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Below
Everyone knows the late wizard Visak left his fortune hidden in the vast underground ruins of the Elder Kingdom, safer than any bank. Brenish, a mediocre highwayman but a brilliant liar, always dreamed of finding riches in the deeps himself. Since his fascination has earned him a reputation as a lore master, he’s the perfect man to sell a forger’s the wizard’s lost treasure map. His boss Gareth St. James is dangerous to disappoint, and equally obsessed with the ruins. His fury after a botched robbery is abated only by his untimely discovery of the map, forcing Brenish into a desperate bluff that it might be real. But the forger did his job too well, stoking Gareth’s desire and leaving Brenish and the other thieves no choice but to join his quest. Gareth’s expedition includes his best henchmen, and an extra hostage for insurance against Brenish. In the dark realm of monster-infested tunnels and abandoned cities below, both men need each other’s wits to keep the company alive. But Brenish knows the search for the wizard’s hoard is doomed—and if he can’t divert Gareth before the truth comes out, so is everyone he cares about. About 118,000 words.
341 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 19, 2017
80 people are currently reading
423 people want to read
About the author
Lee Gaiteri
5 books15 followersLee Gaiteri (guy-tare-ee) is a computer programmer from Syracuse, New York, where he lives with his wife and a fluctuating number of cats. His passions include bacon, Lego, caffeine, rooting for a perennially disappointing football team, and ranting with abandon. His chief aspiration is to become a beloved supervillain who would drive the mosquito to extinction and legalize the unrestricted sport hunting of Internet spammers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
May 16, 2017
I'm so happy to finally see this listed here! I can't wait until the final proofing is done so I can hold a printed copy in my hands! I love the cover art, the artist did a great job of capturing the feeling of the book. The only thing I think this book is missing is a map, but since I've already had this conversation with the author (aka my favorite brother 😉) he's aware of my opinion, and has said he may add one in future editions. Fingers crossed!
Read
November 3, 2018This is a world where treasure is buried deep beneath the earth, guarded by goblins, ghouls, and other monsters. The Fell Current is a pull that almost everyone feels, even if they try to deny it. It’s an urge to go below the ground, to the land of the Elder Kingdom in search of the treasure buried within the forgotten realm. Those who go Fell are rarely seen from again, many people venture into the depths never to return again – or if they do return, they emerge with half the number they started with, and as broken people with nothing to show for it. It’s the few that manage to return with riches that keep the momentum and intrigue going for the rest.
The main character in this is young, his name is Brenish and he’s going on 20 years old. He’s known nothing other than a life of thievery and doesn’t know what he wants to do with himself going forward, other than marrying his girlfriend. The problem is his girlfriend’s father won’t have anything to do with it, he is demanding a high dowry, one that’s far out of the reach of Brenish. It’s in the thieves guild nature to help each other out a bit when they fall on hard times.
A man within the guild has been jailed and his wife is left caring for the children on her own. She gets her hands on a potentially invaluable map, it’s a map that supposedly leads to an old wizards storage deep below the ground. If it’s genuine, and if the treasure is really there, he could come back with more than enough money for the dowry. He’d like to try and set up an expedition, but without knowing for certain that the map is genuine, it’s a very risky and expensive move.
Bending to peer pressure from his friends, Brenish decides to abandon plans to go underground himself, and instead to try and sell the map and continue with thieving per usual. He does just that until a job goes bad. He and a group of men set out to rob a caravan that’s carrying large amounts of gold – except when they got there it turns out it was a decoy, and the real caravan made it into the city. This really upset Gareth, the man who gave them the job, and since they came back with nothing they now owe Gareth double what the caravan was worth.
Brenish is in dire straits now that he owes money to someone who’s extremely dangerous – the debt would make marriage for him impossible, so he strikes a deal with Gareth for a loan on top of what he owed in exchange for 7 years of service. He hopes the loan will be enough to impress her father and enough to satisfy a dowry.
Gareth finds out about the map and decides that they will all go and see if it’s true or not, and as a motivator, he takes Brenish’s girlfriend down into the Elder Kingdom with them, that way Brenish can’t run away and keep whatever he finds for himself.
This was written in the third person as well as single pov, so we got to know the main character pretty well. He’s a well-meaning thief type, he doesn’t want to cause excessive harm to the people he robs, he’s not the type to kill if it’s not absolutely necessary. Quick and clean, business-like. He really does care about his girlfriend which is nice to see a normal healthy relationship. But, I was left a little wanting for development in the side characters, they fell a bit flat for me.
This read a bit like an alternate Earth story, there’s buried treasure, wizards, goblins, dragons etc – but there are familiar things as well, the months were the same as we use, and there were references to the Romans, the Greeks, and the Vikings. Of course, it was the Elder Kingdom and the underground world that really intrigued me. The “roads” down there were often long expanses of tunnels filled with different creatures, some benign and others not so much. The “deep creatures” don’t venture out into the sunlight, but below the surface is teeming with mutant versions of rats which are both large and lethal.
The writing was a mix of older dialect and modern ways of speaking, and I don’t mind one or the other, but to have both was a little odd. There were a lot of “aye, nay, ’twas, ’tis” which were mixed in with more modern phrases such as referring to people as “snowflakes”. There were also a couple awkwardly phrased sentences eg, “Think you it’s real, then?”. It’s a shame because at the start I thought the writing was well done, there are definitely passages that were immersive and created a great atmosphere – but over the course of the book, little things built up and took the score down a little for the Writing section. This was a pretty clean book as far as cursing, it’s very tame with just a few “damns” and nothing else. There were a few parts in the book where there was exposition used that was aimed at a younger audience so it’s possible this is a YA, although I’m terrible at defining that genre.
