Level: Apocalypse

• Author: David Dalglish
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: December 9, 2025
• Publisher: Orbit
• Series: Level: Unkown #3

Thank you to Orbit for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An epic fantasy isekai LitRPG perfect for fans of Accidental Champion and He Who Fights With Monsters—Conquer the artificial world. Level Up. Kill the God.    

Inside the mysterious Artifact world of Yensere, Nick has scored a major victory in the war against God-King Vaan, but now the true test of power has begun, and it won’t end until either Nick or Vaan are truly dead. Fighting alongside the army of the usurper king, the mighty Batal the Beast, they march their way toward Castle Goltara, the seat of power for the supposed Conqueror of Time.

Outside the Artifact, things are dire—whatever approaches from inside the black sun portal in Majus’ atmosphere shall soon arrive, but Nick’s older brother, Simon, struggles to find haven for his crew or obtain permission to flee their station with the Artifact. A religious cult has taken power within the OPC, and they see the coming invaders not as a threat, but as potential salvation.

With the lives of everyone on the station at risk, Nick has no choice but to push onward, finally unraveling the riddle that is the two black suns. With the capital in sight, the group now face the God-King’s his most powerful and devout Harbingers. Besting them will push Nick and his friends to the limits of their power, but Nick has two secret weapons on his the sentient sword, Sorrow, who was there six centuries ago when the God-King first rose to power, and a new addition to the team who seems to have the full knowledge of Yensere, and an incredible amount of power, at the tip of her fingers…

I’m not a gamer, I don’t even casually play video games, but somehow, Dalglish has made RPG sound way more interesting in this book than I have found it to be in real life. Orbit sent me an audiobook ARC narrated by John Patneaude, and I had a blast with this series.

This is the last book in the trilogy, and over the course of the first book, I fell in love with the Isekai LitRPG genre. There are a lot of moving parts throughout all three books, involving a mysterious artifact, being transported into an alternate universe while sleeping, the two ominous black suns hanging in the sky, and religious overtones.

We get to revisit our favorite characters from the first two books—Nick, Violette, Llesia, Sorrow, Simon, and Cataloger. Cat, as she goes by now, has transitioned from being the cataloger to a character heavily involved with the quest, and provides information and support as best she can now that she is out of the Cataloger role. These five characters become found family, with the exception of Simon, who is outside of the artifact and running a space station.

Dalglish incorporated the coolest parts of video games in the story, people it with relatable (and hatable) characters, kept the action flowing, and incorporated plenty of humor. I don’t want to give away anything, so writing a review for a fast-paced book that’s the last of the trilogy is harder than writing reviews for standalone books, at least for me. There is so much action in this book, that it felt like every time I picked it up, they were involved in a battle, and this persisted throughout the book. The chapters are told through the perspective of several characters — Nick, Cat, Simon, Gareth, and even Sorrow. I actually found myself 

This is the ideal ending to a trilogy. Throughout the trilogy, I’ve had plenty of questions. Why is the sword sentient? What is the artifact and where did it come from? What *are* those black suns in the sky? How are the characters supposed to be able to beat a god-king? Fortunately, Dalglish didn’t let me down and left me feeling very satisfied with the ending. 

Overall, this was an outstanding read. Despite the fact that I’m not familiar with RPG games, I actually really liked the way the stats, levels, and spells are announced, giving me the sensation that I was actually in Yensere with the characters. However, since it reads so similar to gameplay, it doesn’t lend itself to emotional investment, even as I found myself invested in the characters. This led me to wonder if there could have been deeper connection between the found family characters (including Batal the Beast), since these bonds weren’t necessarily explored in depth, particularly for the side characters. Additionally, the narrator was fantastic, but pulled me out of the story when he pronounced the word ‘across’ as ‘acrost’. But this one slip didn’t mar my enjoyment of the book, and I can proudly say that I now like Isekai LitRPG novels. 

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