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The Divine Dungeon #1
Dungeon Born
A powerful dungeon. A sheep-herder turned Noble. Their path to ascendance through cultivation. Conquering dungeons and using them to grow has long been the most efficient way to become a powerful adventurer. The only thing keeping the process from being easy is the Beasts that inhabit these places. Questions plague those entering this particular place of power: Where do the "rewards" of weapons, armor, and heavy gold coins come from? Why is a fluffy bunny charging at me? For abyss-sake, why are there so many monsters? Cal has all of the answers to these age-old questions for a very simple reason. He is a Dungeon Core, a soul forced against his will into a magical stone. With the help of an energetic friend, Cal grows a dungeon around himself to bring in new sources of power. When a threat he doesn't fully comprehend bares its many teeth, Cal is determined to survive the attempt on his life. Unfortunately for adventurers, the only way for him to achieve his goal is to eat anyone that enters his depths.
370 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 8, 2016
3098 people are currently reading
7470 people want to read
About the author
Dakota Krout
76 books2,876 followersAuthor of the best-selling Divine Dungeon, Completionist Chronicles, and Full Murderhobo series, Dakota Krout was chosen as Audible's top 5 fantasy pick of 2017, has been a top 5 bestseller on Amazon, and a top 6 bestseller on Audible.
He draws on his experience in the military to create vast terrains and intricate systems, and his history in programming and information technology helps him bring a logical aspect to both his writing and his company while giving him a unique perspective for future challenges.
Publishing my stories has been an incredible blessing thus far, and I hope to keep you entertained for years to come! -Dakota Krout
He draws on his experience in the military to create vast terrains and intricate systems, and his history in programming and information technology helps him bring a logical aspect to both his writing and his company while giving him a unique perspective for future challenges.
Publishing my stories has been an incredible blessing thus far, and I hope to keep you entertained for years to come! -Dakota Krout
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 840 reviews
January 27, 2018
Odd little LitRPG 3.5 stars
This is one of those novels that kind of celebrate being a RPG geek. As anyone who ever made a characters and entered a dungeon will know: Dungeons are weird.... Well if you think about it for a minute. Monsters who live without food, water or light, traps that work perfectly after eons without maintenance and high level loot that drops randomly from odd places.
Well this novel gives you all the answers you ever wanted. Meet Cal a baby Dungeonhart and our protagonist. Learn how Cal makes a friend and slowly grows his dungeon, entices adventures and defend his domain.
In all this is a tong-in-cheek LitRPG set in you typical D&D world. Expect some (meta)humorous moments, fun characters and some fictional level grinding. Recommended for any RPG fans who can appreciate a good dosis of MetaHumour.
This is one of those novels that kind of celebrate being a RPG geek. As anyone who ever made a characters and entered a dungeon will know: Dungeons are weird.... Well if you think about it for a minute. Monsters who live without food, water or light, traps that work perfectly after eons without maintenance and high level loot that drops randomly from odd places.
Well this novel gives you all the answers you ever wanted. Meet Cal a baby Dungeonhart and our protagonist. Learn how Cal makes a friend and slowly grows his dungeon, entices adventures and defend his domain.
In all this is a tong-in-cheek LitRPG set in you typical D&D world. Expect some (meta)humorous moments, fun characters and some fictional level grinding. Recommended for any RPG fans who can appreciate a good dosis of MetaHumour.
July 31, 2017
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Bingo Squares: Debut Novel, Indie Author, Audiobook, Non human POV
I am burning through Indie Authors recently and I'm enjoying myself so much!
This book is going to be pretty audience specific, after reading Andrew Rowe's Sufficiently Advanced Magic and enjoying my first LitRPG I decided I'd check out some more.
If you enjoyed his book, you will probably enjoy this book, but be aware this leans way more towards RPG than mixed with epic fantasy like Rowe's book.
So, ya know when you're doing dungeon raids in video games? This book explores just how these dungeons come into being, why they spawn loot, why they have ranked monsters, how the bosses are built, and level up/magic rankings.
This book is a sentient dungeon POV!!!!
I can't say I've ever read anything like that before, and it was a ton of fun!
A human has been sucked into a soul gem and starts spawning a dungeon! He's befriended by a dungeon wisp and together they start building and leveling up the dungeon with the goal of killing as many adventurers as possible. I've never read a book where I laughed so much at deaths of adventureers, it was a very unique POV.
There are two main characters, the sentient dungeon who I'm not counting as human because although he started that way, he remembers nothing of being a human and is now something else entirely, he's definitely not a person anymore. His name is Cal, and his dungeon wisp is named Danny (I think the spelling is right, I audiobooked).
Then there's the human adventurer POV, Dale and he's joined by a group who's working to level him up as well. So you go back and forth between the adventurer trying to level up his magic and gain armor and other loot, and the dungeon who's determined to kill him.
This book was pretty funny, the dungeon can hear what the adventurers are saying, and one time someone was commening how they need new boots - so Cal spawns three left boots and finds that hilarious.
This book will have a lot of appeal to people who play a lot of video games and enjoy books with a ton of magic explanation dialogue. The beginning of the book is pretty dense with info drops about how magic works and how you level up, so if that part of Rowe's book bogged you down, this book is a step above that and you will probably want to pass.
There are elves, dwarves, politics of how the dungeon loot should be distrubuted and tons of magical monsters!
The book isn't that long, around 300 or so pages, and the pacing was really tight - lots of dungeon raids and action, and it's actually mixed with a decent amount of politics between the elves and humans.
The dialogue was well done, def not wooden, it flowed and was engaging.
There's not a terrible amount of world building, you hear a bit about different tribes of elves and dwarves, humans of different countries - but the whole book stays in the same setting on the same mountain and dungeon.
I gave it a 4 on good reads, it's definitely not a master piece book, but it's really enjoyable for someone who really loves video games, the way that Cal forms himself into traps, dead ends, tricks, and drops loot just made me laugh the whole way through the book. The characters aren't flat, but they aren't super complex and in depth the way you'd expect from an epic fantasy, they're mostly fun and engaging.
I found this book by searching for other books that Vikas Adam had narrated - I enjoyed him so much in the Heartstriker series that I was craving more of his fabulous voice acting. I was not disappointed, he was great with this series as well.
It's cheap!! It's free for kindle unlimited/prime members, and it's 3.99 for people who don't have the membership. Worth a try if you think this sounds interesting.
Super audience specific, but really fun for those who appreciate this sort of thing. It actually has a pretty impressive goodreads score, with 900+ ratings it has a 4.44 avg score rating, with most people giving it 5 stars!
Bingo Squares: Debut Novel, Indie Author, Audiobook, Non human POV
I am burning through Indie Authors recently and I'm enjoying myself so much!
This book is going to be pretty audience specific, after reading Andrew Rowe's Sufficiently Advanced Magic and enjoying my first LitRPG I decided I'd check out some more.
If you enjoyed his book, you will probably enjoy this book, but be aware this leans way more towards RPG than mixed with epic fantasy like Rowe's book.
