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The Divine Dungeon #5
Dungeon Eternium
Unlikely allies uniting across the world. Blood feuds that span centuries. A single chance at life.
The world watches the sky with trepidation. The insanity of Xenocide knew no bounds, and all will soon suffer the effects he had planned for a millennium. Though none know what is to come, they all know it isn’t going to be easy to survive.
The Master has a plan, one that can give the world at large a way to escape the onrushing desolation. It may be on the bleeding edge of morality and what he needs might prove too difficult to secure, but The Master asks for trust.
Cal and Dale both have their role to play as the world hurtles toward destruction. One needs to bring the races of the world together while the other simply needs to survive. Surrounded by supposed allies, the duo will do all that they can to succeed—but with every new arrival comes rising tensions and faltering trust.
The apocalypse is coming. Will honor or greed stand the test of time?
The world watches the sky with trepidation. The insanity of Xenocide knew no bounds, and all will soon suffer the effects he had planned for a millennium. Though none know what is to come, they all know it isn’t going to be easy to survive.
The Master has a plan, one that can give the world at large a way to escape the onrushing desolation. It may be on the bleeding edge of morality and what he needs might prove too difficult to secure, but The Master asks for trust.
Cal and Dale both have their role to play as the world hurtles toward destruction. One needs to bring the races of the world together while the other simply needs to survive. Surrounded by supposed allies, the duo will do all that they can to succeed—but with every new arrival comes rising tensions and faltering trust.
The apocalypse is coming. Will honor or greed stand the test of time?
328 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 31, 2019
1486 people are currently reading
880 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 228 reviews
June 10, 2019
Fun, Rushed, Somewhat Confusing
A few other reviewers have mentioned that this book feels rushed, like Dakota was ready to move on to other pastures. I agree. These last two books felt both meandering and simultaneously jam packed with history tidbits, which left me unsatisfied. My blind guess: founding Mountaindale Press has taken taken a higher priority, even if wasn’t intentional.
One thing I loved about early entries of this series was experiencing Cal explore the rules of his universe. We got to watch him hack reality, creating traps, monsters, and everything in between. It was great. This book has those same elements, but they feel different. Like a waste of time. The world is ending, the sky is falling, people are losing their minds. When we jump from those goings ons to Cal fiddling with traps, it feels insubstantial. Out of place. In the first books, he had all the time in the world to play. In these last two, he has zero. It is not the right time to tinker.
The Master is interesting, but we are given almost nothing about him. I think we needed more time to develop him as a character, rather than gather tiny, vague snippets of his past. He is a central character, yet he is given insufficient time. Same with Minya. Same with Xenocide. Same with Barry (whom took me ages to even remember). That’s perhaps why the end of this series feels so dang rushed. We needed more time with the characters.
I loved this series... for the most part. It had some truly amazing moments. Even though it didn’t end on a high note, I am sad to see it go and look forward to Mr. Krout’s (and Mountaindale Presses) other adventures.
A few other reviewers have mentioned that this book feels rushed, like Dakota was ready to move on to other pastures. I agree. These last two books felt both meandering and simultaneously jam packed with history tidbits, which left me unsatisfied. My blind guess: founding Mountaindale Press has taken taken a higher priority, even if wasn’t intentional.
One thing I loved about early entries of this series was experiencing Cal explore the rules of his universe. We got to watch him hack reality, creating traps, monsters, and everything in between. It was great. This book has those same elements, but they feel different. Like a waste of time. The world is ending, the sky is falling, people are losing their minds. When we jump from those goings ons to Cal fiddling with traps, it feels insubstantial. Out of place. In the first books, he had all the time in the world to play. In these last two, he has zero. It is not the right time to tinker.
The Master is interesting, but we are given almost nothing about him. I think we needed more time to develop him as a character, rather than gather tiny, vague snippets of his past. He is a central character, yet he is given insufficient time. Same with Minya. Same with Xenocide. Same with Barry (whom took me ages to even remember). That’s perhaps why the end of this series feels so dang rushed. We needed more time with the characters.
I loved this series... for the most part. It had some truly amazing moments. Even though it didn’t end on a high note, I am sad to see it go and look forward to Mr. Krout’s (and Mountaindale Presses) other adventures.
May 30, 2019
The book is much in the same vein as the previous ones. While still very good and something I read in a couple of hours, I do feel as though the last 2-3 books, including this one, were not as good as the first 2.
The main issue that I felt took away from the book is that it meanders and tries to fit in as many plot hooks as it can in order to set up the transition between The Divine Dungeon and The Completionist Chronicles which is another of the authors series which is currently loosely connected.