Much of this book was part of a dungeon crawl where things are always lurking in the background waiting to strike the team trying to forge their way towards the wizards hidden treasure, to the pacing is quite quick. It’s sped along by the prose as well, there’s a nice flow to everything that keeps the story going.
Overall, this was a good book that will appeal to people who like dungeon crawl type books with a lot of old-school magic, mystery, and adventure.
Audience:
* faster paced
* lots of monsters
* dungeon crawl
* lost civilizations
* old school magic/wizards
* treasure hunting
* group on a quest
Ratings:
Plot: 11.5/15
Characters: 10.25/15
World Building: 12.5/15
Writing: 10/15
Pacing: 12/15
Originality: 11/15
Personal Enjoyment: 7/10
Final Score: 74.25/100 – 3.71/5 GR – recommended
The main character in this is young, his name is Brenish and he’s going on 20 years old. He’s known nothing other than a life of thievery and doesn’t know what he wants to do with himself going forward, other than marrying his girlfriend. The problem is his girlfriend’s father won’t have anything to do with it, he is demanding a high dowry, one that’s far out of the reach of Brenish. It’s in the thieves guild nature to help each other out a bit when they fall on hard times.
A man within the guild has been jailed and his wife is left caring for the children on her own. She gets her hands on a potentially invaluable map, it’s a map that supposedly leads to an old wizards storage deep below the ground. If it’s genuine, and if the treasure is really there, he could come back with more than enough money for the dowry. He’d like to try and set up an expedition, but without knowing for certain that the map is genuine, it’s a very risky and expensive move.
Bending to peer pressure from his friends, Brenish decides to abandon plans to go underground himself, and instead to try and sell the map and continue with thieving per usual. He does just that until a job goes bad. He and a group of men set out to rob a caravan that’s carrying large amounts of gold – except when they got there it turns out it was a decoy, and the real caravan made it into the city. This really upset Gareth, the man who gave them the job, and since they came back with nothing they now owe Gareth double what the caravan was worth.
Brenish is in dire straits now that he owes money to someone who’s extremely dangerous – the debt would make marriage for him impossible, so he strikes a deal with Gareth for a loan on top of what he owed in exchange for 7 years of service. He hopes the loan will be enough to impress her father and enough to satisfy a dowry.
Gareth finds out about the map and decides that they will all go and see if it’s true or not, and as a motivator, he takes Brenish’s girlfriend down into the Elder Kingdom with them, that way Brenish can’t run away and keep whatever he finds for himself.
This was written in the third person as well as single pov, so we got to know the main character pretty well. He’s a well-meaning thief type, he doesn’t want to cause excessive harm to the people he robs, he’s not the type to kill if it’s not absolutely necessary. Quick and clean, business-like. He really does care about his girlfriend which is nice to see a normal healthy relationship. But, I was left a little wanting for development in the side characters, they fell a bit flat for me.
This read a bit like an alternate Earth story, there’s buried treasure, wizards, goblins, dragons etc – but there are familiar things as well, the months were the same as we use, and there were references to the Romans, the Greeks, and the Vikings. Of course, it was the Elder Kingdom and the underground world that really intrigued me. The “roads” down there were often long expanses of tunnels filled with different creatures, some benign and others not so much. The “deep creatures” don’t venture out into the sunlight, but below the surface is teeming with mutant versions of rats which are both large and lethal.
The writing was a mix of older dialect and modern ways of speaking, and I don’t mind one or the other, but to have both was a little odd. There were a lot of “aye, nay, ’twas, ’tis” which were mixed in with more modern phrases such as referring to people as “snowflakes”. There were also a couple awkwardly phrased sentences eg, “Think you it’s real, then?”. It’s a shame because at the start I thought the writing was well done, there are definitely passages that were immersive and created a great atmosphere – but over the course of the book, little things built up and took the score down a little for the Writing section. This was a pretty clean book as far as cursing, it’s very tame with just a few “damns” and nothing else. There were a few parts in the book where there was exposition used that was aimed at a younger audience so it’s possible this is a YA, although I’m terrible at defining that genre.
Much of this book was part of a dungeon crawl where things are always lurking in the background waiting to strike the team trying to forge their way towards the wizards hidden treasure, to the pacing is quite quick. It’s sped along by the prose as well, there’s a nice flow to everything that keeps the story going.
Overall, this was a good book that will appeal to people who like dungeon crawl type books with a lot of old-school magic, mystery, and adventure.
Audience:
* faster paced
* lots of monsters
* dungeon crawl
* lost civilizations
* old school magic/wizards
* treasure hunting
* group on a quest
Ratings:
Plot: 11.5/15
Characters: 10.25/15
World Building: 12.5/15
Writing: 10/15
Pacing: 12/15
Originality: 11/15
Personal Enjoyment: 7/10
Final Score: 74.25/100 – 3.71/5 GR – recommended
June 7, 2017
Superbly written, a ripping yarn.
What a book! A talented storyteller, Lee delivers a breakneck-paced adventure that hits all of the quick, entertaining fantasy buttons while somehow managing to burst at the seams with epic lore. Rifts and ancient Romans and Nordic roots, I still find it difficult to fathom how so much world managed to get built in such a tightly written romp.
