Dungeon Core Online: Remastered Edition - Book Five

Dungeon Core Online: Remastered Edition #5

by Jonathan Smidt

Get ready for the endgame.

James, fresh from the high of joining his players for the Siege Event, gets a mysterious invitation from Hades and is soon confronted with a truth that is impossible to deny. A truth that sets him on a collision course with the most powerful figures in the world and could spell the end of DCO itself.

With an impossible task ahead of them, James and Rue embark on one last immersion together. One last dive with the Knights, one last new floor, and one last set of random mobs. But even the shenanigans of the Random Dungeon can only distract them for so long because one final patch is coming, a worldwide event is coming.

And if James and his friends can’t stop what is coming, it’s game over for everyone.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction

366 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 23, 2025

About the author

Jonathan’s journey through life has been anything but slow. Being part of a military family, he moved across the world growing up, and having not learned his lesson, joined the Marine Corps right out of high school. This sent him on a whirlwind adventure, which even found him in the sands of Afghanistan. During all his travels, he found one thing always remained constant…he loved to read. Now, married and with life finally calming down a bit, he has begun to push his passion for literature even higher, aiming to give readers the kinds of books he has come to love with his own unique twist.

He has grown up in thousands of worlds, courtesy of not only literature and anime, but also his avid gaming life! Jonathan has spent countless hours on video games ranging from Final Fantasy to Pokémon to Guild Wars and WoW, while also enjoying tabletops such as D&D and Exalted.

Living in a game world isn’t enough for Jonathan though, and he has pushed to turn his own life into a classic RPG. On top of leveling up his writing and music abilities (he swears he is not a bard though!), he is currently learning the ancient art of blacksmithing, which places him at his forge working hot metal into blades on the weekends!

Reviews

[Jurgen Deagle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heck of a ride

Well that was a fun romp. A neat premise and interesting take on the dungeon core sub-genre. Imaginative randomness kept things from getting boring. Boss monsters like T-rex and puppet master granny were well done. Bullied highschool nerd becomes hero was a bit trope but worked ok. A fair bit of suspension of reality needed for some of the coincidental encounters with the right groups and individuals to advance the storyline. Dungeon war battles were epic and sweeping.
Why only four stars? Because the end as a whisper not a roar. To avoid spoilers, I’ll just say that several story lines closed abruptly and forced, while others developed and foreshadowed throughout never materialized. Not regretting I read the series, but feeling it could have been a great, but ended up being good enough.

[Cmoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhhh. Wow! That was absodamnlutely AwesomeSauce. And I loved every effing minute of this pedal-to-the-metal litRPG. It's now one of my top favorite reads for the year. In this Dungeon Core adventure we get to revisit the first floor (my favorite of the bunch) as James revamps it with the 'Git Gud' mode if you're daring enough to try... and we also watch as James builds his 6th and 7th floor too. But the real story is happening in real life as an Apocalypse is counting down. And seemingly James is the only one who can stop it. A high-school kid whose overwhelmed by the news now pressing down on his shoulders. But luckily he's got friends that he trusts and his parents, that'll help share the burden and hopefully help.
Seriously you don't wanna miss the exciting conclusion to this FannnFriggenTastic series.

[David Ketelsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This final book in the series includes all the ingredients that made the series fun to read. There's lots of great characters, good game mechanics, very innovative to the point of being bizarre dungeon settings, and lots of action and behind the scenes insight. In the first 4 books this made for 5-star reviews but this time I'm taking off a star due to the all-or-nothing plot motivation in this final book and the final wrap-up at the end. I'm sure a lot of people will like it, one of the characters referred to it as a Matrix situation, but I found it to be contrived. It's still a very good book and well worth reading but it's not as good as the first 4.

[jacob o marlowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful story, wished it didn't end.

I know that all good things must end but it was worth it to finish the series. Wonderful world crafting, great characters, and a great storyline.

[Drago Moonflow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great!!

As side conclusions go, this one was pretty good. My only wish is that were one start happened with the rest of our friends in the epilogue. I look forward to start the next dungeon core series that Glyax comes up with.

[Roberto Flores · Rating 1 out of 5]

the things that made this fun have become gimmicky. the book is missing its own plot, which makes the beginning a boring slog. the series direction is unrealistic and just plain silly. as endings goes, this is just horrible.