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The System Apocalypse Short Stories #5.1
The System Apocalypse Short Story Anthology, Volume 1
A bounty hunting survivor. A Galactic dark elf. A woman who has given up her humanity to become something more.
These stories and more are available in the first short story anthology for the System Apocalypse, covering year one on Earth. When the world ends, humanity steps up, finding new ways to survive in a world with Classes, magic and monsters. The anthology features exciting, new stories by five new writers and a new, never publicly released short story by Tao Wong.
The System Apocalypse world was first introduced in 'Life in the North' and is a LitRPG science fiction and fantasy post-apocalyptic work that features monsters, science fiction technology, character sheets, supernatural races and ancient myths in one heady, LitRPG brew.
Stories and writers featured in this anthology include:
Craig Hamilton - "Hunting Monsters" has our protagonist doing what he does best. Finding those who would exploit the System and the people within. Except this time, there are even more complications than normal.
Alexis Keane - "Tooth and Claw" is a heart-warming tale of friendship that knows no bounds of race or distance.
Ix Phoen - "Rebel Within" tells a tale of hardship in South America, where the monsters are not always the ones outside the walls.
Tao Wong – “Debts & Dances” covers the arrival of the System from the perspective of our favorite Truinnar Lord.
R.K. Billiau – “Phoenix Rising” covers an unconventional hero, one whose mind is slipping from him before the apocalypse. Will the apocalypse be his salvation? Or doom?
L.A. Batt - “Overture to Obliteration” brings us to far-off New Zealand to glimpse the wreckage the System has wrought.
These stories and more are available in the first short story anthology for the System Apocalypse, covering year one on Earth. When the world ends, humanity steps up, finding new ways to survive in a world with Classes, magic and monsters. The anthology features exciting, new stories by five new writers and a new, never publicly released short story by Tao Wong.
The System Apocalypse world was first introduced in 'Life in the North' and is a LitRPG science fiction and fantasy post-apocalyptic work that features monsters, science fiction technology, character sheets, supernatural races and ancient myths in one heady, LitRPG brew.
Stories and writers featured in this anthology include:
Craig Hamilton - "Hunting Monsters" has our protagonist doing what he does best. Finding those who would exploit the System and the people within. Except this time, there are even more complications than normal.
Alexis Keane - "Tooth and Claw" is a heart-warming tale of friendship that knows no bounds of race or distance.
Ix Phoen - "Rebel Within" tells a tale of hardship in South America, where the monsters are not always the ones outside the walls.
Tao Wong – “Debts & Dances” covers the arrival of the System from the perspective of our favorite Truinnar Lord.
R.K. Billiau – “Phoenix Rising” covers an unconventional hero, one whose mind is slipping from him before the apocalypse. Will the apocalypse be his salvation? Or doom?
L.A. Batt - “Overture to Obliteration” brings us to far-off New Zealand to glimpse the wreckage the System has wrought.
376 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 23, 2019
111 people are currently reading
153 people want to read
About the author
Tao Wong
140 books964 followersTao Wong is the author of the A Thousand Li progression fantasy series and the System Apocalypse LitRPG series, among others. His work has been released in audio, paperback, hardcover, and ebook formats, and translated into German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and several other languages. He was shortlisted for the UK Kindle Storyteller Award in 2021 for A Thousand Li: The Second Sect. In 2026, the first three books in the A Thousand Li series will be republished in hardcover by Ace Books.
When he’s not writing or working, he enjoys practicing martial arts, reading, and dreaming up new worlds. He lives in Toronto, Canada.
