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Dungeon Life #1
Dungeon Life: An Isekai LitRPG
In the first book of this thrilling isekai adventure series, a human becomes a dungeon—and soon that dungeon becomes something much, much more . . .
The usual result of a human taking a runaway semitruck head-on is a very sudden, very fast track to the pearly gates. But for one newly noncorporeal man, there’s another become a dungeon. Feeling sorry for the desperate angel assigned to him, the man relents. Heck, if it doesn’t work out, he can always chat with Saint Peter about it later.
Next thing you know, he’s a dungeon. Admittedly, a small, run-down, somewhat unimpressive dungeon (more of a house, actually), but you gotta start somewhere, right? Slowly but surely, the new dungeon learns the ropes, building himself up with scions of every creepy-crawly sort he can find; gathering mana; dealing with invaders, delvers, noobs, and annoying guild reps; and gradually becoming a local legend known as Thedeim (get it?).
The more Thedeim’s power and reputation grows, the more he becomes a part of his new world—and the more its various denizens become a part of his. But how is a proper dungeon supposed to instill spine-shattering, mind-melting terror in a pack of questing adventurers when it’s so much more fun to play along with them?
The first volume of the hit LitRPG fantasy series—with more than seven million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!
The usual result of a human taking a runaway semitruck head-on is a very sudden, very fast track to the pearly gates. But for one newly noncorporeal man, there’s another become a dungeon. Feeling sorry for the desperate angel assigned to him, the man relents. Heck, if it doesn’t work out, he can always chat with Saint Peter about it later.
Next thing you know, he’s a dungeon. Admittedly, a small, run-down, somewhat unimpressive dungeon (more of a house, actually), but you gotta start somewhere, right? Slowly but surely, the new dungeon learns the ropes, building himself up with scions of every creepy-crawly sort he can find; gathering mana; dealing with invaders, delvers, noobs, and annoying guild reps; and gradually becoming a local legend known as Thedeim (get it?).
The more Thedeim’s power and reputation grows, the more he becomes a part of his new world—and the more its various denizens become a part of his. But how is a proper dungeon supposed to instill spine-shattering, mind-melting terror in a pack of questing adventurers when it’s so much more fun to play along with them?
The first volume of the hit LitRPG fantasy series—with more than seven million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!
361 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 6, 2024
419 people are currently reading
322 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews
August 6, 2024
This is an interesting take on a very slim niche (isekai with dungeon core). It's a portal fantasy where an engineer from our world dies in such a way as to give him options to try something else and isn't tempted until "be a dungeon" shows up. He signs up and finds himself a crystal-like shard in an abandoned manor with a rat and spider spawner (to create denizens for his dungeon). He starts experimenting from there.
What I loved about this is the thoughtful exploration at the core of the story. Unlike most dungeon core stories, the mechanics here reward our guy when people bring "will and intent" to bear by fighting his denizens or overcoming challenges he creates. So he doesn't have to kill people to advance; he just has to give them a challenge. He eventually finds out (not through personal experience) that you can earn more for killing folks, but he sees that as the worst of short-term thinking (in addition to being immoral). So he throws himself into maximizing his growth by maximizing the risk/reward of those delvers who would visit him for experience. It's classic win-win and I love that about the setup.
The surrounding world has all the standard fantasy races; and many non-standard ones*, as well. So we have goblin citizens teaming with elves and trolls and bird people and nobody thinks anything of it except that each excels in different ways. And I loved the secondary characters the author draws in as we see them grow and develop friendships (among themselves, yes, but also with the dungeon in their own ways). And it was pretty awesome when we learn that upgrading his spawners culminates in creating enclaves that become independent of the dungeon and are free-willed citizens in this world in their own right.
And I liked, as well, learning the different flavors of dungeons in this world. There's an official dungeon monitoring organization that breaks them down into toyboxes (play places with low challenge and commiserate rewards, including resource "nodes" that spawn things like lumber, ore, and food), cooperative (like our guy who you can't take for granted but aren't actually malevolent), and murderous ones that take the shortsighted view of killing folks for their mana.
Our guy (I don't think we learn his name before he isekaied into a dungeon) develops his scions, experiments with magic and alchemy, and grows into an independent power in his neighborhood (including taking on a murderous dungeon across town). And I was wholly along for the ride.
This was an easy five stars, but I knew it would be because this is another I've been reading on Royal Road for quite some time. I picked up the book because I wanted to stroll through memory and remember Thediem (as he eventually becomes known—a transliteration of "The DM") in his early days. It does end rather abruptly (no cliffhanger) but that's a danger of serialized stories being published as books. There are longer story arcs with appropriate climax and denouement, but breaking at those points would have made for very awkwardly-sized novels.
* While there is nearly every fantasy race, there is one omission .
A note about tone: One of the things I've loved about this story is that it's very slice-of-life in the best way. If you twisted my arm enough to make me characterize it I might call it cozy dungeon core. So it's a gentle story and you just don't see a lot of that in LitRPG in general, but particularly in dungeon core stories.
A note about Chaste: Um. He's a dungeon. There's no sex, despite all the "spawners". And a dungeon isn't exactly a place people go to do shenanigans. This is as chaste as you can get, honestly...
What I loved about this is the thoughtful exploration at the core of the story. Unlike most dungeon core stories, the mechanics here reward our guy when people bring "will and intent" to bear by fighting his denizens or overcoming challenges he creates. So he doesn't have to kill people to advance; he just has to give them a challenge. He eventually finds out (not through personal experience) that you can earn more for killing folks, but he sees that as the worst of short-term thinking (in addition to being immoral). So he throws himself into maximizing his growth by maximizing the risk/reward of those delvers who would visit him for experience. It's classic win-win and I love that about the setup.