So, ya know when you're doing dungeon raids in video games? This book explores just how these dungeons come into being, why they spawn loot, why they have ranked monsters, how the bosses are built, and level up/magic rankings.
This book is a sentient dungeon POV!!!!
I can't say I've ever read anything like that before, and it was a ton of fun!
A human has been sucked into a soul gem and starts spawning a dungeon! He's befriended by a dungeon wisp and together they start building and leveling up the dungeon with the goal of killing as many adventurers as possible. I've never read a book where I laughed so much at deaths of adventureers, it was a very unique POV.
There are two main characters, the sentient dungeon who I'm not counting as human because although he started that way, he remembers nothing of being a human and is now something else entirely, he's definitely not a person anymore. His name is Cal, and his dungeon wisp is named Danny (I think the spelling is right, I audiobooked).
Then there's the human adventurer POV, Dale and he's joined by a group who's working to level him up as well. So you go back and forth between the adventurer trying to level up his magic and gain armor and other loot, and the dungeon who's determined to kill him.
This book was pretty funny, the dungeon can hear what the adventurers are saying, and one time someone was commening how they need new boots - so Cal spawns three left boots and finds that hilarious.
This book will have a lot of appeal to people who play a lot of video games and enjoy books with a ton of magic explanation dialogue. The beginning of the book is pretty dense with info drops about how magic works and how you level up, so if that part of Rowe's book bogged you down, this book is a step above that and you will probably want to pass.
There are elves, dwarves, politics of how the dungeon loot should be distrubuted and tons of magical monsters!
The book isn't that long, around 300 or so pages, and the pacing was really tight - lots of dungeon raids and action, and it's actually mixed with a decent amount of politics between the elves and humans.
The dialogue was well done, def not wooden, it flowed and was engaging.
There's not a terrible amount of world building, you hear a bit about different tribes of elves and dwarves, humans of different countries - but the whole book stays in the same setting on the same mountain and dungeon.
I gave it a 4 on good reads, it's definitely not a master piece book, but it's really enjoyable for someone who really loves video games, the way that Cal forms himself into traps, dead ends, tricks, and drops loot just made me laugh the whole way through the book. The characters aren't flat, but they aren't super complex and in depth the way you'd expect from an epic fantasy, they're mostly fun and engaging.
I found this book by searching for other books that Vikas Adam had narrated - I enjoyed him so much in the Heartstriker series that I was craving more of his fabulous voice acting. I was not disappointed, he was great with this series as well.
It's cheap!! It's free for kindle unlimited/prime members, and it's 3.99 for people who don't have the membership. Worth a try if you think this sounds interesting.
Super audience specific, but really fun for those who appreciate this sort of thing. It actually has a pretty impressive goodreads score, with 900+ ratings it has a 4.44 avg score rating, with most people giving it 5 stars!
August 25, 2017
If (Like me) you're an old hand at adventuring...you've traveled multiple worlds in different universes fighting and conquering with different and varied groups of co-adventurers (or even on your own) then you've been there. You've spent many hours finding and disarming traps, searching for and finding secret doors while slashing through and slaying horrific and deadly monsters. You've tracked through the dungeons of Dungeons & Dragons, you've fought through the underground lairs in Diablo (not to mention Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 along with expansions), you've been in the Underdark...survived Dungeon Seige only to name a few.
But there's always been a question...or several questions. How when you open a dungeon room or cave that has been sealed for hundreds of years are there live deadly monsters in there? I mean (other than the undead of course) how did the Goblins, the Orcs, the Bugbears and so on live. What did they eat? Each other? Did they have water...was there an air exchange?
AND when you come back a little while later, how are the monsters all back? Where did they come from?
Well...this is your book. This book opens the secrets of where these treasure filled dungeons with their attendant dangers come from..and why we keep finding them.
Good book (especially if you like LITRPG or RPGLIT whatever the proper title for the genre is). I recommend this one. Fun, enjoy.
But there's always been a question...or several questions. How when you open a dungeon room or cave that has been sealed for hundreds of years are there live deadly monsters in there? I mean (other than the undead of course) how did the Goblins, the Orcs, the Bugbears and so on live. What did they eat? Each other? Did they have water...was there an air exchange?
AND when you come back a little while later, how are the monsters all back? Where did they come from?
Well...this is your book. This book opens the secrets of where these treasure filled dungeons with their attendant dangers come from..and why we keep finding them.
Good book (especially if you like LITRPG or RPGLIT whatever the proper title for the genre is). I recommend this one. Fun, enjoy.
December 11, 2019
Abandoned. I listened through six chapters (two hours). I just couldn’t get into it. Too silly for me, particularly the tedious mechanics and the dialogues between the dungeon and the sprite-or-whatever sidekick. The storytelling is painful enough to kill the interest of even the heartiest of adventurers.
October 13, 2018
I wanted to DNF this book. I almost DNF'd this book. I kept going back to it like some stupid guilty pleasure. It kinda felt like real role playing and I kind of liked that aspect. But this book has serious problems.
First, the writing is bad. Like really bad. It skipped from first person to third person constantly and mixed up tenses so often that I stopped counting the mistakes. Misspellings were rife. Mostly they were homophonic misspellings which is possibly even more annoying, whole instead of hole, to instead of too, etc...
The author should just stick to DM'ing. His story was inventive but he spent way too much time explaining the intricacies of the "science" behind the magic. These explanations were tedious that sometimes I would skim over or just put the book down and read something else for a while.
Also it seemed that he couldn't decide who his main character was. The dungeon, Cal (written in first person) or Dale (written in third person). And I frankly didn't like Dale so his chapters did not make for more interest. Also, I cannot state enough how much I hate when authors switch from first person to third person from chapter to chapter. Pick one, stick with it, or don't write.
The world was too much like D&D. Treasure and item drops and leveling up made it feel more like reading about someone playing a game than reading a fantasy book. It was kind of interesting, except when the author spent too much time describing it all in mundane detail.
I read the whole thing. I really don't know why. Possibly because I hate DNF'ing a book? Maybe because it was a guilty pleasure? But there is like a 98% chance that I will not bother to read the rest of this series.
I'd roll for initiative but I don't want to.
In fact, thanks to this book, there's an even higher chance that I'm just going to start ignoring Amazon's recommendations for me from here on out.
First, the writing is bad. Like really bad. It skipped from first person to third person constantly and mixed up tenses so often that I stopped counting the mistakes. Misspellings were rife. Mostly they were homophonic misspellings which is possibly even more annoying, whole instead of hole, to instead of too, etc...
The author should just stick to DM'ing. His story was inventive but he spent way too much time explaining the intricacies of the "science" behind the magic. These explanations were tedious that sometimes I would skim over or just put the book down and read something else for a while.
Also it seemed that he couldn't decide who his main character was. The dungeon, Cal (written in first person) or Dale (written in third person). And I frankly didn't like Dale so his chapters did not make for more interest. Also, I cannot state enough how much I hate when authors switch from first person to third person from chapter to chapter. Pick one, stick with it, or don't write.
The world was too much like D&D. Treasure and item drops and leveling up made it feel more like reading about someone playing a game than reading a fantasy book. It was kind of interesting, except when the author spent too much time describing it all in mundane detail.
I read the whole thing. I really don't know why. Possibly because I hate DNF'ing a book? Maybe because it was a guilty pleasure? But there is like a 98% chance that I will not bother to read the rest of this series.
I'd roll for initiative but I don't want to.
In fact, thanks to this book, there's an even higher chance that I'm just going to start ignoring Amazon's recommendations for me from here on out.
October 31, 2017
So, maybe you know these people? They like to watch other people playing video games on youtube. Like to watch people doing their walk through... not because they're stuck int heir own game... but to watch... the game. It's a thing, btw. Okay, hold that.
Do you know the game dungeon keeper? If you do, that was more fun, but still, you get the idea. It's a game about being a dungeon heart and you get to control your minions and open up your dungeon and you are the bad guys killing hero adventurers who come to loot you.
Okay, so this book is if you were watching a bloodier, but way less viscous/evil/sexual version of that game. But, like, the whole game, so you get to watch the tutorials, and the behind the scenes, and the secret unlocks... you get to hear all the narration - plus narration by the player... playing the game. The only slight difference is you ALSO... yay... get to see the special tutorial on the heroes outside the dungeon, and how THEY level up and get stronger too......
... the book gets a big meh. Krout treads well-known territory and didn't even give us dark mistresses to make it spicy? Really? come now. The character Hanz was practically begging to meet up with one.
But, this really read like someone story boarded a video game, was told it was already made.... twice.... then wrote a book instead. That's probably not fair, nor what happened, but unfortunately that exactly what I get out of it and exactly how it felt.
It was full of good meta idea for explaining why adventurer's monsters actually get so powerful. I grant most systems don't ever really explain it -- and this one at least gives it a better shot then most -- but after sitting through the entire thing I'm now more sure then ever that, really, it's just not that important. I'm trying to think of all my D&d players post-battle meditating on their inner essence and I'm thinking not. Adventurers are way to paranoid... and it's not until the very end they ever mention there's a watch while they meditate.
And, all the stuff going on in the dungeon, centuries of professional dungeon delvers and, more critical, whole armies of people who dungeon delved and now work on the periphery of figuring out magical properties down to their finest details. Clearly a dungeon-based advanced magical society.... and no one's figured out they're sentient? I'm not buying it. There's a pretty clear cut way of doing things among dungeons... but in all this time no one as figured out how they do it or what becomes of them, or any of it? A definite symbiotic relationship exists, and we the readers can see it... but my issue is that with legions of experts in the world... they haven't gotten it yet?
Anyways, I'm calling this one a positive 2 stars. A lot of effort was put into this, and it shows, and it's full of great ideas, it has a whole system of magic and power accumulation that affects every being in the entire world and, in many ways, stitches together a magical world better then most any book I've ever read.
However, we tread a lot of ground without ever going anywhere, there really isn't a plot outside of characters getting more powerful from doing a variation on the same thing which, in game parlance, is called grinding. Unfortunately it's about has fun in a game as it is in a book. The good parts of this book that shine get buried in A LOT of meh, mechanical muck, and explanation to our two stupefied, if not plain clueless, main characters.
Also, to the author, it's okay to make a joke, a good one or even a groaner of a pun, and leave it. We don't need an arrow pointing to it every time. Just let it be man, let it be.
EDIT: some grammar and errors.
Do you know the game dungeon keeper? If you do, that was more fun, but still, you get the idea. It's a game about being a dungeon heart and you get to control your minions and open up your dungeon and you are the bad guys killing hero adventurers who come to loot you.
Okay, so this book is if you were watching a bloodier, but way less viscous/evil/sexual version of that game. But, like, the whole game, so you get to watch the tutorials, and the behind the scenes, and the secret unlocks... you get to hear all the narration - plus narration by the player... playing the game. The only slight difference is you ALSO... yay... get to see the special tutorial on the heroes outside the dungeon, and how THEY level up and get stronger too......
... the book gets a big meh. Krout treads well-known territory and didn't even give us dark mistresses to make it spicy? Really? come now. The character Hanz was practically begging to meet up with one.
But, this really read like someone story boarded a video game, was told it was already made.... twice.... then wrote a book instead. That's probably not fair, nor what happened, but unfortunately that exactly what I get out of it and exactly how it felt.
It was full of good meta idea for explaining why adventurer's monsters actually get so powerful. I grant most systems don't ever really explain it -- and this one at least gives it a better shot then most -- but after sitting through the entire thing I'm now more sure then ever that, really, it's just not that important. I'm trying to think of all my D&d players post-battle meditating on their inner essence and I'm thinking not. Adventurers are way to paranoid... and it's not until the very end they ever mention there's a watch while they meditate.
And, all the stuff going on in the dungeon, centuries of professional dungeon delvers and, more critical, whole armies of people who dungeon delved and now work on the periphery of figuring out magical properties down to their finest details. Clearly a dungeon-based advanced magical society.... and no one's figured out they're sentient? I'm not buying it. There's a pretty clear cut way of doing things among dungeons... but in all this time no one as figured out how they do it or what becomes of them, or any of it? A definite symbiotic relationship exists, and we the readers can see it... but my issue is that with legions of experts in the world... they haven't gotten it yet?
Anyways, I'm calling this one a positive 2 stars. A lot of effort was put into this, and it shows, and it's full of great ideas, it has a whole system of magic and power accumulation that affects every being in the entire world and, in many ways, stitches together a magical world better then most any book I've ever read.
However, we tread a lot of ground without ever going anywhere, there really isn't a plot outside of characters getting more powerful from doing a variation on the same thing which, in game parlance, is called grinding. Unfortunately it's about has fun in a game as it is in a book. The good parts of this book that shine get buried in A LOT of meh, mechanical muck, and explanation to our two stupefied, if not plain clueless, main characters.
Also, to the author, it's okay to make a joke, a good one or even a groaner of a pun, and leave it. We don't need an arrow pointing to it every time. Just let it be man, let it be.
EDIT: some grammar and errors.
December 25, 2020
To be very, very clear, this is a precision niche reading experience. Within that realm, it is EXTREMELY fun.
So what is it? RPG in literature format. LitRPG, in short. And for all of us out there who DIE for pencil-and-paper adventures, immersive Skyrim-like game-playing, or just tongue-in-cheek min-max Dungeon Master setups, then this is ALL kinds of perfect. :)
Character development is lighthearted and secondary to the GOOD STUFF. What good stuff?
LEVELING UP, BABY! What goodies will we get, what skills will we develop!?
But wait... this particular book is special. One of the two main PCs is a DUNGEON.
So I'm having flashbacks on Dennis Taylor's Bobbiverse but in a perfectly fantasy setting and I feel like it's Christmas.
