Restarting the Apocalypse

By: Michael Chatfield

Narrated by: Gary Furlong

They lost the war once. They’re not letting it happen again.

The end of the world wasn’t fire and brimstone—it was guild wars, mutated monsters, collapsing kingdoms, and rifts to realms that should never have been opened. Len and Rick fought through all of it. They watched Harmonia fall. They buried their friends.

Now, they’ve been sent back—130 years before the collapse.

No stats. No skills. No allies.

Just two combat vets with tactical minds, brutal experience, and the complete knowledge of how the world ends.

Mana is only just starting to spread. Nations are still whole. The system is initializing.

Now is the time to prepare for what lays ahead, to build a foundation.
They aren’t here to survive. They’re here to win.

It's time to Restart the Apocalypse....

Restarting the Apocalypse is a gritty, high-stakes Regressor, LitRPG progression fantasy from international bestseller Michael Chatfield.

Expect deep crafting, tactical combat, earned power, and a system that punishes weakness. No cheats. No plot armor. Just two men fighting to rewrite the end of the world.

©2025 Michael Chatfield (P)2025 Michael Chatfield

Amazing read, don’t judge by the cover

First off, wow—I loved this book! The “dynamic duo” of main characters working together was a joy to follow. Watching them cover for each other’s weaknesses while tackling challenges made for a really fun story.

That said, I almost didn’t pick this up because of the cover art. It gives off a self-published look that doesn’t reflect the quality of the story inside. I actually enjoyed the simpler covers from the Ten Realms series, which captured attention without distracting. Here, the art aims to depict the two characters against an apocalyptic backdrop—which fits the book—but the execution isn’t as polished as you’d expect from a professionally published title. I’d gently suggest a refreshed cover design, as it would help the story reach the wider audience it deserves.

The cultivation and magic system felt refreshing and different. Magic appears suddenly with no explanation, disrupting communication and leaving people isolated. The world starts at a steam-technology level, and the system abruptly reshapes everything. I also liked how the stat system was simplified into just body and mana. The ratio-based balance between the two was an interesting twist, especially with the corruption risk. The streamlined approach avoids endless stat pages and keeps the focus on the story, even if some details—like manual tempering—could have used a bit more explanation.

The use of experience points as both currency and progression also worked well. It keeps the mechanics straightforward, though a few more details on how abilities are purchased would have been welcome. Overall, this system felt like a fun new take that was deliberately simplified to keep the pacing smooth.

The story itself was fantastic. I really enjoyed listening to it from start to finish, and I’m already looking forward to the next book. The narrator, Gary Furlong, did an excellent job bringing it all to life.

Magic Trains!

I've been a huge fan of Michael Chatfield, probably my favorite litrpg author. Like the Ten Relms series. or books where the main characters work to build up others you will love this book

Felt a bit derivative and a little mary sue

I enjoyed the book. It felt like at least one of the characters was copy/pasted from another book by this author. Also there were no real struggles for the characters.

the power leveling is not fast

I hate the minimum word count audible requires so I refuse to us this section

Just as good as the ten realms

this was such an amazing book loved the industrialrevolution setting the time travel set up the beginning so well no ramp up of the characters learning how magic works and they teach you about it through use and instructing side characters and it was very well done