The surrounding world has all the standard fantasy races; and many non-standard ones*, as well. So we have goblin citizens teaming with elves and trolls and bird people and nobody thinks anything of it except that each excels in different ways. And I loved the secondary characters the author draws in as we see them grow and develop friendships (among themselves, yes, but also with the dungeon in their own ways). And it was pretty awesome when we learn that upgrading his spawners culminates in creating enclaves that become independent of the dungeon and are free-willed citizens in this world in their own right.
And I liked, as well, learning the different flavors of dungeons in this world. There's an official dungeon monitoring organization that breaks them down into toyboxes (play places with low challenge and commiserate rewards, including resource "nodes" that spawn things like lumber, ore, and food), cooperative (like our guy who you can't take for granted but aren't actually malevolent), and murderous ones that take the shortsighted view of killing folks for their mana.
Our guy (I don't think we learn his name before he isekaied into a dungeon) develops his scions, experiments with magic and alchemy, and grows into an independent power in his neighborhood (including taking on a murderous dungeon across town). And I was wholly along for the ride.
This was an easy five stars, but I knew it would be because this is another I've been reading on Royal Road for quite some time. I picked up the book because I wanted to stroll through memory and remember Thediem (as he eventually becomes known—a transliteration of "The DM") in his early days. It does end rather abruptly (no cliffhanger) but that's a danger of serialized stories being published as books. There are longer story arcs with appropriate climax and denouement, but breaking at those points would have made for very awkwardly-sized novels.
* While there is nearly every fantasy race, there is one omission .
A note about tone: One of the things I've loved about this story is that it's very slice-of-life in the best way. If you twisted my arm enough to make me characterize it I might call it cozy dungeon core. So it's a gentle story and you just don't see a lot of that in LitRPG in general, but particularly in dungeon core stories.
A note about Chaste: Um. He's a dungeon. There's no sex, despite all the "spawners". And a dungeon isn't exactly a place people go to do shenanigans. This is as chaste as you can get, honestly...
May 11, 2025
This was a fun dungeon-core/base-builder story that I picked up on a whim. While the subgenre isn't hurting for entries, it's one that I've struggled to enjoy, so it was nice to find a good one.
Plot - 8/10, Character - 9/10, Setting and Mechanics - 9/10, Writing - 8/10, Enjoyment - 8/10
Plot
This has a pretty standard premise of a person from modern Earth who gets a visit from Truck-kun and ends up reincarnated as a dungeon core in a fantasy-inspired world. A slight difference would be that our MC meets with an angel who gives him the option of going to the Pearly Gates or giving reincarnation a shot. She seems adamant about selling him on becoming a dungeon core, for reasons that may or may not be revisited deeper into the series.
It's a premise more than a plot, but that's not a bad thing for a base-building story. Book 1 is more about introducing the world and mechanics, and I think trying to introduce too much plot isn't necessary at the moment.
Character
Our MC is a fairly typical personality. He was an engineer in his Earth life, but otherwise we learn little about him. His perspective has some fun, low-key humor that occasionally dips a bit into trying-too-hard territory, but not enough to get in the way of things.
The side characters, namely the various dungeon minions, are the highlight of the story for me. Each type of dungeon mob has a leader of sorts, called a scion, and they are the lieutenants who get things done on behalf of the dungeon. The variety of characters is the strongest aspect and I didn't have a hard time keeping track of them.
We also meet a few people in the surrounding town, namely a handful of adventurers/dungeoneers and a few representatives of the Dungeoneer Guild.
Setting and Mechanics
The world is populated by your standard fantasy races: elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, kobolds, and rat-kin. They are all part of the same society rather than any Alliance vs Horde divisions. A notable absence is that there seems to be no humans in this world, so I'm curious where that development might lead.
I enjoyed the dungeon mechanics and how well they fit into the worldbuilding. Generally, dungeons are beneficial entities for the world, serving to smooth out the environmental mana as the people stir it up with their various skills and magic. The main antagonists of the world are monsters that will attack any non-monster as well as try to destroy dungeon cores.
Writing
The writing was functional and pretty smooth. I don't remember any glaring proofreading issues or clunkiness that got in the way of clarity. The author does have a habit of using multiple weasel words in the same sentence. I'm referring to those extra words that rarely contribute additional meaning to a sentence such as: basically, actually, and just. They're relatively innocuous and are primarily an issue in shorter stories with a word count limit, but I couldn't help but notice them when they were repeated within the same sentence.
Enjoyment
I enjoyed this quite a bit. I've struggled to find strategy gamelit stories to enjoy and dungeon-core offers similar story beats, though I've historically found most of them mediocre, walking the tired path established by The Divine Dungeon years ago. I'm hesitant to set my standards too high, but I'll definitely check out the next volume and see where things go.
Plot - 8/10, Character - 9/10, Setting and Mechanics - 9/10, Writing - 8/10, Enjoyment - 8/10
Plot
This has a pretty standard premise of a person from modern Earth who gets a visit from Truck-kun and ends up reincarnated as a dungeon core in a fantasy-inspired world. A slight difference would be that our MC meets with an angel who gives him the option of going to the Pearly Gates or giving reincarnation a shot. She seems adamant about selling him on becoming a dungeon core, for reasons that may or may not be revisited deeper into the series.
It's a premise more than a plot, but that's not a bad thing for a base-building story. Book 1 is more about introducing the world and mechanics, and I think trying to introduce too much plot isn't necessary at the moment.
Character
Our MC is a fairly typical personality. He was an engineer in his Earth life, but otherwise we learn little about him. His perspective has some fun, low-key humor that occasionally dips a bit into trying-too-hard territory, but not enough to get in the way of things.
The side characters, namely the various dungeon minions, are the highlight of the story for me. Each type of dungeon mob has a leader of sorts, called a scion, and they are the lieutenants who get things done on behalf of the dungeon. The variety of characters is the strongest aspect and I didn't have a hard time keeping track of them.