The book introduced quite a number of things, but did not seem to really do anything with some of them. There are a number of plot lines that felt dropped, forgotten, or unfinished such as the whole saving other dungeon cores & wisps or the complete invalidation of virtually everything Cal has done in his dungeon. Things like what happened to Xenocide, Barry, and other prominent characters. Minor stuff like what was Grace's role despite being introduced ages ago? What exactly happened to the Silver Tree; did it just make a complete transition to Cal's world leaving just a husk behind? Why the seeming lack of any other S/S+ ranks other than the few introduced despite what is more or less a clarion call to action to save everyone using Cal? Barry was never introduced as top brass Guild officer material so where the heck is literally everyone else in the world even if we are only talking about the Guild leaders? This makes me wonder how much, if anything, will be explained in the Completionist Chronicles given how far into the future that series takes place in.
That being said, the part that I enjoyed the most out of the first 2 books, the actual dungeon building, still feature in this book. It just takes a back seat to everything else going on which is understandable given its status as a final book. I did find it disappointing that there was virtually no dungeon delving with Dale's old group as they have been a constant parallel to Cal for so long. Ever since Dale hit his Mage rank that entire aspect of the story kind of disappears, though based on the rank disparity and the events that happen to some of the old characters I can see why this would be.
There are a lot of great characters with interesting personalities and backgrounds, but so many of them barely get their own paragraph in the book or are not mentioned at all which is not the greatest way to remember them. A lot of the characters who are relative powerhouses do absolutely nothing in the book despite this one being the one where everyone should be able to flex their muscles while doing relatively little harm given Cal & Dale's current rank.
Overall I did enjoy the book with its characters, overall plot, and humor. However, I cannot deny that I was disappointed when you consider that this should be the finale of the series. There were a lot of great scenes and events when taken as singular, but taken as a whole the story becomes somewhat disjointed. So on we go to the Completionist Chronicles which is already pretty excellent, but now I have even more expectations of it given that it is pretty much my only avenue of answers.
The main issue that I felt took away from the book is that it meanders and tries to fit in as many plot hooks as it can in order to set up the transition between The Divine Dungeon and The Completionist Chronicles which is another of the authors series which is currently loosely connected.
The book introduced quite a number of things, but did not seem to really do anything with some of them. There are a number of plot lines that felt dropped, forgotten, or unfinished such as the whole saving other dungeon cores & wisps or the complete invalidation of virtually everything Cal has done in his dungeon. Things like what happened to Xenocide, Barry, and other prominent characters. Minor stuff like what was Grace's role despite being introduced ages ago? What exactly happened to the Silver Tree; did it just make a complete transition to Cal's world leaving just a husk behind? Why the seeming lack of any other S/S+ ranks other than the few introduced despite what is more or less a clarion call to action to save everyone using Cal? Barry was never introduced as top brass Guild officer material so where the heck is literally everyone else in the world even if we are only talking about the Guild leaders? This makes me wonder how much, if anything, will be explained in the Completionist Chronicles given how far into the future that series takes place in.
That being said, the part that I enjoyed the most out of the first 2 books, the actual dungeon building, still feature in this book. It just takes a back seat to everything else going on which is understandable given its status as a final book. I did find it disappointing that there was virtually no dungeon delving with Dale's old group as they have been a constant parallel to Cal for so long. Ever since Dale hit his Mage rank that entire aspect of the story kind of disappears, though based on the rank disparity and the events that happen to some of the old characters I can see why this would be.
There are a lot of great characters with interesting personalities and backgrounds, but so many of them barely get their own paragraph in the book or are not mentioned at all which is not the greatest way to remember them. A lot of the characters who are relative powerhouses do absolutely nothing in the book despite this one being the one where everyone should be able to flex their muscles while doing relatively little harm given Cal & Dale's current rank.
Overall I did enjoy the book with its characters, overall plot, and humor. However, I cannot deny that I was disappointed when you consider that this should be the finale of the series. There were a lot of great scenes and events when taken as singular, but taken as a whole the story becomes somewhat disjointed. So on we go to the Completionist Chronicles which is already pretty excellent, but now I have even more expectations of it given that it is pretty much my only avenue of answers.
December 30, 2020
Seen as a novel of self-transcendence as only a fantasy RPG game could do it, there are few that go the full path in quite the way this one does.
I mean, we're dealing with an intelligent dungeon that is going full-bore toward being the most powerful ENTITY anywhere, and he just happens to be snarking it up and dragging along all his favorite dungeon-crawlers (and demigods) along with him.
Not that he doesn't have a good reason to get super powerful super quickly, of course. A big moon coming to smash the world kinda sucks. And Cal, being the nice guy (floating mountain) that he is, actually WANTS to save all those people (that he may have had a small part in endangering).
:) Fun stuff! And a great conclusion to the series! It has SOUL!
I mean, we're dealing with an intelligent dungeon that is going full-bore toward being the most powerful ENTITY anywhere, and he just happens to be snarking it up and dragging along all his favorite dungeon-crawlers (and demigods) along with him.
Not that he doesn't have a good reason to get super powerful super quickly, of course. A big moon coming to smash the world kinda sucks. And Cal, being the nice guy (floating mountain) that he is, actually WANTS to save all those people (that he may have had a small part in endangering).
:) Fun stuff! And a great conclusion to the series! It has SOUL!
May 26, 2019
I still have the same complaint i had for the previous 2 books.
Its too short.
And i do not mean this in a positive sense.
Over the 5 past books, the story became more and more complicated and complex, with new characters, sub-plots and mechanics.
And sadly, many if not most of them did not get the time they deserved and needed or did not lead anywhere.
Some people remember Cals search for the legendary materials that work best with Corruption? Yeah that lead nowhere and was never mentioned again. The Mecs Cal hired trough Minjya? Never heard of again. On the opposite you have the little Wisp Greace who is entirely pointless and took quite a chunk of writing.
And then you got an entire set of Characters introduced in this book who are exclusively for the followup Series The Completionist Chronicles, quickly squeezed in, adding little to nothing to the Divine Dungeon Story. Which is a shame as this is supposed to be the grand final of it.
For me it feels this book needed to be 3x as big as it currently is to properly flesh everyone out and wrap all the things up.
I feel cheated out of my final where everything gets wrapped up. Instead everything has been shifted towards The Completionist Chronicles, but since Cal is not focused in that story, nor any other of the characters we know, i feel like i will never find out what the story is about Wisps and Dungeoncores etc.
All in all i liked the story and the books itselves and i hope after The Completionist Chronicles there will be a third series where Cal and Joe will fight side at side against Xenocide.
Its too short.
And i do not mean this in a positive sense.
Over the 5 past books, the story became more and more complicated and complex, with new characters, sub-plots and mechanics.
And sadly, many if not most of them did not get the time they deserved and needed or did not lead anywhere.
Some people remember Cals search for the legendary materials that work best with Corruption? Yeah that lead nowhere and was never mentioned again. The Mecs Cal hired trough Minjya? Never heard of again. On the opposite you have the little Wisp Greace who is entirely pointless and took quite a chunk of writing.
And then you got an entire set of Characters introduced in this book who are exclusively for the followup Series The Completionist Chronicles, quickly squeezed in, adding little to nothing to the Divine Dungeon Story. Which is a shame as this is supposed to be the grand final of it.
For me it feels this book needed to be 3x as big as it currently is to properly flesh everyone out and wrap all the things up.
I feel cheated out of my final where everything gets wrapped up. Instead everything has been shifted towards The Completionist Chronicles, but since Cal is not focused in that story, nor any other of the characters we know, i feel like i will never find out what the story is about Wisps and Dungeoncores etc.
All in all i liked the story and the books itselves and i hope after The Completionist Chronicles there will be a third series where Cal and Joe will fight side at side against Xenocide.
October 15, 2019
Mini-Review:
4 Stars up to 5 for Entertaining Narration by Luke Daniels
4.5 Stars for Humor
4 Stars for Story Progression & Characters
-1 Star for Audio/Book Errors
I really love the Completionist Chronicles and that's why I gave Dungeon Born another try. I tried to get into this series a few times and it never really kept my attention. The intro was too slow and not enough was happening to keep me going. While waiting on CC, I figured I'd give DD another try. I'm glad I stuck it out! Overall, the story still has rough edges that need to be smoothed out but the good parts shine brightly enough to overcome the flaws. The series has a solid setting, great characters, wacko humor and power crazed shenanigans that I've grown to love.
I'm super happy that LitRPG/Gamelit has flourished!
4 Stars up to 5 for Entertaining Narration by Luke Daniels
4.5 Stars for Humor
4 Stars for Story Progression & Characters
-1 Star for Audio/Book Errors
I really love the Completionist Chronicles and that's why I gave Dungeon Born another try. I tried to get into this series a few times and it never really kept my attention. The intro was too slow and not enough was happening to keep me going. While waiting on CC, I figured I'd give DD another try. I'm glad I stuck it out! Overall, the story still has rough edges that need to be smoothed out but the good parts shine brightly enough to overcome the flaws. The series has a solid setting, great characters, wacko humor and power crazed shenanigans that I've grown to love.
I'm super happy that LitRPG/Gamelit has flourished!
July 23, 2019
I finished the book within a day, not because it was too interesting but because it was too short and rushed. So many unanswered questions and unnecessary plots. I loved the first 3 books, but the last 2 books became a bit repetitive and boring. I wanted to know more about Master, high elves and I did not understand the role of Ancient Dungeon.
April 18, 2020
Okay, the story is about the same as the other books (and what I would consider generally entertaining). However the 1-star rating is for what I consider a big no-no, namely the narrator for the Audiobook version changed between the first four books and this last book. Although I think Luke Daniels (the narrator of book 5) is a much better narrator in general (and more renowned), the change between the books is unbelievably distracting because the voices for each character are drastically different than the last books (narrated by Vikas Adam). I really like Luke Daniels as a narrator, but the change so far into the series almost made me give up (however I kept going because it's the final book).
