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  • Life in the North

  • An Apocalyptic LitRPG (The System Apocalypse, Book 1)
  • Written by: Tao Wong
  • Narrated by: Nick Podehl
  • Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (90 ratings)

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Life in the North cover art

Life in the North

Written by: Tao Wong
Narrated by: Nick Podehl
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Publisher's Summary

John wanted a vacation. He got an apocalypse.

When John sets out for a weekend camping trip in the Yukon, he never could have imagined the world would be plunged into chaos by the System–a mystical energy wave that destroys electronics and grants game-like powers to humanity. Suddenly, animals are evolving, monsters are spawning, and John finds himself equipped with a character sheet and incredible, physics-defying skills.

But surviving in this new reality won't be easy. John will have to get back to civilization through hordes of slavering monsters. And that's just the beginning—because with the arrival of the System, John will need to help rebuild society from the ruins up… and stop humanity from destroying itself along the way.

Life in the North is the first book in The System Apocalypse, an Apocalyptic LitRPGseries that combines modern day life, science fiction and fantasy elements along with game mechanics. This series contains elements of games like level ups, experience, enchanted materials, a sarcastic spirit, mecha, a beguiling dark elf, monsters, minotaurs, a fiery red head and a semi-realistic view on violence and its effects.

©2017 Tao Wong (P)2024 Starlit Publishing

What listeners say about Life in the North

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent start to the series!!!

First off id like to address a common complaint with this book. Anger or rather the MC’s anger. Look, anger is a critical emotion, and its a great emotion if expressed/utilized for the right situation, and the MC’s anger issues are definitely justified considering what has happened to the human population and of course all the danger and not so smart humans he has to deal with. I would just be as angry as the MC if I had to deal with all that. I cant speak on the Mc’s previous anger issues pre world collapse as I don't care, and doesn’t drive the main plot of this book.

This first book is well written, great world building, great monster’s, good magic system, great character development, and I really like the shop system. Superb plot and plot pacing. There is a lot of hard grit and tuff times as well which I do like, its nice to mix it up with darker litrpg’s. Lots of interesting characters the MC interacts with as well. So far this book ranks up there with Chaos Seeds, not quite as good but still great.

If you can understand and don't mind the MC’s anger at times you will enjoy this book.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Dia
  • 2018-09-03

Loved it

MC oggles others like a weirdo but doesn't over do it too much like other books. Seems to be explained through the Charisma stat.
Great book! Absolutely getting the next two.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Temperamental Hero

I enjoyed how volatile the hero could be, and how acting that way had consequences.

I also enjoyed how it felt like the world didn’t revolve around the MC.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love this series!

I think I listened to all of Tao's books before I got to this series, all because I didn't vibe on the cover. Old saying.....Don't do it. This book is great and the series is amazing!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very very good

The author did a fantastic job and the voice actors did too. I recommended this book to a lot of my friends. Buy it.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

hard to like the mc

he's interesting at first but then his faults outnumber his pros. then his self improvement regiment fails him. so completely its hard to follow him after. a little too tharpy at times. hard to be entertained when it goes realty tv on ya. but others may like this book.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Tao Wong is a copyright troll

He had other authors wih completed works demonitized and is trying to copyright "system apocalypse" even though he didn't invent he term and allowed others to use it for years.

It won't hold up in court but self published authors cannot afford the fight.

Supporting Tao Wong hurts the litrpg industry as a whole.

Nick Podehl is an amazing narrator and you should check out other works that he has done that arent written by Tao Wong

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Meh

Its a litRPG. I love the idea of this genre. I just felt like the main character was hard to warm up to, very ragey, and made dumb decisions.
Also felt like this story had more drama and colorful description than it needed. Im mostly a nerd, and want a litRPG to be about the stats, the leveling, the skills, the rules, and the owning. Didnt feel like there was enough 'numbers' updates.
(spoiler) Also a few things that seemed inconsistent with the new rules like: "paying for a scan of human survivors within X square kilometers" didnt exist. Not much talk of or use of radios or any other communications.
Also, compared to the previous 3 litRPGs i read before this, it was quite a shorty. But who knows. Maybe this would appeal to other litRPG lovers.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

not worth the time

this is a shit book, and I don't recommend it. You would be better off bashing a rock into your face.

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