Oh, wait, it IS CHRISTMAS TODAY.
I guess I got exactly what I wanted for Xmas!!! :) *settling down for a new level-grind*
So what is it? RPG in literature format. LitRPG, in short. And for all of us out there who DIE for pencil-and-paper adventures, immersive Skyrim-like game-playing, or just tongue-in-cheek min-max Dungeon Master setups, then this is ALL kinds of perfect. :)
Character development is lighthearted and secondary to the GOOD STUFF. What good stuff?
LEVELING UP, BABY! What goodies will we get, what skills will we develop!?
But wait... this particular book is special. One of the two main PCs is a DUNGEON.
So I'm having flashbacks on Dennis Taylor's Bobbiverse but in a perfectly fantasy setting and I feel like it's Christmas.
Oh, wait, it IS CHRISTMAS TODAY.
I guess I got exactly what I wanted for Xmas!!! :) *settling down for a new level-grind*
July 22, 2024
Krout does an incredible job making this story interesting despite the limited and weak PoV. I managed to make it three chapters in before I moved on. I dropped this weeks ago and am just now catching up to some dnfs to record them here for my future reference. I wish I remembered better why I moved on, but while interesting in an academic sense, I just didn't engage with the main character enough to continue. A second star to acknowledge the good characterization work.
September 12, 2023
This may be the best dungeon core cultivation novel to be found.
(Most of the people following my reviews probably will not derive any meaning from that sentence.)
I suppose there are people who like this kind of thing? Like, teenagers, stoners, gamers, chronically online persons, and chronically online teenage stoner gamers. Ha, I kid, like what you like and read what you want to read. But honestly, I have to believe marijuana was involved in the entire conception and development of litRPG cultivation stories.
If anything, this sub-sub-sub-genre should be called Explanation Core, because that's all it is: it explains what cultivation is, what "Essence" is, how you can use Essence, the different types of Essence, what the best way to cultivate Essence is, what levels exist and which one you're at, how to get to the next level, how to spend your every waking hour, how to use Essence to make monsters, the fact that monsters are called Mobs because they are, how to move your body, how to process more Essence, Essence cultivation essence Mob meridian cycle contamination Essence.
Did I mention that it's written from the first-person perspective of a dungeon?
For all that, it was kind of alright. My opening sentence stands: a shining example of its genre, such that it is. This is more of indictment of the average writing quality of such, because the writing wasn't great, but passable. I've read much worse, is what I'm trying to say. I've read technically better too, notably Andrew Rowe, but that wasn't dungeon core. I enjoyed Beware of Chicken more too, but that wasn't dungeon core either.
I liked this enough to stick with it, because I kind of enjoyed it. The positivity and playfulness of the narrative and characters helped. But once I put it down for a couple of hours, I couldn't regenerate any interest. From the half-way point, I skipped to the last couple of chapters and that was that.
I don't understand the appeal, at least not to a degree to support the countless similar books on the market. I like stories, and character development, and stakes, and the whole concept of this book allows for none of those. The only thing that develops is the system, the ridiculously over-detailed system that has thousands of workarounds and is broken by the main characters at every turn to everyone's surprise, in every book of this ilk. Maybe they fill some kind of niche, some need for repeated patterns like romance novels provide.
Dakota Krout is, as far as I can tell, the king of this kind of thing. I think he's built a James Patterson-like publishing mill for them. In any case, I can now say I've tried a solid example of the genre.
I purchased this for zero dollars in December 2020.
(Most of the people following my reviews probably will not derive any meaning from that sentence.)
I suppose there are people who like this kind of thing? Like, teenagers, stoners, gamers, chronically online persons, and chronically online teenage stoner gamers. Ha, I kid, like what you like and read what you want to read. But honestly, I have to believe marijuana was involved in the entire conception and development of litRPG cultivation stories.
If anything, this sub-sub-sub-genre should be called Explanation Core, because that's all it is: it explains what cultivation is, what "Essence" is, how you can use Essence, the different types of Essence, what the best way to cultivate Essence is, what levels exist and which one you're at, how to get to the next level, how to spend your every waking hour, how to use Essence to make monsters, the fact that monsters are called Mobs because they are, how to move your body, how to process more Essence, Essence cultivation essence Mob meridian cycle contamination Essence.
Did I mention that it's written from the first-person perspective of a dungeon?
For all that, it was kind of alright. My opening sentence stands: a shining example of its genre, such that it is. This is more of indictment of the average writing quality of such, because the writing wasn't great, but passable. I've read much worse, is what I'm trying to say. I've read technically better too, notably Andrew Rowe, but that wasn't dungeon core. I enjoyed Beware of Chicken more too, but that wasn't dungeon core either.
I liked this enough to stick with it, because I kind of enjoyed it. The positivity and playfulness of the narrative and characters helped. But once I put it down for a couple of hours, I couldn't regenerate any interest. From the half-way point, I skipped to the last couple of chapters and that was that.
I don't understand the appeal, at least not to a degree to support the countless similar books on the market. I like stories, and character development, and stakes, and the whole concept of this book allows for none of those. The only thing that develops is the system, the ridiculously over-detailed system that has thousands of workarounds and is broken by the main characters at every turn to everyone's surprise, in every book of this ilk. Maybe they fill some kind of niche, some need for repeated patterns like romance novels provide.
Dakota Krout is, as far as I can tell, the king of this kind of thing. I think he's built a James Patterson-like publishing mill for them. In any case, I can now say I've tried a solid example of the genre.
I purchased this for zero dollars in December 2020.
November 22, 2016
A comic book without pictures.
no suspense, nor climax.
95% of this book consist of explanations of the boring world building.
no suspense, nor climax.
95% of this book consist of explanations of the boring world building.
August 8, 2017
Love fantasy. Love RPGs. Made it 87% through and just couldn't handle the stupid anymore.
January 20, 2020
This was an OK LitRPG story. It was nothing special or standout but it was readable if not particularly exciting or memorable. It was a Dungeon Core style LitRPG story. I usually love Dungeon Core LitRPG but I think this one suffered a little bit for not being one of the first ones I've come across.
The story focused on two main POV characters. Cal, a newly born dungeon core, was the first POV. His character was mildly interesting as he had previously been a human but remembered nothing of his previous life and had no idea how to be a dungeon core. He got paired with a bossy but still quite fun pixie teacher. Cal's story mainly focused on him growing his Dungeon and battling against the adventurers that entered his midst. The second POV character was Dale. A run of the mill guy who was the only survivor of a group that stumbled into Cal's dungeon. As the lone survivor the land rights went to him. We followed his story as he had to deal with everyone pouring into his land to test their wits against his new dungeon. He had to try some adventuring himself to level up so he could better deal with the enemies he had that would have preferred him, and his claim on the land, gone!
The story was OK. It started really slow but did get better as the story progressed. The sad thing is Cal's tale started OK and then got a little dull. It felt like he never really developed on did a lot of interest after his initial introduction. Dale's POV started slow but really improved as the story got going. It was interesting to see him have to deal with the various different sorts of people who popped up that had an interest in settling in his new land. I felt like it was particularly fun that he learned he had to deal with a lot of politics and economics as well as just the physical threats that came his way!
