interesting setting, smart and cunning main character. Well, al least the book described him as such. In reality, I started suspecting the author might have meant his age to be 16 instead of the stated age of 26, since he behaves like a godesdamned teenager without a shred of common sense.
Oh, this item is burning me, well let's just touch it again and again - oh no, something bad happens - what a surprise! But at least I'll now be more sensible and make sure there are no traps when I next believe I get loot, right? Right?!
The answer is no. No, he doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes and overall makes totally random decisions of saving one person but not another for no real reason whatsoever. He seems to forget and remember his "goal" of finding his sister whenever it seems convenient for the storyline.
Also - he still hasn't put even one damn stat point in this abysmally low perception. Hmmm, I've gotten ambushed too many times to count, but that obviously cannot be avoided, let's continue putting points into intelligence, perception obviously doesn't matter! Oh no, another ambush! But how, I don't understand?!
Well all in all, my review of this book wouldn't be quite as scathing if the author didn't try to portray the MC as an intelligent 26 year old. It would have made a lot more sense if he was a 16 year old with a high luck stat and only moderate intellect. But like this the story just hurts my brain.
I thought this book had great potential in the beginning: Interesting setting, smart and cunning main character. Well, al least the book described him as such. In reality, I started suspecting the author might have meant his age to be 16 instead of the stated age of 26, since he behaves like a godesdamned teenager without a shred of common sense.
Oh, this item is burning me, well let's just touch it again and again - oh no, something bad happens - what a surprise! But at least I'll now be more sensible and make sure there are no traps when I next believe I get loot, right? Right?!
The answer is no. No, he doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes and overall makes totally random decisions of saving one person but not another for no real reason whatsoever. He seems to forget and remember his "goal" of finding his sister whenever it seems convenient for the storyline.
Also - he still hasn't put even one damn stat point in this abysmally low perception. Hmmm, I've gotten ambushed too many times to count, but that obviously cannot be avoided, let's continue putting points into intelligence, perception obviously doesn't matter! Oh no, another ambush! But how, I don't understand?!
Well all in all, my review of this book wouldn't be quite as scathing if the author didn't try to portray the MC as an intelligent 26 year old. It would have made a lot more sense if he was a 16 year old with a high luck stat and only moderate intellect. But like this the story just hurts my brain.
January 1, 2024
Chalathi is a story about an earth being drawn into the system, only this system is corrupt as hell, and it's primary goal appears to be the wiping out of humans. (I know, the blurb doesn't read that way, but just reading all about the first challenge will set your mind to rest on this point). Plus, it's heavily based on demons, and I typically find that books (LitRPG or not), based on demons don't hold a lot of interest for me. This story is rather brutal, so I don't recommend it for younger readers. I haven't decided whether or not I'll read more books in this series, since LitRPG stories that are based around earth being incorporated into the system are (usually) my favorite kind of LitRPG tales to read. But, this one just has too many pieces that don't appeal to me, though I would like to know what happens to the others in the main character's group. Perhaps after some time, I'll circle back and take a look at the second on in this series.
April 13, 2025
This book is a little odd to me.
On one hand the story is rather good, and makes me curious to find out more about this multiverse and its inhabitants and stories.
On the other hand I can't quite click with the main character yet. Sometimes I like Riven, at other times I really dislike what he's choosing from the options given to him.
I can't say I dislike the book, but I can't say I like it either. It's not flowing as easily as I'd like it to, but I'm definitely curious on how this will go on. Perhaps it'll go more my style in future books. Perhaps less.
I will find out, because I'll at least continue on to book two to see where this will lead us readers. I'm curious about this story, and that is just what a book should do. Let's see if it gets me more involved with the next step.
On one hand the story is rather good, and makes me curious to find out more about this multiverse and its inhabitants and stories.
On the other hand I can't quite click with the main character yet. Sometimes I like Riven, at other times I really dislike what he's choosing from the options given to him.
I can't say I dislike the book, but I can't say I like it either. It's not flowing as easily as I'd like it to, but I'm definitely curious on how this will go on. Perhaps it'll go more my style in future books. Perhaps less.
I will find out, because I'll at least continue on to book two to see where this will lead us readers. I'm curious about this story, and that is just what a book should do. Let's see if it gets me more involved with the next step.
April 12, 2024
Book started off slowly, the author could not decide what he wanted his MC to be.