When he’s not writing or working, he enjoys practicing martial arts, reading, and dreaming up new worlds. He lives in Toronto, Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
November 4, 2019
Something for everyone
When I started this book I had no idea what to expect with all the different authors in it. I thought how could so many authors with so many different chapters make a good book. But I was very pleasantly surprised. This book has something for everybody in it. If you like this genre you’re going to love this book if you like questing, fighting, drama, intrigue in this book is for you. It’s a real page turner. There’s one chapter that I really loved about a dog I won’t go into it but it was a real page turner. I have to say this short story phoenix rising I did not want it to end. I hope the author will continue to write and continue that story
When I started this book I had no idea what to expect with all the different authors in it. I thought how could so many authors with so many different chapters make a good book. But I was very pleasantly surprised. This book has something for everybody in it. If you like this genre you’re going to love this book if you like questing, fighting, drama, intrigue in this book is for you. It’s a real page turner. There’s one chapter that I really loved about a dog I won’t go into it but it was a real page turner. I have to say this short story phoenix rising I did not want it to end. I hope the author will continue to write and continue that story
November 4, 2019
Great stories by some talented writers to expand system apocalypse!
I loved these short stories and views into the world of the system apocalypse. As a teaser, my favorite is one with an unlikely protagonist who is a great companion. I look forward to seeing if there are continued stories of any of the characters introduced - but overall they are great one shots giving depth and heart to the other people during the first year of surviving the system apocalypse.
Read it if you like the setting, the anthology is a fun read.
I loved these short stories and views into the world of the system apocalypse. As a teaser, my favorite is one with an unlikely protagonist who is a great companion. I look forward to seeing if there are continued stories of any of the characters introduced - but overall they are great one shots giving depth and heart to the other people during the first year of surviving the system apocalypse.
Read it if you like the setting, the anthology is a fun read.
November 3, 2019
Great Collecton of Stories
Love this series and this book was flat out awesome. A lot of unique world building stories that all kept the feel and tone of the world. Each of the stories was well written and engaging. Several would be a good series of their own. Congrats to all the authors.
Love this series and this book was flat out awesome. A lot of unique world building stories that all kept the feel and tone of the world. Each of the stories was well written and engaging. Several would be a good series of their own. Congrats to all the authors.
November 3, 2019
More
More interesting stories in the System Apocalypse universe. Perfect to tide us over while we wait for the new addition "Rebel Star"
More interesting stories in the System Apocalypse universe. Perfect to tide us over while we wait for the new addition "Rebel Star"
November 4, 2019
very good all the stories were enjoyable. Rounds out the world with stories for other parts of world and different views . looking forward to Volume 2 already :)
November 11, 2019
Great collection of short stories from Earth’s entry to The System
I really enjoyed these short stories and am looking forward to reading more of Earth’s change and the struggle to survive this new apocalypse. Some of the characters classes and powers were awesome and completely unexpected! Really enjoy the way the system has opportunities for those with pre system illnesses or injuries.
I really enjoyed these short stories and am looking forward to reading more of Earth’s change and the struggle to survive this new apocalypse. Some of the characters classes and powers were awesome and completely unexpected! Really enjoy the way the system has opportunities for those with pre system illnesses or injuries.
November 11, 2019
System Apocalypse might just be my favorite LitRPG series, so I was excited to see this short story collection. It seemed like there was an effort to collect unique viewpoints for these stories, which is a good thing because it gave the stories some variety, but also lead to some inconsistency.
I liked the setup for presenting the short stories. It was given by way of two known characters from the series proper going over reports and sharing particular ones with each other. I thought this was a clever way to go about things. The collection started off super strong, but I thought the stories grew longer and more lackluster as things went on. Things ended on a bad note, so even if the averages should give an overall rating higher than 3, I felt like I would have rather cut the last 2 stories off the collection and then it would have been 5/5 stars.
"Hunting Monsters" by Craig Hamilton 5/5
This was probably my favorite story of the bunch. The premise was unique as it followed a bounty hunter who takes a mission to catch a serial killer in a town he just arrived in. The game mechanics were excellently used and prominent in this story. It had everything I could have asked for.
"Tooth and Claw" by Alexis Keane 5/5
This story was told from the point of view of a family dog. I thought it was great and unique. The game mechanics were excellently used and I'm also a sucker for a story told from an animal's perspective.