Update: Despite my 1-star rating, I've researched this some more and it appears that the original narrator may be shady in that he tried to get better terms for the subsequent books which may have made it hard for the author to make a viable profit from their work. It's unfortunate that this happened, but I do want to say that I support the author in this situation despite how jarring the change is. In these situations it would be preferable if the new narrator at least tried to come close to the voices used previously..
Update: Despite my 1-star rating, I've researched this some more and it appears that the original narrator may be shady in that he tried to get better terms for the subsequent books which may have made it hard for the author to make a viable profit from their work. It's unfortunate that this happened, but I do want to say that I support the author in this situation despite how jarring the change is. In these situations it would be preferable if the new narrator at least tried to come close to the voices used previously..
June 4, 2019
Interesting ending for a great series
This book does a good job of tying off most loose ends in a pretty satisfactory manner.
The fact that the ending happens the way it does detracts a bit from the 5 book arc but it seems to follow the formula of previous books in the series.
Nonetheless, I really look forward to what Dakota Krout will put forward now with the Completionist series and what else Mountaindale Press has to offer.
This book does a good job of tying off most loose ends in a pretty satisfactory manner.
The fact that the ending happens the way it does detracts a bit from the 5 book arc but it seems to follow the formula of previous books in the series.
Nonetheless, I really look forward to what Dakota Krout will put forward now with the Completionist series and what else Mountaindale Press has to offer.
September 12, 2020
3 stars
Kinda disappointed in this one :( it just felt like a run on plot and I kept getting distracted.
Kinda disappointed in this one :( it just felt like a run on plot and I kept getting distracted.
October 19, 2019
Unfortunately this rating reflects more on the narrator than the book—the narrator kinda ruined it for me. My Audible rating was 1 star for narration and 4 stars for the story which sadly drug the rating down to a 3 overall.
First things first—I love Dakota Krout’s books. I will say that I love Vikas Adams too, but I don’t think I’m being unfairly biased. I liked other narrations that Luke Daniels has done, but his narration for this book honestly made it hard for me to enjoy this book.
Even though Krout maintained his characters’ personalities, Daniels interpretation of those characters is incredibly heavy handed and makes the character seem totally different. Daniels made no attempt to try to have similar voices as Adams has previously established over the course of 5 or 6 other books, including characters that show up in the Completionist books as well. Barry ends up seeming crazier than Xenocide. Minya seems like an old Russian woman who’s been smoking for 75 years. Minya is supposed to be hot, and now that Dale isn’t scared of her any more, we can’t even enjoy them getting together because Minya sounds old and gross.
Cal is supposed to be a delightful psychopath, but instead he sounds like a Boston tween. Dani doesn’t even sound like a woman and seems like she’s out of breath every time she speaks.
Madam Chandra and Rose get these bizarre French-ish accents that sound more like the narrator is speaking around a mouthful of rocks than an actual accent.
And since when do you think of a Deep South southern gentleman drawl when you think of an Infernal, slick and oily salesman as the Infernal Dungeon is described?
No accents at all would have been better that the ones chosen and not a single female character sounded even a little bit female. Changing the narrator this way is tantamount to changing an actor for a character in between seasons and the new actor looks nothing like the old one and we aren’t super sure who this guys is because at this point in the series we are supposed to know the character and no one says his name.
I understand if Vikas Adams wasn’t available to continue narrating this and its spinoff series. I’d prefer to wait indefinitely if it was simply scheduling, but if there’s something more going on here—fine. If a new narrator has to happen, the new narrator at least needs to try to sound the way the characters have in the past or you need to re-record the whole series. (I’d still rather see Adams come back and re-record this book.)
That said, if Adams if off the table, and Daniels isn’t replaced with a narrator that can at least pronounce chi (KEY) spiral correctly, I think I’m going to have to pass on any more Dakota Krout audiobooks. Which is soooo sad to me because Krout’s writing is top notch as always and I was super looking forward to the next books in both series featuring Cal. Daniels’ narration make this book painful to listen to.
First things first—I love Dakota Krout’s books. I will say that I love Vikas Adams too, but I don’t think I’m being unfairly biased. I liked other narrations that Luke Daniels has done, but his narration for this book honestly made it hard for me to enjoy this book.
Even though Krout maintained his characters’ personalities, Daniels interpretation of those characters is incredibly heavy handed and makes the character seem totally different. Daniels made no attempt to try to have similar voices as Adams has previously established over the course of 5 or 6 other books, including characters that show up in the Completionist books as well. Barry ends up seeming crazier than Xenocide. Minya seems like an old Russian woman who’s been smoking for 75 years. Minya is supposed to be hot, and now that Dale isn’t scared of her any more, we can’t even enjoy them getting together because Minya sounds old and gross.
