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Tower Apocalypse #4
Zenith Academy: Book 4
JD will rebuild Zenith Academy… over his dead body?
With a weakened mind stone, a crumbling fortress, and a city full of wary civilians, JD has been thrust into the role of Acting Headmaster. Alongside Chloe, Mabel, and Skadi—and with the dangerously unstable support of the elemental goddess Shiva—he’s trying to turn Klana into something that can actually survive.
But the world isn’t cooperating.
Behemoth-class monsters, the kind that should only appear once a year or less, are now showing up with terrifying regularity. Monsters lurk in every nook and cranny of the wild lands beyond the walls. And if you listen closely enough, the words links strain echo through the magic of the entire world.
Inside the walls, things aren’t much better. Old powers breed new rivalries and resentments. Not everyone wants Shiva’s pet in charge. Whispers of betrayal rise.
JD just wanted to keep his friends alive. Now he’s holding a broken academy together with sarcasm and sheer stubbornness… and his enemies are about to find out how far he’ll go to protect what’s his.
With a weakened mind stone, a crumbling fortress, and a city full of wary civilians, JD has been thrust into the role of Acting Headmaster. Alongside Chloe, Mabel, and Skadi—and with the dangerously unstable support of the elemental goddess Shiva—he’s trying to turn Klana into something that can actually survive.
But the world isn’t cooperating.
Behemoth-class monsters, the kind that should only appear once a year or less, are now showing up with terrifying regularity. Monsters lurk in every nook and cranny of the wild lands beyond the walls. And if you listen closely enough, the words links strain echo through the magic of the entire world.
Inside the walls, things aren’t much better. Old powers breed new rivalries and resentments. Not everyone wants Shiva’s pet in charge. Whispers of betrayal rise.
JD just wanted to keep his friends alive. Now he’s holding a broken academy together with sarcasm and sheer stubbornness… and his enemies are about to find out how far he’ll go to protect what’s his.
585 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 19, 2023
80 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 13, 2023
This one opens up with our MC asleep (for 4 days) and dreaming of being Parfanel; experiencing the many trial runs he had before he had a perfect run and ascended to demigod status. Then we see several tower runs for Devin. Are these alternate lives/timelines or has he really gone through the tower multiple times?
It turns out this is the first time in the history of the games that 2 species has allied, so the System combined their villages and mashed them all together, causing all kinds of wackiness. Everyone gets along though.
During some tower climbing we start to meet the next demigod who likes playing games, but we don't get very far before the Thinkers arrive. They are mechanodragon like creatures created by the demigods on higher floors. Devin et al defeat them, but one of them off fighting Verunn breaks their portal to the tower. This kicks out all the players and vendors in there and the rabbit people (the flappari) run free. Oh also several other prominent players die and Schroeder leaves the "Leader of Humanity" title to Devin. Sad faces all around.
Later Devin meets up with the rabbit people and it seems like the Hexamancer Skill Trainer is important and they fight. Devin wins (obviously) and keeps him alive which results in Nox showing Devin a secret that will save the day, but Devin decides to wait until a couple weeks before the battle to do the thing. The process takes much longer than expected and the battle with the Thinkers is happening and Devin's village is just _barely_ hanging on! Because they can't do anything without him, except try to survive. Devin and the rabbits get there and strike back.
Many people die along the way, but eventually they knock most of the Thinkers back and enact their plan: get to the portal room, rabbits find and open a portal to earth, rabbits leave a virus to scrub all location data, everyone flees.
Most everyone gets out before the demigods shut down the portal, including Emma. Then Tang kills himself on Devin's blade and says that that's the only way for Devin to be strong enough to survive this next battle. Then EVERYONE asks Devin to kill them, except for Ben. His first ally gets to be his last. After killing everyone else the Demigods show up. The 2 named ones get killed (Luparia and Sigonda) while the rest watch and laugh. Then the "Gamemaster" attacks. Ben and Devin die. Devin wakes up in his vat with no idea of how much time has passed. He realizes the vat is sapping his memories and strength and rebels with his cursed body. They kill him again. This repeats a few times before Devin keeps his curses to himself and lets them wipe most everything else.
He awakens where starts with a new Demigod and hearing that 94,000 humans are left. He looks around and sees folks he fought and killed along with those he fought with, including his old/first friend Ben Diver. Devin grins and plans to work with Ben again to free them all, no matter how many runs it takes.
So... I finished the series and it was decent. It was enjoyable, but nothing really wowed me about it. It was a good deal at $7 for a complete story, but if I had been buying them individually, I probably would have stopped after Book 2.
It turns out this is the first time in the history of the games that 2 species has allied, so the System combined their villages and mashed them all together, causing all kinds of wackiness. Everyone gets along though.
During some tower climbing we start to meet the next demigod who likes playing games, but we don't get very far before the Thinkers arrive. They are mechanodragon like creatures created by the demigods on higher floors. Devin et al defeat them, but one of them off fighting Verunn breaks their portal to the tower. This kicks out all the players and vendors in there and the rabbit people (the flappari) run free. Oh also several other prominent players die and Schroeder leaves the "Leader of Humanity" title to Devin. Sad faces all around.
Later Devin meets up with the rabbit people and it seems like the Hexamancer Skill Trainer is important and they fight. Devin wins (obviously) and keeps him alive which results in Nox showing Devin a secret that will save the day, but Devin decides to wait until a couple weeks before the battle to do the thing. The process takes much longer than expected and the battle with the Thinkers is happening and Devin's village is just _barely_ hanging on! Because they can't do anything without him, except try to survive. Devin and the rabbits get there and strike back.
Many people die along the way, but eventually they knock most of the Thinkers back and enact their plan: get to the portal room, rabbits find and open a portal to earth, rabbits leave a virus to scrub all location data, everyone flees.
Most everyone gets out before the demigods shut down the portal, including Emma. Then Tang kills himself on Devin's blade and says that that's the only way for Devin to be strong enough to survive this next battle. Then EVERYONE asks Devin to kill them, except for Ben. His first ally gets to be his last. After killing everyone else the Demigods show up. The 2 named ones get killed (Luparia and Sigonda) while the rest watch and laugh. Then the "Gamemaster" attacks. Ben and Devin die. Devin wakes up in his vat with no idea of how much time has passed. He realizes the vat is sapping his memories and strength and rebels with his cursed body. They kill him again. This repeats a few times before Devin keeps his curses to himself and lets them wipe most everything else.
He awakens where starts with a new Demigod and hearing that 94,000 humans are left. He looks around and sees folks he fought and killed along with those he fought with, including his old/first friend Ben Diver. Devin grins and plans to work with Ben again to free them all, no matter how many runs it takes.
So... I finished the series and it was decent. It was enjoyable, but nothing really wowed me about it. It was a good deal at $7 for a complete story, but if I had been buying them individually, I probably would have stopped after Book 2.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 21, 2024
Man, what a mixed bag of a series. I'll try and keep it short but overall while I really enjoyed the series there were a lot of flaws. The series was extremely ambitious considering it was mixing the tower climbing/system apocalypse with town building, tournaments, pet raising sorta, and of course the mystery/rebelling against the system/demigods. In the end the fractured parts had enough good chunks and overall picture that it was more than the sum of its parts.
There are quite a few aspects that worked really well and some were even pretty unique despite others openly mentioning their inspirations. Hands down my favorite part of the series were the summons but overall I really enjoyed the mystery of the tower unfolding and inevitable steps taken against it. I liked the NPC and AI interactions more than the other humans. Now that I think about a lot of the side characters were more interesting than the core cast too. The boss fights tended to be interesting and the army battles and smaller scale fights decent. The game aspects make it seem like it would be a fun video game which is not always the case.
I'm torn between thinking this series was rushed to its conclusion but then again I remember early on thinking it was weird how much lore was dropping about the behind the scenes stuff. I'm leaning towards thinking this was the plan all along which means if it was rushed it was done as well as it could. Either way I do think the overall world building and mystery would have been better with a few more, but maybe the plot would have felt even more padded out at that point. The epilogue in particular did shift my feelings solidly into it was meant to be like this.
I have a theory that most of the problems stem from the disconnect from having 2 authors. There were a lot of plot threads that didn't go anywhere and characters that were introduced and promptly forgot about, which is forgivable, but there were also a lot of inconsistencies where it was clear a scene was written with little to no knowledge of certain previous events. I'd go further and say more of the series suffered as a result but that's pure speculation. I just have a strong suspicion one of the two wasn't reading portions for whatever reason.
In the end though despite the serious issues hindering the series I think overall it's worth a read. I'm glad I ended up deciding to finish and the ending still felt satisfying, which is extremely rare. Oops, I tried to keep it short. I always write these in the middle of the night after marathoning the last bit and just vent my thoughts and feelings. Sorry!
There are quite a few aspects that worked really well and some were even pretty unique despite others openly mentioning their inspirations. Hands down my favorite part of the series were the summons but overall I really enjoyed the mystery of the tower unfolding and inevitable steps taken against it. I liked the NPC and AI interactions more than the other humans. Now that I think about a lot of the side characters were more interesting than the core cast too. The boss fights tended to be interesting and the army battles and smaller scale fights decent. The game aspects make it seem like it would be a fun video game which is not always the case.
I'm torn between thinking this series was rushed to its conclusion but then again I remember early on thinking it was weird how much lore was dropping about the behind the scenes stuff. I'm leaning towards thinking this was the plan all along which means if it was rushed it was done as well as it could. Either way I do think the overall world building and mystery would have been better with a few more, but maybe the plot would have felt even more padded out at that point. The epilogue in particular did shift my feelings solidly into it was meant to be like this.
I have a theory that most of the problems stem from the disconnect from having 2 authors. There were a lot of plot threads that didn't go anywhere and characters that were introduced and promptly forgot about, which is forgivable, but there were also a lot of inconsistencies where it was clear a scene was written with little to no knowledge of certain previous events. I'd go further and say more of the series suffered as a result but that's pure speculation. I just have a strong suspicion one of the two wasn't reading portions for whatever reason.
In the end though despite the serious issues hindering the series I think overall it's worth a read. I'm glad I ended up deciding to finish and the ending still felt satisfying, which is extremely rare. Oops, I tried to keep it short. I always write these in the middle of the night after marathoning the last bit and just vent my thoughts and feelings. Sorry!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 16, 2025
This series is all about eating food and Devin blinking. When neither of those are happening then everyone and everything is groveling at his feet for who the hell knows what reason. Hero worship on full display here, and its hard to stomach.
Generally I love litRPG books and their ambitious, if not often repeatable story lines. Unfortunately this series just annoyed me. I choked my way through all four books as research for what I don't want to emulate in my own series I'm putting together. It was tough and so many times I came close to DNF'ing.
What I liked about the series:
+The structure for tower climbing and a vindictive System. Both overused in the genre, but this was the entire plot so I looked forward to reading about it.
+Combining hardened felons with civilians. No laws with access to infinite power resulting in a PvP style RPG adventure.
+The hinted at but unfortunately never expanded on behind-the-scenes of how Gaia works and the mechanics for how the world is operated. This was unique, as most series I've read focus on the players simply existing in the world without delving into it being a construct.
What I disliked:
-Stilted dialogue. There isn't a single conversation that isn't contrived and 90% of it does nothing to move the plot forward or help with character development. It's just bad.
-One-dimensional characters. Up to the final line of the series you discover very little about the characters' personalities or their history beyond what you might know about a neighbor you rarely talk to. This includes Devin's girlfriend, Emma. Their relationship never does make any kind of sense. The two shipped together by the authors to fill the necessary romantic I guess. It left me wondering if the authors had ever been in a relationship before as it didn't translate to the page.
-Hero worship. There is so much of it here the entire series is thick with it and it stinks like someone gassing up an elevator. Everyone Derek associates with regardless of species wishes to clean his shoes or flog him off. There is nothing notable about the lead character to warrant it as he's really kind of an asshole. If Devin pays someone a compliment he follows it up with an internal thought making it seem as if he were doing them a big favor gracing them with this acknowledgement.
