MMORPG: Rebirth of the Strongest Vampire God
I confess, the cheesy title made me strongly hesitate before reading this novel, and only its consistent presence at the top of Webnovel’s charts finally decided me to read this story. This is by the way the second volume of Raj_Shah_7152’s MMORPG trilogy (the first being “Rebirth of the Strongest Guildmaster” and the third currently underway “Villain with the Strongest System”), but not having read the previous volume did not prevent me from enjoying this tale. Because yes, I enjoyed it.
The setting, a wide universe mixing fantasy and science fiction while integrated with a MMORPG-like system called Sigma, is very well written, coherent, with many levels of underlying mysteries unveiled as the story progresses. It also evolves significantly with the actions of the characters in ways that are natural and logical.
The characters are the best point of the tale, from the protagonist Max Rajput, to his brother Rudra (the protagonist of the first novel and a true deuteragonist in this second part), to their companions, families, allies, antagonists and major sides characters, each is described with a complexity in relation to their significance. None of them is all white or black, everyone believably exists in shades of gray, with their merits and flaws, the antagonists can elicit sympathy and even the main characters’ shortcoming are not hidden, as well as their consequences. Another good point is the evolution of the character, especially the MC and his entourage, they change as the story moves forward, they accumulate power in various forms and experiences gives them new perspectives.
The power system is well made and coherent, resembling a RPG with levels, tiers of power (from 0 to 9) with stats, skills and mastery levels. But what differentiates the main character from the rest is how he progresses in this system, more than the quite small cheat he gets as a regressor/reincarnator at the beginning. His advantage is mostly built with his hard work and suffering.
The story is the final strong point of the novel, as Raj Shah gives us a true rolllercoaster of a story with action, intrigue, a bit of kingdom building (the shallowest part), romance (the harem part is well written) and comedy. It is not the best I’ve read, but it’s very good.
The writing is a bit of a letdown, as it contains quite a number of mistakes, typos and misspelling, at least one per chapter, sometimes more, even by the end of the novel. Honestly, the author should get a proofreader. The style itself is on the other hand quite good and dynamic.
So, despite the mouthful of a title, MMORPG: Rebirth of the Strongest Vampire God is a very good story with a fine setting, excellent characters, logical power system and a dynamic style of writing with sadly a serious need of a proofreader. My final verdict is a low 9 out of 10 (with a high 9 if the novel was to be corrected one day). Raj Shah certainly deserves praises as a great author and I will certainly read the last part of his trilogy once it is completed (although I’m not sure I will go read the first part, as part of it has already been spoilt for me), or I might for another of his tales in a different setting.
Kergonan out.