We also meet a few people in the surrounding town, namely a handful of adventurers/dungeoneers and a few representatives of the Dungeoneer Guild.
Setting and Mechanics
The world is populated by your standard fantasy races: elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, kobolds, and rat-kin. They are all part of the same society rather than any Alliance vs Horde divisions. A notable absence is that there seems to be no humans in this world, so I'm curious where that development might lead.
I enjoyed the dungeon mechanics and how well they fit into the worldbuilding. Generally, dungeons are beneficial entities for the world, serving to smooth out the environmental mana as the people stir it up with their various skills and magic. The main antagonists of the world are monsters that will attack any non-monster as well as try to destroy dungeon cores.
Writing
The writing was functional and pretty smooth. I don't remember any glaring proofreading issues or clunkiness that got in the way of clarity. The author does have a habit of using multiple weasel words in the same sentence. I'm referring to those extra words that rarely contribute additional meaning to a sentence such as: basically, actually, and just. They're relatively innocuous and are primarily an issue in shorter stories with a word count limit, but I couldn't help but notice them when they were repeated within the same sentence.
Enjoyment
I enjoyed this quite a bit. I've struggled to find strategy gamelit stories to enjoy and dungeon-core offers similar story beats, though I've historically found most of them mediocre, walking the tired path established by The Divine Dungeon years ago. I'm hesitant to set my standards too high, but I'll definitely check out the next volume and see where things go.
September 10, 2025
3.5 🌟 The constant nerdy comparisons to things to actual fantasy games and media, as well as the repeated use of online slang like "birb" are not my cup of tea, but other than that it is a pleasant story.
April 6, 2024
Love!
I absolutely loved this book. I have stayed up past 4am for two nights in a row just to finish it. I will wait as long as it takes to get more from this author.
I absolutely loved this book. I have stayed up past 4am for two nights in a row just to finish it. I will wait as long as it takes to get more from this author.
April 12, 2024
Cozy dungeon litrpg. It was fun but I did not realize that this is not standalone. I didn't want to read a bunch of these.
May 24, 2025
A ton of fun!
The start made me really worried about how this book would go, but it got the ball rolling and its so interesting of a concept.
I actually grabbed this because there was a Tumblr post along similar lines and several people recommend this series because of it.
Can't wait to see how it goes from here.
The start made me really worried about how this book would go, but it got the ball rolling and its so interesting of a concept.
I actually grabbed this because there was a Tumblr post along similar lines and several people recommend this series because of it.
Can't wait to see how it goes from here.
March 20, 2024
There is no charm.
May 6, 2025
Just a cozy adventure. Feels like it could've used a bit more of a plot though.
April 28, 2025
Great story line but a bit long winded
I give this book 5 stars because it is a great story but it is a bit long winded the author does a lot of telling instead of showing. I still recommend the book and look forward to reading the second 1.
I give this book 5 stars because it is a great story but it is a bit long winded the author does a lot of telling instead of showing. I still recommend the book and look forward to reading the second 1.
May 20, 2025
A very unique idea for a litRPG, instead of becoming a character, that MC is a dungeon. The idea that dungeon are alive, sentient, talk, and co-exist with other creatures in the world are also quite unique and interesting. I do think the author pulls this off relatively well.
The side characters all develop well in the story. The supporting cast grow as characters and are interesting. None of them are bland and just seem to be one page NPCs. I do think the unique set up (the MC being a dungeon) means the other characters really need more progression and development. So, if the author fails to do that, this would have fallen really flat. But, credit where its due, the book does a good job developing overall.
The world building is interesting. Book #1 stays exclusive in a small town but you do get glimpse of the outside world through the "inspector" visiting other dungeons. You also get mentions of larger cities and the kingdom but never really enough to know much about it.
Now for the not so good/bad stuff:
This book reads more like Chapter #1 than Book #1. There are many many plot points that are started in this book and none of them developed into fruition in this book. I personally hate this. I despise books that are design/written to sell other books and this book 100% is a book written to sell other books because it does not actually have much meat to its story.
There is one "climax" in this story when the MC fight another dungeon but that happens in the first 1/3 of the book. The rest of the book is just showing you plot points that doesn't happen in Book #1. The entire book feels like a teaser for you to read further into the series. The MC isn't like special or super powerful or anything like that (common problems in litRPGs) but the MC really just never gets challenge aside from the fight with another dungeon. Again, to clarify, the MC didn't have to deal with problems, not because he was too powerful but rather there wasn't any real problem that happens. The book hints at multiple big problems that will be happening but none of them happen in Book #1.
Overall, I think the book is a solid 3-3.5 out of 5 but I feel obligated to bring it down to 2 /5 for these major problems I have with it. I think I might continue reading the series and see where it goes though. But if Book #2 continues to have the same problems then I'll likely stop there.
The side characters all develop well in the story. The supporting cast grow as characters and are interesting. None of them are bland and just seem to be one page NPCs. I do think the unique set up (the MC being a dungeon) means the other characters really need more progression and development. So, if the author fails to do that, this would have fallen really flat. But, credit where its due, the book does a good job developing overall.
The world building is interesting. Book #1 stays exclusive in a small town but you do get glimpse of the outside world through the "inspector" visiting other dungeons. You also get mentions of larger cities and the kingdom but never really enough to know much about it.
Now for the not so good/bad stuff:
This book reads more like Chapter #1 than Book #1. There are many many plot points that are started in this book and none of them developed into fruition in this book. I personally hate this. I despise books that are design/written to sell other books and this book 100% is a book written to sell other books because it does not actually have much meat to its story.
There is one "climax" in this story when the MC fight another dungeon but that happens in the first 1/3 of the book. The rest of the book is just showing you plot points that doesn't happen in Book #1. The entire book feels like a teaser for you to read further into the series. The MC isn't like special or super powerful or anything like that (common problems in litRPGs) but the MC really just never gets challenge aside from the fight with another dungeon. Again, to clarify, the MC didn't have to deal with problems, not because he was too powerful but rather there wasn't any real problem that happens. The book hints at multiple big problems that will be happening but none of them happen in Book #1.