Best of all to my fellow beleaguered bibliophiles, Below is a standalone novel. Read it immediately and be entertained and fully sated. What a tale, though; I sincerely hope Gaiteri comes back to explore and flesh out some of the myriad fascinating ideas contained herein.
What a book! A talented storyteller, Lee delivers a breakneck-paced adventure that hits all of the quick, entertaining fantasy buttons while somehow managing to burst at the seams with epic lore. Rifts and ancient Romans and Nordic roots, I still find it difficult to fathom how so much world managed to get built in such a tightly written romp.
Best of all to my fellow beleaguered bibliophiles, Below is a standalone novel. Read it immediately and be entertained and fully sated. What a tale, though; I sincerely hope Gaiteri comes back to explore and flesh out some of the myriad fascinating ideas contained herein.
July 16, 2018
Holy. Shit. (Pardon my language) But what an adventure! Wow! Magic, puzzles, deception, betrayal, treasure, and fantastical creatures fill these pages. It's been a really long time since I've been on an adventure of this magnitude! Excellent prose and characters. Very smooth story from start to finish. I couldn't put it down and I didn't want to when I was forced to do so. I really hope Lee will venture back into this world or one similar to it. Simply amazing!
May 30, 2017
Solid fantasy adventure
Read as a throwback novel to a time when every fantasy novel didn't have to be a six book series. If you're a roguelike player like I am, I think you'll get extra enjoyment out of it, but if you like a good sword and sorcery romp, I think you'll enjoy this.
Read as a throwback novel to a time when every fantasy novel didn't have to be a six book series. If you're a roguelike player like I am, I think you'll get extra enjoyment out of it, but if you like a good sword and sorcery romp, I think you'll enjoy this.
June 26, 2017
I enjoy stories, generally, that explore that wider world in which fantasy adventures occur. It is the back story that we gloss over every time we start a new role playing campaign.
This is perhaps the only one I've read that takes the story serious.
I started out feeling like the overall feel was pretty dark, but the story was quite compelling and interesting. I think it ended just a tiny bit short, but otherwise was an excellent and interesting read.
This is perhaps the only one I've read that takes the story serious.
I started out feeling like the overall feel was pretty dark, but the story was quite compelling and interesting. I think it ended just a tiny bit short, but otherwise was an excellent and interesting read.
August 8, 2017
Fun, well crafted crawl with deep characters
I seriously enjoyed this book! It really captured the feel of dungeon crawling, and the characters were well thought out, engaging and cool. I look forward to seeing more from Gaiteri for sure.
I seriously enjoyed this book! It really captured the feel of dungeon crawling, and the characters were well thought out, engaging and cool. I look forward to seeing more from Gaiteri for sure.
August 8, 2017
Wow! I loved this book. It held my attention..
March 24, 2021
Fun read fantasy
Honest adventure and I have a soft spot for big ruinscapes. Little incoherent in the worldbuilding, though. Recommended for adventure lovers.
Honest adventure and I have a soft spot for big ruinscapes. Little incoherent in the worldbuilding, though. Recommended for adventure lovers.
January 2, 2022
By far the best book in the genre. And the only one, for some reason. Which is a shame, as it has huge potential.
What Lee Gaiteri did right? Character development, setting the scenes (which is a bitch and a half: someone should make a graphic novel of this book), plot.
What he did wrong? Only wrote one installment.
If you're into fantasy, RPG's, rogue-like games, etc.? Read this.
What Lee Gaiteri did right? Character development, setting the scenes (which is a bitch and a half: someone should make a graphic novel of this book), plot.
What he did wrong? Only wrote one installment.
If you're into fantasy, RPG's, rogue-like games, etc.? Read this.
August 16, 2020
Setting:
The majority of this book takes place in a massive underground cave system that once housed an ancient society and currently houses monsters, bones, and treasure.
Characters:
Brenish: Brenish is a mediocre thief and a master liar. He has a significant interest in the ruins but just enough sense to know the odds of dying are too high to risk a trip down. His only real goal is to marry his sweetheart.
Gareth: Gareth is crime boss and is very fond of making money and utterly obsessed with the ruins of the elder kingdom.
Plot:
After a failed robbery, Brenish and his friends wind up under Gareth's displeased eye. One of Gareth's men happens to know that Brenish is in possession of a map. It's quickly revealed that the map is the fabled map created by a wizard that reveals the location of his vast treasure hoard. What is not revealed is that the map is fake. It's nothing but a convincing forgery made by a friend that Brenish was going to sell. Gareth has other plans; namely collecting the wealth for himself and he's dragging along Brenish on the trip.
My Thoughts:
On the whole the book is pretty decent. It's a fun caper down into some dangerous ruins with the fun twist of the map being a fake and Brenish desperately trying to figure out what he's going to do once that becomes apparent.
The character work is nice, though none of the characters grow very much throughout the novel. For the most part, everyone stays how they are. The plot work is similarly well done for around 95% of the novel. The ending isn't strictly speaking bad but it asks quite a lot of the reader's suspension of disbelief and winds up more clean and nice than really seems to be appropriate given the build up. It doesn't ruin the work but it does feel a bit out of place.