Story was good very interesting. You wonder what’s going to happen to the MC and the people surrounding him. You also I left wondering about the machinations of the characters that are hiding in the shadows. The only thing I didn’t like was the author couldn’t decide what type of character, he wanted his MC to be, Malay, mage or hybrid. That still doesn’t seem to have been decided even at the end of this book. Will go onto read the next story and then I will make a final decision of what I think about this book and MC.
Story was good very interesting. You wonder what’s going to happen to the MC and the people surrounding him. You also I left wondering about the machinations of the characters that are hiding in the shadows. The only thing I didn’t like was the author couldn’t decide what type of character, he wanted his MC to be, Malay, mage or hybrid. That still doesn’t seem to have been decided even at the end of this book. Will go onto read the next story and then I will make a final decision of what I think about this book and MC.
September 29, 2024
I couldn't read past the contradictory way the main character chose their initial summons. Succubus was rejected because it had crowd control skills that the main character already had, but his chosen summon was bound to be good because it has crowd control skills. I just can't. The writing style was passable, if bland. Unfortunately, the integration apocalypse idea has been done to death (and is the absolute worst subgenre of LitRPG). Nothing worth reading here.
June 23, 2025
So much potential stifled by cartoonishly childish dialogue. The setting and tone should be very somber and serious. Comedic relief is downright jarring and ruins the pacing. I don't plan on giving book 2 an opportunity to redeem the series. Book 1 has great potential and should the author and narrator decide to make a revised edition, it could be a big hit. I would give examples of the bad dialogue, but it isn't suitable for polite company.
August 15, 2024
Good first book.
This was a good first book, but it was very much on the Dark-side. The main character starts to slow but inevitable, descent into darkness and evil. The story tries to redefine evil and still keep it very dark yet the same. It asked the question if good characters do evil things are they still good and if evil characters do good things are they truly evil.
This was a good first book, but it was very much on the Dark-side. The main character starts to slow but inevitable, descent into darkness and evil. The story tries to redefine evil and still keep it very dark yet the same. It asked the question if good characters do evil things are they still good and if evil characters do good things are they truly evil.
December 22, 2023
Story is ok, but writing could use some work.
Author really needs to work on showing instead of telling. It really kills the pacing, tension and immersion when everyrhing is just straight up told to the character to tell it to us.
Author really needs to work on showing instead of telling. It really kills the pacing, tension and immersion when everyrhing is just straight up told to the character to tell it to us.
March 13, 2024
This feels more like a game than a story. So much restrictions with what you can do, and no way to find loopholes. Then all these behind the scenes machinations.
I don't know if I will read the sequel or not.
3/5 Stars
I don't know if I will read the sequel or not.
3/5 Stars
December 10, 2023
A really interesting start to a new book series. I look forward to reading it on royalroad.com. For those who, like he who fight with monsters, I would give this book a read.
December 20, 2023
Very good read
I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend this book to anyone who like LitRPG and progression type of books with lots of action and intrigue.
I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend this book to anyone who like LitRPG and progression type of books with lots of action and intrigue.
February 3, 2024
Very good start
Loved it... Great world creation and the little spider, very cute... Highly recommend
JD Glasscock
Author of the Series Blood Brothers and the Dream
Loved it... Great world creation and the little spider, very cute... Highly recommend
JD Glasscock
Author of the Series Blood Brothers and the Dream
April 18, 2024
Very Nice
It was the darker characters of LitRPG genre books. Interesting to read and look forward to seeing more. Very Nice.
It was the darker characters of LitRPG genre books. Interesting to read and look forward to seeing more. Very Nice.
July 1, 2024
Fairly typical of a apocalypse on Earth with the introduction of a system to our world LitRPG style. A good start.
October 14, 2024
Very Fun
Its a fun power fantasy System Apocalypse, If you like the genre you will definitely enjoy This first book in the Elysium Multiverse.
Its a fun power fantasy System Apocalypse, If you like the genre you will definitely enjoy This first book in the Elysium Multiverse.
January 26, 2024
It was going for gritty but ended up with sullen. I don’t like either.
March 19, 2024
Second time reading
This is the second time I have read this book in preparation for the next. I really enjoy reading about people who are not heroes but try to do the right thing but fail sometimes. This book is not similar to any other it is to my opinion original not a copy of all the LitRpg books out there. Will read the second book as soon as it comes out!!
This is the second time I have read this book in preparation for the next. I really enjoy reading about people who are not heroes but try to do the right thing but fail sometimes. This book is not similar to any other it is to my opinion original not a copy of all the LitRpg books out there. Will read the second book as soon as it comes out!!
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews