The System Apocalypse: Australia Books 1-3

By: Tao Wong, KT Hanna

Narrated by: Andrea Parsneau

More mutated Australian wildlife than you can shake your beam rifle at....

When the System arrives, no one is ready. Most of all Kira Kent, plant biologist and single mum. She's pulling an all-nighter, her children in tow when her beloved wildlife begins to mutate.

No more cute koala bears, bouncy kangaroos, or fuzzy wallabies. Now, everything is mutated and aggressive? Who made the spiders so big? The world's most dangerous continent just got a lot more dangerous, and no one, not even the alien Galactics who arrive, are ready for it.

Kira is going to have to pull together a community of survivors to forge a safe zone for her son and daughter, figure out a long-term survival plan, and make nice with the aliens. Otherwise, she will see everyone and everything she has loved die.

The System Apocalypse: Australia omnibus edition includes the first three books in the series:

• Town Under
• Flat Out
• Bloody Oath

Set in the same universe as Tao Wong's The System Apocalypse and starts in the same time period as Life in the North but focuses on the changes in the deadliest of continents—Australia. Fans of the original series, LitRPG, fantasy, science fiction, and post-apocalyptic novels will want to take a look.

©2023 Tao Wong & KT Hanna (P)2023 Starlit Publishing

2.5 Stars.

I have so many things to say about these 3 books. I just know I’ll forget most of it.

First, the 8-year-old girl is the wisest character in the series. The protagonist is all over the place. But mostly just wants to talk about being a mom. She occasionally says or does something smart, but most of the time she just “has a bad feeling” and then feels like crap for not properly paying attention to her bad feelings when something bad inevitably happens. Her constantly telling us about the bad feelings wouldn’t be so annoying if it weren’t for the fact that often times she has a bad feeling and then nothing happens.

Second, the redshirts. So many redshirt deaths. Basically every major fight scene, I could practically see the author rolling a dice to pick which random side character will die to make the fight more “meaningful.” I usually had to do a kindle search for the redshirt of the day to remind myself of who they even were. Most of the characters just aren’t memorable. Also, the WAY they died is almost always super annoying. Surprise attacks that she didn’t see coming when that is almost her entire role. Necrotic poison that only she can heal, but not this one time, because… reasons? Most of the side-character deaths just felt so pointless. The ones that don’t feel pointless, feel a little too forced. If that makes sense.

Third, everyone loves the protagonist. Nobody ever tries to trick her or take power from her or really fight her on anything for any reason. There was exactly one conflict with other humans over all 3 of the books, and that was resolved by mom giving them a stern talking to.

Finally, her class skill power set is mostly useless. Without a whole community of people keeping her alive, she’d have died in the first week. She gets this because she is so valuable for… reasons. Her contribution to the apocalypse is saying “I’m going to the mall. You can come with if you want.” And later, she calls out incoming attacks like an mmo raid leader. Oh yeah, let’s not forget the mysterious poison that every other Australian monster uses and only she can help heal for reasons that are never properly explained. Just feels like a reason to make her “special.”

For me, a 2-star book is one that I finished but didn’t like enough to ever read the next one. This one gets 2.5 stars because there is a small chance that I might one day read the next one. If I am all out of other books to read.

Not as Good as Main Series

I got this because of the reduced bundle cost even though the reviews seemed middling.

Vocal Performance
Andreas Parsneau does her typical excellent performance but the male voice actor addition really stole some of her normal magic. The Male voice actor sounds authentically Australian but just has no vocal range… which is jarring given how strong the range of voices Andreas provides. Every character he portrays has almost exactly the same vocal intonation.

Story
The story follows mostly the same rules as the main series but as others mentioned she comes across pretty whiny and the constant navel-staring by the MC is somewhat understandable but ultimately feels like filler after awhile… story would be much more enjoyable if this were pared back.

I think the MC is also not terribly believable as a leader. Slight spoilers ahead******** The MC is originally a research scientist who has a class that is supposedly powerful but ultimately a strong precognition/support role based on sensing mana. The book keeps saying how powerful her class is but it doesn’t feel like there’s ever much of a payoff with her class progression.***** The MC is also an emotional wreck most of the time and absorbed in her own world of worrying about her kids… so it seems odd that a large community would identify her as the leader of a group of thousands of survivors.

There’s also a bit of DEI pushing in this series. I think the most ridiculous DEI bit of the story is where the MC during one of her numerous navel staring sessions bemoans the fact that her settlement has "wealth equality discrimination"... during an apocalypse... as she buys all the best gear and a large home for herself and her kids. The MC is also portrayed as probably bisexual and there’s another character constantly referred to as “they” who has almost no dialog and is just constantly referred to as being a good cleric. It’s not too over the top but something parents might want to be aware of. For me it just seems like DEI is something authors think they have to include or they'll get dinged for it.

I’m not returning the book but also not giving this a strong recommendation. Given you get three audiobooks for 1 credit it’s not a bad deal especially if you’re interested in and enjoy the other system apocalypse books.

If you liked the main series and are looking for more I think the system apocalypse relentless series is better and closer to the original series than this one.

Great

I like the pacing of this story. I enjoyed the fact that the story focused on some of the social aspects of the end of the world. The main character is torn between being a mom and trying to survive and help those around her. I found it a perfect blend of story aspects. I would highly recommend this! 

great off shoot series

main character is a little whiney for my taste but otherwise I love the system apocalypse books. can't wait to see if there is more to come about Australia.

Great series, pulled down by dumb main character

Book one, main character gets a hammer that lets them manipulate mana to go with their ability to see mana - this is never used as the character laments their lack of attack power. They wait to use their ability to control plants until one stabs them, and then don't use it at all in a fight with sentient plants where one person dies. They aren't 100% certain about how the system works or what they can use it for after months and often thinks about maybe learning more.

I know they have a doctorate, but they are written with the brains of the girl from "Housebound" - likable and driven, but not bright.

That was a fun movie. Back to TV I suppose.

too much gaming

it's definitely a story for gamers. it wasn't something that kept my attention. there was too many points stuff that I didn't understand

Give us the damned relationship already!

I love the family aspect to this side series! I found something about this series (so far) that is easier for me to escape into. There is something about the k’ters that allows me to connect to them easier than the Original Series. I’ve always found something about the MC in the Original Series to be a bit off putting and difficult to latch on to, but in this Series I was hooked in almost instantly!

Granted, saying all that and knowing I rate it highly…I did sometimes find the MC a bit annoying.

Also….***SPOILER: You tease the GF from book ONE!!!! I didn’t need a full on “yeah they date now” thing…just…freaking hell!!! Give us a damn peck on the lips or ELUDE to a damned date that gets to happen because of all the Time off they get now! Last time we see/hear of/from Potential GF is in the damned Magon fight to hold her MC back from being an idiot?!?!*** WE DESERVE BETTER!

Great series!

Great addition to the system apocalypse world. love characters and the story that KT wove.

great

I loved the system apocalypse series...
this is not that...
instead of a long man on a revenge mission you get a mother of two trying her best to keep them all alive in a world gone crazy...
be aware this is a very different kind of story set in the same world...

Andrea is always a delight and this is no different

The stories have great pacing

A nice different perspective on the system and support classes. The family components were great at times to remove the loner tropes in these series.