Overall, I think the book is a solid 3-3.5 out of 5 but I feel obligated to bring it down to 2 /5 for these major problems I have with it. I think I might continue reading the series and see where it goes though. But if Book #2 continues to have the same problems then I'll likely stop there.
September 13, 2024
Young adult level fiction
I made about 30% of the way through the book and it's not a bad book and it's got some laughs in it but it's incredibly tame writing.
There's pretty much no violence and this is a book about a dungeon.
For example instead of killing people he has a spider wrapped them up and gently place them outside his dungeon.
It's just boring and there's really nothing at risk.
I made about 30% of the way through the book and it's not a bad book and it's got some laughs in it but it's incredibly tame writing.
There's pretty much no violence and this is a book about a dungeon.
For example instead of killing people he has a spider wrapped them up and gently place them outside his dungeon.
It's just boring and there's really nothing at risk.
August 4, 2024
First up, I’m an extremely picky reader. If I’m not enjoying a book, I won’t finish it—but I did. I enjoyed this story, but although it was good, I won’t pretend it was a great book. It was an interesting and fun read, yet the story had a number of flaws, and I wanted to talk about them briefly here so that you go into this read with your eyes open.
The LitRPG has always—well, for the brief time the format has even existed—been a curious sort of story. The author is taking what is essentially a game and writing about it so you can read how it played out instead of playing the game yourself. In doing so, the author can pick any point along the spectrum from obscuring the mechanics completely (a traditional fantasy story) to the other extreme where the author is telling you what the dice rolled (TTRPG) or which button was clicked (videogame).
Call me biased, but I feel like the traditional fantasy end of this spectrum is a lot more “classy” or “professional”, and the other extreme is just lazy writing. I prefer fantasy, and I put up with some game mechanics in the telling. Dungeon Life is definitely written at the clicking the buttons end of the spectrum. If you don’t mind this, then no problem.
Secondly, Khenal wrote the narration in present tense. Who does that? I really hate that.
Third, we know nothing about the main character. I don’t need a ton of background, but all we get is a couple paragraphs of, “I died and an angel let me reincarnate as a dungeon.” Okay, that’s nice, but what’s the main character’s name? We never find out. Was he some teenager living in Mom’s basement? Was he an older guy who left a family behind? There isn’t even a single moment where he thinks about a wife, a child, a parent, whatever, and whether they might be upset that he’s gone. That feels … odd. I kept thinking that the author might reveal that sort of thing near the end as a surprise, but nope. The entire story is him playing this reincarnation game without any interspection on who this main character is nor what his name might be.
And speaking of endings, the book just ends at what feels like an arbitrary moment. It’s almost as if the author was typing along and eventually said, “Yeah, that’s enough pages. Anything else can go in the sequel.”
And finally, there were numerous moments where the narration repeats itself, where the main character thinks a thing and only a couple sentences later, he tells us that same thought again. The writing was copyedited well for spelling, punctuation, and grammar, but it could have used a better proofreader to remove some of this repetition and to smooth out other places where the main character deduces things without any proof.
Despite all this bad-mouthing the story, it still was fun. I’m giving it four stars for being good, but not great.
The LitRPG has always—well, for the brief time the format has even existed—been a curious sort of story. The author is taking what is essentially a game and writing about it so you can read how it played out instead of playing the game yourself. In doing so, the author can pick any point along the spectrum from obscuring the mechanics completely (a traditional fantasy story) to the other extreme where the author is telling you what the dice rolled (TTRPG) or which button was clicked (videogame).
Call me biased, but I feel like the traditional fantasy end of this spectrum is a lot more “classy” or “professional”, and the other extreme is just lazy writing. I prefer fantasy, and I put up with some game mechanics in the telling. Dungeon Life is definitely written at the clicking the buttons end of the spectrum. If you don’t mind this, then no problem.
Secondly, Khenal wrote the narration in present tense. Who does that? I really hate that.
Third, we know nothing about the main character. I don’t need a ton of background, but all we get is a couple paragraphs of, “I died and an angel let me reincarnate as a dungeon.” Okay, that’s nice, but what’s the main character’s name? We never find out. Was he some teenager living in Mom’s basement? Was he an older guy who left a family behind? There isn’t even a single moment where he thinks about a wife, a child, a parent, whatever, and whether they might be upset that he’s gone. That feels … odd. I kept thinking that the author might reveal that sort of thing near the end as a surprise, but nope. The entire story is him playing this reincarnation game without any interspection on who this main character is nor what his name might be.
And speaking of endings, the book just ends at what feels like an arbitrary moment. It’s almost as if the author was typing along and eventually said, “Yeah, that’s enough pages. Anything else can go in the sequel.”
And finally, there were numerous moments where the narration repeats itself, where the main character thinks a thing and only a couple sentences later, he tells us that same thought again. The writing was copyedited well for spelling, punctuation, and grammar, but it could have used a better proofreader to remove some of this repetition and to smooth out other places where the main character deduces things without any proof.
Despite all this bad-mouthing the story, it still was fun. I’m giving it four stars for being good, but not great.
November 24, 2024
3,5 stars...
This is actually the first book I read where the MC is not a person or humanoid being but actually a dungeon core. It was a bit weird but it was an interesting story.
I loved how the MC built the dungeon and expanded, adding interesting things for delvers to do. He treated himself as a training ground for adventurers and he even started dividing zones by difficulty. It was really enjoyable to read.
I liked the addition of the multiple POVs, it gave more dimension to the story and it kept it moving. The animals POVs were kept short and to the point and I liked it.
