Apocalypse Grit

System Apocalypse - Relentless, Book 3

By: Craig Hamilton, Tao Wong

Narrated by: Shamaan Casey

Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Settling scores for profit and power

The land rush is over. With just a few open stakes remaining two years after the System’s arrival on Earth, the incoming alien groups turn on each other in a cutthroat struggle for dominance.

These conflicts are ripe opportunities for bold adventurers and bounty hunter Hal Mason isn’t one to miss his chance. When a trade dispute between two powerful Galactic factions escalates into open warfare, Mason plunges headfirst into the fray.

Hal soon discovers that he’s not the only hunter seeking to temper his strength in the forge of combat. In this crucible against more experienced killers, winner takes all.

And in the System, all means a lot more than just his life.

Apocalypse Grit is the third book in the System Apocalypse: Relentless series. Set in the same universe as Tao Wong’s bestselling post-apocalyptic LitRPG, The System Apocalypse, it’s another glimpse into what humanity will do when the chips are down and the monsters are crawling from the shadows.

©2023 Tao Wong and Craig Hamilton (P)2023 Starlit Publishing

Great continuation; slightly slow

I thought the book was fantastic, but progression wise, it wasn't exactly as exciting as I would hope. Hal's abilities aren't quite as exciting as John's despite both having special advanced classes from mysterious organizations(nothing is really super high impact).

Amazing LitRPG

Hal Mason finds himself in the middle of a trade dispute between powerful Galactic factions that escalates into open warfare. Humanity, once again, proves its tendency to persevere.

The authors, Craig Hamilton and Tao Wong, are gifted at world-building and maintaining a consistent flow of action. For a gamer, this is awesome as it reflects a game-like structure with detailed stats, riveting characters, and winnings. For a non-gamer, it is filled with action-riveting characters and narrative. The multiple challenges each character faces are intense and not guaranteed to win each time. This makes the storyline more engaging. The plot twists are unexpected and intriguing. They masterfully blend action, personality of characters, and stats in an engaging style.

The narrator, Shamaan Casey, delivers a fascinating performance as he captures the essence of each character and the storyline accurately. His skill at providing a unique voice for each character allows the listener to follow smoothly. He is deliberate in his delivery, providing pauses and energy when appropriate to further enhance the story. I enjoy his performances.

This is an amazing LitRPG listen as it is exciting and action-packed. One cannot help but keep listening!

There were no issues with the quality or production of this audiobook.

Excellent details.Nothing

Great story line. Ties in well with alternative stories. Like the character development! Can’t wait to see where the story take us!

solid as always

no complaints with this series. I highly enjoy it. more please. please. please. please.

In all honestly

I was entertained then pissed with this book, and then entertained and happy at the end. if you get the book, you will understand why. Its like winning the whole game, only to lose with 2 minutes left and only one more game to even the odds or your thrown out before finals. Now you poop or get off the pot, with the most injuries on your team. Now, its a real fight. Thats where Hal is in this story now lol. Love to read a book knowing I could not do what he just did... successfully lol. But love that he did it, survived and now.... its seems he'll be on a new adventure.

Story scope started to expand, really got interesting

Scope started to expand, and the story started to link a bit more to the bigger world story. Looking forward to the next instalment!

The story continues to grow and grow

“Apocalypse Grit” is the third installment in the “System Apocalypse” series of science fiction/litRPG genre of audiobooks. The series continues to innovate and bring additional details, not only within the world itself, but the alien overloads as well. The series is well crafted by Craig Hamilton and Tao Wong, and the audiobook narration is very well presented by Shamaan Casey; one of my favorite Audible narrators. The story continues with the ever-increasing rank/level of our main character and his band of members. As the series continues to expand, there are newer and more powerful challenges our characters must face, and as with any RPG, this requires quite a bit of grinding before the story can fully progress. For RPG lovers, that is not a bad thing. We enjoy seeing our characters gain new skills and tackle creatures which were impossible prior to leveling. This audiobook is what makes a good LitRPG story. Character growth, vast exploration, and party diversity are all included in this story.

I thought having the prologue information was valuable for those who were dropping in without prior knowledge and even for those that have not listened to the series in some time. I always like when an author does this for a continuing series helping the listener more easily settle back into the storyline. Once immersed, there is a world of both familiar and strange creatures. A drive to improve one’s current skills while striving for that illusive skill required to progress. All of this is dependent on the ability for one to collect credits (money) along the way. Not only are skills power, but the ability to purchase items that are not easily found in the wasteland of a world. Oh yeah, did I also say that one might come up against a dragon? Give it a listen if any of this interests you.

The party is impelled to go to Denver and deal with an issue needing to be resolved. I can say that this place is rather different than how we know it today. One thing I made note of was the strong loyalty of the party members along with the humor and banter that comes as well. They seem to work naturally well together, and are not out to only better themselves, but the team as a whole. There are even points of emotional highs and lows when specific events come up. The authors do a fine job of blending the science fiction aspects in with the many fantasy portions to bring in those who enjoy one or both genres. There are a few stereotypical tropes, but that is what make it feel fun and campy. With the team experiencing bigger monsters, there are also much more difficult bosses, but all of this comes with grander celebrations when they do succeed. However, as you will see, as with every RPG, no party is fully invulnerable. There are times of great despair and loss when one tries to accomplish great things.

Even though this story had loads of fighting, I wanted to have more focus on the characters themselves. I wanted more backstories, more of what made them who they were. What were their motivations, etc. One starts to see these items while listening, but I would have like entire chapters devoted to such. This adds to the connection one has with the story characters. One thing that was a bit of a shocker was the level of scope and travel needed to progress with their goals. I can say that of the previous audiobook in the series, this one felt grander.

Regarding the audiobook’s narration, I have always said that I enjoy Shamaan Casey’s rich and deep voice, not only in this series but in all his works on Audible. There is both a roughness and soothing element that I find compelling and pleasant to listen to. I must give him extra credit for this audiobook as the number of characters and accents that needed to be performed was higher than most others. The audio itself was clean and crisp. I did note a few small audio plugs/fixes, bit these did not take away from the story.

For parents and younger listeners, there are some more mature themes in this story that may not be fully acceptable for younger listeners. We do have some alcohol use along with quite a bit of graphic violence. I would recommend this story to more mature listeners or those not easily offended by such material.

In summary, the story and narration bring a well written LitRPG story and continuation of the series. It feels grander and greater than the previous, but this just shows the progression and growth of our characters. It is a series worth the listen, and I look forward to where the next in the series will take us.

A Thrilling Story from Great LitRPG Veterans

4.5 out of 5 stars

Apocalypse Grit by Craig Hamilton and Tao Wong kicked off at a breakneck pace. throws readers straight into the midst of a war, with Hal and his team at the center of the chaos. The rapid start sets the tone for an adrenaline-fueled adventure that doesn’t let up.

I felt the action in the story kept intensifying, presenting Hal and his team with one formidable challenge after another. The relentless pace contributes to the book’s gripping and dynamic atmosphere, keeping me on the edge of my seat throughout.

My thoughts lingered on the compelling interactions between characters and the relentless fighting, two aspects that consistently draw me into these books. Apocalypse Grit delivered abundantly on both fronts. During moments of respite from the intense battles, the characters engage with new acquaintances, adding depth to the storyline (in my humble opinion where Wong and Hamilton really shine). And just when you think the fighting might subside, it revs up again, maintaining the story’s fever-pitched momentum.

I appreciated that this installment could stand alone even as part of the System Apocalypse – Relentless series. It allowed me to enjoy the narrative without feeling lost in an intricate series backstory. Even though I’ve read the other two stories in the series, I didn’t feel like they were holding me back from enjoying this one (or in my case adding tons of value to the whole story). That’s great for new readers because you can jump in at any point. And given how long these stories are – you get a lot of value wherever you start.

For those who revel in stats, I thought it was noteworthy that this book is loaded with them. Admittedly, at times, the recitation of stat lines by Casey could border on monotonous (not Casey’s fault at all), but it didn’t detract from the overall experience. The abundance of stats added a layer of detail and complexity to the story, catering to those who relish such intricacies, and is an engrained part of any good LitRPG story. I remember mentioning in one of my other reviews that it was done in a more “he reached level x” way before, but they teter between the two uses within this one.

Apocalypse Grit is a thrilling addition to the series, offering a seamless blend of intense action, engaging character dynamics, and a wealth of stats for LitRPG enthusiasts. I enjoyed the heck out of it and I believe fans of the genre will find this installment a satisfying and immersive read.

another thrilling System Apocalypse story

I am enjoying Hal Mason's exploits very much and can't wait to continue them in the next book.

Looks like we’re getting a Harem

Slight spoiler alert, but there is a 3rd female companion now and an auxiliary 4th.That would be fine except everyone also seems way more horny in this book for some reason. That’s vibe isn’t really what I read System apocalypse books for. It doesn’t help that Hal was already a stereotypical manly man lone wolf MC with no people skills who people still seem to like for some reason. It just comes off as a self insert power fantasy.

If you can’t tell I don’t really like the MC. He isn’t very complex, which is fine, but he also hasn’t grown much as a character since book one. One thing in particular that I find off putting about him is his outlook on slavery. In book one he was a literal slave catcher and he justified it by saying the people who managed to get contractually enslaved deserved it. Now I’m all for characters with complex morals, but this viewpoint was never challenged and never caused issues for him. I had hoped this would be addressed in book two, but that whole angle was completely dropped and he became more of a mercenary. I was disappointed by that but ultimately fine with it since I didn’t want to read another book about slave catching. Then we get to this book and it’s brought back again in the most confusing way. The MC still believes that people who get themselves enslaved deserve it, but then gets upset when the slave owners don’t treat their slaves fairly? What is the message here? That slavery is fine as long as the slave owners are nice about it? Really gross and the fact that it continues to go unaddressed makes me think it’s the authors genuine opinion.

The writing itself was fine, but the last 2 hours of the book feel a little disconnected from the rest. The narration was amazing as always.