Divine Apostasy started slow, but has become one of my favorite LITRpg’s in the genre. This one is no exception. With this book we finally see Ruwen begin to become who he is meant to be, and it is frankly exhilarating. For a story as “crunchy” (stat heavy) as this one, I am
Honestly surprise to be drawn into the story and comment with the characters as much as I have. This is a testament to good writing and that is certainly here. Kay knows his characters well and centers the story around them.

(Spoilers below).

The only issues I had were a few compression issues and Kay rushing a little bit. I get using time compression to speed up progress, and I feel Kay actually does this a lot better than many authors. Ruwen’s progress with Rami in becoming a Step Master was a good example of using time compression and showing the cost of doing it. Even so, I felt like Kay was trying to pack so much in here a few things got overlooked, or characters suddenly knew information they were never told. Ruwen’s progress absolutely skyrockets in this book. He goes from barely surviving, finding creative uses from the few abilities he has to some kind of cosmic Deity in training. To get him this far it feels like at times concepts are rushed over, or never fully explained to us, but our characters somehow understand them.

For example, when he meets the other champions in the Spirit Realm, Ruwen’s inner dialogue mentions that they look “not yet 200 years old.” How does he know what a 200 year old could look like? I also felt like Ruwen suddenly knows how to use “Essence” when we don’t really even learn what essence is until later. He seems to stumble into understanding perfectly what have been set up to be gargantuan complexities and blitz barriers that seem massive in the world building.

All that said, I only found these things minimally irritating because Kay has made these things a part of Ruwen’s character, and it really shines. Though his progress is insanely fast, nothing is worldbreaking and part of Ruwen’s charm as a character is his genius intellect and problem solving ability. Anyway. Another great entry that felt a tiny bit rushed. All I hope is for Kay to slow down a little in the next books so it makes sense that characters know certain info. On to the next!!