Death Has Joined the Party

Mana Runners #1

by Rachel Aaron, Travis Bach

Welcome, sentient races one and all, to the centennial season of the greatest collaboration between mortals and gods! The most thrilling, most deadly, most watched spectacle ever put on in any realm…Mana Runners!

The infinite dungeon below Whitepeak, famous City of Wizards, has reset itself once again, bringing new traps, new monsters, and new, never-before-seen challenges to this historic event. All of your favorite champions from Season Ninety-Nine are back and ready to face what is sure to be the most difficult season of Mana Runners ever attempted. From the lowest Copper Tier to the Platinums who shine at the top, every Runner is ready to lay down their lives defending you from the monsters that lurk beneath the mountain.

All of their sacrifices shall be recorded in the pages of history, but only those blessed with unique powers from the gods can reach the deepest floors. It’s the event that brings sentient races from all over the world together! The spectacle no one can afford to miss! And you can watch it all live thanks to Whitepeak College of Wizardry’s revolutionary sendernet: the only Sending spell network that broadcasts the can’t-be-missed action of Mana Runners straight into your home!

(The Mana Runners Centennial Season is produced by the Whitepeak Dungeon Committee and the Coalition of Rightfully Aligned Gods. Remember, the gods are always listening, so be sure to pray for your favorite Mana Runner to earn them blessings as they battle the unthinkable dangers of the Endless Dungeon!)



Death Has Joined the Party is a LitRPG novel based on the 5e SRD 5.1 - a public rules set for the world's most popular tabletop roleplaying game. Set in a world where magic has advanced to the information age and where levels are a thing you can list on your resume. It features an underdog protagonist shoved into the brutal world of celebrity dungeon crawling with the fate of the Prime Material Plane resting on his shoulders.

Perfect for fans of Dungeons & Dragons, Terry Pratchett, and Dungeon Crawler Carl. If you like TTRPG humor and hilarious, action-packed Fantasy that isn’t afraid to throw someone into a mimic, this is the LitRPG novel for you!

Genres: Fantasy, Litrpg, Audiobook, Fiction, Humor, Adventure

723 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2026

About the author

Hello, my name is Rachel Aaron, and I write the Heartstriker books, a new Urban Fantasy series about misfit dragons, starting with Nice Dragons Finish Last. I also wrote The Legend of Eli Monpress fantasy series for Orbit Books about a wizard thief and the poor bastards who have to try and stop him. PLUS I'm also the author of the new, rolicking fun Science Fiction romance Fortune's Pawn under the name Rachel Bach.

I was born in Atlanta, but I currently live a lovely, nerdy, bookish life in Denver, CO with my lightspeed son, perpetually understanding husband, and far too many plants. Besides my own books, the internet knows me best for writing very fast. The best way to get to know me is probably to read my blog or follow me on Twitter.

Reviews

[Gergana]

If Dungeon Crawler Carl is half as good as this book, I will eat all the negative words I said about the LitRPG genre... again!

📖💀ᯓ🏃🏻‍➡️🗝️
Let's talk about the Elephant in the room - YES! "Death Has Joined The Party" shares a few similarities with another popular series (mentioned above) (for better or worse), but hey - it's written by one of my top 10 favourite authors! OF COURSE I AM READING IT FIRST!

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The Setting

🎥 A world similar to ours, with a few major exceptions: magic has evolved, dungeons have become the central entertainment mega-spectacle broadcasted around the planet and participants can gain experience points by killing monsters.

📜 As you can expect from any LitRPG, everyone has this variation of a character sheet that lists their core attributes, skill proficiencies, spell slots ...

🧙🏻‍♂️🧝🏼🧌 Paladins, elves, tanks, rangers, - the typical D\&D avatar tropes.

Yes, the usual stuff ...Well, at least the MC is a necromancer. I love necromancers!

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Now here is what I believe made this book shine for me:

🧑🏻 THE PROTAGONIST

If there is ONE person who can make the "NICE-GUY" protagonist work, that would be Miss Aaron!

