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Dungeon Diving #3
Dungeon Diving 103
Ken and party are training with his grandparents, preparing themselves to the next semester of Haylon.
Yet, even after the Gransmens' deaths there are still plots from the Kaiming targeting Ken. After thwarting an attack on him at the Nagato Clan, Ken heads back to Haylon to get the strength he needs.
After all, at the end of this semester, Crimson owes him almost a week of personal training and she sets ambitious goals for him. If he can complete them, he'll be going to the Elven World for summer break.
Now Ken just needs to get rid of all these magazines that are cluttering up his inventory!
Yet, even after the Gransmens' deaths there are still plots from the Kaiming targeting Ken. After thwarting an attack on him at the Nagato Clan, Ken heads back to Haylon to get the strength he needs.
After all, at the end of this semester, Crimson owes him almost a week of personal training and she sets ambitious goals for him. If he can complete them, he'll be going to the Elven World for summer break.
Now Ken just needs to get rid of all these magazines that are cluttering up his inventory!
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 7, 2023
About the author
Bruce Sentar
61 books901 followersBorn and raised in the agricultural midwest, I moved every year after school even as far as Shanghai before settling down with my wife in Chicago.
I have always enjoyed Wuxia stories and became thrilled when I discovered harem stories spreading to western books. I've written down my day dreams for years as an idle hobby. Inspired by the harem genre I'm finally fleshing them out into full blown novels.
I'm excited to share my stories with you as I turn them into novels and series.
Connect with me on Facebook for updates on my latest books.
https://www.facebook.com/Bruce-Sentar...
I have always enjoyed Wuxia stories and became thrilled when I discovered harem stories spreading to western books. I've written down my day dreams for years as an idle hobby. Inspired by the harem genre I'm finally fleshing them out into full blown novels.
I'm excited to share my stories with you as I turn them into novels and series.
Connect with me on Facebook for updates on my latest books.
https://www.facebook.com/Bruce-Sentar...
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews
August 26, 2023
This is third in a series that picks up plot and characters where they leave off before. Read in order.
You know what you are getting, pretty much. More training, more family interference (good and bad), and some harem action. It delivers those, though some of it is getting a bit predictable.
The characters are still as engaging as they’ve ever been. And that’s good. The plot of this one is a bit staccato, though. I mean, it’s one thing hard. Then another. And another. It’s beads-on-a-string, only with stronger beats. If that makes sense anyplace outside my head.
I have two complaints on this one. First, some of the plot was kind of boring. The whole dungeon trip this time is mainly a grind or two with not much alleviating it. Sentar is smart enough to only give us a taste of the fighting choreography so it doesn’t bog down. It was just not as interesting as when they’re running into new things and overcoming unknown obstacles.
Second, I’m not a fan of the ending. We end up with Anyway, it’s not a cliffhanger or anything, but it still wasn’t my happy place.
I’m going to go with 3½ stars, but I’m not bothering to round up. Mostly because both problems impact the second half of the book and have me less likely to bother with the next. We’ll see, I suppose.
A note about Steamy: For a harem story, there’s not a ton of steam. There are three or four explicit sex scenes and they’re all more-or-less what you can expect from Sentar. I mean, solid, relationship-focused, good times. This is a compliment.
You know what you are getting, pretty much. More training, more family interference (good and bad), and some harem action. It delivers those, though some of it is getting a bit predictable.
The characters are still as engaging as they’ve ever been. And that’s good. The plot of this one is a bit staccato, though. I mean, it’s one thing hard. Then another. And another. It’s beads-on-a-string, only with stronger beats. If that makes sense anyplace outside my head.
I have two complaints on this one. First, some of the plot was kind of boring. The whole dungeon trip this time is mainly a grind or two with not much alleviating it. Sentar is smart enough to only give us a taste of the fighting choreography so it doesn’t bog down. It was just not as interesting as when they’re running into new things and overcoming unknown obstacles.
Second, I’m not a fan of the ending. We end up with Anyway, it’s not a cliffhanger or anything, but it still wasn’t my happy place.
I’m going to go with 3½ stars, but I’m not bothering to round up. Mostly because both problems impact the second half of the book and have me less likely to bother with the next. We’ll see, I suppose.
A note about Steamy: For a harem story, there’s not a ton of steam. There are three or four explicit sex scenes and they’re all more-or-less what you can expect from Sentar. I mean, solid, relationship-focused, good times. This is a compliment.
August 16, 2023
Overall good, but I'm noticing a pattern in the author's recent work that I don't enjoy. The cutesy sidekick characters (Harley and the rabbit in particular) grate on me.
I'm not sure if my tastes are shifting or the author's subtlety in introducing comic relief/lighter characters has atrophied, but these books are getting a bit too juvenile for me to really appreciate them. The thing with the grandfather as a nose-bleeding old pervert in anime style is really not doing it for me. That aside, the plot is picking up and some big moves came at the end of this one, so we'll see where this goes.
I'm not sure if my tastes are shifting or the author's subtlety in introducing comic relief/lighter characters has atrophied, but these books are getting a bit too juvenile for me to really appreciate them. The thing with the grandfather as a nose-bleeding old pervert in anime style is really not doing it for me. That aside, the plot is picking up and some big moves came at the end of this one, so we'll see where this goes.
January 12, 2024
More plot, less rabbit.
May 21, 2026
Humour/Atmosphere: 3/5
Character depth and development: 3/5
Emotional impact: 3/5
Worldbuilding: 3/5
Originality: 4/5
Interestingly, I don’t really have much to philosophise about with this instalment, because it was more popcorn entertainment than something contemplative — but for that exact reason, I see this more as a plus than a negative. It is 90% standard LitRPG: humour, action, character drama, and about 10% erotica and sex — for those who consider that important to know.
Unfortunately, I do have to deduct half a star, and I would also like to tell the author: shame on you… The first sex scene in the book was terrible. It was an F–M scene in which the author refers to the female genitalia as “sex” — not once, but at least 20–30 times. There are at least 100 existing synonyms for it, but nooooo, the same word — which, in my opinion, is already not the most fitting choice to begin with — is repeated again and again within a single scene.
Character depth and development: 3/5
Emotional impact: 3/5
Worldbuilding: 3/5
Originality: 4/5
Interestingly, I don’t really have much to philosophise about with this instalment, because it was more popcorn entertainment than something contemplative — but for that exact reason, I see this more as a plus than a negative. It is 90% standard LitRPG: humour, action, character drama, and about 10% erotica and sex — for those who consider that important to know.
Unfortunately, I do have to deduct half a star, and I would also like to tell the author: shame on you… The first sex scene in the book was terrible. It was an F–M scene in which the author refers to the female genitalia as “sex” — not once, but at least 20–30 times. There are at least 100 existing synonyms for it, but nooooo, the same word — which, in my opinion, is already not the most fitting choice to begin with — is repeated again and again within a single scene.
June 21, 2024
Ken and his "76 women" Harem
Ken is embarrassed by the girls in his school of all girls and 1 guy. His dungeon diving team has his 3 girl harem and 1 lesbian, but all the classmates say that they are in his Harem too. He's just not sleeping with 73.
They fights are great and the 'Maid Cafe' were a lot of fun.
Read in 4 days
Ken is embarrassed by the girls in his school of all girls and 1 guy. His dungeon diving team has his 3 girl harem and 1 lesbian, but all the classmates say that they are in his Harem too. He's just not sleeping with 73.
They fights are great and the 'Maid Cafe' were a lot of fun.
