Rift Warden Academy

A Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy LitRPG

By: Craig Hamilton

Narrated by: Steve Campbell

The climb through the ranks often ends with a knife in the back.

Slum-dwelling orphan Garrett Walker scrounges for scraps in the wildlands beyond the walls that guard society, salvaging valuables from the ruins of fallen civilization.

Offered the opportunity to compete in the Warden Academy entrance trials, Garrett seizes the chance for a better life. However, the academy holds dangers a street rat is ill-equipped to handle and he’ll have to grow stronger while relying on his wits to survive.

Rivalries turn heated as Garrett’s hard work challenges classmates who would rather rely on family connections and wealth to succeed. As society's most affluent see the threat in Garrett's rise, he will discover that not all enemies live outside the city walls.

Good thing Garrett's no stranger to adversity.

©2024 Craig Hamilton (P)2025 Craig Hamilton

Fantastic New Series!

Wow, I absolutely loved this book. It's so well-written, even the descriptions of places are *chef's kiss*, and I loved the underdog main character. It's refreshing to have an MC that thinks things through, and puts thought and time into improving himself and excelling. Plenty of action to keep your interest, while still bringing that academy feel. I'm really looking forward to book 2!
The narration from Steve Campbell is amazing as always, I always look forward to releases with his narration. He's so versatile and you can tell he puts the work in to make a book the best it can be.

Awesome

For the last two weeks I felt the burnout of the genre and I only gave this one a chance because of the reviews and im so glad I did. I enjoyed the story from start to finish, competent, smart and with a great work ethic this mc was awesome. looking forward to the next one

Great one

This book was a great experience and I intend to listen to the next one when it gets done. thank you for the great work.

One of my Top 5 of 2025

Audible indicates I have purchased over 1,600 audiobooks — primarily cultivation, progressive fantasy, and LitRPG — and I read 1–2 Kindle Unlimited books per week. Rift Warden Academy easily lands in my Top 5 for 2025 so far.

The story hooked me right from the start. The character development is excellent — underdog, layered, and rewarding to follow. The class system is interesting and at times a bit confusing, but it leaves plenty of room for discovery as the series progresses.

This is one of those rare audiobooks where I immediately wanted to know when book 2 will be out. I’ll be grabbing it the moment it drops. Steve Campbell does an outstanding job with the narration.

If you enjoy progression fantasy, LitRPG, or academy-style progression fantasy with solid world-building, this is absolutely worth your time.

I really enjoyed this book

over all this book was really good. I liked the MC and how he developed in this book. the teachers are fun and interesting. when I finished the book and went straight to see if there the second boom was anywhere.