Meet Tavin - a super nice guy in his twenties, born allergic to a magic-filled world and expected to die in his lead-lined apartment while watching his favourite reality Dungeon Show! That's until some seriously suspicious guy knocks on his door and promises salvation! Tired and depressed from his sickness, and completely out of other options, Tavin signs the needed documents and finds himself.... almost-possessed by the doctor, aka. Zavrak the Malevolent - a notorious Necro Lord! Obviously, that wasn't Zavrak's plan who lost his physical body in the attempt, but who cares! Tavin is finally no longer allergic, FREE to go outside and enjoy a normal life! Right?

Muahaha! NO! Zavrak is now a floating ghost skull that Tavin can see and...unfortunately, hear... all the TIME! He DOES sound rather annoyed with his predicament, but Tavin can't complain - he is allergy-free and to top it all he has also gained the necromancer's unique powers! The Bad news - in order to keep Zavrak from possessing him completely he needs to kill at least one sentient being per day. Obvious solution - join the "Mana Runners", a brutal, televised celebrity dungeon-crawling reality show (plenty of sentient monsters there, right?) What could go wrong...

Side Characters

Yes, yes, there is a super adorable and overpowered Mimic character that joins the party (as an undercover elf) ! But let's face it, I LOVE ALL the characters in this book! From the cocky and self-centered Drow to the show's colourful staff, from the fancy elven tv-presenter to the strange Dragonborn!

🗡️Pacing and fight scenes

Loved them! Rarely do I start a 20+ hour-long audiobook and not periodically check to see how long I have left until the end. The story felt like a cozy fantasy but with plenty of action and funny interactions!

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😵What bothered me, but managed to ignore it... somehow

There is ... violence in this book. And by that I mean something very specific... as an example - at one point Zavrak and Mim (the Mimic character) start discussing which babies taste better... Ok, I get they are both monsters, but 1. ewwww, how would they know? 2. what were babies doing in the dungeon? how did they end up there? 3. ...I had to force myself to forget this sentence (and a couple more throughout the book) so I don't end up wishing for Zavrak and Mim's slow and painful demise...

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🫵😊Who is this book for?

-LitRPG fans - obviously!
-Non LitRPG-fans - yes! I definitely struggle with the genre, so Death Has Joined the Party is a pretty good book that focuses on characters, their growth and relationship, without forgetting to update us on their levels, stats and special skills.
-Fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl - I seriously want to say this, but since I haven't read the series yet, feel free to tell me in the comment section if I am wrong. Both series sound kind of similar - Dungeons as Televised entertainment - but unlike Carl, Tavin is a willing participant. We have humor, action, monster fights and so on.

Happy reading! 🤗

[TS Chan]

Was there ever a doubt that I'll enjoy this given this dynamic duo - Aaron and Bach's - track record with me so far? Nope!

[Josie]

Setting/Worldbuilding: 9/10
Main characters: 8/10
Side characters: 8/10
Dialogue: 7/10
Plot: 7/10
Technique: 4/10
Prose: 4/10
Romance: N/A
Ending: 8/10
Overall enjoyment:8/10
Total: 63/90 (3.5)

Those of you who are fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl AND Rachel Aaron's "Heartstrikers" series will find this to be the most ideal match-up. Rachel Aaron is one of the most engaging storytellers I have had the pleasure of reading, but she has a particular style that can be easily misconstrued as faults. Nerdy anime-esque humour, over-the-top but lovable villainy, endless dialogues and expositions that scream "telling" and not "showing", but to me that is all part of the charm of a Rachel Aaron saga. If you are into nerdy worldbuilding, unexpected heroes, lovable villains and found family vibes, this is for you.

[William B.]

This is a Fun Read!

You know how Star Wars and Star Trek are similar in that they both take place in space? Well, this is similar to Dungeon Crawler Carl in that they are both about a main character being on a reality TV dungeon crawl.
From that point, every thing else is different. Good, but different! ( Just like Star Wars and Star Trek are different.).

It is an enjoyable book and I do look forward to the next in the series!

My only ‘complaint’, which may not be an issue for everyone else is this: Sometimes the author spends a little too much time describing things or explaining things. For example, he will talk about the Silver King and how awesome he is. Then when we meet the Silver King again, the author waxes poetic over the Silver King again, and again. Don’t need to ‘gush’ and go into in depth about a character over and over every time we meet that character. Do it once and move on. Bring it up again when it is relevant to the story. Other than that, it’s awesome!

