Left Out by the System

Lonely Apocalypse, Book 1

By: Constantin Step

Narrated by: Greg D. Barnett

Imagine waking from a three-year coma in an abandoned hospital, on an Earth that has recently fused with a different dimension.

Last I remember I was saving my high school crush from the path of an oncoming truck. Now I'm a skin-and-bones weakling wearing nothing but my hospital gown. Oh yeah, the world is also full of monsters, and I'm the only human left.

It turns out a godlike System evacuated humanity but decided to leave the vegetable in the bed. From the moment my parents named me Lex Lurker, I was destined to be ignored. Everyone else has received a chance to prepare for what's to come in the Tutorial. I've only gotten a snarky talking cat for a companion.

I could crawl into a corner and wait to get eaten by a kobold, but after years of being asleep, I have a new appreciation for feeling alive. And for all the chaos, there are game-like rules and magical powers that could help me avoid becoming a meal and perhaps even thrive in this hellscape.

But first I'll have to find the tenacity to survive, the courage to fight, and the strength to face some dark truths about myself. Whispered voices call me the Hope of Humanity, but it turns out I might be the villain of this story.

©2021 Constantin Step (P)2022 Tantor

Missed the Mark!!!

it' not terrible, that's the first thing to come to mind, the system is overly complicated and it's not explained well, the world feels confined and it's like the story is being held or forced in a single direction, I want to like the characters but it's hard to get a feel for their personalities, like the MC, is he a smart-ass or naive, really smart or really sheltered.

I'll wait for the next book in the series, hopefully it will have some of these problems brought to a better understanding.

Fun concept system apocalypse

This is a pretty fun spin on the system apocalypse genera. the story does have some bouts of info-dumping but it seems like it's just doing a good job building up for future storyboarding.

average

it wasn't the worst one I've bought. nice length but nothing special. would likely be worth the credit if combined with 2nd book

very childish. pretty much for young listeners only

This is definitely a young teen book. The author info dumps constantly. The pov of the main character feels like the author is trying to write him as a psychopath. I say this because his personality completely diverges from a pacifistic 12 or 13-year-old who was in a coma to someone who enjoys killing extremely quickly . Also the author decided that his main premise will be cats vs dogs. Which in my opinion is extremely niche And kind of limiting in this system. universe, genre type. Overall, it's a ok story. It has really decent fight scenes. The constant monster povs are frankly unnecessary and I think they are done poorly. The first entire book location setting is a single building/ dungeon making it feel a lot less creative considering the fact that it's in New York City/ jumbled up otherworldly planetary buildings. The story feels short and rushed.

Great first book!

I definitely enjoyed the concept of the MC being left behind and his weird life even before that. I am very intrigued to see where the plot is going. It was a fun little adventure and the narration was spot on! I loved the little puns and jokes thrown in throughout. My only complaint is that it seemed a little short and it basically ended right when things started getting going. The system was a pretty good mishmash of leveling and affinity/cultivation from other systems.

Overall, well worth the credit, and I will certainly be getting the next one.

Too slow

This is s decent book and I don't regret buying it, but it is a bit too slow for me. The entire story takes course over 1 day and so much happens. I will continue the series but hopefully things progresses faster along the time-line in the next. Also the whole stutter things gets really old really fast.

A thick user manual.

The characters are varied and memorable and the story is interesting but it’s all overshadowed by a system so complex the majority of the book must be dedicated to exposition to explain the huge selection of terms and mechanics at play.

It got so bad I felt sympathy for the poor voice actor who had to read it. Despite what is obviously a valiant effort, in some places, even he fell prey to that puzzled, monotone and staccato cadence particular to reading a textbook or user manual out loud.

If the author had started out with a stripped down version of his ambitious system or combined the first two books and spread out the exposition over both it would have been far easier to digest.

Really Enjoyed

I was hesitant because of the reviews, but if you like dialogue heavy LitRPGs this is a good listen.

More for Teens

After listening to both books, the story has great possibilities. However, the MC seems to be a dysfunctional teen who still needs his mother to tell him what to do and when. With this type of protagonist, it is a challenge for me to warm up to him. Additionally, like many. many other litrpgs, all his help are females. The females are overbearing, childish, and unnecessarily aggressive. This is a series I will not continue.

book is ok

book is ok. . . narrator wasn't bad. . . may get the next book in the series. .