The Years of Apocalypse - A Time Loop Progression Fantasy

This novel is simply put, great. 

As a disclaimer, I'm a big fan of time-loop story and this one is a great usage of the genre. 

The main character is particularly well written, and the evolution through the challenge that is the loops feels really coherent. The slow lost of contact with humanity and human relationship that is inherent to this type of story work, and I think it's because the first few chapter make a deep dive on who she is before the loops. 

Lot of aspect of the novel remind of Mother of learning (the top story on plotgenre.com at the time of writing, that also follow a mage student that is in a time loop that end with an attack at the end of the month). But as the story unfold, we are presented with a worldbuilding particularly strong, with some implications on the way magic work in this world that goes all the way. It feel like a possible real world, we don't have a lot of things that sound weird or coming from nowhere. 

The secondary character are all interesting, with their own views and experiences. The vilains seems a bit weaker in motivations , but where I am in the novel we don't know a lot about them yet. 

The transition from the early loops with a lot of details and explorations, to the style of describing only what's new is seamless, and we don't have a feel a change in style. 

One of the novels I'm checking my follow list daily to check for an update, and I can't recommend it enough to anyone that cross my path.  

I've been really enjoying this story so far. The writing is solid and flows well. The characters are far more fleshed out than you normally get in a time loop - you actually learn progressively more about people as things go on, instead of them just becoming game pieces in the loop. The magic system is pretty standard, but with fun twists. The world building is interesting, but it's also the sort of world building where if the author plans on taking it anywhere we're going to be here for a -long- time :P

The world is also queernorm, which never hurts :P Sometimes girls are just attracted to girls, and no one questions it.

I like it, it is simmilar to Mother of Learning, but not similar enough to be a clone (completely different World, magic system. MC focus) 

The worldbuilding is great and I like the character interaktions.

It also has the right level of detail, I think, skips over repetition but describes important stuff in detail.

This story shares a lot of its basic premise with stories like Mother of Learning. But I actually much prefer this authors take on that premise, the characters are more believable and the story is rather captivating.

On top of that the author really seem to have the worldbuilding down. The "murder mystery" aspect of the story is also still rather captivating.

If you liked Mother of Learning, you’re probably like me in wishing it kept going, because you wanted more. You may have looked for other time loop stories and found them lacking or different enough that it didn’t quite scratch that same itch. This story, right here, is what I’ve been trying to find for years.

This story has a really interesting magic system, a highly relatable and likable main character, and a driven plot that prevents the aimless feeling that many progression fantasy books fall victim to. It has mysteries that I can’t wait to learn more about, and progression that is consistent, realistic and satisfying. It has a realistic amount of romance, which makes it stand out in a genre predominated by the bipolar extremes of harems and romantically empty. It is well-written throughout, and I’m excited to read more.

If you like time loop stories or magic academy settings, this should be at the top of your list.

This is a solid story, period. All the crucial elements of a time loop done right are here, from a believable character with real emotional responses flaws and strengths, progression inside the loop to an interesting plot and a mystery to solve. The setting itself leans towards eldritch and mysterious religious elements, which I find refreshing and consider done well (excpet one element I will mention in a moment).

Little to criticize as I see it, as it's competent all-around. The only things that would keep it from being truly great is that its elements are not great individually or as a whole. Otherwise there are only two major flaws that stuck out to me:

1. The setting is interesting and original enough, but the school the action takes place feels lifeless and dull. On one hand it's supposed to be an ancient school with secrets, not to mention an extensive underground and hidden paths....but it still feels dull. Not sure what makes it feel that way, but so far the setting of the character is probably the least interesting part. 

The writing tells me it isn't so and the school is important, but by the feel I'd judge the protagonist lives and studies at some, to be direct, shithole. It doesn't feel like an important place that's center to its area. Rather a smaller school with some people of import.

2. The progression is in the title and for many (me included) one of the most important parts of the story. However, YoA stumbles here a bit. The character obviously becomes more competent as the loops progress, yet it's confusing. The character used to go had into artifice, but as time went on she seemed to quietly phase away from that and it no longer feels that important. The magic system is not that straightforward and aside of few direct parts it's hard to tell how exactly the character progressed in terms of being better at magic. 

It give an example, it took a loot of chapters for the story to mention that there's a rating of spell power strength and where the character is placed on that rating. Numbering the power is a simple way of explaining a character's strength. However, it works, because otherwise it would be hard to follow how exactly the character progresses. This I can with confidence point at as one of the parts the story could improve, more clear and precise explanations of what the character learns.

Edit: Just to add to all of that, it's important to mention the author put a lot of effort into laying foundation for the world. There's clear effort put into worldbuilding and the initial introudction that spells it out in every way but explicit that it's a serious story. If anything, that deserves a lot of respect.

I really enjoyed book 1, if it ended there I would give it a 4/5. But at the start of book 2 (chapter 82) the Author does the equivalent of truck kun in an isekai. The beginning of book two is as cliché as it gets, maybe down the line it can  separate itself from the heap  but when I stopped it was like every time loop story ever.

OVERALL: It's really good. Read it

What else can I even say? The story delivers on what it promises.

The only real criticism I can make is the somewhat cartoonish representation of the spies.

Agent 007 and the like have nothing to do with how actual spies work.

If you want to go around places unnoticed, you certainly don't wear a black cape and jump buildings during the day.

But, let's be honest, who cares about that?

Everything else is above most popular stories here in realism. Even some of the best rated have much more unrealistic crap and I don't see anybody caring.

STORY: the title says it all. Apocalypse and time loop progression. Nice.

CHARACTERS: much better than mother of learning, here. The characters aren't some work of art, but they're fleshed out and there's interaction with them. Our MC talks with people both for comfort and for help. You won't have to wait 100 chapters of loner progression until she opens up to anyone.

Yes, maybe there's some red robed guy with soul magic, but come on. Don't tell me you would never ask for help, loop after loop.

Also there is psychological impact on the MC. That doesn't mean she rolls over and cries: there is a lot of struggle and she pushes through it. She's simply not some robot that shrugs everything off.

GRAMMAR: almost perfect. A couple of small errors like missing possessives here and there. 

STYLE: almost perfect. The only problems are that words are sometimes repeated and the paragraphs are sometimes gigantic. 

The Good: writing style is fantastic. Author is a master of characterisation and making the story flow like a real living breathing organism. The book is truly alive and extremely easy to read. The grammar is perfectly formed by short cohesive sentences , made with rigid style and viewpoint. Never once was I induced into skipping a single paragraph (some RR books require skipping 90% of a chapter to become readable). This is a narrative masterpiece.

The Bad: obviously the first of 10 chapters in their totality. It is as they were written by another person, I was on a brink of dropping this awesome book before I reached chapter 11. It's a slice of life of anime academy for magic girls and there is no time travel and by end of chapter 10 you want to stop reading because the fiction description is totally false.

Then the background story - the meta plot does not lead anywhere, just the time traveler pointlessly wandering the world in search of adventures layered in endless mysteries. There is no goal, no destination, no quest - just the endless Journey. Which makes the book quite a meditation experience really.

Magic system and gods make zero sense. I cannot discuss how the magic system is bad without going into spoilers, but the main complaint is that it's not a system at all, just random mumbo jumbo of runes, glyphs, enchants, mana, wands and other paraphernalia.

Resume: a wonderful book. Read for the Journey, not for the Destination.

Absolute recommendation. The slow start and then incredible ramping up works really well. The world and character are very good and the magic is super interesting. I am very invested in the mysteries of the world and the feeling of always getting new questions after finding an answer is super relatable