The largest stumbling block of the work is the world building. There are repeated mentions of Greeks, Romans, and Christianity so this must be happening on Earth but when and where are never explained. This is somewhat bothersome but the larger problem is the complete lack of answers in regards to anything about the underground cave system. How the caves were excavated and food was grown is shrugged at and given a weak "magic probably" response but the biggest question of why any human society would choose to live their entire lives underground is not even brought up. Gaiteri does seem to realize that prolonged periods of time underground can have negative psychological impacts on people as we see our travelers deal with bouts of "deepsick". Not brought up are the physical problems like vitamin D deficiency. So knowing that being underground for extended periods of time is bad and seeing the characters don't like it, the obvious question why anyone would choose to live underground is kinda hard to avoid. This question is not even brought up during the novel. Also completely unexplained is the question of what would cause such a wealthy, and presumably magically powerful, society to just abandon their homes.
The few hand wavey explanations we do get, lack of other important explanations, and random bits of real world stuff thrown in feel haphazard at best.
If you really don't care about the flimsy world building the novel is decently enjoyable though the ultimate ending will likely rub some readers the wrong way.
The majority of this book takes place in a massive underground cave system that once housed an ancient society and currently houses monsters, bones, and treasure.
Characters:
Brenish: Brenish is a mediocre thief and a master liar. He has a significant interest in the ruins but just enough sense to know the odds of dying are too high to risk a trip down. His only real goal is to marry his sweetheart.
Gareth: Gareth is crime boss and is very fond of making money and utterly obsessed with the ruins of the elder kingdom.
Plot:
After a failed robbery, Brenish and his friends wind up under Gareth's displeased eye. One of Gareth's men happens to know that Brenish is in possession of a map. It's quickly revealed that the map is the fabled map created by a wizard that reveals the location of his vast treasure hoard. What is not revealed is that the map is fake. It's nothing but a convincing forgery made by a friend that Brenish was going to sell. Gareth has other plans; namely collecting the wealth for himself and he's dragging along Brenish on the trip.
My Thoughts:
On the whole the book is pretty decent. It's a fun caper down into some dangerous ruins with the fun twist of the map being a fake and Brenish desperately trying to figure out what he's going to do once that becomes apparent.
The character work is nice, though none of the characters grow very much throughout the novel. For the most part, everyone stays how they are. The plot work is similarly well done for around 95% of the novel. The ending isn't strictly speaking bad but it asks quite a lot of the reader's suspension of disbelief and winds up more clean and nice than really seems to be appropriate given the build up. It doesn't ruin the work but it does feel a bit out of place.
The largest stumbling block of the work is the world building. There are repeated mentions of Greeks, Romans, and Christianity so this must be happening on Earth but when and where are never explained. This is somewhat bothersome but the larger problem is the complete lack of answers in regards to anything about the underground cave system. How the caves were excavated and food was grown is shrugged at and given a weak "magic probably" response but the biggest question of why any human society would choose to live their entire lives underground is not even brought up. Gaiteri does seem to realize that prolonged periods of time underground can have negative psychological impacts on people as we see our travelers deal with bouts of "deepsick". Not brought up are the physical problems like vitamin D deficiency. So knowing that being underground for extended periods of time is bad and seeing the characters don't like it, the obvious question why anyone would choose to live underground is kinda hard to avoid. This question is not even brought up during the novel. Also completely unexplained is the question of what would cause such a wealthy, and presumably magically powerful, society to just abandon their homes.
The few hand wavey explanations we do get, lack of other important explanations, and random bits of real world stuff thrown in feel haphazard at best.
If you really don't care about the flimsy world building the novel is decently enjoyable though the ultimate ending will likely rub some readers the wrong way.
August 26, 2017
A pleasure to read. This story was like living in a video game. I enjoyed the different world keeping the characters on their toes with creatures to battle and treasures to plunder. The potential for magic is practically unlimited. Great mix of characters. I would love to give up more time to reading other books like Below. I feel I could recommend this book to almost anyone.
October 25, 2024
Pretty solid page-turner that feels like a DnD game. There isn't much worldbuilding and the characters except the protagonist felt rather one-dimensional, but their actions or motivations made sense most of the time. What I liked most about this book is the palpable sense of dread and danger throughout the whole journey. While I wasn't a fan of the ending because it felt a bit too convenient, it doesn't ruin the overall story or anything. Definitely worth reading if you like dungeon crawlers!
January 9, 2021
Great adventure
I'm speechless to describe how epic this story is. I went into this blind and just really enjoyed it and i hope other would enjoy it too
I'm speechless to describe how epic this story is. I went into this blind and just really enjoyed it and i hope other would enjoy it too
January 3, 2019
I first saw Below mentioned on r/fantasy thread that was requesting recommendations for a book containing a dungeon crawl. At the time I'd recently read Bakker's White Luck Warrior , and I'd also been playing some roguelike games like Brogue. So I was craving some more subterranean hijinks, and Gaiteri definitely hit the mark with Below.
Gaiteri makes mention of the fact that roguelike games (and the fact that there's a distinct lack of reading material relating to them) are a partial inspiration for this book, and he nails the feelings that one gets while playing. You can feel the tension as the characters explore the alien dark, not knowing if their next encounter will be with some horrible beast, or if they'll stumble fortuitously upon some treasure or magical scroll that will help them with their quest. This was the best aspect of the novel for me - I loved the overall atmosphere of the setting and the way that Gaiteri painted it.
I also quite enjoyed the characters. The lead duo of Brenish and Gareth were great foils to one another, and they were developed quite well as the plot progressed. Most characters in the novel were memorable, had distinguishable voices and traits, and had appropriate agency for their role in the story. As I recall, Gaiteri made mention in the afterword that in the initial drafts he felt like Gareth was too simplistic and was more a caricature of a villain than his own realised character. The extra attention that Gaiteri took in fleshing out Gareth worked well, so much so that I feel that Gareth was the best character in the novel (certainly not the most likeable though), in that I could well understand his decisions and motivations as events occurred.
Plot-wise, I felt that the story started a little slowly, but I also understand the need to establish the background to the quest and felt that later events benefited from it. Perhaps the beginning could be streamlined a bit next time, or maybe made a bit more eventful. Once the characters actually embarked upon the quest, the pacing picked up to my liking. The overarching quest was interesting to me, and there was enough unpredictability throughout the novel to keep me engaged. Each foe encountered certainly felt dangerous, which upped the stakes and danger to a level that felt appropriate for a good dungeon crawl. Perhaps my biggest criticism of the novel would be that it didn't feel long enough to me, I wanted more adventure in the world that he'd built and was disappointed when I could see the quest drawing to a conclusion.
Prior to reading I saw other reviews criticising Gaiteri's choice of wording, with his tendency to throw in some anachronistic phrasing (particularly during conversation between characters). However, as I was reading it actually felt effective to me. By the end of the novel I found that I really enjoyed this part of his prose. If it has been done as a deliberate stylistic choice, I'd quite like to see more of it in future novels, but I understand if he chooses otherwise.
Overall, I loved reading Below and I would definitely recommend it to any fans of fantasy. Great effort!
Gaiteri makes mention of the fact that roguelike games (and the fact that there's a distinct lack of reading material relating to them) are a partial inspiration for this book, and he nails the feelings that one gets while playing. You can feel the tension as the characters explore the alien dark, not knowing if their next encounter will be with some horrible beast, or if they'll stumble fortuitously upon some treasure or magical scroll that will help them with their quest. This was the best aspect of the novel for me - I loved the overall atmosphere of the setting and the way that Gaiteri painted it.
I also quite enjoyed the characters. The lead duo of Brenish and Gareth were great foils to one another, and they were developed quite well as the plot progressed. Most characters in the novel were memorable, had distinguishable voices and traits, and had appropriate agency for their role in the story. As I recall, Gaiteri made mention in the afterword that in the initial drafts he felt like Gareth was too simplistic and was more a caricature of a villain than his own realised character. The extra attention that Gaiteri took in fleshing out Gareth worked well, so much so that I feel that Gareth was the best character in the novel (certainly not the most likeable though), in that I could well understand his decisions and motivations as events occurred.
Plot-wise, I felt that the story started a little slowly, but I also understand the need to establish the background to the quest and felt that later events benefited from it. Perhaps the beginning could be streamlined a bit next time, or maybe made a bit more eventful. Once the characters actually embarked upon the quest, the pacing picked up to my liking. The overarching quest was interesting to me, and there was enough unpredictability throughout the novel to keep me engaged. Each foe encountered certainly felt dangerous, which upped the stakes and danger to a level that felt appropriate for a good dungeon crawl. Perhaps my biggest criticism of the novel would be that it didn't feel long enough to me, I wanted more adventure in the world that he'd built and was disappointed when I could see the quest drawing to a conclusion.
Prior to reading I saw other reviews criticising Gaiteri's choice of wording, with his tendency to throw in some anachronistic phrasing (particularly during conversation between characters). However, as I was reading it actually felt effective to me. By the end of the novel I found that I really enjoyed this part of his prose. If it has been done as a deliberate stylistic choice, I'd quite like to see more of it in future novels, but I understand if he chooses otherwise.
Overall, I loved reading Below and I would definitely recommend it to any fans of fantasy. Great effort!
February 8, 2022
Right from the beginning, this book’s concept intrigued me. A hidden kingdom deep below ground full of monsters and treasure? A silver-tongued thief who has been fascinated with the place all his life but is definitely not going down there?
Well, well…I wonder what could possibly happen next?
Before long, I realized that in addition to being a fascinating idea for a novel, the concept also felt familiar to me. I too have felt the familiar pull of treasure hoards guarded by untold monsters. Have needed to be aware of what I might find. Have needed to make sure I am well-provisioned with the best gear I can get beforehand, and kept a careful tally of what I still have left and have been able to find on the way.
As I soon realized, and the author’s note confirmed, this is a sort of novelization of the dungeons found in many rpg games.
The adventure and geekiness is spot-on. The author makes great use of suspense and the payoff does not disappoint. But what I appreciated most was the author’s attention to detail in making this sort of concept make logical sense in the real (fantasy) world.
I could tell thought had gone into how such an ecosystem of monsters could exist. And I loved his mention of plagues being transferred from the fae realm to Earth, and vice versa. If such a thing actually existed, this would absolutely happen, just as it does when separate populations come into contact. Yet the only other time I’ve come across this is in H. G. Well’s War of the Worlds.
Fantasy doesn’t mean the laws of science don’t exist, it just means they are different or have exceptions. Most of the laws of physics are embedded into fantasy novels anyway, just so they are understandable to humans from Earth. When an elf fires a bow, for example, no one is confused as to why the arrow flies away suddenly, and takes a roughly parabolic path towards its target.
