King Maker

Integrated Universe, Book 1

By: David J. VanBergen Jr.

Narrated by: Trevor Wilson

Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Jeremiah was minding his own business, doing a little recreational breaking and entering at a secluded mountain compound, when Earth was transitioned into the Integrated Universe, curing diseases and halting the aging process. The only problem? Terrible monsters now inhabit the planet alongside mankind looking to make a meal out of all the disease-free humans.

The first thing Jeremiah faces after waking is a monster intent on destroying all native species in its new domain. Somehow, he manages to survive certain death and, in the process, become the first person on Earth to achieve Elite status and gain the use of an Elite Trainer. Now, together with his new Trainer, he must try to conquer the world, literally, because it's the only way he will survive.

King Maker is the first book in the Integrated Universe LitRPG adventure, a series full of monsters, loot, leveling up, civilization building, dungeon diving, and a personal enhancement system that grants anyone near immortality if they can survive all the monsters…and each other. If you like epic fantasy adventures with RPG gaming elements, you'll be glad Earth is now part of the Integrated Universe!

©2023 David J. VanBergen, Jr. (P)2023 Dreamscape Lore

A great Audible book

I loved listening to this Audible . I enjoyed the characters and all the intrigue. I think the world is great. Keep up the good work

author just made up stuff

one twin falls don't have wood neither the part the MC comes from aurther should have done reaserch

I liked it.

While i enjoyed the story and the premise of the elites having agents to help them get items ,money, etc i however was not a big fan of the MC from his superiority complex to the cringefest that was his interactions when the camera was on during the dungeon run and his annoyance everytime his agent gave him sound advice. yeah, I'm not a big fan of his

Could have been great.

Meh..Another cuck MC. Desperate not to offend anyone with his undeserved greatness while stumbling his way through the apocalypse. Narration was good and world building decent but character development too simp.

I really Liked It!!

The story follows along some very similar plots and tropes of all post-intergration books. BUT!! the ultimate goal of the MC and the other characters in this book is completely different than the usual suspects. The first thing I would say to the author is King Maker book 1 could have and should have been a longer. I think the author left a lot of story untold and he missed some good opportunities to advance his MC development. Secondly after the ultimate goal is established there were plenty of other opportunities to move the overall plotline forward. The author took valuable time to introduce two other major competiotors to the ultimate prize and in some way he wrote their introductions in manner which would endear them to the listener but to me that style of writing was a turn off because I don't want to care about the bad guy. In this competition you are with the MC or you are against him. I don't care how honorable or how caring the other character is if he is going to challenge the MC he is just a roadblock. No One cares about the bad guys feelings. Now if after the bad guy has been dealt with and if the author wanted to humanize them a short reflective flashback of why the bad guy was acting the way he was is appropriate.
So in conclusion this is a good but not great book. You will find some plot issues but I don't think those issues really damage the story but if they were not there the book would have been better. I'm not sold on the series yet but I will buy the next book to see what the author can do. If you are in need of a gap filler or a distraction this is a good choice. There are much worse selections out there.

Amazing

Everything I wanted, great action, fun story, and great narration. I look forward to book #2.

3/4 of the book was awesome

When a book turns to politics it starts to be like real life. I read to escape that. I enjoyed the 1st 3/4 of the book. Tim V

I can’t relate to MC

For an orphan who proclaims to buck the system to be so trusting of a woman he just met to the point he wants to sacrifice some of his experience to level her to a potential rival is idiotic. He should listen to his guide/trainer

similar to defiance of the fall

System apocalypse, MC gets OP due to some fluke. He is guided by some intergalactic superstar to become the planetary king. Not bad, but I may as well just re-listen to defiance of the fall or several others in this genre. Won't be listening to sequels

I bounced right off this.

Ultimately, after giving this book about an hour and a half, there was nothing keeping me invested - the biggest and main issue being Jeremiah as a character.

As the book is so fond of reminding you, this dude is supposed to conquer and become the king of the world (lol). I found this premise particularly galling given that Jeremiah as a character is incompetent, has the charisma of a stone, is unskilled, lacking in ambition, annoying, whiney and... not smart.

I found myself cringing with every word he'd say, with everything he'd do. I found myself getting annoyed every time I heard his voice, and with his reaction to... everything.

This is not a good sign so early into a book.

When some woman starts laying into him and he just starts stammering out apologies for no reason, I noped out.

If I can't connect with a protagonist, I can't connect with a story. Period.

not for me

edit:
I powered through to the end for want of literally nothing else to listen to.

It gets worse.

Jeremiah went from an idiot moping about killing Goblins - who five seconds prior had literally punctured him with crossbow bolts - to a clown WWE style wrestler who thinks he's GOD'S gift because he's stomping a dungeon he's overlevelled for.

He went from one extreme to another, each equally unlikable.

This is a note for future me, if I ever find myself without something to read in the future and I stumble on the sequel to this. Move on mate, you're not that bored.