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Dungeon Bound
Gabriel was a successful magic student until a classmate framed him, forcing him to join the Adventurer’s Guild to survive. Unfortunately, his career as an adventurer doesn’t turn out quite how he was hoping. While on his first delve, he discovers more about monsters, dungeons, and souls than he ever imagined. With that knowledge comes power and new friends. But even as his exotic companions enrich his life, they also give him more to lose. When Gabriel learns that time isn’t on their side, he has to find his way as a Dungeon Master before greedy adventurers and ravenous monsters strip away everything he holds dear. Dungeon Bound contains casual nudity, explicit sex, sexy monster girls, a growing harem, a fantasy world with magic, game mechanics, violence, revenge, crude humor, profanity, Dungeon Cores, Dungeon Masters, magic, home invaders, an exhibitionist, ritual sacrifice, and a dungeon.
378 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 9, 2019
516 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
December 30, 2019
Horny Betas plot armor builds him a monster girl harem
That be doesn't have the balls to f&"@
You don't believe he's a beta? He spends the entire book either praising himself in his head or following the nearest female that show's him attention. Jumping to follow their commands while staring at their sexual organs.
Well at least he's OP in every way for no reason and uses it poorly and little. That's always interesting.
Well its fantasy porn you say it doesn't need to be interesting or smart?
No, its not. The only way it would be porn is if his mother the gorgon tied him down an raped him. He might spend the entire book staring at ass but that doesn't mean he has the balls to do anything about it.
This book wastes your time in every way possible. The fact it's not completely unreadable only makes it better at that. I cant see one single thing it offers the reader, I'd give stars to decent monster porn even if it's of no interest to me, so I cant rate it higher.
That be doesn't have the balls to f&"@
You don't believe he's a beta? He spends the entire book either praising himself in his head or following the nearest female that show's him attention. Jumping to follow their commands while staring at their sexual organs.
Well at least he's OP in every way for no reason and uses it poorly and little. That's always interesting.
Well its fantasy porn you say it doesn't need to be interesting or smart?
No, its not. The only way it would be porn is if his mother the gorgon tied him down an raped him. He might spend the entire book staring at ass but that doesn't mean he has the balls to do anything about it.
This book wastes your time in every way possible. The fact it's not completely unreadable only makes it better at that. I cant see one single thing it offers the reader, I'd give stars to decent monster porn even if it's of no interest to me, so I cant rate it higher.
January 1, 2020
Crap
I couldn’t even finish this book.Started off oaky then just dropped off the map.The mc is a virgin loser who can’t do or knows anything,Women throwing themselves at him and he’s about as bright as a burned out light bulb.
I couldn’t even finish this book.Started off oaky then just dropped off the map.The mc is a virgin loser who can’t do or knows anything,Women throwing themselves at him and he’s about as bright as a burned out light bulb.
October 31, 2020
Did not finish. This book may be fine for about 13-16 year old boys. The MC, although in his twenties, acts like a 13 year old boy. The author does nothing to excuse this behavior so the MC comes off as massively incompetent. For example, the story begins with the MC on a dungeon dive that is clearly a set up, but the MC can't figure that out.
You know what, this book isn't worth a long review. I'll just add that MC's relationship with women is also immature. The MC is virtually afraid of them while simultaneously lusting after every woman he meets. Fortunately all the women pretty much want to sleep with him so I assume the MC eventually has sex.
Bottom line: Waste of time for adults.
You know what, this book isn't worth a long review. I'll just add that MC's relationship with women is also immature. The MC is virtually afraid of them while simultaneously lusting after every woman he meets. Fortunately all the women pretty much want to sleep with him so I assume the MC eventually has sex.
Bottom line: Waste of time for adults.
January 4, 2020
Just bad.
This book was plagued throughout with a poor storyline and bad writing. Inconsistencies in plot put there to satisfy a scene, weak characters and a pacing that plods along. This book needs a complete rewrite.
This book was plagued throughout with a poor storyline and bad writing. Inconsistencies in plot put there to satisfy a scene, weak characters and a pacing that plods along. This book needs a complete rewrite.
November 23, 2020
I get what the author was trying to do. But I just didn't like how it turned out.
Every conversation seems to go the same way.
-Girl feels inadequate.
-Guy soothes girls inadequacy issue.
-Nice guy wins.
How to improve?
I think the author could definitely improve this if he gave the MC some class or a smooth streak. Anything to make him a bit more interesting or relatable. But he just didn't feel deep, clever, or interesting. Bluntly put he felt like someone on the spectrum. That could be improved by using more subtext. And adding more layers to his conversations and actions. But subtext is what he really needs. He's robotically direct.
