Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

At the End of the World #2

The Castle at the End of the World

Rate this book
GROW - EXPLORE - DEFEND

It has been six months since the System changed the lives of Jason and his friends. They made new allies, built a home in a new world, and rescued friends and family. Now, they are heading out into the new world to see what has survived.

Will they find more of humanity in the wilderness, and will they find people they can trust? They have learned more about this new world, but they will discover there is much they still do not know.

They still don’t know what all the rules are or what’s coming next. They do know that if they work hard and stay together, they can face whatever the System throws at them. They will make sure that what is left of humanity has a fighting chance of surviving what comes next.

Jason and his friends have more leveling, dungeon crawling, base building, and exploration while making new friends and enemies in book two of this LitRPG series.

321 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 10, 2024

187 people are currently reading
13 people want to read

About the author

Justin Marks

6 books21 followers
Justin spent nearly a decade in the Air Force after college and then spent time working in educational technology.

He has been an avid MMORPG player, from Everquest to Lord of the Rings Online with stops at Camelot, City of Heroes, and others along the way.

After living in five states, he retired to Alaska to focus on his writing, exploring the world, and playing video games.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
258 (57%)
4 stars
132 (29%)
3 stars
49 (10%)
2 stars
7 (1%)
1 star
2 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Profile Image for GaiusPrimus.
870 reviews97 followers
January 18, 2024
Very enjoyable book. A lot less crisis focused from the first one, and more of an exploratory view of the world, more mechanics building.

Quite entertaining.
265 reviews2 followers
April 8, 2024
Most boring apocalypse

I didn't really enjoy the first book but I struggled through to the end I saw this game out a while ago and grabbed the sample and eventually came up in my rotation.

It's just so freaking boring for an apocalyptic story with magic! The protagonist basically has two abilities that he ever actually uses and the rest of the time he just hits things with his staff how boring is that? There's also a lot of things in the writing that's just unrealistic spoiler alert!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
About a third of the way through they decide that the people who've been living there for 2 months while they've been out busting their hump need to start carrying some of their own weight and decide to do this by buying them a a freaking cannon. Okay we need more defense that makes sense. So they go up to the watchtower to check out the new Canon and they don't fire it!

They spend thousands and thousands of their credits which is the denomination in the story way more than they've ever spent before over 100,000 credits and they don't even fire the freaking thing are you kidding me!? Who wouldn't have fired it?!?

There's basically no economy there's no crafting the world building is slowly expanding. The action sequences are okay but are very vague and again there's only real magic that's gets discussed or practically used is healing which is great that they have healing but yeah....
122 reviews
February 12, 2024
Fun read

This is a generally good read. The overall story arc is solid, giving you something to look towards that's attainable and important. The main cast is important, but not stand alone. They have a lot of support and help to keep things going. The stakes are real, with real consequences for mistakes for the different settlement. So a good read, and a good continuation if you liked the first one.

There are a couple things that bug me, one is that no one knows what the system is (even other species who have grown up with it) its this random, all powerful game that randomly takes over the world and kills 99.9% of the population and claims it is setting "reasonable risk for the native inhabitants" and allowing fantasy aliens to invade. In order for this story to be really good (in my opinion) there needs to be a solid backstory built in, and so far we have nothing on the system.
My other complaint is more of a style choice, I like more character driven stories, and in this one is more event driven (the system, the quests, the defense etc.) We don't see a lot of emotion or suffering, or joy. The characters are mostly emotionally flat (system shenanigans?)

Either way, it's a good read, even if it's a bit outside my wheelhouse. Enjoy!
327 reviews5 followers
January 21, 2024
FANTASTIC

OK, total transparency here. I have reread the first book 3 times waiting for this book. I have to say that am not disappointed in the sequel. It is totally awesome. Justin, don’t stop writing! You set up the third book so nicely and I can’t wait to read it.
What’s next? Is there romance in the air? Crossing fingers. 🤞🏼
Profile Image for James Prescott.
Author 4 books1 follower
October 1, 2024
Well written and enjoyable

This was an introduction for me to a genre I hadn’t even know existed. I’m not a player, and yet I still found the story quite engaging. The book is well written and therefore easy to read and enjoy. The excellent summary of the prior book was very helpful and appreciated!
8 reviews
December 13, 2024
Good, but...

It's well written overall, with only some minor grammar errors. Two things that could be improved are: 1) Use the crafting items rather than just selling it all off, and 2) the MC could use some sort of love interest for additional character development personality wise.
Profile Image for Tory.
221 reviews7 followers
February 19, 2025
This book is faster paced than the first one and while it doesn't have much character personality growth there is some, along with lots of character development and world building. Overall if you liked the first book you will enjoy this one, if you found it average you will feel the same about this one, if you didn't like it you won't like this one. I personally enjoyed it.
7 reviews
January 13, 2024
Enjoying the ride

This is a strong continuation of the story started with the Fort at the end of the world. There is excellent explanation of the struggles of leveling and exploring a system torn world. I was enthralled and entertained. Hope you enjoy it too.
4 reviews
January 17, 2024
The world that Justin has built is incredible. The System is very well thought out! I loved seeing more of how the world had changed and how humans are so adaptable. New spells and skills are always awesome to see and very well written!
770 reviews4 followers
February 5, 2024
The castle at the end of the world

I liked this book very much. He kept my interest and was fast paced. I enjoyed the first book but since it has been a while since I’ve read it. The first was so much fun to read. I’m gonna go back and read it again. I recommend this series.
148 reviews1 follower
February 14, 2024
good!

I really liked this book! It was a good continuation of the first one and I think that the author is doing great. I hope you all have time to read the fort at the end of the world before you read this one!
17 reviews
May 25, 2024
Even better than the first

The story continues and gets better with a strong focus on team and community, and base upgrades. Really enjoyed it and look forward to more in the series.
14 reviews1 follower
January 16, 2024
Great second book

If you like Litrpg, base building, and a great story. Give this series a try. I highly encourage it and you will not regret it.
2,225 reviews8 followers
March 1, 2024
Very good first book

I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who likes LitRPG and progression types of books with lots of action.
55 reviews
March 5, 2024
Excellent continuation to the story. Greatly expanded the world, quiets and the universe. Looking forward to how they continue to explore the world.
694 reviews5 followers
March 16, 2024
Great book

Stellar work once again from Justin Marks! Lots of action and adventure, magic and monsters. Looking forward to the next one!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.