Cyber Squad - Level 3

By: A.K. Mocikat

Narrated by: Jared Kedzia

Nothing is as it seems….

After the hacker attack that almost killed Kai and his entire team, everyone at Helltek is on edge. Worse, all evidence points to the saboteur being an employee of the company. Kai not only fears for his and his friends’ safety but the suspicion someone close to him might be the one responsible is disturbing. And that’s just one of Kai’s problems.

His nightmares have worsened and he almost suffers another heart attack in his sleep. The God in the Machine is after him, and he’s getting closer every day. If that wasn’t bad enough, Raven, Alice’s sociopathic boyfriend, has sworn to kill Kai. This doesn’t stop Kai from meeting Alice in secret, and it is her who reveals to him what the God in the Machine truly is—a truth far more horrifying than Kai ever could have imagined.

Kai finds himself in the center of conspiracies and intrigues that redefine everything he thought he knew about VR. Everyone has their own agenda and it’s becoming more difficult to distinguish between friend and foe. Meanwhile, the saboteur and the people they work for are preparing their final blow and the God is lurking in the Dark Net, waiting to strike….

©2022 A.K. Mocikat (P)2022 A.K. Mocikat

Even better than the first two books!

CYBER SQUAD - LEVEL 3 by Anna Mocikat is the third volume of the Cyber Squad series. I'm not a big fan of Lit-RPG in general but I've made an exception with this series. I also note that it has gradually deemphasized the number crunching and moved the series more toward GameLit in general. I think this is to the series benefit as Anna Mocikat seems much more interested in the characterization as well as world-building versus "leveling up."

Generally, I enjoyed the book and really like Kai as a protagonist. I'm not a fan of Kai and Alice, the latter coming off as manipulative as well as somewhat scummy versus the other girls that are interested in our hero. Indeed, it's a bit like Kvothe and Deanna, except the former has eyes for other women on occasion while Kai is in love with his image of Alice. I don't expect this to change but it's interesting to see how the story develops even as Kai continues to lose himself toward the exact wrong kind of woman.

The book is full of action, adventure, and lots of twists and turns. I also love Anna Mocikat's parody of Cyberpunk 2077 with Steampunk 2020. It's a bug-ridden mess our heroes know isn't going to be able to be cleaned up before launch day and watching Kai try to deal with it was hilarious. I am a bit sad we didn't see our permanently shy and awkward hero forced to try "adult mode" though. That was promised!

Overall, if you liked the previous two books, you'll like this but I actually think this is the best one of the series yet. There's a lot more plot going on here than level grinding and the characters seem richer and the stakes higher. Good cyberpunk all round. The narration is great as well and I'm actually excited for the next installment.

Two worlds one heart

I am loving that Alice really likes Kai and that Kai would do anything for her. It was interesting that two of the testers were really government agents. I want to know what happens next. I guess I will have to wait.

Another wonderful addition

This perfectly captures Kai's struggle between his dream life, and the love of his life.

Great Story GREAT Narrator!

I loved how much energy and emotion this narrator put into this story. Fantastic choice. I definitely recommend the series to anyone who loves scifi and gaming! I wanted to listen to all of it in one day but I had to stop myself from getting carried away. Look for more from these two in the future!

another amazing book

Kai and the team finally get to move on to the next big game! Steampunk 2020!

This book is full of twists and reveals I was on the edge of my seat every reveal.

Jared Kedzai did a great job bringing the cast to life.

I want to rant and rave more about the book but there are so many answers in this book it would spoil tons of the story!

so in short book good, buy book.