-Contradictions and plot holes. I can forgive some, but not to the extent found in this series. Aspects of the world cemented early on as fact is forgotten about in later books and the opposite made true for the convenience of narrative. The fourth book did this especially.
-Devin's summons and their ridiculous personalities together with his need for them to refer to him as master or father. Yeah....
-The confusing focus on food and eating. It is a thing so often throughout the books you could condense all the scenes around it and fill one of the four.
-'Devin blinked.' Seriously, this is his reaction to so many situations it forced me to imagine the Blinking White Guy meme, injecting absurdity and breaking what little tension there'd been.
-Terrible editing. While many rules can be broken when writing there are those that should never: Repeating key words too often-most damning when placed in the same sentence-and going heavy on adverbs, resulting in the author telling us what the character is feeling rather than showing it naturally. So much on-the-nose writing filling up empty space.
-Head-hopping. Most of the characters only had one voice. If Devin had an obscure thought you could count on another character inexplicably finishing it a sentence or two later. Everyone on the exact same page reading from the same paragraph with no individuality.
-The fourth book. It was rushed, I'll just leave it at that.
If you're looking for a new litRPG series to delve into I'd recommend giving this one a pass.
Generally I love litRPG books and their ambitious, if not often repeatable story lines. Unfortunately this series just annoyed me. I choked my way through all four books as research for what I don't want to emulate in my own series I'm putting together. It was tough and so many times I came close to DNF'ing.
What I liked about the series:
+The structure for tower climbing and a vindictive System. Both overused in the genre, but this was the entire plot so I looked forward to reading about it.
+Combining hardened felons with civilians. No laws with access to infinite power resulting in a PvP style RPG adventure.
+The hinted at but unfortunately never expanded on behind-the-scenes of how Gaia works and the mechanics for how the world is operated. This was unique, as most series I've read focus on the players simply existing in the world without delving into it being a construct.
What I disliked:
-Stilted dialogue. There isn't a single conversation that isn't contrived and 90% of it does nothing to move the plot forward or help with character development. It's just bad.
-One-dimensional characters. Up to the final line of the series you discover very little about the characters' personalities or their history beyond what you might know about a neighbor you rarely talk to. This includes Devin's girlfriend, Emma. Their relationship never does make any kind of sense. The two shipped together by the authors to fill the necessary romantic I guess. It left me wondering if the authors had ever been in a relationship before as it didn't translate to the page.
-Hero worship. There is so much of it here the entire series is thick with it and it stinks like someone gassing up an elevator. Everyone Derek associates with regardless of species wishes to clean his shoes or flog him off. There is nothing notable about the lead character to warrant it as he's really kind of an asshole. If Devin pays someone a compliment he follows it up with an internal thought making it seem as if he were doing them a big favor gracing them with this acknowledgement.
-Contradictions and plot holes. I can forgive some, but not to the extent found in this series. Aspects of the world cemented early on as fact is forgotten about in later books and the opposite made true for the convenience of narrative. The fourth book did this especially.
-Devin's summons and their ridiculous personalities together with his need for them to refer to him as master or father. Yeah....
-The confusing focus on food and eating. It is a thing so often throughout the books you could condense all the scenes around it and fill one of the four.
-'Devin blinked.' Seriously, this is his reaction to so many situations it forced me to imagine the Blinking White Guy meme, injecting absurdity and breaking what little tension there'd been.
-Terrible editing. While many rules can be broken when writing there are those that should never: Repeating key words too often-most damning when placed in the same sentence-and going heavy on adverbs, resulting in the author telling us what the character is feeling rather than showing it naturally. So much on-the-nose writing filling up empty space.
-Head-hopping. Most of the characters only had one voice. If Devin had an obscure thought you could count on another character inexplicably finishing it a sentence or two later. Everyone on the exact same page reading from the same paragraph with no individuality.
-The fourth book. It was rushed, I'll just leave it at that.
If you're looking for a new litRPG series to delve into I'd recommend giving this one a pass.