A slight negative is the fact that while Cal and Dale are OK characters they are not quite likeable enough for the roles they are cast in by Dakota Krout. They both do things that show they lack a bit of empathy and have questionable morals yet it is clear the author still expects the reader to be rooting for both characters. I was rooting for them, but only just, and that was a slight issue. My feeling is that it is only a matter of time before one or both of them will do something that makes it impossible for me to root for them.
I think the biggest issue this LitRPG had is the fact that it was a fairly run of the mill dungeon core LitRPG. I've read a bunch of books just like it in the last few years and quite a few of them have had faster paced stories, more humour, and better lead characters.
I'm on the fence about picking up the second book in the series. Normally I'd pick up the second book in a solid 3 star series but the thing bothering me about this one is the fact that I just read that the series changes audio narrator for the final book. That is the absolute WORST! The reviews are awful and since I'm already not a fan of the new guy, Luke Daniels, I cannot imagine his being anything other than a complete opposite of this series current audio narrator in terms of voices and tone so that has managed to kill my enthusiasm a bit for pressing on with the series if I've got that to suffer in future instalments.
Audio Note: Vikas Adam did a decent job with the audio.
Rating: 3 stars.
The story focused on two main POV characters. Cal, a newly born dungeon core, was the first POV. His character was mildly interesting as he had previously been a human but remembered nothing of his previous life and had no idea how to be a dungeon core. He got paired with a bossy but still quite fun pixie teacher. Cal's story mainly focused on him growing his Dungeon and battling against the adventurers that entered his midst. The second POV character was Dale. A run of the mill guy who was the only survivor of a group that stumbled into Cal's dungeon. As the lone survivor the land rights went to him. We followed his story as he had to deal with everyone pouring into his land to test their wits against his new dungeon. He had to try some adventuring himself to level up so he could better deal with the enemies he had that would have preferred him, and his claim on the land, gone!
The story was OK. It started really slow but did get better as the story progressed. The sad thing is Cal's tale started OK and then got a little dull. It felt like he never really developed on did a lot of interest after his initial introduction. Dale's POV started slow but really improved as the story got going. It was interesting to see him have to deal with the various different sorts of people who popped up that had an interest in settling in his new land. I felt like it was particularly fun that he learned he had to deal with a lot of politics and economics as well as just the physical threats that came his way!
A slight negative is the fact that while Cal and Dale are OK characters they are not quite likeable enough for the roles they are cast in by Dakota Krout. They both do things that show they lack a bit of empathy and have questionable morals yet it is clear the author still expects the reader to be rooting for both characters. I was rooting for them, but only just, and that was a slight issue. My feeling is that it is only a matter of time before one or both of them will do something that makes it impossible for me to root for them.
I think the biggest issue this LitRPG had is the fact that it was a fairly run of the mill dungeon core LitRPG. I've read a bunch of books just like it in the last few years and quite a few of them have had faster paced stories, more humour, and better lead characters.
I'm on the fence about picking up the second book in the series. Normally I'd pick up the second book in a solid 3 star series but the thing bothering me about this one is the fact that I just read that the series changes audio narrator for the final book. That is the absolute WORST! The reviews are awful and since I'm already not a fan of the new guy, Luke Daniels, I cannot imagine his being anything other than a complete opposite of this series current audio narrator in terms of voices and tone so that has managed to kill my enthusiasm a bit for pressing on with the series if I've got that to suffer in future instalments.
Audio Note: Vikas Adam did a decent job with the audio.
Rating: 3 stars.
February 7, 2017
An interesting take on Dungeon Keeper
As a fan of the original Bullfrog game (and sometimes of its various remakes or modern versions), I guessed I'd be interested in that book.
In theory, it shouldn't really work. The real reason it does work is that Krout is well aware of the conventions of the genre and the tropes, and he does apply them with gusto and self-conscious humor. Specially when they do not make sense at all, like when Dani insists that dungeon monsters have to be called "Mob" because (Mob stands for Mobile OBject, because that's how the first online CRPGs did implement them... and it is absolutely impossible in any fictional universe to have a good reason to call them that). Or the World of Warcraft-inspired inability to tell an opponent's level if it's more than two full ranks above you (which makes you wonder what is the real level of Dani). Or the totally goofy leveling system.
Once you figure out this is a game session, not a real story, you start to make sense about why things go that way and not another. If the rule is that a dungeon can use only one base for mob/boss per dungeon rank, you realize that the fact that Dani does not lure every single critter around to add to Cal's repertoire makes perfect sense. For a game.
There's a couple flaws in the book, of course. There's a bit too much emphasis on game mechanics which can be boring for most readers. Some aspects of the characters are underdeveloped, or even completely ignored, like Dale's original behavior when he is introduced.
Thankfully, there's enough plot lines prepared or hinted at to fill a good series, and Krout did carefully limit his story beats so that not everything is blown in the first book.
I wonder though. Is Kantor ranked in the S-triple S range... or above?
As a fan of the original Bullfrog game (and sometimes of its various remakes or modern versions), I guessed I'd be interested in that book.
In theory, it shouldn't really work. The real reason it does work is that Krout is well aware of the conventions of the genre and the tropes, and he does apply them with gusto and self-conscious humor. Specially when they do not make sense at all, like when Dani insists that dungeon monsters have to be called "Mob" because (Mob stands for Mobile OBject, because that's how the first online CRPGs did implement them... and it is absolutely impossible in any fictional universe to have a good reason to call them that). Or the World of Warcraft-inspired inability to tell an opponent's level if it's more than two full ranks above you (which makes you wonder what is the real level of Dani). Or the totally goofy leveling system.
Once you figure out this is a game session, not a real story, you start to make sense about why things go that way and not another. If the rule is that a dungeon can use only one base for mob/boss per dungeon rank, you realize that the fact that Dani does not lure every single critter around to add to Cal's repertoire makes perfect sense. For a game.
There's a couple flaws in the book, of course. There's a bit too much emphasis on game mechanics which can be boring for most readers. Some aspects of the characters are underdeveloped, or even completely ignored, like Dale's original behavior when he is introduced.
Thankfully, there's enough plot lines prepared or hinted at to fill a good series, and Krout did carefully limit his story beats so that not everything is blown in the first book.
I wonder though. Is Kantor ranked in the S-triple S range... or above?
November 29, 2016
Great book. Well worth the time and money
I had recently read another story about a dungeon intelligence and was reluctant to read this as it seemed a rehash of the other book.
Well I gave in an read this book and was blown away. A much better writing style with much greater character depth. I can't wait to read more
(FYI the other book was Slime Dungeon. I liked it but the main character was irritating some times.)
I had recently read another story about a dungeon intelligence and was reluctant to read this as it seemed a rehash of the other book.
