Adapt or perish. Survival demands it. As reality's grand show concludes and alien watchers abandon and reset Earth, the world dissolves into primeval chaos. Monsters roam, magic surges, and the survivors battle to reclaim their world. Humans are forced to adapt… or become extinct.
But humans aren't the only players in the game. Cunning mandrills now weaponize Earth's creatures, laying waste to the remnants of humanity. Warring dinosaurs, primordial monsters, and alien beasts complete this apocalyptic free-for-all, each hungry for their next kill.
Meet Colin: Jamestown's stalwart protector. And bait. For the last six months he’s struggled to keep his community alive, running raids for food on a nearby mandrill town. But all that changes when he levels up into his new subclass. Now a Beastmaster, he befriends Noiach, a formidable six-legged crocodile. Together they are fierce and deadly and they'll redefine the meaning of evolution in this savage apocalypse.
Colin and Noaich must push their limits and level quickly to overcome monstrous threats. In this cutthroat game of dominance, only one rule matters: kill or be killed. Welcome to the struggle for survival.
I think skipping straight to 6 months after the apocalypse really hurt this story. LitRPG elements serve only to put this book in the genre and add no discernable value beyond an excuse to give modern humans magic. The MC is extremely self sacrificing to the point of having a martyr complex. The book also has several editorial errors (usually in the form of missing words) and, worse, continuity errors. The overall plot of the series is contained in 2 interlude chapters (and they both focus on different plot points that may or may not even relate to each other). Personally, I will not be picking up a sequel.
Everything before the first interlude was annoying and felt overly rushed has we’re just given a bunch of chacthers little development into who they are an there past. This was annoying yes I said twice, and complete mute has the protagonist and his sidekick go on there and enter it just became a story with a systems that seems random in the author development stages of growth and random moments of actual side chacther POV.
I liked this book, the description is close, but not quite right, but you'll see what I mean when you read it. I think the dinosaurs could have been more prominent, I mean, after all, there were loads of different kinds of dinosaurs, and nothing in this story anywhere tells us which era of dinosaurs we're talking about here, and since the dinosaurs existed for over 165 million years, that's kind of a big oversight in my opinion. Despite that, the story is a pretty good one, and although there's points I don't agree with, I'm not the one telling the story, so .... If you like dinosaur stories, (and who doesn't), then you'll probably like this book. I see there's two more in the series already too, so that's a good thing, means you don't have to wait for more to be released before reading. That's always a good thing.
(audiobook versions) I'm putting this review here, but it is for the whole 6 book series in its entirety. First of all, this series is about 80% combat, 10% stats vomit, and 10% actual story. notice I left 0% for character development.
The MC spends 3 or 4 books with a partner/love interest and i think she is only there to follow the MC and agree with him as he wanders from one tedious combat encounter to another. By book 6 I was skipping 10-15 minute chunks and missing nothing for it. the "villains" are an entire species that all act and think exactly alike. Finally, the MC just makes dumb choices, seemingly just for plot reasons that are beyond comprehension; and, if I weren't a die-hard completionist, I would have put this down after book 3.
If you are someone who really loves hearing "toothy maw" at least 45 times per book. this is probably for you.
4.5 stars. Held my attention and was well written, though didn't quite clear the bar for "amazing". I'm not sure about the MC, as he's almost secondary to his beast sidekick, but the book makes it clear that who is the sidekick is a matter of some contention, so it appears intentional.
The MC really does need to put a few points into INT and WIS, and everyone around him seems to be brighter than him, animals included. Somehow, however, he keeps coming up with good tactical plans which seems inconsistent with his decidedly "average" intelligence. The aliens' "show" angle is also a bit vague, but it seems that this is going to be developed more. We'll see what book 2 has to offer.