Cal is supposed to be a delightful psychopath, but instead he sounds like a Boston tween. Dani doesn’t even sound like a woman and seems like she’s out of breath every time she speaks.
Madam Chandra and Rose get these bizarre French-ish accents that sound more like the narrator is speaking around a mouthful of rocks than an actual accent.
And since when do you think of a Deep South southern gentleman drawl when you think of an Infernal, slick and oily salesman as the Infernal Dungeon is described?
No accents at all would have been better that the ones chosen and not a single female character sounded even a little bit female. Changing the narrator this way is tantamount to changing an actor for a character in between seasons and the new actor looks nothing like the old one and we aren’t super sure who this guys is because at this point in the series we are supposed to know the character and no one says his name.
I understand if Vikas Adams wasn’t available to continue narrating this and its spinoff series. I’d prefer to wait indefinitely if it was simply scheduling, but if there’s something more going on here—fine. If a new narrator has to happen, the new narrator at least needs to try to sound the way the characters have in the past or you need to re-record the whole series. (I’d still rather see Adams come back and re-record this book.)
That said, if Adams if off the table, and Daniels isn’t replaced with a narrator that can at least pronounce chi (KEY) spiral correctly, I think I’m going to have to pass on any more Dakota Krout audiobooks. Which is soooo sad to me because Krout’s writing is top notch as always and I was super looking forward to the next books in both series featuring Cal. Daniels’ narration make this book painful to listen to.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 20, 2024
It was entertaining but almost lack luster compared to the rest. It felt as if it was pushed to continue the series or rushed to end what could have been several more books. Overall, I really enjoyed the series, but this book just didn't do it for me like the rest.
January 12, 2020
What a disappointing ending for a series that started off so strong. I’m really not sure what happened here. Did Dakota Krout simply not know what he wanted to do with this series?
Normally, a five-book, episodic series (a series where it’s one story spread out over many books) would build to some form of epic conclusion. That’s not what happens here. This series doesn’t end with a bang as much as it ends with a banner reading “please see my other series if you want any sort of meaningful conclusion.“
That’s not good writing.
I can’t say that I’m shocked, though, given the lack of narrative cohesion in the last three books. Starting with book three, Krout abandons almost all semblance of long-term plot and begins to just throw ideas into the void. Events just happen and the tale, as presented, reads like a historical recounting of events instead of reading like a story. There’s no logical buildup for anything and new characters are introduced without the backstory necessary for a reader to care about what’s going on.
There’s a reason narrative structure is such a big deal in literature. You can’t just throw stuff at an audience and expect them to care. You need to introduce a clear conflict and follow that conflict through to its logical conclusion. Instead, Krout just introduces an idea, plays around with it for a while, and then abandons that idea to chase his new idea. It’s aggravating as a reader because you expect these ideas to lead to some sort of big, meaningful story involving the main cast, but nope! They either fizzle to something that involves no conflict – begging the question as to why the idea was even explored - or turn into a task that someone other than the main cast has to deal with.
The least spoiler-ish example I can think of is that a portal has to be built at one point. This portal is really important. You’d expect this portal to be a big focus of the story, right? Nope! It’s only occasionally mentioned because the main cast is doing nothing to help make it. They’re off doing their own things while other people do this vital task.
That’s not how you write a good story!!!!
Why in the world would you introduce a major plot element that doesn’t involve the cast in some way? They don’t have to be the ones to build the portal, but at least have them be involved in gathering the materials for it or something! When the portal arc reaches a big conclusion and people are revealing things about what happened during its construction, all I could think was “and why would I care? You didn’t focus on this thing for more than two seconds even though it should have been the focus of this entire book!”
If Krout had cut out about all of his random side-plots that go nowhere and structured this thing like a story, then this could have been a good read. As such, this was a struggle to get through. I finished the series because I’ve been enjoying the sequel series and, once I realized this was a prequel to that, I wanted to read it so that I’d understand what was going on as events unfold. Hopefully Krout learned from this one and the so far excellent completionist chronicles won’t fizzle into something disappointing.
As for this series, I really can’t recommend it. Books one and two are fun, but the last three are a struggle with no meaningful payoff.
Normally, a five-book, episodic series (a series where it’s one story spread out over many books) would build to some form of epic conclusion. That’s not what happens here. This series doesn’t end with a bang as much as it ends with a banner reading “please see my other series if you want any sort of meaningful conclusion.“
That’s not good writing.
I can’t say that I’m shocked, though, given the lack of narrative cohesion in the last three books. Starting with book three, Krout abandons almost all semblance of long-term plot and begins to just throw ideas into the void. Events just happen and the tale, as presented, reads like a historical recounting of events instead of reading like a story. There’s no logical buildup for anything and new characters are introduced without the backstory necessary for a reader to care about what’s going on.
