Head of the Class

System Apocalypse: Liberty, Book 1

By: Tao Wong, Jason J. Willis

Narrated by: Daryl Mayfield

Standardized testing is so much worse in the apocalypse.

Caleb Hanson assumed the most exciting part of his field trip scouting in Northern Minnesota would be a rare bird sighting. Instead, he was abducted by hive-minded hexapods and forced to be their children's teacher. Not the worst way to ride out the end of the world.

Two years later, the apocalypse has finally come for Caleb. His savior-captors are murdered, leaving him as the last line of defense for the alien kids he's grown to know and love. Now, he'll have to bend his values or watch his students die. All while dealing with untrustworthy allies, ravenous monsters, honorable bounty hunters, and worst of all—xenophobic militants.

Between idealism and practicality lies hope for the future. If he can find the strength to pass this final test.

Head of the Class is the first book in the System Apocalypse: Liberty series, set in the bestselling System Apocalypse universe. It is an apocalyptic LitRPG that combines science fiction and fantasy elements with game mechanics. This series contains level-ups, experience, a snarky AI shield-bot companion, monsters (both human and otherwise), and a larger-than-life cast of characters.

Includes an audio-exclusive bonus scene.

©2024 Tao Wong and Jason Willis (P)2024 Podium Audio

A Peaceful Man In A Violent World

The story hooked me right from the start, thanks to the main character's struggle between his peaceful beliefs and the violent world he finds himself in. The author does an amazing job of showing how this plays out.
I also extremely appreciated how the book explores the nature of sentience and identity, especially with the Voloid and their struggle to find independence. The action is intense and well-paced, with interesting villains that kept me on the edge of my seat. Willis has a real knack for creating suspense. The scenes, especially from the villains' point of view, really gave me a similar sense of dread in a way that reminded me strongly of writers like Stephen King. And that's about the highest compliment I can give!
The audiobook is fantastic. The narrator brings the characters to life and adds so much to the story. The only potential downside for some readers is that the descriptions of powers and stats can sometimes slow things down a bit. But that's an issue of the format of audiobooks and the text version doesn't have that issue. But even then, it didn't ruin my enjoyment – I actually found them interesting but I've played so many RPGs I find stats and powers of different systems fascinating.

Overall, I'd highly recommend Head of the Class to fans of litRPG, sci-fi, and fantasy. It's a well-rounded story with nuanced characters, evokes genuine emotion,, and plenty of excitement."

This book was my first introduction to the LitRPG genre and Tao's System Apocalypse universe is so fascinating. I can't wait to dive more into the other books in this universe, and I already have space on my shelves for the other books from Jason. I'm so excited to see what comes next!

Daryl is a master audiobook reader

Caleb and Pavice, his shield-bot companion, are fantastic characters and people I’d like to hang out with and also have on my team during an apocalypse. This book is filled with really great characters and the audiobook reader did a superb job (I’m super picky about my audiobook readers).
I especially loved how Aul, one of the aliens in Caleb’s class, speaks her hilarious, yoda-English and I just loved her character especially. I’m totally Team Caleb and would be signing up to fight with his misfit band of bad news bears having to fight against odds stacked high against them. Where do I sign?!
Even though it was my first litRPG book and not being a gamer myself, I was still able to follow along. I connected with the characters and was bummed when it ended. Can’t wait for book #2. Keep writing!

Characters are boring and do not engage

I’m halfway through the book and have no connection to any of the characters. The story is bouncing around and I’m certain that the various main characters will tie together sometime soon and I find that I couldn’t care less. I’d be just as happy if the main characters all died and we started filling the Hakarta - they at least seem interesting.

Could Not Stop Listening- A Binge Fest For Sure!

I am glad I started this wild rollercoaster ride on a Saturday, because I could not stop listening, and I finished on Sunday and wanted MORE! Daryl Mayfield is amazing, bringing this action-packed tale ALIVE. I felt that I was there with the protagonist and feeling Caleb's inner and outer struggles. I enjoyed his inner turmoil as he battles his innate peaceful nature to achieve ultimate survival mode! Imagine this: you are suddenly ripped from your peaceful, 'normal' real-world life into a fantasy/science fiction apocalyptic hell fighting gruesome monsters and bloodthirsty futuristic creatures around every corner- survival of the fittest! The mutant creatures were highly imaginative and interesting, the characters had depth and purpose. I won't give out any spoilers, because you need to hear for yourself! I enjoy Tao Wong immensely so I had to give the new writer Mr. Jason Willis a try, and I am ECSTATIC I did, I think Mr. Willis is the future frontrunner in LitRPG adventure system writing: his prose is thoughtful but engaging, detailed but not overly so, and his bold stylistic diction makes the story suspenseful, yet exciting at the same time. No plot holes here! I can't wait for Mr. Willis' next book to come out, but anticipation will make it all the sweeter!

Well worth it.

Even though this book is not my favorite genre, I really enjoyed it. There are several lines that I enjoyed. I also like how humor was mixed in while the characters struggled. There are many times I felt excited during the suspenseful part of the story. The narrator did a great job bring the book to life.

Too many character viewpoints!

I really REALLY wanted to like this book because I love and own all the different system apocalypse series. This book was so hard for me to follow and keep track of all the different characters and their sidekicks. When you jump from one character's viewpoint to different one in each new chapter, it's just too much! I really like the teacher and his relationships with the alien children and his own human nature! But the switching views just makes it so that I won't be continuing this series.