Well I gave in an read this book and was blown away. A much better writing style with much greater character depth. I can't wait to read more
(FYI the other book was Slime Dungeon. I liked it but the main character was irritating some times.)
April 11, 2017
This book would make a really fun video game.
Dungeon Born is a charming book. For a story so full of death and pain, it's extremely fun and lighthearted. The book is about the forces behind the standard RPG Dungeons. Ever wonder why a leafer from Final Fantasy 6
(yes this is really one of the enemies)
is not only attacking you, not only is some how able to hurt your monster fighting character, but also drops money and healing potions? Well this book gives a really cleaver reason for all those. Through out the story I found myself wishing I could play as the Dungeon and/or the adventurers.
Despite the some times grim subject matter, this book is safe for kids and I'd recommend it to anyone who's ever played a JRPG, MMO, Roguelike, or any loot-centric RPG.
My only disappointment is that it's sequel doesn't seem to have an Audio book.
Dungeon Born is a charming book. For a story so full of death and pain, it's extremely fun and lighthearted. The book is about the forces behind the standard RPG Dungeons. Ever wonder why a leafer from Final Fantasy 6
(yes this is really one of the enemies)is not only attacking you, not only is some how able to hurt your monster fighting character, but also drops money and healing potions? Well this book gives a really cleaver reason for all those. Through out the story I found myself wishing I could play as the Dungeon and/or the adventurers.
Despite the some times grim subject matter, this book is safe for kids and I'd recommend it to anyone who's ever played a JRPG, MMO, Roguelike, or any loot-centric RPG.
My only disappointment is that it's sequel doesn't seem to have an Audio book.
March 17, 2017
Almost Good
The plot is reasonably interesting, but the world and characters are rather prosaic. The dialogue and personality of the two main characters, Cal and Dani are fairly weak. Side characters (*cough* Dale *cough) feel like one-dimensional cardboard cutouts.
I wanted to like it, but it was just okay. Not a page turner.
The sequel does have significantly improved dialogue and real personalities to the characters, if you can make it through this book. This book felt like it needed another draft.
The plot is reasonably interesting, but the world and characters are rather prosaic. The dialogue and personality of the two main characters, Cal and Dani are fairly weak. Side characters (*cough* Dale *cough) feel like one-dimensional cardboard cutouts.
I wanted to like it, but it was just okay. Not a page turner.
The sequel does have significantly improved dialogue and real personalities to the characters, if you can make it through this book. This book felt like it needed another draft.
July 17, 2018
DNF at 25%.
I've never been more shocked by the amount of positive reviews on Goodreads.
The concept for this book was novel enough, but my goodness, the writing was atrocious. It was like reading something written by one of the less talented high school creative writing students. Tense switches, random forays into passive voice, and no character development whatsoever.
The worst part, by far, was the dialogue. The generic, over-the-top, information dumping back and forth between the two main characters was unbearable.
So many better RPGLit options out there.
I've never been more shocked by the amount of positive reviews on Goodreads.
The concept for this book was novel enough, but my goodness, the writing was atrocious. It was like reading something written by one of the less talented high school creative writing students. Tense switches, random forays into passive voice, and no character development whatsoever.
The worst part, by far, was the dialogue. The generic, over-the-top, information dumping back and forth between the two main characters was unbearable.
So many better RPGLit options out there.
October 22, 2018
I tried not to take this book too seriously, but I was unable to get over some hangups to enjoy it. The characters were flat, the dialogue was mostly tedious, the world building was just big info dumps, and even though the characters were flat, there were still large character inconsistencies.
It's a cool concept, and there were amusing aspects and scenes. The negatives outweighed the positives for me, and I found myself relieved to have finished it when I was done and not caring what happens next.
It's a cool concept, and there were amusing aspects and scenes. The negatives outweighed the positives for me, and I found myself relieved to have finished it when I was done and not caring what happens next.
January 14, 2020
What the hell did I just read?
In theory, I thought this book would be right up my alley: I grew up number-crunching my way through CRPGs in the '80s, and I now work in the video game industry, both facts which I thought would mean I'd get a kick out of a novel written from the perspective of a fantasy dungeon.
Unfortunately, this has to be the most poorly-written novel I've ever read, and I'm not exaggerating. The book is riddled with typos and egregious mistakes: for instance, some parts are suddenly written in third perspective when they should be POV chapters, and even the chapter numbering makes no sense, going back and forth between straight numbers and POV character names. It's also riddled with modern speech and snippets of Internet memes. Not only was this novel not edited, I'm not sure it was actually proofread by the author.
Beyond that, there is just no story to speak of. At best, this book is a narrative description of an overly complex game system: somehow, the characters in the world are aware of their own power ratings and can read the names of other creatures' special abilities. That's kinda okay, but the author is obsessed with exposing every nut and bolt of this fantasy system, so you end up with long chapters just devoted to number crunching and overwrought system descriptions.
It's not that I mind this conceit, which I recognize as a staple of LitRPG... But honestly, it would have gone down easier if it was sprinkled with some semblance of dramatic tension, which is nowhere to be found here. There is not a single ounce of it in this book. None. The dungeon main character just dungeons on, and heroes visit said dungeon to gain levels and grind away at monsters. Both of them gain levels and unlock new abilities and... that's it. That's all there is to this.
In theory I think a so-called "dungeon core" novel would work if it had a notion of telling a story or building a fantasy world, but this is more akin to hearing someone narrate a particularly tedious session of booze-fueled number crunching for the game Dungeon Keeper. There's just nothing in here that I can recommend, unfortunately.
Here's hoping I never have to read tedious descriptions of Chi spirals ever again.
In theory, I thought this book would be right up my alley: I grew up number-crunching my way through CRPGs in the '80s, and I now work in the video game industry, both facts which I thought would mean I'd get a kick out of a novel written from the perspective of a fantasy dungeon.
Unfortunately, this has to be the most poorly-written novel I've ever read, and I'm not exaggerating. The book is riddled with typos and egregious mistakes: for instance, some parts are suddenly written in third perspective when they should be POV chapters, and even the chapter numbering makes no sense, going back and forth between straight numbers and POV character names. It's also riddled with modern speech and snippets of Internet memes. Not only was this novel not edited, I'm not sure it was actually proofread by the author.
Beyond that, there is just no story to speak of. At best, this book is a narrative description of an overly complex game system: somehow, the characters in the world are aware of their own power ratings and can read the names of other creatures' special abilities. That's kinda okay, but the author is obsessed with exposing every nut and bolt of this fantasy system, so you end up with long chapters just devoted to number crunching and overwrought system descriptions.
It's not that I mind this conceit, which I recognize as a staple of LitRPG... But honestly, it would have gone down easier if it was sprinkled with some semblance of dramatic tension, which is nowhere to be found here. There is not a single ounce of it in this book. None. The dungeon main character just dungeons on, and heroes visit said dungeon to gain levels and grind away at monsters. Both of them gain levels and unlock new abilities and... that's it. That's all there is to this.