"Debts and Dances" by Tao Wong 5/5
Very well-written story that explores Lord Roxley's story immediately preceding the events in book 1 of the main series. It was nice to revisit a known character and add a bit more to them. The story also did a great job of expanding on the Truinnar culture and the game mechanics were prominent and relevant.
"Rebel Within" by Ix Phoen 4/5
This one felt a bit slow for me; it was also noticeably longer than the previous stories. It follows the children from a religious boarding school and the teachers there generally, but focuses on one character in particular named Adrian, a boy who changed his species to a Polymorph. There were two stories going on here: the first was how the people sent a search party out to get access to a System Shop and buy their school as a safe zone and the second was the relation between the MC and a teacher at the school who molested them. (Un)fortunately, the sex abuse subplot seemed to take prominence.
Fortunate because that was one of the unique things in this story and centrally important to the MC, but also unfortunate because it seemed that the rest of the story conformed to the resolution of that plot. Most of the things that happened seemed a bit too thematically on the nose for me. The game mechanics were explored relative to the Polymorph and new alien race that shows up, so this was still a very solid story even though I felt like it dragged a bit.
"Overture to Oblivion" by L.A. Batt 1.5/5
I didn't like this one at all, but it was cleanly written so it feels harsh to give it 1 star. This story had an unlikable MC and a variety of shallow secondary characters along with a plot that seemed to recycle Tao Wong's Redeemer of the Dead plot arc for the first part and borrowed a scene from The Meg for a later bit.
The game mechanics felt irrelevant here and the fights were nonsensical when they happened as the MC proceeded to inexplicably kill creatures more than twice his level despite getting ripped for 50% of his health in one hit by a random bird to start the story off.
The other big issue is that the story being in New Zealand felt like a gimmick. I didn't feel any Kiwi vibe from this story. If I changed some names and some slang in the dialogue then I could say this story happened anywhere. This was also unfortunately one of the longer stories in the collection.
"Phoenix Rising" by R.K. Billiau 2.5/5
I didn't like this story much either. It was also unfortunately one of the longer stories in the collection. The main character is a man with Alzheimers who gets a broken class that doesn't matter too much because the game mechanics are inconsistent at best and irrelevant otherwise. The characterization was interesting, but it didn't help that everyone was an idiot. The story getting off the ground hinged on nobody looking at the blue system screens or understanding anything. The fights were also nonsense.
It felt like there was an interesting story here that was shoehorned into the System Apocalypse universe rather than feeling like it belonged.
I liked the setup for presenting the short stories. It was given by way of two known characters from the series proper going over reports and sharing particular ones with each other. I thought this was a clever way to go about things. The collection started off super strong, but I thought the stories grew longer and more lackluster as things went on. Things ended on a bad note, so even if the averages should give an overall rating higher than 3, I felt like I would have rather cut the last 2 stories off the collection and then it would have been 5/5 stars.
"Hunting Monsters" by Craig Hamilton 5/5
This was probably my favorite story of the bunch. The premise was unique as it followed a bounty hunter who takes a mission to catch a serial killer in a town he just arrived in. The game mechanics were excellently used and prominent in this story. It had everything I could have asked for.
"Tooth and Claw" by Alexis Keane 5/5
This story was told from the point of view of a family dog. I thought it was great and unique. The game mechanics were excellently used and I'm also a sucker for a story told from an animal's perspective.
"Debts and Dances" by Tao Wong 5/5
Very well-written story that explores Lord Roxley's story immediately preceding the events in book 1 of the main series. It was nice to revisit a known character and add a bit more to them. The story also did a great job of expanding on the Truinnar culture and the game mechanics were prominent and relevant.
"Rebel Within" by Ix Phoen 4/5
This one felt a bit slow for me; it was also noticeably longer than the previous stories. It follows the children from a religious boarding school and the teachers there generally, but focuses on one character in particular named Adrian, a boy who changed his species to a Polymorph. There were two stories going on here: the first was how the people sent a search party out to get access to a System Shop and buy their school as a safe zone and the second was the relation between the MC and a teacher at the school who molested them. (Un)fortunately, the sex abuse subplot seemed to take prominence.
