HAve fun with the apocalypse and zombies

Daniel Schinhofen has written something I have been waiting to hit Audible for some time, Horror Survival LITRPG. Survivalist horror isn’t a huge setting in the genre, and I don’t know why. Sometimes it seems we are lucky if we get anything outside of a Western Fantasy Style book, which inevitable means that we’ll get some sort of a sci-fi version instead. I have been wanting to see some other fields get a chance at the plate. I could really go for a good Western (Red Dead Redemption) LITRPG, or something comedic, but most especially I want a horror styled LIT book on audio. I know there are some that have been written, but nothing I can find, and so when I found out this was survivalist horror I was ecstatic.

The book is really well written, and the characters are all standouts. I really adored Gothy, though, far more than any others. I like that Schinhofen slips in some jokes here and there without announcing what he is talking about. They are either you get them or you don’t, such as his wanting to rename the AI known as Scott into Betty. The book has a solid crunch to it, for you gamer fans. But there were some things I found strange, such as when the MC, Al, tells everyone that they are trapped in a video game. You just don’t see that very often.

One thing that set me off a little was the easy pathway to weapons and unlimited ammo. For the entire beginning of the book, Al does his zombie whacking with a wooden baseball bat. He has a hard time upgrading, because upgrades cost him XP, and he doesn’t get a lot of it to start out. Next thing you know he is upgrading guns so that they have unlimited fire power. Now, to me, part of what makes movies like NOTLD fun is that the people fighting the undead have limited weapons and resources. We sort of skip that problem really quickly, and focus on base building and saving survivors. On top of the zombies we also get a few other creepy creatures that show up by the end of the book, so I am really looking forward to what comes next in the series, as the escalation seems to be right on point.

Narration is performed by the excellent and adorable Andrea Parsneau, who seems to really enjoy playing Gothy. She really makes that girl shine. She does a fab job on the other voices, and maintains the pace and flow of the story effortlessly. I actually kind of got upset when she had to switch off her Scott voice for the AI’s new personality, as she really killed it with Scott. Other guy was fun, but, he was no Scott. I really can’t say how much I enjoyed her here. If we do have a rapture, and for some odd reason she isn’t taken I hope that she makes play by plays over a loud speaker. Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. Getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.

If this review helped, please press the YES below. Thank you immensely!!!

As seen on the LITRPG AUDIOBOOK PODCAST, please check it out on Youtube.com

50 people found this helpful

Fun game concept but unnecessary amount of sex

The narration is great. The story is good and interesting until the end when it slows down and has alot of extra sex scenes. I mean 1 or 2 is welcome and understandable but constant, graphic description isn't really necessary. If I wanted to spend half an hour listening to people talk dirty to each other I could just watch porn.

31 people found this helpful

Great twist to the game genre. I highly recommend!

I really didn't know what to expect from this book. But I would say about 2 hours in I was hooked and pist that I only had 6 hours left. Give it a chance. Warning this book has adult sexual situations so make sure reader's are 18+ of age. Great job to the author and thanks to audible for bringing it to us! Please let the series continue! I will be looking out

23 people found this helpful

Excellent book ruined by gratuitous sex

I decided to try this book again, having given up in disgust the last time. I love the premise (LitRPG zombie apocalypse) and the storyline, but the extreme sex portions were too much for me again and I had to give it up. It wouldn't be so bad if the graphic sex scenes were discreet and could be easily skipped, but there are almost constant sexual references after the main character (an adult) hooks up with a high school girl with obvious mental issues.

21 people found this helpful

Great start

The book starts off nicely, with a good pace. Ends with a bit to much sex. And too be honest I cringed a bid over the sex content.
Overall a good book, with a great story. Shame with standstill ending more focus on sex.

Going to try the next installment. But if it keeps on with the sex, I will probably drop it.

20 people found this helpful

Dear Schinhofen, can I come live in your imagination?

I love good LITRPG stories, given my broken body the idea of living in a new virtual body is inherently an attraction for me. Daniel Schinhofen is hands down one of my favourite LITRPG authors now that I found his writing or at least the Alpha World series and now Apocalypse Gates as a new series. If you like LITRPG and post apocalyptic stories you'll fall instantly in love as I did, if just one or the other you should enjoy yourself at the least, but I wouldn't be at all shocked if you fall in love with the stories anyway. I don't do spoilers in my reviews but I will say I was quite shocked to find sex scenes more explicit here than in Alpha World with a sucubus involved.

17 people found this helpful

Decent story that devolved into soft porn

Would you try another book from Daniel Schinhofen and/or Andrea Parsneau?

No

Would you ever listen to anything by Daniel Schinhofen again?

Nope

What aspect of Andrea Parsneau’s performance would you have changed?

Great story idea but I would have left out the porn

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The story idea was cool

Any additional comments?

You know when you are watching a really bad movie that seems to run out of script , so instead of doing something creative they throw in a lot of T&A. This is the book version. Starts off great, interesting idea, and then it just stalls. After the first chapter I was googling the author thinking I could read all of these , by the fourth I felt like the book was written by a different person. The dialogue was campy, and the sex scenes (which is pretty much the last 3 chapters) seem like they were written by someone who read too man bad erotic novels. This is a 5 star book if you are a 14 year old boy and it is safe to say you can remove a star a year until at about 18 you realize this is total garbage. This book plays out more like a perverse teenage kids fantasy stolen strait out of his spank bank and less like a post apocalyptic thriller.

15 people found this helpful

A waste of time

The story concept of this book was enticing, and I enjoyed it at the start. However, it quickly descends into a tedious thrill-free account of the game mechanics in the world. This represents a substantial miss on the part of the writer who had an opportunity to use this unique situation in order to develop the characters by focusing on how they area affected. The colony is a two dimensional collection of disinteresting characters, with more interest in divying up members of the opposite sex than in surviving the apocalypse.

12 people found this helpful

good till it's weird

was good until the end when it becomes a Harley Quinn/Joker fantasy between a troubled kid and a borderline pedophile

11 people found this helpful

Love <3

Andrea makes me happy again listening to this, and I cant wait to hear more of this series

8 people found this helpful