[Jasmine]

Hooked

I love it. MC is fan girling about a world he has never been allowed to enjoy. Hes so enthused he makes some dumb mistakes but that plot armor survives even if he doesn’t. I find it endearing. Narrator does a fantastic job. Will likely listen to again! Following so they'll alert me when the next one comes :) cant wait!

[Sage Pogwizd]

Oh I loved loved loved this book. It has strongly inspired me to run a themed dnd campaign around this book and the premise. If my friends are considering reading this, try to hold off at least until the campaign starts 😉

[Nicole Rebentisch]

Fun Action-Packed Read

I’m not a tabletop gamer but I love reading everything Rachel Aaron writes, and this is no exception. I am eager for her to complete the next book in this series.
The humor, the humanity, and all my favorite elements of her stories come together in this wild ride that I devoured in three days.
I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get into it because of the LitRPG aspect, but I don’t think people need to know anything about RPG to be able to enjoy the classic storytelling elements of this book. Great, memorable characters, edge-of-your-seat action, plot twists… I can’t say enough good things about this book.
Ever since I first read a book written by Rachel Aaron, I have thanked my lucky stars for discovering her wonderful writing. I have enjoyed every book written by her that I have read so far.
Looks like I will need to work through the rest of her catalogue while waiting for the next book to drop. I can’t wait to find out what happens next!

[Ursula Fricke]

DNF @ 83%.

This was the first LitRPG novel I read and it will probably be the last, this is not for me. It was recommended tome because Rachel Aaron is an author I read and enjoyed before.

I'm not a role playing enthusiast (it has been about 40 years that I tried to play) and found that all the stats interspersed really slowed down my immersion, especially in the fighting scenes. The fight against the wraith that should have lasted only 60 seconds (as repeatedly stated because the enchantments wouldn't last longer) went on and on and on. I should have realised this is not my thing and should have stopped there.

In the end what made me give up is that I have been stuck in chapter 24 for the last three days. I read a few sentences, find something different to do, read some more, again find something else to do and so on. Now I find that I don't care anymore what happens to the characters. Time to choose a different book.

[Thibault]

There are a lot of reviews that will talk about the ins and outs of a book, discussing the different themes within and dissecting all the characters.

This not one of them.

I just need more of this story. Like at least another five or six books, okay?

If you like Dungeon Crawler Carl, read this book.

If you like Dungeons and Dragons, read this book.

Fantasy? Read this book.

Books? Read this book.

Words? Paper? Trees? You know the drill.

Also, Mim says hi!

[Deanna Stanley]

I don’t wanna wait for the next book

This was good. Funny, heartfelt, somewhat violent. Exactly what I want in a LitRPG. This book ended with so many mysteries that I want to see solved.

[Luis]

Strange fun

It's definitely weird to be pro corporation and propaganda, but definitely an interesting take on a world ending dungeon game!
Liked how a lot of it was very much dnd based, and the mayhem worked well within the rules, but still kind of bizarre to see people taking 6 seconds to respond to stuff.
Will try more if we got it.

[Stefan]

6/10

Honestly a pretty pleasant read, I like most of the stuff Rachel Aaron writes and I thought the prose etc was great.

The main issue I had was with the litrpg mechanics. I really dislike when people act like an op character is a plucky underdog and this guy had the most god tier start ever - he basically got all the good parts of being undead and then they made a super contrived set of situations to need it (like the exhaustion damage floor, super mobile wraith, etc) or poison immunity. (Side note, I thought it was super confusing that he was taking necrotic damage bc in almost every undead system that’s a healing effect but this is nitpicky).

I did think the mimic character was fun, although again it’s a little crazy that she was able to do perfect shape shifts and sorta just solve any plot issues including eating her status menu?

I totally understand that you want characters to be cool and act heroic and stuff but genuinely the tone did not line up with the actual lack of difficulty these characters faced.

[Marcin W]

(audio)
1st the bad/why i wont continue: Nothing exceptional. The attempt at humor was not for me if you can call it that. The MC's biggest trait is just a naive fan boy... IE hope(of participants & spectators) is supposedly the thing that adds to strength of the good guys to beat the dungeon/bad guys.
This made it an OK story with few plot points that were NOT just another pew-pew...
The good is that i never heard a story with a necro MC, but this one does not use conventional necro magic... so maybe if im out of other options... but i think i will not remember this one in a few days.