I also appreciated that the author didn’t feel the need to introduce a lot of crudeness, especially given the inclusion of the main character’s girlfriend in the story. She’s interesting, though I wish I had gotten to know her a bit better during the story. At times she fell perilously close into falling into the threatened-woman-who’s-only-purpose-is-providing-motivation-for-the-hero cliche, but thankfully she managed to avoid that fate.
All in all, great read. I really hope Lee Gaiteri writes more fantasy novels.
Well, well…I wonder what could possibly happen next?
Before long, I realized that in addition to being a fascinating idea for a novel, the concept also felt familiar to me. I too have felt the familiar pull of treasure hoards guarded by untold monsters. Have needed to be aware of what I might find. Have needed to make sure I am well-provisioned with the best gear I can get beforehand, and kept a careful tally of what I still have left and have been able to find on the way.
As I soon realized, and the author’s note confirmed, this is a sort of novelization of the dungeons found in many rpg games.
The adventure and geekiness is spot-on. The author makes great use of suspense and the payoff does not disappoint. But what I appreciated most was the author’s attention to detail in making this sort of concept make logical sense in the real (fantasy) world.
I could tell thought had gone into how such an ecosystem of monsters could exist. And I loved his mention of plagues being transferred from the fae realm to Earth, and vice versa. If such a thing actually existed, this would absolutely happen, just as it does when separate populations come into contact. Yet the only other time I’ve come across this is in H. G. Well’s War of the Worlds.
Fantasy doesn’t mean the laws of science don’t exist, it just means they are different or have exceptions. Most of the laws of physics are embedded into fantasy novels anyway, just so they are understandable to humans from Earth. When an elf fires a bow, for example, no one is confused as to why the arrow flies away suddenly, and takes a roughly parabolic path towards its target.
I also appreciated that the author didn’t feel the need to introduce a lot of crudeness, especially given the inclusion of the main character’s girlfriend in the story. She’s interesting, though I wish I had gotten to know her a bit better during the story. At times she fell perilously close into falling into the threatened-woman-who’s-only-purpose-is-providing-motivation-for-the-hero cliche, but thankfully she managed to avoid that fate.
All in all, great read. I really hope Lee Gaiteri writes more fantasy novels.
August 13, 2020
Finished this book about half an hour ago! I enjoyed it and thought I'd share some of my thoughts.
First, the good. The book does what it came to do very well. The outside world is described hazily, as it is seen from the point of view of the protagonist, which is great in this case - the focus is the Elder Kingdom and the mystery surrounding it, not the political relationship between far away kingdoms. The ruins are a combination of lore and mysteries, things that the characters knew, guessed, read on online-forums, and things that they discover for the first time. The action is good, the scenery is great, and their feeling of claustrophobia and growing dread is very well done. The reader feels as though he is stuck in the torchlit caves with the party, treading towards the unknown.
I liked the relationship between Brenish and Gareth. This is not usually the way a protagonist and a villain interact!
Sadly I do have some things that I did not like. Many characters feel bland. Gareth's thugs are introduced in quick succession and I didn't have time to understand their characteristics and motives before they crossed Aseph's Gate. From then on some of them felt like redshirts (which in my opinion was not the author's intention), and when the characters talk about one of them and his personality, I scrolled back looking to see where that personality is expressed. Sometimes I couldn't find it, which felt like a lot of "tell" without enough "show". Cirawyn should have been shaped better. She's Brenish's love, she's smart, and she's completely bland. She acts when she needs to by the plot, and otherwise she is just passive.
Other than that I think some better editing was required in certain chapters in the beginning. Some pronouns were used and I wasn't sure what they were referring to, and some sentences weren't very clear. This stopped about 30% of the way through (or maybe I was just too fascinated to notice anymore :) )
Anyway, good book. Read it!
First, the good. The book does what it came to do very well. The outside world is described hazily, as it is seen from the point of view of the protagonist, which is great in this case - the focus is the Elder Kingdom and the mystery surrounding it, not the political relationship between far away kingdoms. The ruins are a combination of lore and mysteries, things that the characters knew, guessed, read on online-forums, and things that they discover for the first time. The action is good, the scenery is great, and their feeling of claustrophobia and growing dread is very well done. The reader feels as though he is stuck in the torchlit caves with the party, treading towards the unknown.
I liked the relationship between Brenish and Gareth. This is not usually the way a protagonist and a villain interact!
Sadly I do have some things that I did not like. Many characters feel bland. Gareth's thugs are introduced in quick succession and I didn't have time to understand their characteristics and motives before they crossed Aseph's Gate. From then on some of them felt like redshirts (which in my opinion was not the author's intention), and when the characters talk about one of them and his personality, I scrolled back looking to see where that personality is expressed. Sometimes I couldn't find it, which felt like a lot of "tell" without enough "show". Cirawyn should have been shaped better. She's Brenish's love, she's smart, and she's completely bland. She acts when she needs to by the plot, and otherwise she is just passive.
Other than that I think some better editing was required in certain chapters in the beginning. Some pronouns were used and I wasn't sure what they were referring to, and some sentences weren't very clear. This stopped about 30% of the way through (or maybe I was just too fascinated to notice anymore :) )
Anyway, good book. Read it!
June 29, 2019
I stumbled upon this Kindle book from the authors own recommendation as I was looking for a Dungeon Crawl story... I took his recommendation and read this book (actually I only listen to books because of an eye twitch so I decrypted the book and used Text To Speech with a Welsh accent speech engine - and it came out superb as a narrator and much more satisfying then Alexa's voice).
