Level Seven Audiobook By William Ledbetter cover art

Level Seven

Killday, Book 3

Preview

Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

Level Seven

By: William Ledbetter
Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $29.95

Buy for $29.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

A year after the radical Kilburnites thought they destroyed all AIs and reclaimed Earth for humanity, something malignant is growing in the ruins of the once great cities and no human has been able to get close enough to find out what it is.

On the other side of the solar system, Abby Gibson, daughter of the hero who saved Earth on Killday, is nearly killed in the cold vacuum of the asteroid belt by something she doesn't understand. Now, the stealthy object is on course to destroy the space habitat she calls home.

In Level Seven, the exciting culmination of the Killday series, AIs strive to evolve into a super intelligence and might destroy humanity in that pursuit. But could their hopes of achieving godhood actually lie with the nearly extinct humans they intend to eradicate?

©2023 William Ledbetter (P)2023 Audible Originals, LLC.
Hard Science Fiction
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

About the Creator

William Ledbetter is a Nebula Award-winning author with three novels and more than 70 speculative fiction short stories and nonfiction articles published in five languages, in publications such as Asimov's, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Analog, Escape Pod, and the SFWA blog. He's been a space and technology geek since childhood and spent most of his non-writing career in the aerospace industry. He is a member of SFWA, the National Space Society of North Texas, and Codex. He lives near Dallas with his wife, a needy dog, and three spoiled cats.

About the Performer

MacLeod Andrews is a multiple Audie, Earphones, and SOVAS Award-winning and Grammy-nominated narrator with hundreds of credits to his name. Perhaps best known for a cinematic approach with full characterizations and intimate deliveries in series such as The Reckoners, Sandman Slim, and Warriors, he's also been noted for his straight reads ranging from memoir to modern classics such as Those We Thought We Knew by David Joy, Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee, and The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy. When not doing books you can hear him in video games, cartoons, commercials, podcasts, and reading you the news on Apple News +. Or check out one of his films.

What listeners say about Level Seven

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    119
  • 4 Stars
    51
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    133
  • 4 Stars
    28
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    109
  • 4 Stars
    40
  • 3 Stars
    13
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

My favorite in the series!

While I enjoyed elements of all three books, Level 7 was the most engaging for me. The issues the characters have to work through felt realistic, and Mortimer’s POVs were some of my favorite chapters - Ledbetter did a great job bringing an AI to life in a way that was relatable and still AI.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A.I. Awesomeness

A fantastic trilogy.

Well thought through A.I. and Human issues coupled with space exploration and nanotechnology.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good but missed opportunity

I really like the series and this one was great too but I'm not sure about the ending and immortality.
What defines everything every aspect of humanity is our mortality.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Great Addition to a Terrific Series

I've really enjoyed this series so far, and this latest work was a solid entry that took the story in some interesting directions and provided fairly satisfying conclusions for many of the characters fans have come to know and love. The progression of technology and stakes in this series call to mind The Three Body Problem (albeit on a much more relatable timeline). I especially like the way that, as AI has come to play a larger part in our real lives, the author has seemingly sought to include some small details that flesh out the AI entities in this series and make them all the more plausible and familiar. MacLeod Andrews narration, as always, is wonderful and provides exactly what the story calls for.

One minor critique: I wish the author had gone into slightly more detail about the advent of programmable matter. The series has done a great job making near-future advancements such as nanobots, artificial general intelligence, and gravitational manipulation feel plausible and fleshed out. Programmable matter, however, is sort of hand-waved without much exploration of the ramifications or limitations of the tech. Those types of fascinating technical tangents are part of the reason I keep coming back to this series. However, I do understand that others may find those types of details tedious, so it's a matter of personal preference.

If this does turn out to be the last book in the Killday series, as the summary implies, it's a satisfying enough sendoff. Though, if that does turn out to be the case, I will say that the denouement (particularly the epilogue) felt a little rushed for my liking. I would have liked more time with some of these characters as their shared journey drew to a close.

I'm holding out hope that this isn't the end, but a jumping-off point for a deeper exploration of the questions Ledbetter has explored so well in this series this far. However, if the author decides his work here is done, I would like to thank him for providing a wonderfully thought-provoking and exciting series that was a genuine pleasure to listen to!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Sci-Fi Listen

Currently one of my favorite sci-fi authors love this series very smartly written with and exciting and timely subject matter especially now with AI front and center on humanities zeitgeist

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Different then the first two

It was a good story, but more science fiction than the other two. The first two gave you the sense that they could happen and maybe we are on that path now. This one is a regular science fiction story, though I will say an enjoyable one and I’m interested to see where it goes. But the first two are a bit magic.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting series and expertly performed!

This didn’t go where I thought it was going to go. Fascinating series nonetheless. I’m very much looking forward to new works by this author. And, I seriously hope that this performer is the one to read it! I don’t think there could have been a better duo for these books.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Top notch narration!

Macleod Andrews’ narration is amazing. His ability to produce vastly different voices, while keeping each one distinct and nuanced is exceptional. Good book too, but Macleod’s performance really carries the story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

details

I disliked the sometime monitored sind of the narrators voice. Other than that it was fine.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not the ending I expected

Have enjoyed this series for from the get go... was really sure how I thought it would end but didn't see it going the way it did..

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful