Reading Order
The Perfect Run Books in Order: The Complete Trilogy
Here are The Perfect Run books in order: a finished trilogy by Maxime J. Durand (also published as Void Herald), from The Perfect Run (Kindle, February 13, 2021) to The Perfect Run III (Kindle, January 18, 2022). Below are the Kindle and Audible dates, page counts, Eric Michael Summerer's audio lengths, the ratings and where to read it free, as of October 11, 2026. No spoilers past the book 1 blurb.
TL;DR: Three books, read in number order, and the story is complete. The trilogy is 1,976 Kindle pages or 54 hours 37 minutes on Audible. The whole web serial is still free on Royal Road, all 130 chapters. A video game based on it is planned for PC and PS5; the author's target is 2028.
Key Takeaways
- Three books, finished: Royal Road marks the serial COMPLETED, and Amazon lists book 3 as "Book 3 of 3".
- Short for the genre: 54 hours 37 minutes on Audible in total, about 18 hours per book.
- Free in full: Royal Road still lists all 130 chapters, unlike series that were cut back to a sample.
- Audio came later: the audiobooks followed the Kindle editions by 262, 110 and 56 days.
- Not a stats LitRPG: Royal Road tags it Time Loop and Super Heroes, with no LitRPG tag.
Overview
The Perfect Run is a superhero time-loop story by Maxime J. Durand. The book 1 blurb sets it up: Ryan "Quicksave" Romano "can create a save-point in time and redo his life whenever he dies." In New Rome, "the glitzy capital of sin of a rebuilding Europe", "Ryan only sees different routes; and from Hero to Villain, he has to try them all. Only then will he achieve his perfect ending... no matter how many loops it takes."
It began as a Royal Road web serial: chapter 1, "Quicksave", was posted on October 14, 2020, and chapter 130, "Farewell, New Rome (Ending)", on October 16, 2021. The Kindle books ran alongside it, with book 1 out in February 2021, and the audiobooks from Podium followed.
It is the most-named series in the tally behind our time loop LitRPG books list (93 comments in 30 threads), and it shows up in 96 of the 4,433 Reddit comments we save.
Cover: Audible product page (Podium Audio)
Every Perfect Run Book in Order
"Kindle" is the publication date and print length on each book's Amazon Kindle page. "Audiobook" is the Audible release date and length. Ratings were read on Audible and on the Goodreads series page on October 11, 2026, and will drift.
| # | Title (Kindle) | Kindle | Pages | Audiobook | Length | Audible rating | Goodreads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Perfect Run | Feb 13, 2021 | 667 | Nov 2, 2021 | 17 h 58 m | 4.56 (2,065) | 4.27 (6,460) |
| 2 | The Perfect Run II | Sep 30, 2021 | 653 | Jan 18, 2022 | 18 h 25 m | 4.87 (2,217) | 4.55 (4,157) |
| 3 | The Perfect Run III | Jan 18, 2022 | 656 | Mar 15, 2022 | 18 h 14 m | 4.84 (2,559) | 4.52 (3,920) |
Audible titles the second and third audiobooks The Perfect Run 2 and The Perfect Run 3; they are the same books. The three Kindle books add up to 1,976 pages. Paperbacks came much later: all three are dated August 15, 2024 and listed as "Independently published", at 766, 757 and 802 pages.
One detail in the ratings: on Audible, book 3 has more ratings than book 1 (2,559 against 2,065), while on Goodreads the count falls from 6,460 to 3,920 across the trilogy.
Cover: Audible product page (Podium Audio)
Step-by-Step: How to Read The Perfect Run
1. Start with The Perfect Run (book 1): 667 Kindle pages, or 17 hours 58 minutes on Audible.
2. Read The Perfect Run II, then III: Amazon's series widget shows "Book 1 of 3", "Book 2 of 3" and "Book 3 of 3", Goodreads counts "3 primary works • 3 total works", and the author's site lists the same three books. There are no novellas to slot in.
3. Or read it on Royal Road: the web serial is chapters 1 to 130 in one list; the books split the same story into three parts.
4. Keep track on the series page: the Perfect Run series page has the three books with a checklist for the ones you have finished.
The Audiobooks
Eric Michael Summerer narrates all three for Podium Audio. By our sum of Audible's lengths the trilogy runs 54 hours 37 minutes, about 18 hours 12 minutes per book; the three are within 27 minutes of each other.
The audio came after the ebooks, by a shrinking margin: 262 days for book 1 (February 13 to November 2, 2021), 110 days for book 2 and 56 days for book 3. The last audiobook came out on March 15, 2022.
One listener who tried both formats prefers the audio: u/Syracusee wrote that "every time I decide to go over it again it will always be in the audiobook version because the VA did such a great job" (comment, October 6, 2025). Summerer also reads Madman Apocalypse, which one reader linked directly: "Madman Apocalypse reminded me a lot of the perfect run and has the same narrator." (u/strange_username58, comment, October 5, 2025). It is one of the eight series in our system apocalypse books list.
Cover: Audible product page (Podium Audio)
Is The Perfect Run Finished?
Yes. The sources agree, as of October 11, 2026:
- Royal Road labels the serial "COMPLETED", and its last chapter is "130: Farewell, New Rome (Ending)", posted October 16, 2021.
- Amazon lists The Perfect Run III as "Book 3 of 3".
- Audible's blurb for book 3 calls it "The perfect conclusion to the Perfect Run saga!"
- Goodreads counts three primary works, and the author's site lists three books.