The story develops around the main character, Brenish, and the love of his life, Cirawyn, and his dreams of a family life outside of his mounting debts as a petty thief. The character development is deep, and human, and it is one of the strengths of this book. The journey Brenish actually embarks on is both interesting and filled with uncertainty due to the circumstances that he is 'forced' into this.
The descriptive nature of the author and choice of battles and scenes is very impressive, and the story both keeps your interest and builds on the excitement and anticipation of the goal. The story is very enjoyable and was worth the time to read it. Further, the puzzles and thoughts behind the great adventure they go on are very well thought out.
I understood the inspiration of the author having been an '80's computer geek myself, and loving RPG's and rogue-like games all of my life.
Mr. Gaiteri has done a superb job of a first literary work (that I am aware of) and the book is worth your time and memorable. Just reading the story I could feel the pull of the 'Fell Current' myself and I found myself looking for the gates of entry... unfortunately, I only found a few hundred computer games that could satisfy this urge and no real forgotten city, at least not in my local neighborhood.
Great job, great work and an author that should be supported!
The story develops around the main character, Brenish, and the love of his life, Cirawyn, and his dreams of a family life outside of his mounting debts as a petty thief. The character development is deep, and human, and it is one of the strengths of this book. The journey Brenish actually embarks on is both interesting and filled with uncertainty due to the circumstances that he is 'forced' into this.
The descriptive nature of the author and choice of battles and scenes is very impressive, and the story both keeps your interest and builds on the excitement and anticipation of the goal. The story is very enjoyable and was worth the time to read it. Further, the puzzles and thoughts behind the great adventure they go on are very well thought out.
I understood the inspiration of the author having been an '80's computer geek myself, and loving RPG's and rogue-like games all of my life.
Mr. Gaiteri has done a superb job of a first literary work (that I am aware of) and the book is worth your time and memorable. Just reading the story I could feel the pull of the 'Fell Current' myself and I found myself looking for the gates of entry... unfortunately, I only found a few hundred computer games that could satisfy this urge and no real forgotten city, at least not in my local neighborhood.
Great job, great work and an author that should be supported!
January 10, 2018
Gaiteri set out to write an engaging book that reads like a traditional dungeon crawler videogame, but ultimately did much more than that. The book accomplishes several novel things in its packed 350 pages. World building is a key component of fantasy writing. Unfortunately, this often leads to tired or pro forma exposition in the first third of books. Gaiteri threads this needle flawlessly, drawing the reader into a world that is both familiar to anyone who's read fantasy or played fantasy games, but also unique in its reflection of real world elements. This is a great hook, frankly.
The second element that sets this book apart is the practical thought given to fantasy tropes. Few writers tackle the "practical" problems of going on an adventure in a fantasy world. Food, tactics, equipment, the psychological impact of seeing fantastic things and living underground. These mundane issues give a delightful depth to the story; Understandably so when one considers Gaiteri's gaming background and inspiration.
Onto this foundation, Gaiteri builds an engrossing story that puts amusing and distinctive characters into crises not only of the fantasy variety, but also some which would be more at home in crime fiction or noire. It's an engrossing read from start to finish and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
The second element that sets this book apart is the practical thought given to fantasy tropes. Few writers tackle the "practical" problems of going on an adventure in a fantasy world. Food, tactics, equipment, the psychological impact of seeing fantastic things and living underground. These mundane issues give a delightful depth to the story; Understandably so when one considers Gaiteri's gaming background and inspiration.
Onto this foundation, Gaiteri builds an engrossing story that puts amusing and distinctive characters into crises not only of the fantasy variety, but also some which would be more at home in crime fiction or noire. It's an engrossing read from start to finish and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
February 16, 2021
Below is a solid read about a confidence artist, his boss who is the head of a criminal organization, and a dead mage's treasure trove that could be hidden in an underground city.
The story has a pretty good pace that kept me engaged from start to finish.
World building is this novel's strength. Mr. Gaiteri does a commendable job in creating an underground world that is filled with wonder and mystery.
The magic system is not clearly defined. However, the way the events transpired at a steady clip, the issue of the magic system did not take me out of the story.
The plot is straight-forward and complicated, but it gets a bit jumbled near the end and I lost track of the story. The confusion dimmed my overall enjoyment.
I thought the only character that is three-dimensional and engaging is the main character who is the confidence artist. The other characters are flat and not as memorable or engaging.
As a result of the somewhat confusing part of the story near the ending and the flat characters, I rate Below 3 Stars.
The story has a pretty good pace that kept me engaged from start to finish.
World building is this novel's strength. Mr. Gaiteri does a commendable job in creating an underground world that is filled with wonder and mystery.
The magic system is not clearly defined. However, the way the events transpired at a steady clip, the issue of the magic system did not take me out of the story.
The plot is straight-forward and complicated, but it gets a bit jumbled near the end and I lost track of the story. The confusion dimmed my overall enjoyment.
I thought the only character that is three-dimensional and engaging is the main character who is the confidence artist. The other characters are flat and not as memorable or engaging.
As a result of the somewhat confusing part of the story near the ending and the flat characters, I rate Below 3 Stars.
January 12, 2018
I really wasn't sure what to expect when I picked this up. I was intrigued by the idea of a novel based around dungeon exploration games on the computer (having played many of those games myself). I expected a shallow, hack-and-slash adventure, but what we get is a rich, complex journey through an underworld.
The characters are well fleshed out and believable, as is the environment. As the book progresses you really get a sense of the claustrophobia from being stuck in a vast and hostile underground kingdom. The characters are tested to their limits, both physically and mentally, and their personalities magnified by the ever increasing pressure as they delve further into the darkness. Although some reviewers have commented on the provincial accent the characters speak with, I was absolutely fine with it.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book!
The characters are well fleshed out and believable, as is the environment. As the book progresses you really get a sense of the claustrophobia from being stuck in a vast and hostile underground kingdom. The characters are tested to their limits, both physically and mentally, and their personalities magnified by the ever increasing pressure as they delve further into the darkness. Although some reviewers have commented on the provincial accent the characters speak with, I was absolutely fine with it.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book!
February 22, 2019
Missing an old-fashioned dungeon crawl but want it to be something different and new? Then Below is the book for you. The characters are fun and the world is unique. Our protagonist is a thief whose plans to make enough money so his love's father doesn't laugh at him outright goes awry when the wrong people get involved. Before you know it, Brenish is forced into an adventuring party to go to the undercity beneath the world. There's magic, and treasure, and fights, and more. While this is a standalone, I could easily see more in this world as we just get the hints of rifts and possibilities.
October 28, 2019
This was a pretty fun read! It is very much an old school D&D-based book, moreso than a lot of the official D&D books. Instead of being about saving the world from the Ancient Evil Dude, it is about a group of treasure hunters going into a dungeon (well, an abandoned underground empire) to look for treasure. Very small scale compared to a lot of fantasy. In D&D terminology, it's very much a story about low level adventurers (although some of the cast are reluctant adventurers) doing low level adventurer things.
The writing was breezy, although the characters weren't much more than cardboard cutouts.
The writing was breezy, although the characters weren't much more than cardboard cutouts.
May 20, 2021
I consider myself lucky enough to have come across this book recommendation on a reddit forum after searching for, “Dungeon Crawler books.” I say lucky because there were MANY recommendations, and after months of considering and waiting, I finally decided to pull the trigger on this one. I honestly wasn’t expecting much because this genre isn’t the most popular, but I was wrong. The book pulled me in deeper than the Elder Kingdom. The closer I got to the end, the more I dreaded it to be over. I didn’t want to leave the dungeons, the caverns, the fortresses, the Elder Kingdom. And yet, here I am giving it a glowing review well earned.
Well played, Visak. Well played.
Well played, Visak. Well played.
April 4, 2019
What a fantastic read, this was great. Very cool to see familiar Roguelike mechanics explored in literature form (Writer even mentions Brogue, Nethack, and other RLs in the afterword :-) ), fun characters and banter, coupled with some red-blooded exploration and combat.
I felt the balance between the dungeon crawling and the inter-party drama was pretty good. He found a sweet spot where neither become too overburdening.
If the phrase 'delving into the unknown depths' interests you even slightly, grab this book right away.
I felt the balance between the dungeon crawling and the inter-party drama was pretty good. He found a sweet spot where neither become too overburdening.
If the phrase 'delving into the unknown depths' interests you even slightly, grab this book right away.
March 28, 2018
As the author notes, there's a lack of dungeon crawl novels in the fantasy genre. Forunately Lee Gaiteri has filled this void with "Below." This has everything I look for in fantasy: worldbuilding, engaging and believable characters, flashing swords and even flashier magic, and a story with many twists and surprises. Only one thing was missing: a sequel.
January 12, 2019
Pretty good
It's not truly a five star book, but five star books are pretty rare and I'm loathe to rate it lower with so many worse books masquerading as five star worthy on Kindle. It's easily one of the best books I've read in a while and it deserves much more attention. Wish it had fewer words pertaining to arches, tho. The author is clearly an archway enthusiast.
It's not truly a five star book, but five star books are pretty rare and I'm loathe to rate it lower with so many worse books masquerading as five star worthy on Kindle. It's easily one of the best books I've read in a while and it deserves much more attention. Wish it had fewer words pertaining to arches, tho. The author is clearly an archway enthusiast.
February 20, 2024
Great fun to read!
Simply put: was looking for a story to scratch the dungeon crawling itch, and ended up stumbling upon this absolute gem of a story. Highly recommend. The world, characters and plot are fantastic.
(Side note: was very surprised to read that the author’s home city is the same as my own!)
Simply put: was looking for a story to scratch the dungeon crawling itch, and ended up stumbling upon this absolute gem of a story. Highly recommend. The world, characters and plot are fantastic.
(Side note: was very surprised to read that the author’s home city is the same as my own!)
December 27, 2017
A good adventure romp
I really enjoyed this book, it flowed well and I kept wanting to read it. An enjoyable story with tensions and an unpredictable plot. Sometimes I was left confused as to who was being referenced in a paragraph following actions by 2 people.
I really enjoyed this book, it flowed well and I kept wanting to read it. An enjoyable story with tensions and an unpredictable plot. Sometimes I was left confused as to who was being referenced in a paragraph following actions by 2 people.
January 9, 2021
A good genre read
The setting is well-worn but the plot whips along and keeps the tension up, making this a nice page turner even if it reads closer to a Dungeons and Dragons campaign at times.
The setting is well-worn but the plot whips along and keeps the tension up, making this a nice page turner even if it reads closer to a Dungeons and Dragons campaign at times.
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