The author did lose me a bit when all the engineering stuff were introduced, I understood some concepts but most went over my head and it bored me a bit, probably for people who can understand it, it might be more enjoyable seeing its application on magic. There were few spelling mistakes. If I have to say what lowered my enjoyment the most was the placement of questions marks in affirmative sentences... At first I thought it was a mistake, but after a while I understood that it was on purpose. Now, it didn't matter how much I read and re-read, I couldn't understand what the reason was for them. I like reading, and I've been reading since quite a young age but I've never seen this way of using question marks... The closest I've seen, though it's not exactly the same, is Japanese authors adding after an affirmative sentence a " maybe? Perhaps? Hopefully" to add a comedic tone to the story... But in this book it might have applied to 5% of the times... Most of the times it was added in quite important moments or when it was obviously not a question in any form, so I couldn't comprehend why the question marks were there and they were quite distracting and pulled me out of the story every single time.
Overall it was an interesting story and I will read the next book to see what else happens.
POV: multiple
Tropes: dungeon core, building a dungeon, getting animals and monsters for the dungeon, light-hearted.
Spice: none (no love interest)
CW: mentions of murderous dungeons, a little bit of violence (not descriptive), and well, there were a LOT of spiders so not for the ones who don't like them. Overall quite a light-hearted story
This is actually the first book I read where the MC is not a person or humanoid being but actually a dungeon core. It was a bit weird but it was an interesting story.
I loved how the MC built the dungeon and expanded, adding interesting things for delvers to do. He treated himself as a training ground for adventurers and he even started dividing zones by difficulty. It was really enjoyable to read.
I liked the addition of the multiple POVs, it gave more dimension to the story and it kept it moving. The animals POVs were kept short and to the point and I liked it.
The author did lose me a bit when all the engineering stuff were introduced, I understood some concepts but most went over my head and it bored me a bit, probably for people who can understand it, it might be more enjoyable seeing its application on magic. There were few spelling mistakes. If I have to say what lowered my enjoyment the most was the placement of questions marks in affirmative sentences... At first I thought it was a mistake, but after a while I understood that it was on purpose. Now, it didn't matter how much I read and re-read, I couldn't understand what the reason was for them. I like reading, and I've been reading since quite a young age but I've never seen this way of using question marks... The closest I've seen, though it's not exactly the same, is Japanese authors adding after an affirmative sentence a " maybe? Perhaps? Hopefully" to add a comedic tone to the story... But in this book it might have applied to 5% of the times... Most of the times it was added in quite important moments or when it was obviously not a question in any form, so I couldn't comprehend why the question marks were there and they were quite distracting and pulled me out of the story every single time.
Overall it was an interesting story and I will read the next book to see what else happens.
POV: multiple
Tropes: dungeon core, building a dungeon, getting animals and monsters for the dungeon, light-hearted.
Spice: none (no love interest)
CW: mentions of murderous dungeons, a little bit of violence (not descriptive), and well, there were a LOT of spiders so not for the ones who don't like them. Overall quite a light-hearted story
February 1, 2026
Instead of the usual power-at-any-cost setup, the progression in this book rewards creativity, challenge, and intention rather than slaughter. I loved that the dungeon grows by engaging with delvers in a win–win way, and that the story actively frames short-term, violent optimization as both immoral and shortsighted. That alone made it feel refreshingly different.
The worldbuilding and mechanics are genuinely fun to sink into. Dungeons have different philosophies, there’s an actual structure to how they’re understood and monitored, and the idea that dungeon growth can eventually lead to free-willed, independent communities was such a satisfying direction. The side characters though were the highlight for me. They have personality, relationships, and growth, and watching those dynamics develop was honestly delightful.
Tone-wise, this leans very slice-of-life in the best way. If I had to label it, I’d call it cozy dungeon core. It’s gentle without being boring, clever without being exhausting, and quietly funny throughout. I was fully along for the ride, whether the story was experimenting with mechanics or just letting the world breathe.
If you’ve struggled with dungeon core or LitRPG in the past, this is a great one to try. It’s warm, smart, character-forward, and surprisingly heart-filled for a story about being a dungeon.
The worldbuilding and mechanics are genuinely fun to sink into. Dungeons have different philosophies, there’s an actual structure to how they’re understood and monitored, and the idea that dungeon growth can eventually lead to free-willed, independent communities was such a satisfying direction. The side characters though were the highlight for me. They have personality, relationships, and growth, and watching those dynamics develop was honestly delightful.
Tone-wise, this leans very slice-of-life in the best way. If I had to label it, I’d call it cozy dungeon core. It’s gentle without being boring, clever without being exhausting, and quietly funny throughout. I was fully along for the ride, whether the story was experimenting with mechanics or just letting the world breathe.
If you’ve struggled with dungeon core or LitRPG in the past, this is a great one to try. It’s warm, smart, character-forward, and surprisingly heart-filled for a story about being a dungeon.
December 27, 2024
Dungeon Life is a web serial book that I have followed since its earlier incarnation on r/HFY and frankly don't hold its beginnings against it because I have enjoyed almost every twist and turn on this ride. It is slow in some parts and frankly, the first book has like 2 and a half of the arcs of the story in it. Yet it was necessary to make it a good first book to allow the character to breathe and have the readers interact with this living breathing world. Thediem is a very good frame of reference main character with a positive attitude without being completely goody two-shoes and does have mischief that is grounded yet serves as a foil as he is the dungeon. His scions are unique and have wonderful personalities. And they all grow! As sometimes that is a complaint of forgotten characters and forgotten abilities in the genre. Furthermore the adventurers that dive the dungeon are engaging and even quirky! A great uniqueness that some books lack. So that's the biggest non-spoiler thoughts that have for book 1 so if you're looking for something that has a lot of unique ideas and thoughts as well as fun action this is the book for you! Also consider finding Khenal on pateon we're a nice bunch.
March 12, 2024
Book one
I was there reading this story when the first page came out on Royalroad. I don't remember what it was that caused me to drop the story.
It might be the same problem I have with the book. For me it's a problem of scale.
I mean he has ants, spiders, rats, crows, ravens, and probably a few others. Yet he has what I would assume to be regular sized folks in the different fantasy races.
So are his creatures all about golden retriever sized? Do they become more "human" sized when they do their final evolution?
I guess I just have trouble seeing how the other races interact with a bunch of bugs and rats.
I keep trying to picture them as all being close to "human" sized just for the interactions, but then something will happen that makes that picture crash and burn.
I'm probably just over thinking this though.
The writing can be a little odd at times, I'm looking at you birb. So I didn't really go looking for mistakes. There was one sentence that just didn't make sense. I've posted it on Goodreads.
7/10 It's a good read if you don't get bogged down in the size issues.
I was there reading this story when the first page came out on Royalroad. I don't remember what it was that caused me to drop the story.
It might be the same problem I have with the book. For me it's a problem of scale.
I mean he has ants, spiders, rats, crows, ravens, and probably a few others. Yet he has what I would assume to be regular sized folks in the different fantasy races.
So are his creatures all about golden retriever sized? Do they become more "human" sized when they do their final evolution?
I guess I just have trouble seeing how the other races interact with a bunch of bugs and rats.
I keep trying to picture them as all being close to "human" sized just for the interactions, but then something will happen that makes that picture crash and burn.
I'm probably just over thinking this though.
The writing can be a little odd at times, I'm looking at you birb. So I didn't really go looking for mistakes. There was one sentence that just didn't make sense. I've posted it on Goodreads.
7/10 It's a good read if you don't get bogged down in the size issues.
February 17, 2024
This book seriously grew on me.
Initially hesitant if this book was going to be for me but gave it a bit and ultimately couldn't put it down. I wasn't sure I'd enjoy a book about a dungeon that's "cozy," as someone put it, and wasn't more grimdark. I mean it IS a dungeon after all. However, The author found a way to make a dungeon core story that wasn't the typical Dakota Krout's style protagonist, where murder and growth are inextricably linked. Instead of growing was through killing other characters, this dungeon core found a way to grow by helping others in various ways.
The author was able to, through clever worldbuilding, make the main character/dungeon very relatable and someone you could cheer for. Unlike the Divine Dungeon Series, and other dungeon core books, which makes you feel like you're cheering for a mass murderer. Also the world building and magic system is surprisingly robust and isn't just tacked on, but it fully integrated with the setting. And this is only the start.
Very excited to read more.
Initially hesitant if this book was going to be for me but gave it a bit and ultimately couldn't put it down. I wasn't sure I'd enjoy a book about a dungeon that's "cozy," as someone put it, and wasn't more grimdark. I mean it IS a dungeon after all. However, The author found a way to make a dungeon core story that wasn't the typical Dakota Krout's style protagonist, where murder and growth are inextricably linked. Instead of growing was through killing other characters, this dungeon core found a way to grow by helping others in various ways.
The author was able to, through clever worldbuilding, make the main character/dungeon very relatable and someone you could cheer for. Unlike the Divine Dungeon Series, and other dungeon core books, which makes you feel like you're cheering for a mass murderer. Also the world building and magic system is surprisingly robust and isn't just tacked on, but it fully integrated with the setting. And this is only the start.
Very excited to read more.
April 19, 2025
A fun little LitRPG (which as far as I can tell means a direct in character acknowledgement of some RPG mechanics as being real in the world. Its a feel good story, with a good main character who is choosing to be a good person, and where they get stronger they really dont use the power for anything but vibing.
The main character is a fantasy dungeon, and as they grow they develop themselves and their monsters.
There isnt really a lot of character here, the main character has a limited omniscience that does not let it get detailed thoughts on everyone else in the dungeon so there is a lot of tell, and less show than id prefer in every character besides the main protagonist.
The writing is good, but also needed an editor pass. Far too many cases of words or phrases getting accidentally repeated, or overuse of a single word from one sentence to the next that can really break you from a story.
Overall its a nice little detour, but if you arent already interested in the genres and type of story id recommend finding one thats just better.
The main character is a fantasy dungeon, and as they grow they develop themselves and their monsters.
There isnt really a lot of character here, the main character has a limited omniscience that does not let it get detailed thoughts on everyone else in the dungeon so there is a lot of tell, and less show than id prefer in every character besides the main protagonist.
The writing is good, but also needed an editor pass. Far too many cases of words or phrases getting accidentally repeated, or overuse of a single word from one sentence to the next that can really break you from a story.
Overall its a nice little detour, but if you arent already interested in the genres and type of story id recommend finding one thats just better.
March 13, 2025
Honestly this one surprised me for how good it is, even while the MC is genre-aware. It is also so far on the "stats light" end of the spectrum, its almost not even litRPG. But one of the things that really makes this book work compared to a lot of isekai dungeon core novels is that the MC actually has shockingly little ability to interact with the world directly, having to direct his scions and denizens to do things, with limited communicative abilities (even when he gets a scion that can actually talk to people, it's easier to have that minion--the Voice--talk to the other scions than try and communicate directly, as the MC can't understand some of his minions very well because despite being intelligent, they're still animals).
This communication barrier also limits how much and how fast he can pull concepts from Earth, as too much or too deep and his Voice gets a headache and if it goes too far, it starts verging on psychic damage. And his Voice hears ALL his thoughts.
This communication barrier also limits how much and how fast he can pull concepts from Earth, as too much or too deep and his Voice gets a headache and if it goes too far, it starts verging on psychic damage. And his Voice hears ALL his thoughts.
July 2, 2025
This book nicely fills the dungeon core, base-building niche while also being cozy. It's tagged as "slice-of-life" and it is, while also being fun and exciting. I was surprised by the many creative ways the author kept the story from turning into a yawnfest. Base-building only goes so far with me before I start to long for some action.
But there's plenty of action, though not a lot of fighting. Yes, there is some, but it isn't the main focus of the story. I think what makes this work for me is the idea that dungeons aren't forced to kill delvers in order to grow and thrive. The dungeon core in this book figures out some unique ways to generate mana, which is necessary to survive.
Other than the core, there are plenty of other characters that grabbed my interest. Teemo, in particular, was my favorite. Oh, but Tiny is also amazing, and Poe, and... many more.
If you're into cozy fantasy, and you want to stick your toe into LitRPG, then this might be a good place to start.
But there's plenty of action, though not a lot of fighting. Yes, there is some, but it isn't the main focus of the story. I think what makes this work for me is the idea that dungeons aren't forced to kill delvers in order to grow and thrive. The dungeon core in this book figures out some unique ways to generate mana, which is necessary to survive.
Other than the core, there are plenty of other characters that grabbed my interest. Teemo, in particular, was my favorite. Oh, but Tiny is also amazing, and Poe, and... many more.
If you're into cozy fantasy, and you want to stick your toe into LitRPG, then this might be a good place to start.
November 18, 2025
Interesting ideas... but the author just drones on and on about details that just don't matter.
I also find it a bit childish the way there are so many "good" dungeons, that don't try to hurt anyone. It feels weird to have these dungeons that make fake challenges that give the delvers rewards, and also rewards the dungeon. It feels cheesy and childish. No deaths in the book. Everyone lives, everyone is happy......
It seems to me the mechanisms talked about in the book wouldn't actually work. They wouldn't produce the dungeons that are being talked about. Dungeons gain mana by getting their own monsters killed??? Dungeons would just start throwing mobs against the good fighters and try to get their own monsters killed as fast as possible. That seems to get great mana. And then you just buy more units and throw those away too. It feels so counter intuitive. It would make for idiotic dungeons.
I also find it a bit childish the way there are so many "good" dungeons, that don't try to hurt anyone. It feels weird to have these dungeons that make fake challenges that give the delvers rewards, and also rewards the dungeon. It feels cheesy and childish. No deaths in the book. Everyone lives, everyone is happy......
It seems to me the mechanisms talked about in the book wouldn't actually work. They wouldn't produce the dungeons that are being talked about. Dungeons gain mana by getting their own monsters killed??? Dungeons would just start throwing mobs against the good fighters and try to get their own monsters killed as fast as possible. That seems to get great mana. And then you just buy more units and throw those away too. It feels so counter intuitive. It would make for idiotic dungeons.
May 2, 2024
A very chill book that keeps you interested throughout.
My complaints with this series are it really starts to go heavy on trying to explain the magic system in the world or, more accurately, understand the magic system. This then heads into physics and becomes pretty dry to read. It never goes into the math or equations just the concepts but it's not something I would want to read all the time. The other complaint is the characters kept saying "heh" to signify a light chuckle and it gets more frequent as the book ends. It's a very minor complaint but it is pretty odd to read.
The good parts about this series is that it has interesting progression with well done world building. You are mostly limited to the dungeon's perspective of the overall world but are given small nuggets as time goes on. Which keeps you from being overwhelmed and bogged down with information.
My complaints with this series are it really starts to go heavy on trying to explain the magic system in the world or, more accurately, understand the magic system. This then heads into physics and becomes pretty dry to read. It never goes into the math or equations just the concepts but it's not something I would want to read all the time. The other complaint is the characters kept saying "heh" to signify a light chuckle and it gets more frequent as the book ends. It's a very minor complaint but it is pretty odd to read.
The good parts about this series is that it has interesting progression with well done world building. You are mostly limited to the dungeon's perspective of the overall world but are given small nuggets as time goes on. Which keeps you from being overwhelmed and bogged down with information.
February 10, 2024
Dungeon slice-of-life.
This is the kind of story I enjoy, and one that I followed on Royal Road before book publication, so I'm a bit biased, but I find this series delightful. Is cozy dungeon core a genre? Because if so, this is it.
I had to pull a star, though, because there is a persistent punctuation issue. Too many sentences that should be statements or exclamations ending in a question mark instead. I wanted to go full language teacher: "Are you asking me or telling me?"
If it was just the MC dungeon's internal voice being kinda ambivalent, that'd be one thing. But other PoVs have it as well, and there are plenty of sentences in any PoV that just don't make sense to be questions.
This is the kind of story I enjoy, and one that I followed on Royal Road before book publication, so I'm a bit biased, but I find this series delightful. Is cozy dungeon core a genre? Because if so, this is it.
I had to pull a star, though, because there is a persistent punctuation issue. Too many sentences that should be statements or exclamations ending in a question mark instead. I wanted to go full language teacher: "Are you asking me or telling me?"
If it was just the MC dungeon's internal voice being kinda ambivalent, that'd be one thing. But other PoVs have it as well, and there are plenty of sentences in any PoV that just don't make sense to be questions.
February 27, 2024
This was a nice fun experience.
I love slice-of-life stories and Dungeon life got the right balance of adventure, mystery and casual. While I love the various intense dungeon litrpg that is out there; with big dungeon wars, dungeon mysteries filled with politics with intrigue with nobles and gods, this is a lighter version of that. As in, it is more casual for you to chuckle at some of the jokes and just smile at some good moments in the book. I could tell you some of the plots or more about the colorful characters in the series, but I rather not. It is best, you discover this gem yourselves. All, I will say that, it was well written and a good book/audio book to pick up. I can't wait, to read more of Dungeon life.
I love slice-of-life stories and Dungeon life got the right balance of adventure, mystery and casual. While I love the various intense dungeon litrpg that is out there; with big dungeon wars, dungeon mysteries filled with politics with intrigue with nobles and gods, this is a lighter version of that. As in, it is more casual for you to chuckle at some of the jokes and just smile at some good moments in the book. I could tell you some of the plots or more about the colorful characters in the series, but I rather not. It is best, you discover this gem yourselves. All, I will say that, it was well written and a good book/audio book to pick up. I can't wait, to read more of Dungeon life.
May 16, 2024
A lot of fun
This is just so engaging that I overlook the minor blemishes. A Dungeon who manages to cooperate with its delivers and even minimizes the death of its invaders. Scions are the initial leaders and thinkers of the dungeon's monsters, but just about everyone has the potential for growth and has an interesting quirk to make you smile.
My one complaint is that with such an interesting cast of characters, it is easy to have ideas fall out of focus. Such as traps falling out of the story as the dungeon disregards non-lethal traps, brings them back as wielded by an opposing dungeon, then finally starts using them to create an obstacle course. Nothing terrible, but it can be a little jarring when a forgotten character reappears.
This is just so engaging that I overlook the minor blemishes. A Dungeon who manages to cooperate with its delivers and even minimizes the death of its invaders. Scions are the initial leaders and thinkers of the dungeon's monsters, but just about everyone has the potential for growth and has an interesting quirk to make you smile.
My one complaint is that with such an interesting cast of characters, it is easy to have ideas fall out of focus. Such as traps falling out of the story as the dungeon disregards non-lethal traps, brings them back as wielded by an opposing dungeon, then finally starts using them to create an obstacle course. Nothing terrible, but it can be a little jarring when a forgotten character reappears.
January 15, 2025
This was a lighthearted and enjoyable read. Been a while since I read a dungeon MC story, so things like gaining mana, spawning monsters, dungeon expansion, etc were all fun to experience again. I especially liked that the MC created challenges for different kind of delvers and there was no unnecessary killings. And there was a generous amount of humor sprinkled around to keep things lighthearted.
The plot was fairly containted, with hints spread around for future books in the series. The main issue was the present tense - I think it fits the kind of story the author wants to tell, but it just doesn't make for a good reading experience for me, especially with most other books not using such a style.
The plot was fairly containted, with hints spread around for future books in the series. The main issue was the present tense - I think it fits the kind of story the author wants to tell, but it just doesn't make for a good reading experience for me, especially with most other books not using such a style.
February 13, 2025
fun
A man gets reincarnated as a dungeon, core and decides to become a friendly trainer dungeon. he learns a little about the world and about critters in the area. He takes over and undead power mad dungeon nearby that was trying to destroy him. He makes friends with the local adventures. And he grows in power.
This is not a standalone novel with a clear cut plot arc. More it is an installment in a series where the book just ends to be picked up in the next. The world and characters are interesting. The magic system is still developing. And expansion of everything is on the horizon for the next book, or at least it is implied.. The narrator’s voice was wonderful. in all, it was a great listen. And I am onto the next book. Please enjoy.
A man gets reincarnated as a dungeon, core and decides to become a friendly trainer dungeon. he learns a little about the world and about critters in the area. He takes over and undead power mad dungeon nearby that was trying to destroy him. He makes friends with the local adventures. And he grows in power.
This is not a standalone novel with a clear cut plot arc. More it is an installment in a series where the book just ends to be picked up in the next. The world and characters are interesting. The magic system is still developing. And expansion of everything is on the horizon for the next book, or at least it is implied.. The narrator’s voice was wonderful. in all, it was a great listen. And I am onto the next book. Please enjoy.
April 18, 2024
Second reading of this book.
I'm certain that I have read and reviewed this book before, but I can't find a record of the review.
As an example of the LitRPG genre, this novel is a bit unusual. The blocks of statistics and character sheets for the main character, Thediem, a.k.a the dungeon, and the delvers are completely absent. Thus I would characterize this novel as LitRPG for readers who don't like those elements of the genre.
The story is well paced and has has a great deal of humor, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and cultural references in the use of names and puns. I say it's a good read.
I'm certain that I have read and reviewed this book before, but I can't find a record of the review.
As an example of the LitRPG genre, this novel is a bit unusual. The blocks of statistics and character sheets for the main character, Thediem, a.k.a the dungeon, and the delvers are completely absent. Thus I would characterize this novel as LitRPG for readers who don't like those elements of the genre.
The story is well paced and has has a great deal of humor, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and cultural references in the use of names and puns. I say it's a good read.
September 5, 2024
Honestly really enjoyable. It skips some of the more terrible hallmarks of the LitRPG genre by not having pages of "number go up" stats, not dragging the story to a halt to overly explain the world building or magic system, and, more importantly, by being filled with likable characters who are pleasant to read about. An extremely low bar that most LitRPG still manages to trip over.
My only real complaint is it's obvious this started as serial fiction and the book doesn't really have an end so much as the author decided "this is enough for the first book" and it just stops.
It was a quick read and I jumped right into book two.
My only real complaint is it's obvious this started as serial fiction and the book doesn't really have an end so much as the author decided "this is enough for the first book" and it just stops.
It was a quick read and I jumped right into book two.
December 28, 2024
This was an excellent book
My past couple series have been dungeon core books, and I've found each one to be a delight in its own way. This is no exception. Everything about the setting, found friends and family aspect, and the way he handles himself is incredibly well done. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys intelligent animals, a plethora of races, dungeon point of view; just an all around likeable main character who tries to do good but isn't afraid to put his foot down to protect his own. It was a bit lighter on the action than I generally prefer, but everything else made up for it. Thank you for this offering.
My past couple series have been dungeon core books, and I've found each one to be a delight in its own way. This is no exception. Everything about the setting, found friends and family aspect, and the way he handles himself is incredibly well done. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys intelligent animals, a plethora of races, dungeon point of view; just an all around likeable main character who tries to do good but isn't afraid to put his foot down to protect his own. It was a bit lighter on the action than I generally prefer, but everything else made up for it. Thank you for this offering.
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