Plot: MC is orphan that had allergy to magic. A healer promised to change that, but turned out to be Litch that wanted to take over his body with heal ritual but turned out to loose in the struggle & turned into a skippy like familiar bad attempt at comic relief.. They do 3 floors of dungeon where a mimic(monster) comes on board and is a child like bad attempt at comic relief. Goddes of necro gives MC boost that is supposedly great but i did not see it. MC has some imunities due to that joining with Litch that make him both OP & fragile at same time. There is some mystery of what is at the end of dungeon but does not seem that interesting.

[Tom Petersen]

Better than her last litrpg attempt

Aaron is pretty hit or miss, some books are incredible and others are incredibly awful. This one falls somewhere in the middle.
One of my least favorite tropes is the zero to hero MC. The one that makes the pre story MC as pathetic as possible, then through the transitive property of becoming an MC becomes super cool and awesome. This book avoids that trap by switching to a zero to slightly less of a zero plot.
The only thing that makes the MCs frequent idiocy acceptable is that he was a life long shut in. Even so, forgetting his life saving potions, that he had to reach over to get his shoes? And how many times does a character need to 'I have to do _______.' then do the opposite. Yes, he's very excited, and this was unexpected, but I know10 year olds that are better prepared for the day.
Still, he does improve slightly over the course of the book and the plotline is fair.
Legitimate 3 star book, with an additional star to counter the Amazon algorithm. I am likely to get the next one due to the improvement towards the end. Tom out

[Johnny]

Book one

Brand-new series.
I liked the story overall, but at the same time I feel like it has some massive holes.
Most importantly the MC must kill one Sentient being every twenty-four hours.
The mimic must feed on magic.
Those are both huge failure points for the story. Lock the MC up for a day and he is a goner. Keep the mimic away from magic long enough and she dies.
For someone who spent the majority of his life analyzing and betting on mana runners the MC is an idiot. Gets cured, runs out of his house leaving everything he owns behind!
First dungeon run the MC, who seems to be in pretty serious debt, won't take a defeated enemies sword because it is yucky???
I liked the interaction between the characters that's what drives the story. But if you start digging into the details of the story There's holes big ones.

5/10

[Jordan_n]

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the authors, the review is my honest opinion.

I absolutely loved this book, it hooked me from page one and never let go. The D&D aspect is integrated seamlessly into the world and never feels awkward. While having some knowledge of D&D adds to the reading experience you definitely don’t need to have prior experience to enjoy the book.

The plot is fast paced and definitely feels like an adventure without feeling rushed, the world building is deep and creative, I loved exploring this fresh take on Whitepeak. The characters are varied and well fleshed out with distinct personalities and motivations.

I highly recommend this book! 5/5 stars

[Lucy]

This was a dungeon crawling book I picked up on a rec somewhere about a man who gets his magic allergy 'cured' by events and ends up going on the dungeon crawling reality TV show Mana Runners. He's a huge fan of the show (and also was able to support himself by gambling on it so he does also know what it's like) but also because of events he has to go on the show or he'll end up dying/becoming a serial killer (it makes sense in context).

I really liked this book. It covers three floors in the book but unlike other ones I've read, they don't just stay in the dungeon the whole time, they clear one floor and then come out to sleep, rest and recover (and do press tours). Tavin is a bit of a fanboy about the show, but he also makes friends with Mim and Rok along the way, and finds out his dungeon crawling quest has a lot more importance to the world than he thinks.

I do think the Hans Thackery being a bad guy was very telegraphed even without Mim's warnings but I did like seeing Tavin's blind spots. The cliffhanger at the end where Tavin's lich host status has been revealed to the world in order to save the world was a good one and I look forward to reading the next in the series!

[Cee]

DNF @ 24% / in chapter 9

Holy shit this man just will not stfu even when he’s dying. Explanations go on and on and on and everything feels unnecessary or repetitive. This sucks because chapter 8 is where the story was actually getting good. I’m interested in knowing what will happen next but I’m skimming this so much just to make the damn thing readable.

I’m also not a fan of the gaming mechanics regarding damage points. Spells cast damage based off a dice rolling system (ex: 1d8) which is mentioned as a “cosmic dice throw” which makes the book feel less like a book to me or like this isnt a world anymore that I’m reading about, it’s…less.