In theory I think a so-called "dungeon core" novel would work if it had a notion of telling a story or building a fantasy world, but this is more akin to hearing someone narrate a particularly tedious session of booze-fueled number crunching for the game Dungeon Keeper. There's just nothing in here that I can recommend, unfortunately.
Here's hoping I never have to read tedious descriptions of Chi spirals ever again.
October 1, 2017
An interesting take on the genre. I've read The Slime Dungeon and this has some similarities. The advancement mechanics are different enough that it doesn't feel like a ripoff though.
It was enjoyable and interesting enough that I searched when the next one is supposed to come out, which I found that it's soon.
It was enjoyable and interesting enough that I searched when the next one is supposed to come out, which I found that it's soon.
January 20, 2017
If you like litRPG or wuxia, you'll like this
Very reminiscent of Slime Dungeon, including the personalities of the Dungeon and his pixie/wisp. I enjoyed the supporting characters even more and the little side interactions are where this story really shines. Combat and such was rather standard and didn't hold my attention. Will definitely read the second book!
Very reminiscent of Slime Dungeon, including the personalities of the Dungeon and his pixie/wisp. I enjoyed the supporting characters even more and the little side interactions are where this story really shines. Combat and such was rather standard and didn't hold my attention. Will definitely read the second book!
June 16, 2017
This is a light weight novel. It does not pack an intense story or high level of adventure. It looks the litrpg novels from the perspective of the dungeon. This was indeed a fresh perspective. I liked the overall feel of the book and I enjoyed reading it.
June 7, 2024
This time last week I'd never heard of LitRPG. Now Dungeon Born is my third venture into this genre (subgenre?) .
-About Dungeon Born, I can't tell if this is a great book because I fell in love with it and now I'm biased. Engaging characters, Novel premise, Great dialogue and banter, Humor from sensible chuckles to out right guffaws. To top this book's list of charms is world building. Amazingly consistent, balanced, fascinating world building.
Many other so/ so books have some of these ingredients, But Dakota Krout is a deft hand at getting the mix just right. Just enough adventure and intrigue. the plot is well balanced with character study. the humor arrives at just the right time and is withheld when it would wreck the flow of the narrative. Dakota Krout writes like a natural and reminds me in many ways of Terry Pratchett.
I'm SOLD. not only will I be getting all the rest of this series, but I will be taking a close look at anything on the shelf that has Dakota's name on it.
Ps. what is LitRPG?
It sounds awful at first blush. Litrpg is a story set in the video game world where the characters are aware of the the rules and laws of the game. This is a Fantasy novel where the Hero can see his own life bar over his head.
If you are thinking that that is just about the stupidest, laziest, must sure to suck and disappoint Idea you've heard in forever, Than I would have agreed with you 100% a week ago.
I'll give anything a try with a strong recommendation, but some things I approach with less enthusiasm than others. My first try at this was informed by an almost morbid curiosity just to see how bad it was. To say I was shocked at how much I enjoyed that book would only tell half the story.
I play video games. RPG and RTS and to get right down to it, World of Warcraft and everything in the Blizzard catalog. I have devoted many years of long hours and late nights to developing my characters or factions. There is a well worn path in my brain that lights up like a pinball machine when I level up or earn an achievement. The few examples of LitRPG that I've read so far click right into that groove and give me many of the same joys and neurotransmitters that playing does. Not to mention that these books trade on your knowledge of gamer culture. Hands up if you like inside jokes and thinly veiled Monty Python references. This is 'literature' just for the pure simple joy of what we like and find fun. IF you are a gamer who reads this might just be for you.
Lastly, if you are a bit embarrassed. if you don't want to be "That Guy" who reads those trashy books you don't have to tell anybody. These can be our little secret.
-About Dungeon Born, I can't tell if this is a great book because I fell in love with it and now I'm biased. Engaging characters, Novel premise, Great dialogue and banter, Humor from sensible chuckles to out right guffaws. To top this book's list of charms is world building. Amazingly consistent, balanced, fascinating world building.
Many other so/ so books have some of these ingredients, But Dakota Krout is a deft hand at getting the mix just right. Just enough adventure and intrigue. the plot is well balanced with character study. the humor arrives at just the right time and is withheld when it would wreck the flow of the narrative. Dakota Krout writes like a natural and reminds me in many ways of Terry Pratchett.
I'm SOLD. not only will I be getting all the rest of this series, but I will be taking a close look at anything on the shelf that has Dakota's name on it.
Ps. what is LitRPG?
It sounds awful at first blush. Litrpg is a story set in the video game world where the characters are aware of the the rules and laws of the game. This is a Fantasy novel where the Hero can see his own life bar over his head.
If you are thinking that that is just about the stupidest, laziest, must sure to suck and disappoint Idea you've heard in forever, Than I would have agreed with you 100% a week ago.
I'll give anything a try with a strong recommendation, but some things I approach with less enthusiasm than others. My first try at this was informed by an almost morbid curiosity just to see how bad it was. To say I was shocked at how much I enjoyed that book would only tell half the story.
I play video games. RPG and RTS and to get right down to it, World of Warcraft and everything in the Blizzard catalog. I have devoted many years of long hours and late nights to developing my characters or factions. There is a well worn path in my brain that lights up like a pinball machine when I level up or earn an achievement. The few examples of LitRPG that I've read so far click right into that groove and give me many of the same joys and neurotransmitters that playing does. Not to mention that these books trade on your knowledge of gamer culture. Hands up if you like inside jokes and thinly veiled Monty Python references. This is 'literature' just for the pure simple joy of what we like and find fun. IF you are a gamer who reads this might just be for you.
Lastly, if you are a bit embarrassed. if you don't want to be "That Guy" who reads those trashy books you don't have to tell anybody. These can be our little secret.
March 1, 2017
Reads like a machine translation
While somewhat entertaining, the book reads like a machine translation of a Japanese or Chinese web novel. The cultivation grades is a straight copy from those books and is painful to read. It resembles watching characters in a video game level up more than watching organic people grow stronger or learn from experience.
While somewhat entertaining, the book reads like a machine translation of a Japanese or Chinese web novel. The cultivation grades is a straight copy from those books and is painful to read. It resembles watching characters in a video game level up more than watching organic people grow stronger or learn from experience.
August 17, 2019
Notes:
3.5 upped to 4 Stars due to great narration by Vikas Adam.
It took a few tries for me to get into this book but I'm glad I kept trying. Lots of potential for chaotic good times in the plot. Going to see if that happens. =)
3.5 upped to 4 Stars due to great narration by Vikas Adam.
It took a few tries for me to get into this book but I'm glad I kept trying. Lots of potential for chaotic good times in the plot. Going to see if that happens. =)
November 23, 2016
Its been a fun read and the Author seems strongly inspired by asian light novels but it seems to serious at times. I cant get my head around a funny story beeing to serious at times. I enjoy serious storys with funny bits (The Spellmonger) but this was just not for me so enjoy, I wont read on
October 31, 2016
different
I enjoyed the different viewpoint. It had elements of the type of fantasy I used to enjoy before urban fantasy became popular.