Fortunate because that was one of the unique things in this story and centrally important to the MC, but also unfortunate because it seemed that the rest of the story conformed to the resolution of that plot. Most of the things that happened seemed a bit too thematically on the nose for me. The game mechanics were explored relative to the Polymorph and new alien race that shows up, so this was still a very solid story even though I felt like it dragged a bit.
"Overture to Oblivion" by L.A. Batt 1.5/5
I didn't like this one at all, but it was cleanly written so it feels harsh to give it 1 star. This story had an unlikable MC and a variety of shallow secondary characters along with a plot that seemed to recycle Tao Wong's Redeemer of the Dead plot arc for the first part and borrowed a scene from The Meg for a later bit.
The game mechanics felt irrelevant here and the fights were nonsensical when they happened as the MC proceeded to inexplicably kill creatures more than twice his level despite getting ripped for 50% of his health in one hit by a random bird to start the story off.
The other big issue is that the story being in New Zealand felt like a gimmick. I didn't feel any Kiwi vibe from this story. If I changed some names and some slang in the dialogue then I could say this story happened anywhere. This was also unfortunately one of the longer stories in the collection.
"Phoenix Rising" by R.K. Billiau 2.5/5
I didn't like this story much either. It was also unfortunately one of the longer stories in the collection. The main character is a man with Alzheimers who gets a broken class that doesn't matter too much because the game mechanics are inconsistent at best and irrelevant otherwise. The characterization was interesting, but it didn't help that everyone was an idiot. The story getting off the ground hinged on nobody looking at the blue system screens or understanding anything. The fights were also nonsense.
It felt like there was an interesting story here that was shoehorned into the System Apocalypse universe rather than feeling like it belonged.
November 21, 2019
I really like Tao Wong' work and as well as some of his own work he has gathered some other good writers (with one exception) to explore the same world here.
I really like most of the stories here. But one while interesting was not as well written and that pulled down the rest of the series for me. So 3 stars although most of the book deserves more.
I really like most of the stories here. But one while interesting was not as well written and that pulled down the rest of the series for me. So 3 stars although most of the book deserves more.
November 15, 2019
Buck!
Five stars for the dog. I would love to know more about his pack. The other stories were interesting too.
Five stars for the dog. I would love to know more about his pack. The other stories were interesting too.
November 6, 2019
Fun read in the SA universe
This was so much fun to read different perspectives in the SA universe. Definitely worth picking it up. I hope Tao can do more of these
This was so much fun to read different perspectives in the SA universe. Definitely worth picking it up. I hope Tao can do more of these
October 11, 2020
In this wonderful LitRPG audiobook, Tao Wong has recruited some new authors to the genre to write short stories within his System Apocalypse world. Tao Wong is one of very few authors who could combine sci-fi, traditional LitRPG, mythology, and supernatural beings.
He gives these new authors a setting - the world as we know it has ended and humanity has to find new ways of surviving. There are the traditional character sheets for the die-hard LitRPG traditionals, but don’t forget the monsters and magic.
I found the stories uneven, and I don’t know if that is because the narration was uneven. Some of the narrators were excellent and others made you really have to work to follow the story - creating an immediate bias. It would be nice to have an ebook version to read the story without the narration.
My favorite stories were those by Wong himself, Billau and Keane, with Keane’s story the winner. Don’t get me wrong - the others are good as it is always interesting to see what authors can find within a world crafted by one of the masters, Tao Wong. I really wanted to like the short stories and I will probably listen to them again because the narration made it so difficult to follow each story in the anthology on my first listen.
I would like to thank the authors, narrators, publisher, and StoryOrigin for the advance copy. I have voluntarily left this review.
He gives these new authors a setting - the world as we know it has ended and humanity has to find new ways of surviving. There are the traditional character sheets for the die-hard LitRPG traditionals, but don’t forget the monsters and magic.
I found the stories uneven, and I don’t know if that is because the narration was uneven. Some of the narrators were excellent and others made you really have to work to follow the story - creating an immediate bias. It would be nice to have an ebook version to read the story without the narration.