Colin's survival in the months following the apocalyptic announcement from space that the Earth Project was being cancelled due to its ratings declining had been mostly a matter of desperate fights and skin of his teeth escapes, but he's made it to Level 5 and gets to select a subclass. His new subclass and a chance meeting with an immature, though surprisingly intelligent, crocodilian monster change his life from survival to having fun.
This is an excellent example of the LitRPG genre and a great read. I hope to see a sequel to this novel in the future.
And as a marauder, Colin was a scout, but when he is provided a change to upgrade or alter his class, he decides to take a different direction with his future and selects Beastmaster. This is when the fun starts and the pain as there is no growth without pain and pepper steak. A different imagining of the apocalypse mixed with a little planet of the apes and some RPG elements like classes give this story a new flavor for the post apocalypse and system type stories! I am looking forward to seeing how Noaich evolves and where they go from here!
A solid book, with an enjoyable pet/sidekick character
The best part about this book was definitely Noaich! His personality is fun, and the fact that his intelligence stat is higher than Colin’s cracks me up. The growth was decent, and the stats weren’t clunky. I could have gone for more active abilities, but what we got was ok. The variety of creatures was nice, and the subplots or background bits definitely helped out the world building. My biggest complaint? The massive cliffhanger ending!
Really liked this take on how a hero is depicted in a novel. He is of average intelligence, maybe above average in combat and loves his partner pet. Noech (Colin's pet partner) is not overpowered either, but is smart. The story is very engaging, interesting, and introduces many likable characters. I am looking forward to the second book of this series. One negative comment I read was about Colin being a follower instead of a leader, I personally found that part of his character refreshing! Highly recommend this book!
It’s a bit different from the normal system apocalypse books that I’ve gotten used to. Which is not a bad thing at all. It threw me off a little based on where it started timeframe wise in the beginning of the book. Although with the speed everything quickly got me drawn in. It has been an enjoyable ride throughout. Fun characters and some interesting world building. Can’t wait for the next one.
I gave up during book 4 Decent writing and pacing, okay plot, non existing world building and character development, litRPG elements are an afterthought.
This series is just an endless string of semi-connected side quests. The story starts 6 months after System integration and so imo skips the most interesting part of this type of book. There's barely any interaction with the rest of humanity. We spend most of the time with our MC and his companions in the jungle fighting random dinos following a loose conspiracy plotline that's honestly just not enough to keep this series interesting.
Thought this book was excellent, will definitely read the next one. Especially liked the partnership with the MC and his crocodile like companion. I don’t normally read the first book of a series until there is at least two or three books out but the cover looked really good. I see that book two will be out soon.
This book made me feel disconnected from the storyline for a bit at the beginning. In hints ie this could have been the author's doing purposely to get you to feel what Colin is experiencing. It wasn't until the introduction of Noaich that the book finally feels like a story worth reading.
The initial third of the book, I was uncertain of. The authors writing style involved a lot of single line paragraphs, and what felt like incomplete thoughts, but as the book progressed, it tightened up.
The authors tend to like the word crepuscular a little too much, however.
Damn good first book and beginning of a series.. Well developed plot with intricate weaving.. Characters and world with depth.. Can't say enough.... Highly recommend JD Glasscock Author of the Series Blood Brothers and the Dream
Nice character progression. MC is not overpowered. Good plot pace, with well written secondary characters. All in all a well written book that is definitely worth reading.
I liked the characters and thought the whole earth being a tv show was funny. Now apparently they have new important characters. Should be interesting to see what’s happens. Oh and the planet of the apes through back is cool too.
Loved this book ,full of humour and as I don't play games I found it easy to follow.... well written , and ive just bought the rest of the series ...gotta go the second and the rest of the books are waiting ... thanks
Starts right in the middle of action and keeps going. Fairly unique world, a slightly crunchy system that keeps you interested without bogging you down in numbers. Definitely going to jump on the sequel. Highly recommended.
This is a Fast paced, well written and action packed LitRPG fantasy set on a post apocalyptic prehistoric earth with likeable characters, friendships and allies and a major power arc.