There’s a reason narrative structure is such a big deal in literature. You can’t just throw stuff at an audience and expect them to care. You need to introduce a clear conflict and follow that conflict through to its logical conclusion. Instead, Krout just introduces an idea, plays around with it for a while, and then abandons that idea to chase his new idea. It’s aggravating as a reader because you expect these ideas to lead to some sort of big, meaningful story involving the main cast, but nope! They either fizzle to something that involves no conflict – begging the question as to why the idea was even explored - or turn into a task that someone other than the main cast has to deal with.
The least spoiler-ish example I can think of is that a portal has to be built at one point. This portal is really important. You’d expect this portal to be a big focus of the story, right? Nope! It’s only occasionally mentioned because the main cast is doing nothing to help make it. They’re off doing their own things while other people do this vital task.
That’s not how you write a good story!!!!
Why in the world would you introduce a major plot element that doesn’t involve the cast in some way? They don’t have to be the ones to build the portal, but at least have them be involved in gathering the materials for it or something! When the portal arc reaches a big conclusion and people are revealing things about what happened during its construction, all I could think was “and why would I care? You didn’t focus on this thing for more than two seconds even though it should have been the focus of this entire book!”
If Krout had cut out about all of his random side-plots that go nowhere and structured this thing like a story, then this could have been a good read. As such, this was a struggle to get through. I finished the series because I’ve been enjoying the sequel series and, once I realized this was a prequel to that, I wanted to read it so that I’d understand what was going on as events unfold. Hopefully Krout learned from this one and the so far excellent completionist chronicles won’t fizzle into something disappointing.
As for this series, I really can’t recommend it. Books one and two are fun, but the last three are a struggle with no meaningful payoff.
May 20, 2023
Where Barry is a bully.
November 17, 2020
Rating: 2.1/5
Review: This was a whole lot better than #3 and #4. Good movement that embraced the characters in their various quests. The world building was better in terms of visualization ease and dungeon development was, once again, interesting.
For a finale' to the series, this was a bit weak in that the individual progression failed in terms of a visceral payoff. You root for characters throughout the series and their rewards do not marry with the gifts of dungeon completion. Additionally, the ending is all over the place with story line threads failing to resolve and the final movement truncated and ineffective.
This was so far removed from the brilliant "Completionist Chronicles" series that it often felt like a different writer. The main problem with this finale' was the lack of a determined and fulfilling ending. The characters held some bright spots but generally became diffuse in presentation.
A strong pass on this series if you are considering it.
Review: This was a whole lot better than #3 and #4. Good movement that embraced the characters in their various quests. The world building was better in terms of visualization ease and dungeon development was, once again, interesting.
For a finale' to the series, this was a bit weak in that the individual progression failed in terms of a visceral payoff. You root for characters throughout the series and their rewards do not marry with the gifts of dungeon completion. Additionally, the ending is all over the place with story line threads failing to resolve and the final movement truncated and ineffective.
This was so far removed from the brilliant "Completionist Chronicles" series that it often felt like a different writer. The main problem with this finale' was the lack of a determined and fulfilling ending. The characters held some bright spots but generally became diffuse in presentation.
A strong pass on this series if you are considering it.
June 8, 2019
Not a good ending
Way too many open plot holes. And then apparently only intends to do short stories? That's baloney dude. Idk what to think
Way too many open plot holes. And then apparently only intends to do short stories? That's baloney dude. Idk what to think
June 9, 2019
Series really went downhill
This book took a huge dive quality wise and it’s clear the plot got away from him. Not holding out much hope for the extended universe.
This book took a huge dive quality wise and it’s clear the plot got away from him. Not holding out much hope for the extended universe.
December 24, 2024
It seems like there was no plan for this ending, and there was not a lot of editing. Random dungeon crawling outtakes. A single random paragraph about how a human technological civilization would be created and then destroyed. Leaving everyone hanging perhaps in doom. It had a couple of good twists, but overall it looked more like being written into a corner and trying to find a way out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 7, 2021
Name: The Divine Dungeon 🤯
January 23, 2024
A very disappointing ending.
July 1, 2025
The series is nice and overall a good read but it couldn't keep to its own rules and also instead of feeling like there was any consequences coming up you just wait to see what kind of train wreck is going to increase the power...
July 19, 2025
Is that it? Like all that build up. Anyways I still had a wonderful time. It scratches the right part of my brain, even when I had issues, but it still felt too goooooood!
October 4, 2022
This was my least favorite of the series, mostly because I feel like the end of rushed and a lot of loose ends left open.
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I was also sad it didn’t have the same narrator for this audio version as he easier versions. This narrator was fine but I had gotten used to the old narrator.