My favorite stories were those by Wong himself, Billau and Keane, with Keane’s story the winner. Don’t get me wrong - the others are good as it is always interesting to see what authors can find within a world crafted by one of the masters, Tao Wong. I really wanted to like the short stories and I will probably listen to them again because the narration made it so difficult to follow each story in the anthology on my first listen.
I would like to thank the authors, narrators, publisher, and StoryOrigin for the advance copy. I have voluntarily left this review.
December 7, 2019
Multiple authors taking on the classic System Apocalypse.
It's a interesting set of stories, allowing people to play with the open-ended Class system from the System Apocalypse universe, making lots of weird classes without having to worry about how that would play in the main storyline. And that's a lot of fun, sometimes even more than the main story itself.
If you like the System Apocalypse, you will love the Anthology.
It's a interesting set of stories, allowing people to play with the open-ended Class system from the System Apocalypse universe, making lots of weird classes without having to worry about how that would play in the main storyline. And that's a lot of fun, sometimes even more than the main story itself.
If you like the System Apocalypse, you will love the Anthology.
January 26, 2020
I have read all the other System Apocalypse books and really enjoyed them, so wasn't sure whether I would like stories written about other people than John. Inl really didn't need to worry. These are really well written and each of of the new characters are well thought out and fun to learn about.
May 10, 2021
This anthology adds great depth to the the system apocalypse world. It gives interesting prequel information for the entire series, adds a side story to minor known characters and delves into a number of new stories set in this world. All in all, it was fun to explore this fun and interesting universe.
December 24, 2021
Heaps of fun and a good intro to some of the new spin-off books out there. I do enjoy this world quite a bit :)
April 20, 2021
The Kiwi's tale was interesting. The rest, meh. Even Wong's contribution was a miss this time. :(
May 28, 2020
I can wait until the next one.
December 4, 2021
Great Addition to the Main Story
I really enjoy the original or main storyline from Tao Wong, but these short stories were amazing and giving a glimpse into the love of some other humans post system takeover. Some also have stand alone stories, but I would love for many of these strories to continue onwards as full stand alone books. One can hope.
I really enjoy the original or main storyline from Tao Wong, but these short stories were amazing and giving a glimpse into the love of some other humans post system takeover. Some also have stand alone stories, but I would love for many of these strories to continue onwards as full stand alone books. One can hope.
November 10, 2021
Mixed Bag
Some A+ stories that were a lot of fun to read, and others not so much.
The first story has birthed a book that is excellent.
Some A+ stories that were a lot of fun to read, and others not so much.
The first story has birthed a book that is excellent.
August 13, 2021
Didn't finish. I loved the story with the dog, but you lost me when you put in a story about sexual assault and gender issues. I don't want to read about that for pleasure reading, and if this actually made the cut, I'm not interested in whatever stories come after that, considering they could just be more of that for all I know.
April 27, 2023
Received this book for free last year in exchange for an honest review. This is a collection of short story/introductions for few of authors books. I would recommend you guys to read system apocalypse by tao wong first so you would had an idea what is going on. Overall nice introductions and im looking forward to read some of the books.
February 11, 2020
I enjoyed the various points of view from other people.
I couldn't really get into Tooth & Claw or Debts and Dances but overall the collection is great.
It's good to see inclusions from around the world. I hope to read more from Craig Hamilton and L.A Batt.
Keep up the good work!
I couldn't really get into Tooth & Claw or Debts and Dances but overall the collection is great.
It's good to see inclusions from around the world. I hope to read more from Craig Hamilton and L.A Batt.
Keep up the good work!
October 4, 2020
I feel like it didn't keep to the rules it establishes in the stories themselves so that really bugged me.
May 6, 2024
Just okay
Not a bad book for an anthology. A little disappointing that each author had to add in the gaming stuff for attributes and whatever. Would have been better without them
Not a bad book for an anthology. A little disappointing that each author had to add in the gaming stuff for attributes and whatever. Would have been better without them
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews