Life in the North: An Apocalyptic LitRPG

Written by Tao Wong

Narrated by Nick Podehl

The bestselling post-apocalyptic LitRPG set in the Yukon

When the world ends in blue status screens, you don't want to be caught in the wild

All John wanted to do was get away for his life in Kluane National Park for a weekend. Hike, camp and chill. Instead, the world comes to an end in a series of blue boxes where animals start evolving and monsters are spawning. Now, he has to survive the apocalypse, get back to civilization and rebuild the world he has found.

Good thing John has no intention of giving up, no matter the odds.

Life in the North is Book 1 of the System Apocalypse, a LitRPG Apocalypse series that combines modern day life, science fiction and fantasy elements along with game mechanics. Combining themes of colonisation, alien invasion, post-apocalyptic collapse and dystopian societies all wrapped in a twelve book, complete LitRPG epic, the System Apocalypse is brought to life by award winning narrator Nick Podehl.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tao Wong
• Release date: Feb 2, 2018
• ISBN: 9781989458143

Tao Wong

Tao Wong is a Canadian author based in Toronto who is best known for his System Apocalypse post-apocalyptic LitRPG series and A Thousand Li, a Chinese xianxia fantasy series. He was shortlisted for the UK Kindle Storyteller award in 2021 for A Thousand Li: The Second Sect. When he's not writing and working, he's practicing martial arts, reading, and dreaming up new worlds.

Reviews for Life in the North

[Jesse Frazel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This series was the reason I am even on this app. Love the mix of dystopian societies and the crunchy gaming numbers making it one of my favorite LitRpgs!

[Cody Rabida · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is terrible. I loved reading it. I don't know why.

[Wilhelm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It starts off with an explanation of the character that will come in handy later if you try to explain to yourself why the mc acts so weird. Next the apocalypse happens.
I cannot relate to the main character. There is some low burn right wing capitalist stuff going on.

A large amount staring at afab/women inapropriately.
It starts out as explicitly heterosexual and normative then grows out of it and then not it is as confounding as life itself.

About 2/3 I decided that it wan't worth it and I come back later when there is nothing better respectively anything other left to listen to.

It is technically okayish, the ideas aren't groundbreaking, goinf over the class rarity thing, attention is grabbed by blunt foreshadowing and leaving out of (people would talk about this in rl) information.

It is definitely heteronormative and it did fall behind my expectations: I have read before that Tao Wong is good. My first peek doesn't show me that.
There is no goal at the end of book one, it is just we hang around here, well lets make something off it.
The character is ultra confused in its actions, it is talked about later which makes me wonder whether it is intentional or an after edit at least.
Don't recommend.

Giving three stars because
I finished it
I like the exploration and growth in litepg and it has it alas only in the beginning then it stalls.
Writing is okay, plotting doesn't show.

[Andy D · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's better than what the social justice dork whining about capitalism and it being heteronormative says it is. Last time I checked there is nothing wrong with either of those. We'll unless you're one of those tools that thinks communism is a good idea.