Read in 4 days
May 2, 2025
The (main) girl this book was Charlotte. Charlotte is just a boring character. I don’t know how to say it otherwise. Yes her personality improved a bit, but every time it gets important she freezes up. Didn’t even use her swap places ability when she was held at knifepoint and that nearly caused the whole team to lose.
Ken was a bit of a pushover in this book. He let Des just decide his actions on multiple accounts without even thinking for himself. He needed Fay to manage his relationships. He got roped into the interview against his will. He just accepted the girls saying he had a harem of 73, despite it going against his ideology and ruining his public image. At this rate the determined and talented young adventurer, later pseudo-assassin, will become more of a figurehead.
The process of leveling up was completely skipped. Ken spent the whole last book and 70% of this one to painstakingly gain 2 levels. Then the author decides on a time skip, and suddenly two months later he has 5 more levels and two skills. Wow, the author really does not understand why people like litRPGs. Its about seeing the protagonist progressively get stronger, not focus 70% on weird relationship problems and annoying rabbits and then just skip the process. Hell, one of his abilities didn’t even get shown. Instead we get a maid cafe, that no one needed.
But above all other things that bother me is the fact that Ken, for being the great protege with two powerful classes, stat boosting items and torturous training by some the most brutal and strongest people you can find, is not really stronger than the rest of his class.
Having a protagonist get too strong too quickly is annoying. Having an protagonist go through two books of gruesome training without much to really show for it is even worse.
He is set up to become some extremely overpowered character and constantly people are talking about it, so he should gradually develop into an op character. Not just some massive power boost later on because its convenient. Step by step. Have him push past his peers slowly but steadily. Primal Hunter, despite complaints about the Mc being too strong, is actually doing a great job of widening that distance. This story… not so much. Point in case: He drank a potion that was supposed to gradually raise his stats through training. That happened for exactly one chapter, before the author switched back to all party members raised their stats at similar rates. What about the potion then? How is the rest suddenly having the same effect? The author hypes up his protagonist but its all empty words. The fights, the diving and the levels simply tell a different story. He is nothing special. Doesn’t stand out compared to the other students. And considering how much advantages he has, that is a let down.
Ken was a bit of a pushover in this book. He let Des just decide his actions on multiple accounts without even thinking for himself. He needed Fay to manage his relationships. He got roped into the interview against his will. He just accepted the girls saying he had a harem of 73, despite it going against his ideology and ruining his public image. At this rate the determined and talented young adventurer, later pseudo-assassin, will become more of a figurehead.
The process of leveling up was completely skipped. Ken spent the whole last book and 70% of this one to painstakingly gain 2 levels. Then the author decides on a time skip, and suddenly two months later he has 5 more levels and two skills. Wow, the author really does not understand why people like litRPGs. Its about seeing the protagonist progressively get stronger, not focus 70% on weird relationship problems and annoying rabbits and then just skip the process. Hell, one of his abilities didn’t even get shown. Instead we get a maid cafe, that no one needed.
But above all other things that bother me is the fact that Ken, for being the great protege with two powerful classes, stat boosting items and torturous training by some the most brutal and strongest people you can find, is not really stronger than the rest of his class.
Having a protagonist get too strong too quickly is annoying. Having an protagonist go through two books of gruesome training without much to really show for it is even worse.
He is set up to become some extremely overpowered character and constantly people are talking about it, so he should gradually develop into an op character. Not just some massive power boost later on because its convenient. Step by step. Have him push past his peers slowly but steadily. Primal Hunter, despite complaints about the Mc being too strong, is actually doing a great job of widening that distance. This story… not so much. Point in case: He drank a potion that was supposed to gradually raise his stats through training. That happened for exactly one chapter, before the author switched back to all party members raised their stats at similar rates. What about the potion then? How is the rest suddenly having the same effect? The author hypes up his protagonist but its all empty words. The fights, the diving and the levels simply tell a different story. He is nothing special. Doesn’t stand out compared to the other students. And considering how much advantages he has, that is a let down.
June 22, 2025
Romance:
December 23, 2024
Final Rating: 3.52/5.00
Starting score: 2.50
+0.24 for Charlotte's relationship arc and earned intimate payoff
+0.22 for Crimson's vulnerability, power imbalance, and developing bond with Ken
+0.19 for Nagato dungeon training and meaningful system experimentation
+0.18 for tactical party combat and raid coordination
+0.16 for expanded dungeon, clan, mana, portal, and naga world-building
+0.13 for explicit intimacy that usually remains character-specific and consensual
+0.10 for Harley and the party retaining distinct roles and personalities
+0.14 for a dangerous climax with real consequences
-0.10 for skipping too much of the mid-book level and skill progression
-0.07 for delivering Lysandra's darkest motivation too late and too compactly
-0.06 for failing to address Charlotte's established emergency swap ability in the hostage crisis
-0.08 for verified grammar, wording, and repetitive diction problems
-0.03 for comedy and sexual gags that occasionally overstay their welcome
Calculated final score: 3.52/5.00
The Pack Finally Starts Moving As One
Three volumes in, this is where the series starts feeling less like a collection of good ingredients and more like one functioning pack. The assassin legacy matters to the present plot, the harem relationships develop different emotional identities, the LitRPG mechanics expand beyond simple level numbers, Crimson becomes much more than the terrifying hot teacher, and the final conflict reaches far beyond school rivalries. Sexual jokes and fantasies are common, while fully explicit scenes recur without swallowing the whole story. Most of them commit to both physical detail and relationship context. The violence is equally willing to bare its fangs, moving through assassination attempts, torture, maiming, and a battle where supposedly untouchable people can die quickly. What keeps this at 3.52 instead of pushing into my four-star range is the middle. Just when the progression system should let me feel every claw finding purchase in the ice, the story starts skipping across the climb. I enjoyed where Ken ended up. I wanted more of the path under his paws.
The Nagato Dungeon Is Exactly The Kind Of Training I Wanted
The opening stretch is some of the strongest progression material in the series. Ken is dumped alone into his family's private dungeon at level five with almost none of his normal resources. The Ghastly Armor can copy techniques it sees, while the reapers are attracted by sound and spellcasting. That changes combat from "use the strongest ability available" into a problem of patience, information control, silence, timing, and deciding whether an ability is worth the consequence of announcing yourself. Crimson then makes the lesson nastier by deliberately teaching one of the mimic enemies some of her own attacks before sending it after him. "That is training with teeth. Hurt me, force me to adapt, and make the lesson matter." It also fits Ken's assassin direction far better than simply giving him another damage skill. Harley later finding that her music can annihilate the sound-sensitive reapers and turning the dungeon's own rule into a leveling engine is exactly the sort of system exploitation I enjoy in LitRPG. The later Kaiming infiltration at the estate helps too, because the clan stops being cool inherited wallpaper and becomes a vulnerability. Ami taking a near-fatal hit to save Ken gives the rebuilt Nagato household an immediate human cost.
Charlotte Gets The Book She Needed
Charlotte is the relationship winner here. Her shyness is still part of her, but the story finally treats it as something she is working through rather than her entire personality. She chooses to witness the ugly side of Ken's family because she does not want to stand outside his life whenever it becomes uncomfortable. She worries about being the weak link, trains during breaks because healing keeps her comparatively static during combat drills, talks about the cold expectations she grew up with, and slowly stops treating Des and Fayeth as impossible standards she has to imitate. What I like most is that Ken does not "fix" her by turning her into another Des. He gives her room to move at her own pace. Des and Fayeth also help prepare a private romantic dinner instead of competing with her, which makes the harem itself feel cooperative rather than a queue of women waiting for their turn with the protagonist. When the relationship finally becomes sexual, the scene is explicit and lengthy, but the detail has a purpose beyond anatomy. Ken tells her to say what she likes, Charlotte communicates uncertainty and curiosity, and the scene remains recognisably theirs. That is exactly what I want from adult HaremLit: commit to the sex, but make me believe the people having it.