We found no sequel or spin-off set in the same world on the author's site or his Amazon author page. One reader says the ending works: u/vanker called it "a trilogy that really sticks the landing" (comment, May 19, 2026).
Reading It Free on Royal Road
The Royal Road page (fiction 36735) is labeled "Original" and "COMPLETED". Its table of contents lists all 130 chapters plus one later author post, so the whole story is still there to read for free. Not every published series keeps its web version: the Royal Road pages of Unbound and Azarinth Healer are now marked STUB and keep only a sample.
The page showed 17,215,560 total views, 22,205 followers, 16,618 favorites and 8,829 ratings when we checked on October 11, 2026. Its tags are Time Loop, Anti-Hero Lead, Super Heroes, Comedy, Male Lead, Adventure, Mystery and Sci-fi, with no LitRPG tag.
The Perfect Run Game
The one later post on the Royal Road page, dated August 23, 2025, is titled "The Perfect Run game picked by Sony". In it, the author says he has been working with the Tunisian developer Lanterns Studios on a game demo, "which we've presented at the Gamescom 2024 and online in an open playtest", and that the game "will launch in 2028 as a PC/Playstation 5 exclusive".
The official PlayStation Blog confirmed the project the same day: "Red Bandits, Enci's Solution, The Perfect Run, and A Cat's Manor are coming to PS5", listing The Perfect Run with "Developer: Lanterns Studios | Country: Tunisia" and the pitch "Save the world or blow it up yourself, one loop at a time!" The 2028 date comes from the author's post; the PlayStation Blog entry we read gave no year, so treat it as a target.
What Readers Say
Two readers found the start hard. u/DaRooock dropped it early: "I felt like you get thrown into the deep end and felt a bit lost at the start" (comment, July 26, 2025). u/Czeslaw_Meyer liked it but agreed: "It just needs a while until you understand what's going on and what the setting tries to be." (comment, October 7, 2025).
On the genre question, the second-highest-scored comment (37 points in our saved data) in a 2024 thread for He Who Fights with Monsters fans put it this way: "The setting and universe aren't litrpg, but the main character has an ability that lets him treat the world like it's an rpg." (u/completlyStupid, comment, June 5, 2024).
Tips Before You Start
- Give book 1 time. Two readers we quote say the setting takes a while to click.
- Pick your format. Royal Road has the whole story free; the Kindle and Audible editions are the polished, paid versions.
- Mind the titles. Kindle uses II and III; Audible uses 2 and 3.
- Next from the same author: a reader who loved it suggested "Have you tried the other novels by Maxime Durand? I particularly liked Vainqueur the Dragon." (u/three-seed, comment, July 25, 2026).
Our take
Based on the facts above, The Perfect Run is the easiest finished series in this corner of the genre to recommend: three books, one narrator, about 55 hours of audio, a clear ending, and the full text still free on Royal Road if you want to try before you buy. It is not a stats-and-levels LitRPG, so pick it for the time-loop premise and the humor rather than the numbers. If you want another finished time-loop story, Mother of Learning is the usual next step; if you want something long and ongoing instead, our LitRPG reading orders page compares the big series.
How we checked this
On October 11, 2026 we opened the Audible product data for the three audiobooks and the Audible series page; the Amazon Kindle pages for all three books and the three paperback pages; the Goodreads series page; the Royal Road fiction page, its table of contents and the author's August 23, 2025 post; the author's site and Amazon author page; and the official PlayStation Blog post of August 23, 2025. Reader comments come from Reddit thread data saved on October 10, 2026. Totals and day counts are our own arithmetic. A site-agent then compared every number in this article with our source table before publication.
Related Reading
- Mage Tank reading order: another comic series, five books on Audible.
- Best LitRPG audiobooks: where The Perfect Run ranks among listener picks.
- Books like He Who Fights with Monsters: other picks for readers who want a joking hero.
- All reading-order guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Perfect Run reading order? The Perfect Run, The Perfect Run II, The Perfect Run III.
Is The Perfect Run finished? Yes; Royal Road marks it COMPLETED and Amazon lists book 3 as "Book 3 of 3".
Who narrates The Perfect Run audiobooks? Eric Michael Summerer, on all three.
Can I read The Perfect Run for free? Yes, all 130 chapters are on Royal Road.
Is The Perfect Run a LitRPG? Not strictly; it is a superhero time-loop story that some LitRPG readers recommend.
Is there a Perfect Run game? Yes, in development with Lanterns Studios for PC and PS5; the author gives 2028.
References
- Audible: The Perfect Run series
- Audible: The Perfect Run 3
- Amazon: The Perfect Run (Kindle)
- Amazon: The Perfect Run III (Kindle)
- Goodreads: The Perfect Run series
- Royal Road: The Perfect Run
- Royal Road: The Perfect Run game picked by Sony
- PlayStation Blog: MENA Hero Project games
- Void Herald (author site): The Perfect Run
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The LevelUpShelf desk
The LevelUpShelf desk reads the store pages and the reader threads so you can pick book 1 with the numbers in front of you. Every count is dated and linked.
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About this article
LevelUpShelf is independent: no ads, no sponsored posts, and nobody pays to be on a list. Some store links are affiliate links: we may earn a commission if you buy through one, and it never decides what we list (affiliate links). Book counts, release dates, audiobook lengths and ratings are snapshots from the date we checked them; publishers and stores change listings, so check the store page before you buy. Recommendations come from cited reader discussions, not from reading we claim to have done. Articles are researched and written with AI tools, and every fact is checked against its source before publishing. See how the desk works and how we use AI.