I enjoyed the different viewpoint. It had elements of the type of fantasy I used to enjoy before urban fantasy became popular.
June 29, 2018
Dungeon Born is a LitRPG told from the perspective of the dungeon, Cal, and narrated by Vikas Adam. At this point, I was already sold and didn’t bother looking at anything else before I’d bought the audiobook expecting it to be nothing short of amazing. It did not disappoint. It was another one of those audiobooks where I did everything I could to find more excuses to listen to it. I enjoyed it so much that books 2 and 3 are next up on my to-listen list.
Dungeon Born actually features two different POV characters. Cal, the dungeon itself, ever growing and evolving with times, and Dave, the owner of the land where the dungeon sits and a new adventurer gaining experience through dungeon crawls. As with most LitRPGs, Dungeon Born was information-heavy at the beginning as the characters learn about themselves, how to level up, and how the world works.
Cal was quite the amusing POV. As the heart of the dungeon, he is the one who makes the monsters and traps and his goal is to stay alive and become stronger. Much like how video game characters level, Cal gains power by defeating his enemies — in this case, anyone who enters his depths. With his partner, a “wisp”, they work together in a symbiotic relationship where Cal runs the dungeon and feeds Dani. Cal’s chapters are all told in the first person and give a really cool view of everything happening in his dungeon.
The other main character, Dave, is one of the adventurers who is constantly clearing out the dungeon. He only recently started his journey as an adventurer and is grinding the dungeon for loot and experience, while also managing the surrounding mountains which he owns. He is the typical farm boy with no world experience and is thrust into a very difficult world when he notifies the Adventurer’s Guild and turns his land into its own town as people flock to the dungeon location.
The story is mostly focused on character development and how both Cal and Dave grow. There are underpinnings of a large overarching plot which I believe is spread out over the whole series.
As per usual, Vikas Adam does an absolutely amazing narration for the book with unique and distinctive character voices. Overall this was a really fun book which I loved and would highly recommend it to people who enjoy:
* LitRPG
* Unique Characters
* Non-Human POV
* First Person POV
* Unique Concepts
For more reviews, check out my blog, The Fantasy Inn
Dungeon Born actually features two different POV characters. Cal, the dungeon itself, ever growing and evolving with times, and Dave, the owner of the land where the dungeon sits and a new adventurer gaining experience through dungeon crawls. As with most LitRPGs, Dungeon Born was information-heavy at the beginning as the characters learn about themselves, how to level up, and how the world works.
Cal was quite the amusing POV. As the heart of the dungeon, he is the one who makes the monsters and traps and his goal is to stay alive and become stronger. Much like how video game characters level, Cal gains power by defeating his enemies — in this case, anyone who enters his depths. With his partner, a “wisp”, they work together in a symbiotic relationship where Cal runs the dungeon and feeds Dani. Cal’s chapters are all told in the first person and give a really cool view of everything happening in his dungeon.
The other main character, Dave, is one of the adventurers who is constantly clearing out the dungeon. He only recently started his journey as an adventurer and is grinding the dungeon for loot and experience, while also managing the surrounding mountains which he owns. He is the typical farm boy with no world experience and is thrust into a very difficult world when he notifies the Adventurer’s Guild and turns his land into its own town as people flock to the dungeon location.
The story is mostly focused on character development and how both Cal and Dave grow. There are underpinnings of a large overarching plot which I believe is spread out over the whole series.
As per usual, Vikas Adam does an absolutely amazing narration for the book with unique and distinctive character voices. Overall this was a really fun book which I loved and would highly recommend it to people who enjoy:
* LitRPG
* Unique Characters
* Non-Human POV
* First Person POV
* Unique Concepts
For more reviews, check out my blog, The Fantasy Inn
April 17, 2020
If you are new to the Dungeon Core genre, don't start with this. There are better ones. For free.
This is not a good book. It's not Battlefield Earth-level of bad, or even "by Kevin J. anderson"-bad, but ... at it's least readable. I just don't see a reason you should. Read some other Dungeon Core or LitRPG story. Avoid this. You'll be better off.
I almost didn't finish reading this book. I knew how bad it was 20% in; I only finished reading it out of stubbornness and, to be honest, malice. I took pretty detailed notes, planning on tearing this book apart when I finished. But now, I realize that's just mean spirited.
So first, I want to congratulate Dakota Trout on writing a book and, I think, spawning a new fantasy subgenre.
Second, a warning to people who want to read this book, maybe by the premise or perhaps convinced by the large body of high ratings and glowing reviews. Don't.
There are two very shallow, one-dimensionalcharacters and an even shallower, null-dimensional supporting cast who exists only to show how main the main characters are. The dialogue needs work. They come only in extremes: either exposition vomit that reads likes it's coming from a video game advisor or caricatures of bad TV sitcom one-liners; no one speaks like this. There's a novel premise (one of the main characters is a Dungeon; I've never read anything com the POV of a building before), but the worldbuilding is derivative and bland. I could see this as something I might have enjoyed in middle school. But if your taste in books have matured past that, then I recommend you leave this book alone. Let other people enjoy it; let it exist in its own subculture and it won't do you any harm--unless you read it.
This is not a good book. It's not Battlefield Earth-level of bad, or even "by Kevin J. anderson"-bad, but ... at it's least readable. I just don't see a reason you should. Read some other Dungeon Core or LitRPG story. Avoid this. You'll be better off.
I almost didn't finish reading this book. I knew how bad it was 20% in; I only finished reading it out of stubbornness and, to be honest, malice. I took pretty detailed notes, planning on tearing this book apart when I finished. But now, I realize that's just mean spirited.
So first, I want to congratulate Dakota Trout on writing a book and, I think, spawning a new fantasy subgenre.
Second, a warning to people who want to read this book, maybe by the premise or perhaps convinced by the large body of high ratings and glowing reviews. Don't.
There are two very shallow, one-dimensional
April 11, 2017
I decided on a whim to listen to this sucker because I had a free audible credit. No regrets whatsoever.
The plot was slow sometimes, especially when Dale's POV was rehashing information we learned with Cal. Information repetition made me very much dislike his character and dread his POV for most of the book. Toward the end I was far more entertained by him and lost the dislike.
Couple of loose threads. One notable one being the dungeon core color. It's brought up in the beginning and then never again. Not sure if the issue was considered solved or not, but it was not clear.
'Twas a solid introduction to the LitRPG genre, which I am now going to be binge-reading as much of the genre as possible.
The plot was slow sometimes, especially when Dale's POV was rehashing information we learned with Cal. Information repetition made me very much dislike his character and dread his POV for most of the book. Toward the end I was far more entertained by him and lost the dislike.
Couple of loose threads. One notable one being the dungeon core color. It's brought up in the beginning and then never again. Not sure if the issue was considered solved or not, but it was not clear.
'Twas a solid introduction to the LitRPG genre, which I am now going to be binge-reading as much of the genre as possible.
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