There is one irritating hole in Charlotte's combat writing near the climax. Earlier, she acquires Summon Guardian specifically as a last-resort movement skill that swaps her position with Bun-bun and gives him a temporary shield. The story even establishes that she knows how the swap works. Later, when an enemy holds a knife to her throat, nobody acknowledges the skill at all. Ken has to decide whether to risk an attack, Charlotte struggles physically, and she is cut when the hostage taker reacts. Maybe there was some limitation that would have prevented the swap, but the story never gives me one. When you introduce an emergency escape ability and then build an emergency around the same character, I am going to notice if the tool vanishes from the author's memory. "If you hang a rope beside the wolf and then push him off the cliff, tell me why he cannot grab it." It is a small continuity problem, but it lands in a major scene.
Crimson Is The Best Development In The Book
Crimson finally becomes emotionally dangerous in a way that has nothing to do with how many bodies she can turn into paste. Limit Break is a genuinely good character mechanic because her greatest strength is also what prevents intimacy. It activates as her heart rate rises, massively increases her abilities, and can overwhelm her rational control. She has isolated herself because she is afraid of what she could do to people close to her. Ken has the opposite fear. He starts believing she needs him as a solution to her problem and will disappear back into the deep Dungeon once he has served that purpose. That conflict is much better than a simple will-they-won't-they romance because neither of them can solve it by being hotter or stronger. They have to communicate about usefulness, equality, commitment, and what a relationship between a young adventurer and one of the strongest people alive could actually mean.
The maid-cafe material pays that arc off better than I expected. Crimson's custom gift, outfit, and metal choker are deliberately excessive, but the emotional idea underneath them is solid: she knows the power balance is grotesquely tilted toward her, so she voluntarily gives Ken something symbolic that places trust and vulnerability in his hands. She also has to practice controlling Limit Break while he touches her. That is intimacy built directly out of the story's power system. The inscription on the choker is unsubtle enough to make even an ice wolf raise an eyebrow, but subtle is not Crimson's species. What matters is that it is her choice and that Ken understands why she is doing it. The later climax then forces the same issue out of the bedroom and onto a battlefield. She has to unleash the thing she fears, and Ken has to trust the woman inside the storm even when the storm can kill him. That is a proper payoff.
The Sex Is Better When The Characters Stay In It
The sexual writing mostly understands what I want from this genre. These are not coy fade-outs pretending the harem is adult while refusing to write adult scenes. Des gets an explicit scene built around trust, experimentation, and a consensual use of Ken's Charm ability. Charlotte gets a very different first-time scene built around nerves, communication, and discovering what actually works for her. The tone changes with the woman instead of treating every partner as the same body with different hair. That earns points. Frequent teasing and porn jokes are not substitutes for the sex either; the book does eventually follow through with properly developed encounters.
The Des scene also contains one of the ugliest prose habits in the audiobook. The phrase "her sex" is repeated several times across only a few pages. Once or twice is a word choice. Repeating it again and again turns the wording into a metronome, and in audio repeated diction like that is especially hard to ignore. The problem is not explicitness. I want explicitness. The problem is writing an explicit scene and then reaching for the same clinical euphemism until the language starts sounding mechanical. It takes a scene with genuine trust and personality and sands some of the heat off it.
The Progression System Grows, Then The Story Skips The Climb
Mechanically, there is a lot here that I like. Ken begins at level five, gets new mana and magic training, adds Shadow Arm, learns more about nonlinear stat scaling, and eventually reaches mana manipulation as part of the curriculum. The raid material also pushes the class beyond isolated five-person parties into coordinating roles, event triggers, and recovery windows. Ken increasingly acts like someone who can coordinate people rather than merely kill the thing in front of him.
Then the audiobook compresses the grind. Days become weeks, weeks become months, and when the story checks Ken's sheet after the montage he is level eleven with several additional skills. By the ending he is level thirteen. I understand why an author does not want to narrate every scorpion kill for hundreds of pages, but there is a middle ground between stat-dump tedium and skipping the part where a LitRPG protagonist learns multiple new tools. I wanted to hear how Camouflage, Shadow Ambush, and Elemental Shield changed his decisions as they became part of his normal kit, not mostly meet them after the climb had already happened. 102 made painful incremental improvement feel satisfying. Here, some of the frost under the paws gets replaced by a sign saying "months later."
Harley Still Belongs In The Pack
I continue to like that Harley is allowed to matter without being absorbed into Ken's harem. She has her own attraction to women, her own romantic mess, her own relationship with Meredith, and a support role that becomes mechanically important. Ken eventually says plainly that he prefers a small harem where he knows each woman deeply, which is much better than treating "more women" as automatic progression. He also recognises Harley as integral because the party is becoming harder under constant Dungeon pressure and her levity keeps them from becoming emotionally brittle. That is the right answer to the question of whether a comic-relief character can belong in a serious adventuring party. She contributes to survival by keeping morale alive as well as by casting Haste.
The comedy does occasionally become too much. Grandpa's porn-magazine crusade, anime-style sexual gags, Bun-bun's endless insults, the "74 Wives" nonsense, and the maid-cafe spectacle can pile up until the book feels younger than its explicit sex and assassin politics suggest. The maid cafe itself is not useless filler, though. It becomes a public launch for the revived Silver Fangs, gives Ken contacts across the major schools and guilds, and turns the class joke about his harem into social capital. That is enough narrative function for me to tolerate the length. My deduction is for the repeated joke style, not for having a silly event in the first place.
The Darkest Backstory Arrives Too Late
Lysandra is more interesting once the story finally opens her head. The reveal that severe exploitation in childhood helped destroy her trust in ordinary human power structures gives understandable psychological roots to why the Kaiming promise of strength, control, and a new hierarchy could appeal to her. I have no problem with the book going that dark. If anything, that material is exactly where I want a story to stop being comfortable and show me why someone has become dangerous. My problem is the timing. We get the ugliest part of her history right as the betrayal is already unfolding. Instead of spending earlier chapters letting that damage shape how I hear her conversations, the story delivers a concentrated explanation immediately before the climax. That makes real trauma do some of the work of an exposition packet. Darkness has more bite when the scar changes the whole character, not when I am shown it seconds before the claws come out.
The Ending Finally Shows How Small Ken Still Is
The final battle is the strongest action in the volume because the power scale stops being theoretical. The portal catastrophe brings in enemies who can tear through famous high-level adventurers, and suddenly all the names Ken has grown up admiring are just bodies that can bleed. Crimson's fight against the naga matriarch works because it cashes in the Limit Break setup while the younger party still has its own urgent objective. Ken, Des, Fayeth, Charlotte, Bun-bun, their parents, Neldra, guild leaders, and other elites are all solving different pieces of the same disaster rather than standing around while the strongest woman handles everything.
The most important moment is not another level. Ken uses Absorb on catastrophically unstable portal magic and feels the attention of the Dungeon itself settle on him. His resulting new ability makes him strategically valuable enough that supposed allies immediately start looking at him differently. The pack is then physically split by the consequences of the fight, while Crimson ends on the wrong side of an enormous journey home. That is a cliffhanger, but it changes the board instead of simply cutting a scene in half. "Those are the endings I like. Leave tracks disappearing into a storm, but make sure the storm changed the world behind them."
The Writing Still Needs Another Editing Pass
The prose is cleaner in places than the previous volume, but it is not clean. There are genuine errors that survived into the finished text. "It can be simple errand" is missing an article. Fred says Ken being Crimson's protégé was "a big reason for my parents came back," which is broken construction. The book also uses "segway" when it means "segue," and it repeatedly starts sentences with the awkward "Though," construction. Add the repeated sexual diction and the pattern is too visible to call isolated typos. None of these mistakes destroys comprehension, but they keep catching claws on the surface of otherwise easy prose. A professional edit should have found them.
Audiobook Experience
I am leaving the narration neutral in the rating. I do not have a specific pronunciation, character-voice failure, recording defect, or volume problem from this listen strong enough to justify a separate adjustment. The clearest audio friction comes from the writing itself. Repeated phrases become more noticeable when spoken, and the closing battle demands attention because the viewpoint jumps rapidly among several characters. Those switches add scale, but they also make the climax feel more staccato than the cleaner party-focused fights earlier in the audiobook.
Conclusion
At 3.52/5.00, this is a good continuation with some of the strongest relationship work in the series so far, especially Charlotte and Crimson. The Nagato dungeon gives the progression system sharper teeth, the party finally feels like people choosing to build a life around one another rather than a collection of combat slots, the explicit scenes mostly earn their heat through character, and the ending proves that the world is much larger and more dangerous than Haylon's first few floors. The weaknesses are equally clear: too much of the middle progression is compressed, the prose still needs cleaning, one important Charlotte ability disappears exactly when it should matter, and Lysandra's darkest character material arrives too late to carry its full emotional weight.
I would keep diving. There are too many good tracks leading deeper now: the elves, the naga, the Dungeon itself, Crimson's loss of control, Ken's new strategic value, and a pack that has just been scattered across dangerous ground. The snow behind them is bloody, the path ahead is split, and for once the next howl is not coming from the schoolyard. It is coming from somewhere much deeper.
Starting score: 2.50
+0.24 for Charlotte's relationship arc and earned intimate payoff
+0.22 for Crimson's vulnerability, power imbalance, and developing bond with Ken
+0.19 for Nagato dungeon training and meaningful system experimentation
+0.18 for tactical party combat and raid coordination
+0.16 for expanded dungeon, clan, mana, portal, and naga world-building
+0.13 for explicit intimacy that usually remains character-specific and consensual
+0.10 for Harley and the party retaining distinct roles and personalities
+0.14 for a dangerous climax with real consequences
-0.10 for skipping too much of the mid-book level and skill progression
-0.07 for delivering Lysandra's darkest motivation too late and too compactly
-0.06 for failing to address Charlotte's established emergency swap ability in the hostage crisis
-0.08 for verified grammar, wording, and repetitive diction problems
-0.03 for comedy and sexual gags that occasionally overstay their welcome
Calculated final score: 3.52/5.00
The Pack Finally Starts Moving As One
Three volumes in, this is where the series starts feeling less like a collection of good ingredients and more like one functioning pack. The assassin legacy matters to the present plot, the harem relationships develop different emotional identities, the LitRPG mechanics expand beyond simple level numbers, Crimson becomes much more than the terrifying hot teacher, and the final conflict reaches far beyond school rivalries. Sexual jokes and fantasies are common, while fully explicit scenes recur without swallowing the whole story. Most of them commit to both physical detail and relationship context. The violence is equally willing to bare its fangs, moving through assassination attempts, torture, maiming, and a battle where supposedly untouchable people can die quickly. What keeps this at 3.52 instead of pushing into my four-star range is the middle. Just when the progression system should let me feel every claw finding purchase in the ice, the story starts skipping across the climb. I enjoyed where Ken ended up. I wanted more of the path under his paws.
The Nagato Dungeon Is Exactly The Kind Of Training I Wanted
The opening stretch is some of the strongest progression material in the series. Ken is dumped alone into his family's private dungeon at level five with almost none of his normal resources. The Ghastly Armor can copy techniques it sees, while the reapers are attracted by sound and spellcasting. That changes combat from "use the strongest ability available" into a problem of patience, information control, silence, timing, and deciding whether an ability is worth the consequence of announcing yourself. Crimson then makes the lesson nastier by deliberately teaching one of the mimic enemies some of her own attacks before sending it after him. "That is training with teeth. Hurt me, force me to adapt, and make the lesson matter." It also fits Ken's assassin direction far better than simply giving him another damage skill. Harley later finding that her music can annihilate the sound-sensitive reapers and turning the dungeon's own rule into a leveling engine is exactly the sort of system exploitation I enjoy in LitRPG. The later Kaiming infiltration at the estate helps too, because the clan stops being cool inherited wallpaper and becomes a vulnerability. Ami taking a near-fatal hit to save Ken gives the rebuilt Nagato household an immediate human cost.
Charlotte Gets The Book She Needed
Charlotte is the relationship winner here. Her shyness is still part of her, but the story finally treats it as something she is working through rather than her entire personality. She chooses to witness the ugly side of Ken's family because she does not want to stand outside his life whenever it becomes uncomfortable. She worries about being the weak link, trains during breaks because healing keeps her comparatively static during combat drills, talks about the cold expectations she grew up with, and slowly stops treating Des and Fayeth as impossible standards she has to imitate. What I like most is that Ken does not "fix" her by turning her into another Des. He gives her room to move at her own pace. Des and Fayeth also help prepare a private romantic dinner instead of competing with her, which makes the harem itself feel cooperative rather than a queue of women waiting for their turn with the protagonist. When the relationship finally becomes sexual, the scene is explicit and lengthy, but the detail has a purpose beyond anatomy. Ken tells her to say what she likes, Charlotte communicates uncertainty and curiosity, and the scene remains recognisably theirs. That is exactly what I want from adult HaremLit: commit to the sex, but make me believe the people having it.
There is one irritating hole in Charlotte's combat writing near the climax. Earlier, she acquires Summon Guardian specifically as a last-resort movement skill that swaps her position with Bun-bun and gives him a temporary shield. The story even establishes that she knows how the swap works. Later, when an enemy holds a knife to her throat, nobody acknowledges the skill at all. Ken has to decide whether to risk an attack, Charlotte struggles physically, and she is cut when the hostage taker reacts. Maybe there was some limitation that would have prevented the swap, but the story never gives me one. When you introduce an emergency escape ability and then build an emergency around the same character, I am going to notice if the tool vanishes from the author's memory. "If you hang a rope beside the wolf and then push him off the cliff, tell me why he cannot grab it." It is a small continuity problem, but it lands in a major scene.
Crimson Is The Best Development In The Book
Crimson finally becomes emotionally dangerous in a way that has nothing to do with how many bodies she can turn into paste. Limit Break is a genuinely good character mechanic because her greatest strength is also what prevents intimacy. It activates as her heart rate rises, massively increases her abilities, and can overwhelm her rational control. She has isolated herself because she is afraid of what she could do to people close to her. Ken has the opposite fear. He starts believing she needs him as a solution to her problem and will disappear back into the deep Dungeon once he has served that purpose. That conflict is much better than a simple will-they-won't-they romance because neither of them can solve it by being hotter or stronger. They have to communicate about usefulness, equality, commitment, and what a relationship between a young adventurer and one of the strongest people alive could actually mean.
