Sara's (not really) Fabulous System Armageddon, Book I: The World Ended at Rush Hour

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Planet Earth, Monday, October 7th, 2019. 18:30

On a fateful day, during rush hour in eastern North America, Heavens and Hell crumbled and fell from their higher dimension on Earth. It came from "above" but not the same above we regard in our tridimensional Euclidean reasoning. No, it came from "above" as in from a higher dimension. Bits and pieces of those places fell on Earth from all directions, this time in tridimensional Euclidean space.

Satellites, the ISS, and space debris all were wiped clean from orbit. Even those that didn't crash with the falling debris were knocked off orbit by the shockwaves. On the ground, power distribution lines were disrupted and most power facilities were left abandoned by their dead staff. Most of these had emergency shutdown routines that engaged in a few days. Some others had a survivor among their staff that followed protocol and activated their SCRAM switches, stopping the power plant. Long-distance communication disappeared the internet along with it. The world was plunged into technological darkness.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand human beings perished immediately in the pulse of magical energy from the torn spatial boundary. Spirits were rent asunder and vanished, their fate neither salvation nor damnation, only oblivion. The criteria used for this culling was latent magic potential. It didn't discriminate against education, gender, age, or ethnic group. But of the around seven million survivors, most would meet their doom moments later.

Those on moving vehicles, like the ones driving on highways suddenly had to contend with high-speed uncontrolled cars and trucks driven by corpses. Trapped in their vehicles and helpless, they became part of the long snake of crushed metal. Very few survived. Those in the air or out in the sea were alone and probably unable to control their rides. Airplanes crashed, and ships kept their course or drifted away, depending on their autopilot.

Several ended their own lives in utter despair after seeing their loved ones die in front of them. Another large group would die at the hands of other survivors. Violence and aggression became the norm. Only a few sparse pockets of not-so-sane survivors managed to band together and cooperate for the sake of mutual survival.

The sole survivor in a five-over-one apartment building in Georgia, a girl became the keystone to humanity's survival. Sara's fabulous System Apocalypse had just started.

She has only one remark.

It was anything but fabulous.

Updates every Wednesday and Sunday.

Cover V2 credits: CC-BY-SA Midjourney

Cover V1 Credits:

Consumed, Jennifer Hansen.jpg (CC BY-SA 3.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Consumed,_Jennifer_Hansen.jpg

John Martin (public domain):

- The Great Day of His Wrath

- The Last Judgment

- Le Pandemonium

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: MDW

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.3/ 5.0
Followers: 571
Views: 202,521

Chapters(73 total)

Reviews

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Community Reviews(9)

ShipTeaserRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Firstly, the prologue is one of the best intro hooks i've read yet, managaing to flesh out the MC, the world and prepare for the 'system apolcalypse' all at once. I was very curious to see how it all played out... and it did not dissapoint.
Sara, the MC, while being a bit of the stereotypical loner, has VERY compelling reasons to be so, and despite being a pretty selfish person mainly concerned about herself, she is extremely likable, and does get plenty of that sweet character growth.
The 'Apocalypse' itself is somewhat intriguing, and how the system plays out is as yet not entirely known, though Sara's unique personal system is interesting with great potential going forwards, as is what she has to do to get stronger, which is a bit different from killing traditional foes...
Other characters started off a bit like cyphers, but as the story progressed more were added and fleshe dout, all distinct and enjoyable, even the bad ones. This can only improve as time goes on as well.
The humour is both real and exaggered at the same time, and i find it works well.
Writing style is good, the only critisism i can really level is there are quite a few wrong word choices, but it's by no means a deal-breaker and is only an editing problem.
All in all, i'm definitely hungry for more and waiting to see where Sara's journey can take her next...
CircusPonyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
So far so good! I like the setting so far, and the concept will hopefully play out well. With this author, I have really come to expect a great story. The character has her personality set up well at this point, and I hope to see some decent character growth (not really afraid we won't with our author) as the story continues. With weekly releases and multiple editing passes, I haven't seen anything to throw me out of the flow yet.
Also, I love the chapter titles!
DanceLikeAFoolRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
TLDR: Want a system story that doesn't hammer you with boxes but has them? A story that has a purpose driving it along AND quality of life chapter side-quests and stories? Want an MC that isn't a mindless murder-bot prepper hero #&@^-yeah bubble-gum chewing sociopath? Want to FEEL something?
She's a 10, but she's still purifying her mana channels and discharges gunk.
Merging style and grammar score explanations because you can't stop me. Grammar is excellent with the very few mistakes. There are a few errors but they're only noticeable if you are actively looking for them, and given the author notes suggesting revision and the comment section pointing them out they'll probably get ironed out. Style wise, MDW is absolutely alright with making the reader go through some things. This is not a start that suggests everyone in the story is going to have a happy ending, or even make it to the end. MDW deals with the reality of their MC's situation with brutality and clarity, showing it to be necessary for the narrative without any weird fetishizing. Very bad people exist. There is a clear driving force to the story with episodic events making the pacing excellent and enjoyable.
Story score: Excellent. There are some bold narrative choices to drive the plot along in the beginning, and they work. It's a system story, and there's a system that the character is eased into instead of drowned in at the start. The MC has a passenger that drives forward emotional development as well as a cast that plays to counterpoints good and bad. Optional "side-quests" make the story flow very well and the landscape of the apocalypse, errr, armageddon, are well-thought out using detailed maps and real-world examples.
Character: Sara is difficult to follow in the beginning because you feel sorry for her right off the bat, which she would hate. There are a lot of relatable tropes and life experiences that were pulled into the generation of her personality. Furthermore, her personality is consis
Vitaly S AlexiusRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
[ Sara's (not really) Fabulous System Apocalypse ] is a quite a mouth-filling name.
It is a post-apocalyptic novel that follows the story of Sara, the sole survivor in a five-over-one apartment building in Georgia.
The novel chronicles Sara's journey as she tries to find other survivors in a world that has been plunged into darkness after Heavens and Hell crumbled and fell from their higher dimension on Earth.
While the premise of the novel is interesting, the execution is even tastier!
The story is well-written and engaging, and the characters are likable and relatable.
I particularly enjoyed the journey of self-discovery that Sara goes through as she tries to come to terms with the new world she finds herself in.
Overall, I would highly recommend Sara's (not really) Fabulous System Apocalypse to anyone looking for a post-apocalyptic novel that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. The style of writing is very engaging and easy to read.
The author does a great job of world-building, and the story is very well-paced.
The grammar is generally good as far as I can tell with my Soviet eyes.
Character Score : The characters are likable and relatable, as I'm actually planning no moving to Georgia!
Keep it up!
JoshuaRendonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
It's a good story, it's a great change to the classic LITRPGs where the main character is super powerful or incredibly weak; however what I don't like is how sara faces certain situations, I'm not saying that it's not bad done just that to my taste I would prefer her to act in a different way.
As for grammar or style I have nothing to say since I read the novel translated on the computer.
The novel itself is highly recommended for anyone looking for a good story, with good characters who act in a real way, and who is interested in the post-apocalyptic litrpg genre where blue screens don't pop up every time the main character does anything.
The page asks for more words but I am not good at writing reviews so I will repeat this text.
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The page asks for more words but I am not good at writing reviews so I will repeat this text.
The page asks for more words but I am not good at writing reviews so I will repeat this text.
The page asks for more words but I am not good at writing reviews so I will repeat this text.
skemmotarRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
An interesting twist on what is otherwise a pretty crowded topic. Won't spoil things, but I found the developments satisfying and out of the ordinary.
Not getting full points because there is some review pending on some small typos and small errors, but they don't break immersion. I didnt have any issues with pacing with both action, character development and story development taking place without detracting from the story.
There are at the time of writing two chapters thay have been inserted out of sequence but are easily identiffiable and not missing from their proper place. I understand the author may have a more edited version to be released.
Enjoyed the climax and the progression. The MC was fun to follow in both her unwillingness and there is some character development there. Definitely looking forward to book 2.
BedwigRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
The grammar is good. There are either no mistakes, or very little mistakes. From what I can remember, I didn't spot any.
The story is interesting. The world ended, and, from what I gather, all (Except for the MC) the kids died, and only the adults are left. Feels like a reverse to some stories where all the adults died and only the kids are left. There is a system, but it's unique to the MC for now. The story also seems to be a bit heavy on christianity.
I think once the MC met other characters, the interactions between them just felt flat. I don't know if it's just me, but it always feels like the character interactions are just missing something.
This story is still pretty interesting. Reccommend it.
Flea04Royal Road
★★★ 3.0
I liked the story at the beginning a lot more than I thought I would. It was like a really good rough draft we're all beta reading for.
Some chapters were mixed up and became really confusing at times.
The MC was at first relatable and interesting but after a while I found her frustrating and stubborn to the point of stupidity.
The POV switches and date stamps were jarring.
I ended up not finishing when I got to the chapter about the system design at the college. Sarah's stubbornness toward Abby the fairy and fully integrating became my last straw.
halycon404Royal Road
★★★ 3.0
It's good till it gets to the part the MC starts interacting with other people. Then it just falls down. Characters come fast with little in the way of personality for the glut.
Your milage may very on this part, but the characters the author did decide to spend time with and somewhat flesh out I just didn't care about. They're boring. Which made the entire experience less enjoyable.