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I was also sad it didn’t have the same narrator for this audio version as he easier versions. This narrator was fine but I had gotten used to the old narrator.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 30, 2019
Well, quite an interesting read. Storyline mostly good / on track. Leaving room for successive novels while not leaving us dangling with some cruel cliffhanger till the next "episode". And I chose the word "episode" for a reason here. I wasn't aware of the actual change in narrator (Audible edition) until just now. Well, it was actually pretty much just confirmed for me just now. From Vikas Adam to Luke Daniels. Both are excellent narrators of course. As far as I am aware, however, Mr. Daniels has been getting more work in this regard, at least with my notice of such and what I have personally been reading. So anyway, I must wonder: "Why the change?". Is Mr. Adam taking a new direction in his career or his life in general and made a change necessary? Well, whatever I suppose. Here's the thing though... some voices were almost comedic as portrayed. Cal is perhaps the most obvious of these. And he plus another voice very much seem to be "replicas" of some comedic actor, possibly or even probably from some years ago. At least the voice as done. I did a quick check back on a tiny portion of book 4 and there's only minimal difference. But definitely some sort of edge. Danni (sp?) and a couple female characters weren't so great I will lament. Though in general it just ends up being an adjustment, one which I am glad to have had perhaps several months or more (time between now and approximate release of Audible edition of book 4) to be better equipped to handle all the differences in narration. Plus, and I am not sure if this was by design of Luke or the request of Dakota, it ""seriously"" took a comedic direction in a manner I was not prepared for even with the time between books (to "forget"). It is difficult to say how I would have felt about the series had Luke taken the reigns from the start and with the overall TONE that he brought either himself or was requested of by the author. Whatever. In the end I enjoyed the book very much. And I DO hope there are no further adjustments as the almost farcical comedic representation put forth here is pushing its luck (IMHO). It ALSO has something very seriously to do with how incredibly much Cal's voice sounds like some real-life actor when putting forth such a comedic "whatever(??)", likely in a particular role he played (almost gangster; bordering on comedic gangsta). And still another character TOTALLY sounding like some over-expressive actor in his or her role. JUST TOO WEIRD!! Took me quite a while to not overwhelmingly hear such and find my mind just obsessed with trying to figure out which actor (or particular actor's role) was so perfectly emulated. And if that was purposeful. WOW!! I have quite often given "Kudos" to the narration. Though doubt it has so thoroughly dominated my "review". Once again, though, I must say that I enjoyed this book. I enjoy the series. And I look forward to successive volumes in this series. Oh, yeah, now that there are 3.5/4 books available in the Completionist Chronicles I am totally ready to dive into that soon. Well, perhaps soon anyway. I just SERIOUSLY have SO MUCH available to me presently to read AND WHICH I very much wish to get started on. Heck, even presently I have several books awaiting a read which are further volumes in series I have enjoyed for a while now already. I seriously overall, though, must have close to 500 books waiting for me. Perhaps a number of them I have read (mostly in my youth or possibly early 20's when I had a revival in reading and capacity for a bit to manage focus on the written word as opposed to the spoken word I have "graduated to" - and which my former left-brain dominance would likely have not allowed as possible since it seemed to overpower any potential I had with my right-brain. I STILL can NOT draw worth a shit though. Doubt that will ever change. Oh, well.) in paperback or hardcover in the past (like Tolkein and much by Anne Rice as well as McCaffrey and others in the fantasy genre plus of course a great many of "the classics" and, well, just so freaking much!! I grew up in a day and age (plus locale) through which I was either outside playing, often in wooded areas and along the river, et cetera, and if NOT THAT THEN inside reading when the rain or other weather made such not so feasible. Basically anything to not be seen or heard by parents. And to escape in some fashion.
October 23, 2019
This novel bridges most of the gap between the Divine Dungeon series and the start of the Completionist Chronicles.
I was so pleased to learn that the S-ranked bad guys actually had reasons for being such human waste. Much more satisfying than thinking they were just chaotically insane.
The weakest point for me was that Dale's old team were mere shadows in the main plot-line. I would have felt better if they had a more direct impact on events, or even just a continued impact on Dale. Tom, in particular, had a story arc that leads nowhere. The way things ended with his brother seemed tacked-on as a rushed way to explain the missing Weres in the next series.
In fact, the climax was rushed as a whole. Sure I could work out that Dale's abilities at the end were solely due to his unique core, but why wasn't it explained. I don't want to spoil the ending, but it is possible to have a sense of everything happening at once, without rushing the writing.
Still, I had fun and am still a big fan of Krout and his creations.
I was so pleased to learn that the S-ranked bad guys actually had reasons for being such human waste. Much more satisfying than thinking they were just chaotically insane.
The weakest point for me was that Dale's old team were mere shadows in the main plot-line. I would have felt better if they had a more direct impact on events, or even just a continued impact on Dale. Tom, in particular, had a story arc that leads nowhere. The way things ended with his brother seemed tacked-on as a rushed way to explain the missing Weres in the next series.
In fact, the climax was rushed as a whole. Sure I could work out that Dale's abilities at the end were solely due to his unique core, but why wasn't it explained. I don't want to spoil the ending, but it is possible to have a sense of everything happening at once, without rushing the writing.
Still, I had fun and am still a big fan of Krout and his creations.
June 9, 2019
JUST READ IT
Just by chance, book 1 of The Devine Dungeon series was recommended to me. I was definitely intrigued then and an more intrigued now. I am glad I decided to just read it. Beginning the series opened my mind to a whole new genre. Being that this was my first litrpg series, it had to catch my attention. And it did, taking my imagination on and awesome journey. Not to give too much away, but... Dale, the human, and Cal, the dungeon, did just that... they took me on a journey, as did the rest of the characters. No lie... I laughed, I cheered, I cried and got mad at the bad guys. My kids were even asking me what was going on with my dungeon book. They'd laugh when I enthusiastically shared. The end of each book kept me coming back for more. Now, all I want is a book six. There is still unfinished business for everyone. Kudos to the author... man you've got me loving a dungeon.
Just by chance, book 1 of The Devine Dungeon series was recommended to me. I was definitely intrigued then and an more intrigued now. I am glad I decided to just read it. Beginning the series opened my mind to a whole new genre. Being that this was my first litrpg series, it had to catch my attention. And it did, taking my imagination on and awesome journey. Not to give too much away, but... Dale, the human, and Cal, the dungeon, did just that... they took me on a journey, as did the rest of the characters. No lie... I laughed, I cheered, I cried and got mad at the bad guys. My kids were even asking me what was going on with my dungeon book. They'd laugh when I enthusiastically shared. The end of each book kept me coming back for more. Now, all I want is a book six. There is still unfinished business for everyone. Kudos to the author... man you've got me loving a dungeon.
October 10, 2021
The last of the divine dungeon series. Sad to see it end but all things must come to an end. Did I enjoy this one? Yes, did it still leave some loose ends that I wish had been cleared up? Yes. Was it still a fun and satisfying read? Yes. If you decide to pick up a series for a YA read whether for you or a friend, this would be a good acquisition. Most books I review I do through audio and this final book changed readers. I was less impressed by this reader and would rate the series as a whole lower if this had been the reader all along. Although, most of that could just be the change in readers and what I was used to. It was far less distracting by the end of the book. Happy Reading!
Joseph McKnight
http://www.josephmcknight.com
Joseph McKnight
http://www.josephmcknight.com
July 5, 2022
A satisfying enough conclusion that was perhaps a bit missing in the progression aspect.
The world building and major villains were wrapped up satisfyingly for me. It did seem like a lot of side quests were started and finished to run out the clock, but I enjoyed them. Dale’s romance was weird and unasked for, but ultimately was fine. I would have liked more exploration of the cultivation for Cal and Dale. I think the writing overall has definitely improved from the first book. I frankly want to spend more time in this world and wished the absolutely world ending stakes had taken a few more books to build. I would have really liked to see an S rank exploration.
If you’ve made it to book 4, you’ll probably enjoy this too.
The world building and major villains were wrapped up satisfyingly for me. It did seem like a lot of side quests were started and finished to run out the clock, but I enjoyed them. Dale’s romance was weird and unasked for, but ultimately was fine. I would have liked more exploration of the cultivation for Cal and Dale. I think the writing overall has definitely improved from the first book. I frankly want to spend more time in this world and wished the absolutely world ending stakes had taken a few more books to build. I would have really liked to see an S rank exploration.
If you’ve made it to book 4, you’ll probably enjoy this too.
September 5, 2021
Definitely weaker than 1-3 but the resolution of the main plot points makes more sense than 4. It should probably have been multiple books though.
The surrounding material was still weak, the Hans+Rose thing, the *other* relationship that just happens, it seems after leaving the dungeon focus the author had a big main idea he wanted to execute but everything surrounding it was done sloppily. also the speed tiers make no sense, at the end...the reaction time is suddenly human speed???
I'd say its definitely worth reading if you've read book 4, but you could also just stop after 1-3 and be pretty fine.
The surrounding material was still weak, the Hans+Rose thing, the *other* relationship that just happens, it seems after leaving the dungeon focus the author had a big main idea he wanted to execute but everything surrounding it was done sloppily. also the speed tiers make no sense, at the end...the reaction time is suddenly human speed???
I'd say its definitely worth reading if you've read book 4, but you could also just stop after 1-3 and be pretty fine.
May 5, 2022
Much like other reviewers statements book 4 and 5 (this one) feel super rushed. Not only that if you’ve read Artorians Archives much of the text is nearly copy pasted into these last two books as their story arc’s intersect. There’s a couple chapters you can almost just skip if you’ve read the either series. The first three books were good and interesting. These two just feel like the author was trying to meet a publishers deadline instead of entertain his audience / develop the storyline further.
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