Restarting the Apocalypse

De: Michael Chatfield

Narrado por: 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.

fantastic book

loved the comradarie, the humor, and the overall writing. I have to say the fast paced nature has been great, and not just in the battles, but also with gearing up, storyline, even the crafting.. somehow the author made crafting fun to listen to. Haven't been this excited about a new series in a long time. keep it up and this will be a series to compete hwfwm or dungeon crawler Carl. Fantastic, absolutely loved it start to finish.

Acceptable

Run of the mill regression story. New take on dungeon creation. Nothing really fun or exciting. I do appreciate the pace though. I have only read two other Chatfield series this one seems to have hit the ground running. I hope to see some depth in the next book.

Interesting Take on Crafting with a Simple System

This is a regression cultivation story with a heavy emphasis on crafting in a militaristic late-1800's-like (maybe early 20th century?) starting point. Also, double, best-friend MCs. I liked it and look forward to the next.

So, the system is extra simple, minimalist with stats, and heavy on skills growth. It results in the reading/reviewing of stats being painless and it's a nice change, almost like it's one bookend of the litrpg-stat-page spectrum. The reading is so short (yet complete) that not once did I consider skipping ahead, and this effort should be recognized as exceptional. The trade-off is that the complexity of growth is parlayed in to skills acquisition and development, with a minor focus on cultivation. It's kinda fluffy and easy in that regard, but hey, it's the first book in a new world.

Another unusual element is that the time traveling main characters didn't lie about their situation. They straight-up told their contacts that they time traveled and folks accepted it. Sure, there was a rational resistance to the idea, but that resistance didn't become a major structural element of the plot, which carried things along quicker and allowed for rapid world-building, which I enjoy. That ease of acceptance and subsequent promulgation of growth gave it an almost slice-of-life/chilled-out feeling, despite the violent, apocalyptic, near-end of civilization situation.

Most of the book is well-balanced with dramatic tension & resolution, but it kinda got gummed-up in the second to last arc with an over-complexity of crafting development during battle/fighting. I could see it working better if there were a visual element (like if it were a movie or animated) to help explain things, but as things are, it feels forced. The concept is cool, I get it, but it's overwrought and could be done better. The author has challenged themselves with this problem of combining exciting drama with complex crafting (within an arc), and although it kinda flopped in this book, I'll be looking forward to how they grow as a writer and handling this concept moving forward.

The very last arc also has a lousy resolution. Technically classical, but also not very satisfying. It feels like the author just kinda ran out of time and added a couple of sentences instead of letting things resonate and resolve. However, it's not a requirement for a decent book in this genre. I can see this being folded into a collection where a more solid resolution wouldn't be needed. Still, kind of a bummer. Anyway.

Gary Furlong did a bang-up job with the performance. He's consistent throughout and has crafted individual voices well enough to follow along without confusion.

Cheers.

so good

huge fan of two MCs that work together or close enough to them both being a MC. I like the system and can see it giving tons of options later in the series.

Time travel!!

Interesting play on the mechanics of role playing games and how the characters transitioned back lowly levels to conquer!

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