June 20, 2023
Stupid .. Just plain stupid
Yep it looks like the author just ran out of writing material and just gave up. It was going to crap in the previous book and it just went down hill from there. Btw the author might want to hire better editors ..Things could have been phrased so much better and had I think bad grammar. Ya think an editor would and proof reader might notice the errors. Oh also Tiamat is a multi headed dragon according to mythology. I am so very disappointed 😞 it just came a part at the seams the plot just well it kinda just fizzled out and bam the end like the author just wanted to just end it.
The whole plot had potential but to be honest I don't know what's wrong with litrpg writers, haven't you people ever heard of things like a trilogy or series of books. You put all your eggs into one basket bam. You could have had at least 3 sets of 5 books or more had a better plot and definitely a very better ending.
Yep it looks like the author just ran out of writing material and just gave up. It was going to crap in the previous book and it just went down hill from there. Btw the author might want to hire better editors ..Things could have been phrased so much better and had I think bad grammar. Ya think an editor would and proof reader might notice the errors. Oh also Tiamat is a multi headed dragon according to mythology. I am so very disappointed 😞 it just came a part at the seams the plot just well it kinda just fizzled out and bam the end like the author just wanted to just end it.
The whole plot had potential but to be honest I don't know what's wrong with litrpg writers, haven't you people ever heard of things like a trilogy or series of books. You put all your eggs into one basket bam. You could have had at least 3 sets of 5 books or more had a better plot and definitely a very better ending.
January 6, 2025
I'm torn that it's over as I want more
But happy that they didn't run it into the ground with infinitely growing power and scope.
There's a hook that could lead to future books but it's also a good enough ending to leave happy thoughts
As their power grows so does the desperation to escape their circumstances. A new enemy race appears and the trickery of the demigods increase. What will Devon and crew do? Find out this time on Tower Apocalypse Z
But happy that they didn't run it into the ground with infinitely growing power and scope.
There's a hook that could lead to future books but it's also a good enough ending to leave happy thoughts
As their power grows so does the desperation to escape their circumstances. A new enemy race appears and the trickery of the demigods increase. What will Devon and crew do? Find out this time on Tower Apocalypse Z
May 26, 2023
A little bittersweet, but so worth reading
This was a fantastic ending to this series. I loved that the System repeatedly worked to destroy alliances between races, and yet, that didn’t stop the humans, dwerger, & filippari from ignoring that and finding success.
This was a fantastic ending to this series. I loved that the System repeatedly worked to destroy alliances between races, and yet, that didn’t stop the humans, dwerger, & filippari from ignoring that and finding success.
January 14, 2024
Great ending to a great set. Overall was a addicting set and this book continued that policy. The main character is likeable and every named side character has unique personalities that show the whole book. Worth the read
June 1, 2023
solid ending
A solid ending to a largely original litrpg series. Nice character growth and development throughout. I enjoyed it immensely. Looking forward to their next release.
A solid ending to a largely original litrpg series. Nice character growth and development throughout. I enjoyed it immensely. Looking forward to their next release.
July 13, 2023
Amazing series
I have loved reading this series through and through, it is among the best I have currently read to date.
I have loved reading this series through and through, it is among the best I have currently read to date.
October 28, 2024
It didn’t quite end the way I was hoping, but I should have expected it. A good series of books.
January 17, 2026
This book wrecked me, revived me, and then wrecked me again. It was an ending I expected but also had a lot of parts that were completely no expected. Most of my theories were confirmed on what was happening and the status of the "players", but this felt like a solid place of ending but left it open for something more. More I wish was there, honestly. It's a bittersweet ending that makes me wish I could have more.
January 11, 2026
It's the academy, you know what's going down!
JD just wants to do his thing(and his lovely ladies), and keep things from going to hades in a hand basket. But that's not how life works for him and his harem. If you're on book 4, you know things are going to get wild(and yes I'm making a double entendre). But JD is up to the task! Just got a get a little creative!
JD just wants to do his thing(and his lovely ladies), and keep things from going to hades in a hand basket. But that's not how life works for him and his harem. If you're on book 4, you know things are going to get wild(and yes I'm making a double entendre). But JD is up to the task! Just got a get a little creative!
January 8, 2026
more trouble and those that can't change and will do anything to keep things the same even being the evil they say they fight
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews