Museum Core: A Dungeon Core/LitRPG Apocalypse adventure

Museum Core #1

by Jakob H. Greif

Stuck in the middle of a city turned monster-infested jungle, things weren't going well for Thomas. And now he’s a rock.A visit to London’s Natural History Museum became a horror show as magic flooded Earth. Now, Thomas is entombed there as a Dungeon Core, with only the creatures on display available as minions.

All over the globe, patches of land have been replaced by strange alien environments, containing not only monsters from myth and legend, but also humanity’s worst nightmares. Leviathans stir at the bottom of the ocean, dragons have reclaimed the skies, and shadows are once again something to fear.

Can Thomas turn this former place of learning into a deathtrap capable of withstanding the forces of the outside world, or will he fall victim to the bottomless appetites of supernatural beasts?

From Jakob Grief, bestselling author of Apocalypse Redux, comes a brand-new Dungeon Core series unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Genres: Fantasy

418 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 7, 2025

Reviews

[Russell Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read many dungeon core stories, especially lately, but as a fan of the Apocalypse Redux series I decided to try this out. I can't say it was for me, but most of the things I didn't like might be somewhat specific to me rather than general readers.

Pros:
-Classic dungeon core with a dungeon assistant trope
-Museum core is an interesting premise compared to standard dungeons
-Includes mechanics from dungeon core, System, and cultivator stories

Cons:
-Too much focus on things being specifically unique even though they are still generally the same as usual
-Character personalities are a mixed bag
-If you know much about policing or fighting, prepare to roll your eyes a lot

Something that's worth mentioning is that this story has multiple point of view characters. So even though the blurb only talks about Thomas being a human that is turned into a dungeon core inside the London Museum, there are other pov characters, with the main one being Inspector Abrams.

If you've read the author's other work, Apocalypse Redux, you will notice the author has a tendency to write characters who phrase their opinions as fact. While this was less obnoxious in a regressor story since Isaac Thoma genuinely did have future knowledge compared to those around him, the characters in this story can come across as preachy as they declare what good/bad parenting looks like and what makes good police.

This sort of thing is severely undermined by the author's misuse and misunderstanding of a clip versus a magazine when talking about firearms, specifically a Glock 17. Sure there are some people out there who will try arguing that the terms are interchangeable. But they are wrong. Other people will argue that it's just slang. They are also wrong. Choose better slang. Mag is easier to say than clip anyway.

And despite Inspector Abrams going on at length multiple times from a pedestal about what good police use of force looks like, she evidently specializes in a nonsense form of kung fu that includes eye gouges and knuckle strikes to the windpipe. So not exactly the right person to role model the use of force curriculum when she later laments that submissions won't work in this new magic world. Sorry but no, fighting techniques that already work will probably work even better when you power them with magic.

The other problem with many of the fight scenes was the author's tendency to be overly specific with which hand does what. This level of detail gets in the reader's way even when the fighting actually makes sense, so it didn't do any favors to the readability here.

Your average reader probably won't get as hung up on this stuff, so take this with a grain of salt. But I think I'll call it off at Book 1 for this series.

[Dantegideon · Rating 1 out of 5]

So the basic problem with the Apocalypse Redux books, for me, was that Isaac evolved into a stupidly-overpowered dickhead who expected his every whim to be obeyed to the letter, and either he or the universe came down hard on anyone who disagreed with him. An arsehole who’s always right. Not aggravating at all, of course! Thomas appears to start out like this. Maybe this is a beautifully-crafted counterpoint to the first series, where he’ll go through a clever reverse development arc and we’ll be astounded when we finally see the whole picture, pristine like a glittering double rainbow spanning two series, delineating the foibles of the human heart, and all of space and time. Man, I’ll be sorry if I’ve missed that by putting this book down. Oh well.

[Lana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas was visiting the London Natural History Museum when a surge of magic hit the centre of London, and turned this into a jungle, and him into a rock. Turns out he was a dungeon core. bonded to Elias Graystone, a fairy as his mentor/assistant, who in fact was not very helpful. Thomas had nothing but the animals in their display cases to make use of, and boy did he do this!! Meantime the jungle was filled with monsters, both from legend as well as humanity's nightmares and these were out to get the core. The police had a lot on their hands as they tried to tackle the problem of the jungle, and to protect the citizens who were going crazy, either out of fear or out of greed as they thought of how to become more powerful by harnessing the magic. And a young cultivator, Oliver Fields had taken charge of the jungle turning it into his own kingdom. He had discovered something within which made him extra powerful, so both Thomas and Jaclyn, the police Inspector had their hands full trying to take him down. I quite enjoyed this first book in a new series about a dungeon core in the LitRPG adventure genre.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, 3 star, solid like.

Unfortunately, a lot of what I remember is what I didn't like. What I did like - an interesting dungeon core location and development.
But, especially early on, explanations are all over the place. An early conversation probably could have been solved with just saying a bit more about memories. Later in the book I felt like a conversation must have been moved around because they only made sense if the 2nd one had originally happened first. There's some handwaving attempts at getting the info to make sense after the fact, but.. The secondary orc character just disappears constantly. I don't really buy into the cop, although I think I liked the character just fine.

Also - everything is super complicated. I get the overall story plot going on here sort of asks for that, but maybe some way could have been found to not constantly tell the audience all the possibilities right away.

... See, that's the problem. Usually I don't remember this stuff, but now I've listed it all out again to think about. AND YET - 3 stars. I may even get the next one. Good dungeon core is surprisingly hard to find.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did say that I would try the author's new series if there was one (even though I'm fed up of the Dungeon Core genre).

Hopefully the author puts a spin on this. From reading the last series, and the protag being a mythology expert, I suspect this "core" will also have some historic knowledge.

Sadly, nothing has changed with this from the others in the genre.
There is still a human soul in the core, there is still an annoying fairy, there is still a special human who has their own POV that dives the dungeon / interacts with the core the most.
The only things different is that the monsters are made from very old fossils, or remains of current Earth day animals, and the author added different "progression" genres into the story (mages, cultivators, etc).

Sadly I will not be reading a sequel. I am fed up of the dungeon genre as a whole. If you are new to the genre, this would be a great book. If you are like me that read tens of these books, looking for something different, you will be disappointed.

2/5 Stars

[Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

To start off with, I truly enjoyed reading this book once I was able to get used to it. Initially, I had a hard time connecting to the story, I started reading this book twice before I dropped it each time. However, when I started listening to it on the audiobook version, I was finally able to get truly interested in the story. It just took me a little while to really sit down and listen to the first few chapters. After that, I truly enjoyed listening to the story. I look forward to reading museum core book 2. The one thing I will say about this first book is that there is no system to help out the main character developing his dungeon, but at the end of the book, the author allude to the system coming online. Once again, I hope people take the time to read museum core, I truly believe they will find it and enjoyable book.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF (24% read)

it's not BAD bad but god damned is it long winded and relentless. Got about a quarter of the way through the book before I had to put it down. magic circles, cultivation, level-bases system, flexible leveling systems, PICK A LANE!

I found the Thomas / Elias interaction unnecessarily conflict filled and sqauablesome. but the side story(?) with Jaclyn was just exposition and filler.

in general the start was too abrupt with no build up, the characters just accept everything without reasonable question, and the entire book wants to do all the dungeon core / progression LitRPG tropes all at once.

[John Stonebraker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Content ratings: Language - R; Violence - PG13; Other - PG13

This book gives us more glimpses where the series is headed, and I'm hooked. It's an interesting twist on the system(s) responsible for what's going on, and the way the author handles it will offer some interesting interplay. I'm not always a fan of alternating perspectives in stories, but I actually like it here since the two perspectives have been linked into the single storyline thread since almost the beginning. As usual, the writing is tight and generally well executed. No doubt there's much more to come.

[Elaina Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging story

This story progressed fairly smoothly, with the changes in perspective usually clear, and they all worked together to progress the story.

I like that the dungeon is keeping his more deadly creatures for defense against anything trying to destroy him and not using them for regular delvers. And, I only submitted three or so grammar suggestions for a missing word, an extra the, etc.

I'm really looking forward to the next book and the new messengers, too! 😊

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

fun

The world randomly gets magical tidbits slapped in overwriting local geography. Crisis ensues. Guy wakes up as a dungeon, grows and expands. Rescues stranded locals and begins negotiations with police. A police officer gains power and investigates the new landscape. Teen goes mad with power and gets slapped down. Book ends.

Interesting world with an unclarified magic system (multiple systems are combining). Loads of natural history information. Please enjoy

[William Howe · Rating 5 out of 5]

classic classicism

I liked it. A lot of worldbuilding and some serious info dumps, but well supported by the narrative.

Effectively 2 MCs: the dungeon core and a female police inspector. Thus, you don’t have to be bored with the lather-rinse-repeat of early dungeon life.

Worth reading the next one.

[Cordyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was pure unadulterated fun. As an escapist reader, or a reader who wants to learn about new topics, this fit the first to a T. It also got me to thinking, “What if?” Obviously, there’s no way to know how we’ll react in any situation unless we’re in it, it sure is fun to speculate. I appreciated Thomas’ humor and Inspector Abrams’ more no nonsense attitude. I look forward to the next. At some point, I do plan to read this author’s other works. Well done.

[Aaron Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

A human dungeon core is impossible...isn't it?

Caught in a cataclysmic event, London's core is destroyed, and the survivors deal with the invasive new system in their own ways. Thus is a rolicking good read with heroes, survivors, and changed people and places enough to keep the reader intrigued.

[Kenneth R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining read

A dungeon core progression story, but this time the dungeon is a natural history museum. The author has decent writing skills and I don't recall any glaring typos or spelling errors. The only issues I had were with the British slang and the names of the dinosaur species.

[Richard Rehder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to get into as I've never read a dungeon core style book but was quite invested by the latter half of the book and am looking forward to reading the second.

Not perfect but quite good and highly recommended for those who like dungeon core books, others just stick it out for a bit and I'll bet you'll like it too as I did

[Johnie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read

I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who likes LitRPG and progression type of books with lots of action. Dungeon core them with good story telling.

[Deviod · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't understand how this is so highly rated. The story is generic and none of the characters seem to have any clear motivations.
I liked the author's earlier works but this was a disappointment.

[Nick Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun book

I love the entire book the Bobby's are interesting and the Museum is a interesting new dungeon. I look forward to the story explaining the. Thanks for your hard work apocalypse and what's wrong with system

[Michael Marciano]

Dull and split storylines

I strongly dislike split storylines. I'm not looking for a collection of short stories. If you want to write that, cool. But, advertise it as such. Beyond that the story comes off a silly and grandiose.

[D N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scaling is off but this was an enjoyable read when I wanted something lighter and more familiar than on my tbr

[Roberto Flores · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent idea with no basis.

This is lacking any solid foundation. It's a Hodge podge of concepts poorly stitched together. Overall a bit boring to get through.

[Dustin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This doesn't do anything interesting with either the dungeon core concept or the system apocalypse concept. It does, however, have nearly all of the worst habits of LitRPG on full display.

[Danny Moody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong concept for a unique dungeon core book. There are a lot of novel applications of common dungeon core tropes (I.e. the dungeon fairy). I could have used a more prominent antagonist. It would have helped with the plot of the book. There is lot of potential though.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Stellar work from Jakob Greif! Lots of action and dungeon building, monsters and magic. Looking forward to the next one.

[Dale Rosso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting concept for a lit-rpg fantasy story, I enjoyed the tale and am looking forward to the second book in the series.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

like it

this is the first book in this serie. If you'll interest in reading this type of books you can read this one.