The maid-cafe material pays that arc off better than I expected. Crimson's custom gift, outfit, and metal choker are deliberately excessive, but the emotional idea underneath them is solid: she knows the power balance is grotesquely tilted toward her, so she voluntarily gives Ken something symbolic that places trust and vulnerability in his hands. She also has to practice controlling Limit Break while he touches her. That is intimacy built directly out of the story's power system. The inscription on the choker is unsubtle enough to make even an ice wolf raise an eyebrow, but subtle is not Crimson's species. What matters is that it is her choice and that Ken understands why she is doing it. The later climax then forces the same issue out of the bedroom and onto a battlefield. She has to unleash the thing she fears, and Ken has to trust the woman inside the storm even when the storm can kill him. That is a proper payoff.
The Sex Is Better When The Characters Stay In It
The sexual writing mostly understands what I want from this genre. These are not coy fade-outs pretending the harem is adult while refusing to write adult scenes. Des gets an explicit scene built around trust, experimentation, and a consensual use of Ken's Charm ability. Charlotte gets a very different first-time scene built around nerves, communication, and discovering what actually works for her. The tone changes with the woman instead of treating every partner as the same body with different hair. That earns points. Frequent teasing and porn jokes are not substitutes for the sex either; the book does eventually follow through with properly developed encounters.
The Des scene also contains one of the ugliest prose habits in the audiobook. The phrase "her sex" is repeated several times across only a few pages. Once or twice is a word choice. Repeating it again and again turns the wording into a metronome, and in audio repeated diction like that is especially hard to ignore. The problem is not explicitness. I want explicitness. The problem is writing an explicit scene and then reaching for the same clinical euphemism until the language starts sounding mechanical. It takes a scene with genuine trust and personality and sands some of the heat off it.
The Progression System Grows, Then The Story Skips The Climb
Mechanically, there is a lot here that I like. Ken begins at level five, gets new mana and magic training, adds Shadow Arm, learns more about nonlinear stat scaling, and eventually reaches mana manipulation as part of the curriculum. The raid material also pushes the class beyond isolated five-person parties into coordinating roles, event triggers, and recovery windows. Ken increasingly acts like someone who can coordinate people rather than merely kill the thing in front of him.
Then the audiobook compresses the grind. Days become weeks, weeks become months, and when the story checks Ken's sheet after the montage he is level eleven with several additional skills. By the ending he is level thirteen. I understand why an author does not want to narrate every scorpion kill for hundreds of pages, but there is a middle ground between stat-dump tedium and skipping the part where a LitRPG protagonist learns multiple new tools. I wanted to hear how Camouflage, Shadow Ambush, and Elemental Shield changed his decisions as they became part of his normal kit, not mostly meet them after the climb had already happened. 102 made painful incremental improvement feel satisfying. Here, some of the frost under the paws gets replaced by a sign saying "months later."
Harley Still Belongs In The Pack
I continue to like that Harley is allowed to matter without being absorbed into Ken's harem. She has her own attraction to women, her own romantic mess, her own relationship with Meredith, and a support role that becomes mechanically important. Ken eventually says plainly that he prefers a small harem where he knows each woman deeply, which is much better than treating "more women" as automatic progression. He also recognises Harley as integral because the party is becoming harder under constant Dungeon pressure and her levity keeps them from becoming emotionally brittle. That is the right answer to the question of whether a comic-relief character can belong in a serious adventuring party. She contributes to survival by keeping morale alive as well as by casting Haste.
The comedy does occasionally become too much. Grandpa's porn-magazine crusade, anime-style sexual gags, Bun-bun's endless insults, the "74 Wives" nonsense, and the maid-cafe spectacle can pile up until the book feels younger than its explicit sex and assassin politics suggest. The maid cafe itself is not useless filler, though. It becomes a public launch for the revived Silver Fangs, gives Ken contacts across the major schools and guilds, and turns the class joke about his harem into social capital. That is enough narrative function for me to tolerate the length. My deduction is for the repeated joke style, not for having a silly event in the first place.
The Darkest Backstory Arrives Too Late
Lysandra is more interesting once the story finally opens her head. The reveal that severe exploitation in childhood helped destroy her trust in ordinary human power structures gives understandable psychological roots to why the Kaiming promise of strength, control, and a new hierarchy could appeal to her. I have no problem with the book going that dark. If anything, that material is exactly where I want a story to stop being comfortable and show me why someone has become dangerous. My problem is the timing. We get the ugliest part of her history right as the betrayal is already unfolding. Instead of spending earlier chapters letting that damage shape how I hear her conversations, the story delivers a concentrated explanation immediately before the climax. That makes real trauma do some of the work of an exposition packet. Darkness has more bite when the scar changes the whole character, not when I am shown it seconds before the claws come out.
The Ending Finally Shows How Small Ken Still Is
The final battle is the strongest action in the volume because the power scale stops being theoretical. The portal catastrophe brings in enemies who can tear through famous high-level adventurers, and suddenly all the names Ken has grown up admiring are just bodies that can bleed. Crimson's fight against the naga matriarch works because it cashes in the Limit Break setup while the younger party still has its own urgent objective. Ken, Des, Fayeth, Charlotte, Bun-bun, their parents, Neldra, guild leaders, and other elites are all solving different pieces of the same disaster rather than standing around while the strongest woman handles everything.
The most important moment is not another level. Ken uses Absorb on catastrophically unstable portal magic and feels the attention of the Dungeon itself settle on him. His resulting new ability makes him strategically valuable enough that supposed allies immediately start looking at him differently. The pack is then physically split by the consequences of the fight, while Crimson ends on the wrong side of an enormous journey home. That is a cliffhanger, but it changes the board instead of simply cutting a scene in half. "Those are the endings I like. Leave tracks disappearing into a storm, but make sure the storm changed the world behind them."
The Writing Still Needs Another Editing Pass
The prose is cleaner in places than the previous volume, but it is not clean. There are genuine errors that survived into the finished text. "It can be simple errand" is missing an article. Fred says Ken being Crimson's protégé was "a big reason for my parents came back," which is broken construction. The book also uses "segway" when it means "segue," and it repeatedly starts sentences with the awkward "Though," construction. Add the repeated sexual diction and the pattern is too visible to call isolated typos. None of these mistakes destroys comprehension, but they keep catching claws on the surface of otherwise easy prose. A professional edit should have found them.
Audiobook Experience
I am leaving the narration neutral in the rating. I do not have a specific pronunciation, character-voice failure, recording defect, or volume problem from this listen strong enough to justify a separate adjustment. The clearest audio friction comes from the writing itself. Repeated phrases become more noticeable when spoken, and the closing battle demands attention because the viewpoint jumps rapidly among several characters. Those switches add scale, but they also make the climax feel more staccato than the cleaner party-focused fights earlier in the audiobook.
Conclusion
At 3.52/5.00, this is a good continuation with some of the strongest relationship work in the series so far, especially Charlotte and Crimson. The Nagato dungeon gives the progression system sharper teeth, the party finally feels like people choosing to build a life around one another rather than a collection of combat slots, the explicit scenes mostly earn their heat through character, and the ending proves that the world is much larger and more dangerous than Haylon's first few floors. The weaknesses are equally clear: too much of the middle progression is compressed, the prose still needs cleaning, one important Charlotte ability disappears exactly when it should matter, and Lysandra's darkest character material arrives too late to carry its full emotional weight.
I would keep diving. There are too many good tracks leading deeper now: the elves, the naga, the Dungeon itself, Crimson's loss of control, Ken's new strategic value, and a pack that has just been scattered across dangerous ground. The snow behind them is bloody, the path ahead is split, and for once the next howl is not coming from the schoolyard. It is coming from somewhere much deeper.
March 25, 2026
The story/series itself is my #1 series of all time in the spicy romance category. I really like how the story evolves from just college schooling to interdimensional politics and then international danger. I enjoy the world building and explanations the author gives on the rules of the system and dungeons.
The world is set basically in modern times (cars, cell phones, internet) but the dungeons is basically this cosmic entity god like thing, where all the dungeons on earth eventually connect to the main dungeon branch, like a tree, the deeper you go, which again will connect to other worlds eventually, so that's how you get elves and other species.
My ONLY complaint is with the audio book version. I listened to the audio books (books 1-7) about 4 times within 15 months perhaps (because its my fav), then they change the two voice actors AND also deleted the original audiobooks with the new voice actors. No offence to the new VA, but they suck for this series. (Jessica Threet and Christopher Boucher) All the female characters sound too similar and just feel wrong for their personalities. I highly recommend torrenting the original version, since you can't just download it anymore, with Lewis Alexander and Rozelyn Rader. These voice actors do a fantastic job making all the characters feel and sound very unique. Why the author decided to change is beyond me but is the biggest mistake he's ever made.
The world is set basically in modern times (cars, cell phones, internet) but the dungeons is basically this cosmic entity god like thing, where all the dungeons on earth eventually connect to the main dungeon branch, like a tree, the deeper you go, which again will connect to other worlds eventually, so that's how you get elves and other species.
My ONLY complaint is with the audio book version. I listened to the audio books (books 1-7) about 4 times within 15 months perhaps (because its my fav), then they change the two voice actors AND also deleted the original audiobooks with the new voice actors. No offence to the new VA, but they suck for this series. (Jessica Threet and Christopher Boucher) All the female characters sound too similar and just feel wrong for their personalities. I highly recommend torrenting the original version, since you can't just download it anymore, with Lewis Alexander and Rozelyn Rader. These voice actors do a fantastic job making all the characters feel and sound very unique. Why the author decided to change is beyond me but is the biggest mistake he's ever made.
August 20, 2023
This series continues to amaze!
This has easily become one of my favorite series to read. The concept of a dungeon diving party slowly progressing through their levels and abilities speaks to a major part of my childhood and the book is just so much fun to read.
This has easily been one of my favorite books in the series. The further development of the Crimson/Ken relationship is intriguing and I can’t wait to see how he is able to aid Crimson with her Limit Break ability.
I have enjoyed the development of Des and Charlotte as well. I continue to watch their growth and level gain with interest. Harley is the one character I wonder about the most though, can she keep up with the other members or will they need to switch her out for a different support class. Fayeth seems to be growing into a study tank and it will be interesting seeing how her transition back to the elven world will eventually be.
This book ends with an epic fight and the a great cliff hanger. We see Ken, and the Silver Fangs, start to become major players again, I wonder what Ami’s role will be going forward, and how will Ken’s summer, and the rest of the ladies, progress as they try to find their way until new school year.
I absolutely can not wait to find out.
This has easily become one of my favorite series to read. The concept of a dungeon diving party slowly progressing through their levels and abilities speaks to a major part of my childhood and the book is just so much fun to read.
This has easily been one of my favorite books in the series. The further development of the Crimson/Ken relationship is intriguing and I can’t wait to see how he is able to aid Crimson with her Limit Break ability.
I have enjoyed the development of Des and Charlotte as well. I continue to watch their growth and level gain with interest. Harley is the one character I wonder about the most though, can she keep up with the other members or will they need to switch her out for a different support class. Fayeth seems to be growing into a study tank and it will be interesting seeing how her transition back to the elven world will eventually be.
This book ends with an epic fight and the a great cliff hanger. We see Ken, and the Silver Fangs, start to become major players again, I wonder what Ami’s role will be going forward, and how will Ken’s summer, and the rest of the ladies, progress as they try to find their way until new school year.
I absolutely can not wait to find out.
December 3, 2023
Gotta love a ninja dungeon diving story
The storyline got bogged down a bit because I couldnt remember the details of Neldra's place in the story. She is a troubleshooter for the elven empress who is pretending to have powers she doesnt really possess. The elven leadership needs the MC to share his power with her.
Also, the original story had more one-one action with the MC having to go all ninja on some enemies in the dungeon. While there was lots of monster fighting and a final battle, there just wasn't the same feel.
It was interesting, how the Kaiming and their sleeper agents had sold out to the new adversaries the Naga. There is good potential for the silver fangs to bring the dungeon and other guilds into a jihad against Kaiming now that they have been exposed as a fifth column for a powerful enemy of humanity. There could also be an opportunity for house cleaning the political landscape based on the Lysandra's backstory.
The romantic dance with Cinnamon is also interesting as she's got some issues and is quite relationally frustrated. The grandmas are also growing on me, but grandad seems to be very pervy. Waiting to see the development of the Ami character. The references to her non-expressive face seems to be foreshadowing.
The storyline got bogged down a bit because I couldnt remember the details of Neldra's place in the story. She is a troubleshooter for the elven empress who is pretending to have powers she doesnt really possess. The elven leadership needs the MC to share his power with her.
Also, the original story had more one-one action with the MC having to go all ninja on some enemies in the dungeon. While there was lots of monster fighting and a final battle, there just wasn't the same feel.
It was interesting, how the Kaiming and their sleeper agents had sold out to the new adversaries the Naga. There is good potential for the silver fangs to bring the dungeon and other guilds into a jihad against Kaiming now that they have been exposed as a fifth column for a powerful enemy of humanity. There could also be an opportunity for house cleaning the political landscape based on the Lysandra's backstory.
The romantic dance with Cinnamon is also interesting as she's got some issues and is quite relationally frustrated. The grandmas are also growing on me, but grandad seems to be very pervy. Waiting to see the development of the Ami character. The references to her non-expressive face seems to be foreshadowing.
November 13, 2024
I wish that I could give this book 4.5 stars. I really enjoyed the book. I'm still not a big fan of the assassin aspect to the book, but the author goes out of his way to justify the fact that certain people need to be killed whether in combat or out.
Keeping with the theme of romancing one woman per book, this book was all about romancing Charlotte and bringing her in as a full fledged member of the harem. He still gives plenty of attention to the two previous members of the harem Desmonde and Fayeth. Those the interactions with them are left mostly to the imagination. Sort of like in old television shows when the couple would close the door after going into the bedroom while kissing and undressing each other, you know what is going to happen, you'll just have to imagine it.
The story, after spending time at his grandfather's estate with his harem/group you learn more about his mother, Charlotte's father and her two sisters. It turns out his family has their own entrance to the dungeon on the estate.
After semester break is over it's back to Dungeon grinding. Everyone is eager to advance in levels only this time (Levels 5 to 10 are desert with lots of scorpions). The end of the school year is coming up with some explosive things happening.
Keeping with the theme of romancing one woman per book, this book was all about romancing Charlotte and bringing her in as a full fledged member of the harem. He still gives plenty of attention to the two previous members of the harem Desmonde and Fayeth. Those the interactions with them are left mostly to the imagination. Sort of like in old television shows when the couple would close the door after going into the bedroom while kissing and undressing each other, you know what is going to happen, you'll just have to imagine it.
The story, after spending time at his grandfather's estate with his harem/group you learn more about his mother, Charlotte's father and her two sisters. It turns out his family has their own entrance to the dungeon on the estate.
After semester break is over it's back to Dungeon grinding. Everyone is eager to advance in levels only this time (Levels 5 to 10 are desert with lots of scorpions). The end of the school year is coming up with some explosive things happening.
October 10, 2026
For all you can say about this series, it is very constant in quality.
While I have problems with the way the MC's power set is going, that is a purely personal gripe. I'm tired of assassin characters and have been for the majority of my life at this point. (I don't understand why they are so common, and everyone always treating them as if they are super rare and unique annoys me.) But other than that, the series continues to be a steady 6/10. A fun 6/10 at least.
Having taken a decently long break between this book and the previous I've come to appreciate Bruce Sentar's writing a fair bit more, as he is one of the better character writers in the LitRPG space, but I've also come to find some of the things he does more annoying. Leading to a weird situation where I like this series about the same amount I used too, but for completely different reasons.
This series is at its best when there is a large group of characters bantering and playing off each other, even though some of the newer characters don't have as much personality they are still able to play off the other characters in fun ways.
If you have enjoyed the previous books in the series, you will enjoy this one. If not, this one won't change your mind.
While I have problems with the way the MC's power set is going, that is a purely personal gripe. I'm tired of assassin characters and have been for the majority of my life at this point. (I don't understand why they are so common, and everyone always treating them as if they are super rare and unique annoys me.) But other than that, the series continues to be a steady 6/10. A fun 6/10 at least.
Having taken a decently long break between this book and the previous I've come to appreciate Bruce Sentar's writing a fair bit more, as he is one of the better character writers in the LitRPG space, but I've also come to find some of the things he does more annoying. Leading to a weird situation where I like this series about the same amount I used too, but for completely different reasons.
This series is at its best when there is a large group of characters bantering and playing off each other, even though some of the newer characters don't have as much personality they are still able to play off the other characters in fun ways.
If you have enjoyed the previous books in the series, you will enjoy this one. If not, this one won't change your mind.
August 16, 2026
STORY: I still really enjoy the characters, the worldbuilding, and the plotline. He has done a good job so far of keeping the harem to three main women (although there's already hints of multiple others that will likely join). He has escalated the threats and the size of the plots from just "diving the dungeon" to intrigue and even the start of a species war. I still really like the MC, and all of the women in the harem are great. There were multiple times I actually laughed out loud in the story. It ends on a bit of a cliffhanger which would have been frustrating if 104 wasn't already available.
AUDIO: The two narrators do a wonderful job. There's still a bit of the standard complaint of Threet's work in that the audio levels are inconsistent, and you will have things turned up because parts are quiet, and suddenly she's shouting. I blame whoever did the editing. Also, as many more women are present in this story vs. Tamer, her "reuse" of voices starts to become apparent and sometimes is harder to tell which character is speaking. Still, it was very enjoyable and I have already started 104.
AUDIO: The two narrators do a wonderful job. There's still a bit of the standard complaint of Threet's work in that the audio levels are inconsistent, and you will have things turned up because parts are quiet, and suddenly she's shouting. I blame whoever did the editing. Also, as many more women are present in this story vs. Tamer, her "reuse" of voices starts to become apparent and sometimes is harder to tell which character is speaking. Still, it was very enjoyable and I have already started 104.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 19, 2023
Ouch! I even read the book twice!
First and foremost, dungeon and Litrpg are the keys to the series. The Ken and Charlotte relationship was fine and didn't come close to the annoying line. Ken and Crimson, lets just say I felt sorry for the grandfather and Demon Lord.
Secondly, Ken's family needs to give the guild to Des, with the Elf as second in command. Tell Ken to keep the butler outfit. Des is wrong in one observation, a confident man makes a decision and worries about the fallout later. Indecisiveness, is a poor leadership trait. Additionally, in the middle of some major battles, Ken is more worried about his girls than the fight. Butler outfit is looking pretty good. Even his ladies know better, when did Ken start becoming a brick.
I could go on with some minor item, but I'll wait for book 4. Hopefully, Bruce rights the ship and Ken goes back to showing those leadership skills, that were growing in books 1 & 2.
If not I can always root for the grandfather and demon lord.
First and foremost, dungeon and Litrpg are the keys to the series. The Ken and Charlotte relationship was fine and didn't come close to the annoying line. Ken and Crimson, lets just say I felt sorry for the grandfather and Demon Lord.
Secondly, Ken's family needs to give the guild to Des, with the Elf as second in command. Tell Ken to keep the butler outfit. Des is wrong in one observation, a confident man makes a decision and worries about the fallout later. Indecisiveness, is a poor leadership trait. Additionally, in the middle of some major battles, Ken is more worried about his girls than the fight. Butler outfit is looking pretty good. Even his ladies know better, when did Ken start becoming a brick.
I could go on with some minor item, but I'll wait for book 4. Hopefully, Bruce rights the ship and Ken goes back to showing those leadership skills, that were growing in books 1 & 2.
If not I can always root for the grandfather and demon lord.
September 19, 2026
Improved writing quality
Ken and his harem continue their training off campus, at Ken's grandparents' estate, and then return to the academy for their next term.
Writing quality is better than the previous books, and is now about average for self-published KU. There are still many of the same types of errors, but they are far less prevalent now. Dialogue continues to feel stilted at times and issues with continuity and consistency remain. There is some very sloppy prose in places and a couple of sections with jarring changes, as if a few paragraphs are missing (the immediate aftermath of the final battle is a good example).
There are more perspective changes than in the previous book, but they are mostly handled relatively well. Most of the book is still first person from Ken's perspective, but there are a number of short third-person sections focusing on other characters.
Overall the significant improvement in writing quality makes this a much more readable book than the previous two. I enjoyed it.
Ken and his harem continue their training off campus, at Ken's grandparents' estate, and then return to the academy for their next term.
Writing quality is better than the previous books, and is now about average for self-published KU. There are still many of the same types of errors, but they are far less prevalent now. Dialogue continues to feel stilted at times and issues with continuity and consistency remain. There is some very sloppy prose in places and a couple of sections with jarring changes, as if a few paragraphs are missing (the immediate aftermath of the final battle is a good example).
There are more perspective changes than in the previous book, but they are mostly handled relatively well. Most of the book is still first person from Ken's perspective, but there are a number of short third-person sections focusing on other characters.
Overall the significant improvement in writing quality makes this a much more readable book than the previous two. I enjoyed it.
August 15, 2023
Another very good Bruce Sentar book
I have now caught up with Bruce’s releases which makes me sad as I now have to wait for monthly releases. This was a very good continuation of the story, but I’m sure Bruce is an anime fan as he likes to hit the standard anime tropes in his various stories (e.g. hot springs, beach, maid cafe’s etc.) The characters are now well defined and all have their place, the action is good and he has started skipping the occasional week/month of Dungeon grinding to get to the better scenes and speed up the teams growth within the story. Really enjoying this book, just like all the other ones Bruce has written.
I have now caught up with Bruce’s releases which makes me sad as I now have to wait for monthly releases. This was a very good continuation of the story, but I’m sure Bruce is an anime fan as he likes to hit the standard anime tropes in his various stories (e.g. hot springs, beach, maid cafe’s etc.) The characters are now well defined and all have their place, the action is good and he has started skipping the occasional week/month of Dungeon grinding to get to the better scenes and speed up the teams growth within the story. Really enjoying this book, just like all the other ones Bruce has written.
December 28, 2025
Great Series
This series has everything that I want in this genre: A likeable, competent MC, terrific and varied supporting characters involved in an awesome, expanding storyline. I especially like that the author involves numerous other females in addition to the harem members. Helen, as an example, is an unlikable character well into book three. When we learn more about her upbringing, we gain an understanding, and it looks like a good person may emerge. She, Harley and similar girls won't likely become harem members, but they add much to the chemistry of the story. Look forward to Book 4.
This series has everything that I want in this genre: A likeable, competent MC, terrific and varied supporting characters involved in an awesome, expanding storyline. I especially like that the author involves numerous other females in addition to the harem members. Helen, as an example, is an unlikable character well into book three. When we learn more about her upbringing, we gain an understanding, and it looks like a good person may emerge. She, Harley and similar girls won't likely become harem members, but they add much to the chemistry of the story. Look forward to Book 4.
November 5, 2023
Ken is learning to increase his levels at Haylon the only male at the academy .
Ken gets picked by Crimson to attend the all female Academy of Haylon . He must stay out of trouble an complete all exams and test an pass the first year semester . With Crimson as his teacher he must work harder than anyone else in the academy . He must reach the 10th floor an pass to graduate the first year .He makes friends an forms an 5 party group in order to delve into the dungeon to progress to the10th floor . recommend reading excellent series .
Ken gets picked by Crimson to attend the all female Academy of Haylon . He must stay out of trouble an complete all exams and test an pass the first year semester . With Crimson as his teacher he must work harder than anyone else in the academy . He must reach the 10th floor an pass to graduate the first year .He makes friends an forms an 5 party group in order to delve into the dungeon to progress to the10th floor . recommend reading excellent series .
March 8, 2024
I can't believe it's not isekai
The author has this way of building a world without using too many bricks. This is very much a "show, don't tell" philosophy, and I am here for it.
If, somehow, the west and the east could meet in the middle for a collaboration between story and art this feels like the right story to start with. Action, drama, characterization, and spice. So far, this series checks all the right boxes.
Makes me think the author has a thing for the older mentor type characters as well. Not a bad thing, but we see what they are doing. 👀
The author has this way of building a world without using too many bricks. This is very much a "show, don't tell" philosophy, and I am here for it.
If, somehow, the west and the east could meet in the middle for a collaboration between story and art this feels like the right story to start with. Action, drama, characterization, and spice. So far, this series checks all the right boxes.
Makes me think the author has a thing for the older mentor type characters as well. Not a bad thing, but we see what they are doing. 👀
April 28, 2024
Pretty solid addition to the story
Slow growth but there was a bit of a base pickup so that was appreciated. There was a very foreseeable quote twist unquote at the end of the story it was really poorly written and very contrived. Everyone kind of knew there was going to be a problem but the powers that be were just like oh well we don't have any proof so we're not going to do anything. And let a massive catastrophe unfold so that the protagonist would have something to fix.. disappointing but hopefully this is an exception and not the rule
Slow growth but there was a bit of a base pickup so that was appreciated. There was a very foreseeable quote twist unquote at the end of the story it was really poorly written and very contrived. Everyone kind of knew there was going to be a problem but the powers that be were just like oh well we don't have any proof so we're not going to do anything. And let a massive catastrophe unfold so that the protagonist would have something to fix.. disappointing but hopefully this is an exception and not the rule
May 24, 2024
In the third part of this series there is a nice description of the fight against the first raid boss and a somewhat farfetched finale with an epic fight. Still, it wraps up the first story arc nicely, where the team starts off their dungeon diving training / leveling / career but also encounters some old enemies. For the experienced reader of these kinds of stories it's also clear that pretty soon Ken will become OP as hell, but for now everything is still chill and cute. Again a nice easy read / listen.
September 26, 2025
This book starts out of similar quality as the first two (which to me is a good thing). Great characters, interesting plot and family dynamics, and fight scenes that hold your interest. These alone place this series above most harem fantasy I've read. But this one starts to get a little too corny and boring in the later half, I just didn't find all the 'spy mission' kind of stuff interesting. Almost like it was taken from another book by another author, it just didn't fit with the rest of the series.
August 12, 2023
The plot thickens.
Enjoyable continuation, training montage followed by more dungeon grinding with romance and deepening relations and some fun, an especially adorable Crimson. The enemy is more solidly identified tied into the world and ends with a twist that might’ve been hinted at and the end leaves you wishing the next book was out now, plus I like never review books so that’s evidence it’s worth a read personally.
Enjoyable continuation, training montage followed by more dungeon grinding with romance and deepening relations and some fun, an especially adorable Crimson. The enemy is more solidly identified tied into the world and ends with a twist that might’ve been hinted at and the end leaves you wishing the next book was out now, plus I like never review books so that’s evidence it’s worth a read personally.
August 13, 2023
This was a fun book in Bruce Sentar's latest series. Dungeon Diving has become my favorite series he writes.
This volume starts with Ken and his party training at his grandparents' estate. The ramifications of Ken's decision to bring back the clan begin to rear its head. We get some more progression. More Kaiming shenanigans. Some progress on the Naga threads and Trelican threads.
There is a bit of a cliffhanger.
This volume starts with Ken and his party training at his grandparents' estate. The ramifications of Ken's decision to bring back the clan begin to rear its head. We get some more progression. More Kaiming shenanigans. Some progress on the Naga threads and Trelican threads.
There is a bit of a cliffhanger.
August 16, 2023
Loving this series
Can't wait to see where Ken and Crimson are going in this series. It's been highly enjoyable so far and this is one of my very favorite LitRPG series to date. I'm looking forward to the next installment and I hope this ends up being a longer series that maintains its key features along the way. Thank you Bruce Sentar for providing so much entertainment. It's greatly appreciated!
Can't wait to see where Ken and Crimson are going in this series. It's been highly enjoyable so far and this is one of my very favorite LitRPG series to date. I'm looking forward to the next installment and I hope this ends up being a longer series that maintains its key features along the way. Thank you Bruce Sentar for providing so much entertainment. It's greatly appreciated!
October 9, 2023
Help me read more books
Things get serious (in more ways than one) in this installment of the story, and while I still think the Harem stuff could be left out, the story itself progresses nicely, and makes for some good reading. Going to read more in this series, since I'm interested to see the various adventures of the groups, as they break into their separate pieces. It promises to be a lot of fun.
Things get serious (in more ways than one) in this installment of the story, and while I still think the Harem stuff could be left out, the story itself progresses nicely, and makes for some good reading. Going to read more in this series, since I'm interested to see the various adventures of the groups, as they break into their separate pieces. It promises to be a lot of fun.
March 10, 2024
This was more "meh" than the other books.
I'm not getting the overpowered protagonist vibes I get from the author's other books.
This just seems to be about the harems.
Also
Will read the sequel.
3/5 Stars
I'm not getting the overpowered protagonist vibes I get from the author's other books.
This just seems to be about the harems.
Also
Will read the sequel.
3/5 Stars
December 3, 2024
A third part that disappointed me: the author seems to lose the thread of his plot.
Far too many useless details on things without interest. Useless and very dull sex scenes. The narration goes in all directions, we jump from one point of view to another from one page to another without any logic.
A transitional volume that does not seem to have fascinated its own author.
Only the last moments of the book, with a twist and action galore saved this third part from infamy.
Far too many useless details on things without interest. Useless and very dull sex scenes. The narration goes in all directions, we jump from one point of view to another from one page to another without any logic.
A transitional volume that does not seem to have fascinated its own author.
Only the last moments of the book, with a twist and action galore saved this third part from infamy.
March 23, 2025
The series is really starting to grow on me.
The first two books while not bad, weren’t amazing to me either.
They were good enough that I listened to them thinking it was a good in between series.
This book however has left me wanting to see what happens next.
I think the characters are better, and the story has definitely improved.
There are still one or two things that annoy me, but overall I’m enjoying myself a lot more listening to this series.
The first two books while not bad, weren’t amazing to me either.
They were good enough that I listened to them thinking it was a good in between series.
This book however has left me wanting to see what happens next.
I think the characters are better, and the story has definitely improved.
There are still one or two things that annoy me, but overall I’m enjoying myself a lot more listening to this series.
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