[Wendy]

I had a fun time reading this one, mostly because of the characters. I loved the growing party dynamics and the arguments between the altruistic and evil aligned amused me. A cinnamon roll of a mimic? An unrepentant but mostly defanged lich? An MC who just wants to do the right thing? Heck yeah!

I wasn’t quite as fond of the game aspect. I enjoy playing D&D, but it was kind of odd to read here. Like, there are full standard spell descriptions straight from the handbook (or it seemed that way). There are some creative uses of spells and the familiarity is comfortable, I suppose. I guess it feels limiting. Is any of that going to stop me from reading more? Not a chance.

[Angela]

From the start this book went in some unexpected directions and was quite different from what I'd been expecting. That's not a bad thing as there's a lot of similar genre books popping up like crazy and authors need their work to stand out from the crowd somehow. While the book has some strange twists and turns its still able to keep the reader interested and engaged in the shenanigans going on. It probably won't be the next DCC but its still fun. I'm definitely interested in book 2 but have no idea when that will get published.

[Elorin Achiad]

A lich and a mimic walk into a dungeon

Tavin is allergic to magic. A mysterious visitor promises to cure his ailment, but all is not what it seems. Tavin acquires a manajack and immunity to the magic allergy and races to sign up as a Mana Runner in the centennial edition of the dungeon crawl. On the first floor he meets a mimic named Mim. Can they make it as Mana Runners and get to the bottom floor of the dungeon?
This was rollicking fun with lots to love and laugh about. I look forward to the next episode with delight.

[Sassy]

Great and fun Read!

Fast paced fun adventure with humor and I can't wait to read the next one! There weren't a lot of unnecessary details that just go on for too long until you want to stop reading or you start skimming so you can get back to the main story. It's amazing how the main characters are so flawed/imperfect but you are rooting for them from the get go! I highly recommend this book and if this is anything to go by I think I will also be highly recommending the series!

[Billie Smith]

This book is a D&D version of Dungeon Crawler Carl. I was intrigued by that idea and decided to give it a try. It's not bad, but it's also not my favorite. There are several instances where the author uses lines from other things, like changing a line from Monty Python, for example. As a Python fan, I clocked this immediately and it pulled me out of the book. It happened a handful of times. I'm going to say this book is perfectly passable and if you like that sort of thing, you might want to give it a try. As for me, I'm not sure I'll continue with the series.

[Jennifer]

The storyline was interesting and the action was well-paced. Mim was hilarious! The best character by far. The only issue I had was that many of the spell details looked like a DM downloaded their script right into the book. Given there were no dice, rolls, or turns in the actual story, it looks like a problem with editing.

[Albijoe]

Reads like a D&D session

This book leans heavily on the RPG side of LitRPG. It also has almost the exact stats of Dungeons and Dragons in play, down to mentioning specific spells, using spell slots, and rolling the dice for damage.

The story was a very nice idea, not one I'd read before. Good concept!

[Vance Holt]

The story was pretty good. The chatacters were likable. My problem came towards the end of the book. One of the characters got angry and f-bombed his way through the chapter. I kept trying to ignore it or fast forward but as soon as I started listening again, the hard swearing started again.
I don't want to listen to that. DNF

[Vaiva Sapetkaitė]

After many LitRPG disappointments, this was a sweet treat. It is a creative, funny, and feel-good (despite all the deaths) story. Also,I liked the parody of late stage capitalism and showbusiness.

Even if I am not in the "death magic" builds, I like this necromancer and his party a lot.

I want more :)

[Claire]

This is shaping up to be one of my favourite series by Rachel Aaron. I’m loving the repartee between the party members and enjoying the Dungeon Crawler Carl vibes. I would have bought this anyway but it’s a bonus it’s on KU.

[Lori]

DnD Lovers read this awesome book!!

I am new to DnD just started playing a year ago. I have learned a lot And I love all the characters this is a great story and I can't wait to read the rest of the series!

[Anne V]

Interesting

Interesting introduction to a new world. A bit slow in parts, but that’s not terrible when there is so much needing explained. I don’t generally like cliffhangers, but this one fits and does genuinely leave me curious about what happens next.