Also he could be a bit more relatable. Like the entire 'nice guy' character. The reason no one likes 'nice guy' characters is because they don't uplift people around them. They enable dependency and bank emotional debt. They are cruel and petty in their own way.
Every conversation seems to go the same way.
-Girl feels inadequate.
-Guy soothes girls inadequacy issue.
-Nice guy wins.
How to improve?
I think the author could definitely improve this if he gave the MC some class or a smooth streak. Anything to make him a bit more interesting or relatable. But he just didn't feel deep, clever, or interesting. Bluntly put he felt like someone on the spectrum. That could be improved by using more subtext. And adding more layers to his conversations and actions. But subtext is what he really needs. He's robotically direct.
Also he could be a bit more relatable. Like the entire 'nice guy' character. The reason no one likes 'nice guy' characters is because they don't uplift people around them. They enable dependency and bank emotional debt. They are cruel and petty in their own way.
January 5, 2020
I really enjoyed the beginning of the story, before it turned into a D&D rule book. The MC is as shallow as they come and the writer is strangely obsessed with penis jokes. You might like this one if you are a big D&D fan, especially if you were the DM yourself. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it.
August 28, 2023
1.5 rounded down to 1.
Setting:
This story takes place inside a large dungeon in a mostly normal fantasy world. There is a minor amount of litrpg style game mechanics involved in the story both for narrative reasons as well as stylistic choices.
Characters:
Gabriel: Our main character is Gabriel. Gabriel was going to school to be a bureaucratic mage and very nearly graduated with high marks before being kicked out and, more or less, forced to take up adventuring instead of the boring but safe life he was trying to get. Gabriel is very much a fish out of water in adventuring and even more so in the dungeon mastering he very rapidly finds thrust upon him.
Sthuza: Sthuza is a gorgon who has been alive long enough to acquire a great deal of money and power and no small amount of sadness at the loss of former relationships.
Cindra: Cindra is a dog. Excuse me. She's a hellhound that happens to be capable of shapeshifting into an anthropomorphic dog-girl. In both forms she is mentally a dog that speaks English. We will come back to this in a bit.
Plot:
Gabriel got what was a dream job by signing on with an experienced adventuring crew almost immediately upon being thrown out of mage school. Turns out sometimes things that seem too good to be true are and the whole thing was a set up to sacrifice Gabriel and use his magic soul juice to steal the macguffin. Lucky for Gabriel he had so much soul juice he managed to not totally die upon having his heart ripped out and was able to make a deal with the dungeon core to be the new dungeon master in exchange for saving his life.
My Thoughts:
Unfortunately I have little in the way of positives here. I will start by saying that the book is very readable. The prose is clean and smooth and I found it very easy to say "just one more chapter" often two or three times in a row.
While neither strictly speaking a positive or a negative, it is worth pointing out that this book is extremely violent. Combat is frequent and very messy. Knight does not shy away from mentioning the severed limbs, spilled intestines, and various other squishy bits that result from someone's insides becoming their outsides. The fights are varied enough that even with the frequent encounters they avoid feeling repetitive or boring.
On a slightly less positive note I want to address the inclusion of litrpg elements. To be clear, the elements by themselves are not an issue. If you enjoy litrpg books that's perfectly fine if not that's also perfectly fine. What I find strange about this book is the amount of this type of content Knight chose to include. There's a couple mentions of levels and a couple times where Gabriel consults a stat sheet of his companions but it's mostly in the background. It feels to me sort of like throwing one small spoonful of habanero peppers into an otherwise mild soup. People who like that sort of thing will probably want a fair bit more than is present and people who don't will be put off by even the relatively minor amount that is here. It feels rather like just the right amount for nobody.
The sexual content has the exact same issue. There's frequent teasing and staring and mentions of sex but the entire book contains only one actual sex scene at the very end. I will say that given the characterization and plot elements going on this narratively makes sense for the most part but it does wind up feeling like the book is both over-saturated and lacking in this content at the same time.
On a related note; Cindra. I said we would come back to this. Cindra is a dog. This is a problem because she is also clearly intended to be sexually desirable (I can't count the number of times it's mentioned how big her tits are) and will be involved in sexual content. Oh sure, Gabriel says he sees an intelligent mind behind her eyes but Knight certainly does not show that off. She has to be reminded to wear clothes and taught how to sit at a table and eat with a fork. Anytime she speaks her grammar is heavily lacking at best because she simply isn't on the same mental level as Gabriel and Sthuza. Take this bit for example:
Gabriel started to reply, but a loud baying cut him off.
A huge hound raced past him, her barking pain- fully loud in the tight confines of the corridor. "Cccindra, come back here, you ssstupid..." the gorgon said.
A glance to his side showed a writhing mass of hissing and spitting head-snakes, all glaring after the sprinting hellhound.
"What the hells just happened?" Gabriel asked. Sthuza shook her head, sighed, and started for- ward again.
"That boobs-for-brains furball got excited when the goblin fled, and her more bestial instincts kicked in."
"So, she's hunting him?"
"Yes."
Cindra is a dog who knows how to talk. That makes the idea of her being involved in any sexual content very uncomfortable.
So ultimately I can't recommend this.
Setting:
This story takes place inside a large dungeon in a mostly normal fantasy world. There is a minor amount of litrpg style game mechanics involved in the story both for narrative reasons as well as stylistic choices.
Characters:
Gabriel: Our main character is Gabriel. Gabriel was going to school to be a bureaucratic mage and very nearly graduated with high marks before being kicked out and, more or less, forced to take up adventuring instead of the boring but safe life he was trying to get. Gabriel is very much a fish out of water in adventuring and even more so in the dungeon mastering he very rapidly finds thrust upon him.
Sthuza: Sthuza is a gorgon who has been alive long enough to acquire a great deal of money and power and no small amount of sadness at the loss of former relationships.
Cindra: Cindra is a dog. Excuse me. She's a hellhound that happens to be capable of shapeshifting into an anthropomorphic dog-girl. In both forms she is mentally a dog that speaks English. We will come back to this in a bit.
Plot:
Gabriel got what was a dream job by signing on with an experienced adventuring crew almost immediately upon being thrown out of mage school. Turns out sometimes things that seem too good to be true are and the whole thing was a set up to sacrifice Gabriel and use his magic soul juice to steal the macguffin. Lucky for Gabriel he had so much soul juice he managed to not totally die upon having his heart ripped out and was able to make a deal with the dungeon core to be the new dungeon master in exchange for saving his life.
My Thoughts:
Unfortunately I have little in the way of positives here. I will start by saying that the book is very readable. The prose is clean and smooth and I found it very easy to say "just one more chapter" often two or three times in a row.
While neither strictly speaking a positive or a negative, it is worth pointing out that this book is extremely violent. Combat is frequent and very messy. Knight does not shy away from mentioning the severed limbs, spilled intestines, and various other squishy bits that result from someone's insides becoming their outsides. The fights are varied enough that even with the frequent encounters they avoid feeling repetitive or boring.
On a slightly less positive note I want to address the inclusion of litrpg elements. To be clear, the elements by themselves are not an issue. If you enjoy litrpg books that's perfectly fine if not that's also perfectly fine. What I find strange about this book is the amount of this type of content Knight chose to include. There's a couple mentions of levels and a couple times where Gabriel consults a stat sheet of his companions but it's mostly in the background. It feels to me sort of like throwing one small spoonful of habanero peppers into an otherwise mild soup. People who like that sort of thing will probably want a fair bit more than is present and people who don't will be put off by even the relatively minor amount that is here. It feels rather like just the right amount for nobody.
The sexual content has the exact same issue. There's frequent teasing and staring and mentions of sex but the entire book contains only one actual sex scene at the very end. I will say that given the characterization and plot elements going on this narratively makes sense for the most part but it does wind up feeling like the book is both over-saturated and lacking in this content at the same time.
On a related note; Cindra. I said we would come back to this. Cindra is a dog. This is a problem because she is also clearly intended to be sexually desirable (I can't count the number of times it's mentioned how big her tits are) and will be involved in sexual content. Oh sure, Gabriel says he sees an intelligent mind behind her eyes but Knight certainly does not show that off. She has to be reminded to wear clothes and taught how to sit at a table and eat with a fork. Anytime she speaks her grammar is heavily lacking at best because she simply isn't on the same mental level as Gabriel and Sthuza. Take this bit for example:
Gabriel started to reply, but a loud baying cut him off.
A huge hound raced past him, her barking pain- fully loud in the tight confines of the corridor. "Cccindra, come back here, you ssstupid..." the gorgon said.
A glance to his side showed a writhing mass of hissing and spitting head-snakes, all glaring after the sprinting hellhound.
"What the hells just happened?" Gabriel asked. Sthuza shook her head, sighed, and started for- ward again.
"That boobs-for-brains furball got excited when the goblin fled, and her more bestial instincts kicked in."
"So, she's hunting him?"
"Yes."
Cindra is a dog who knows how to talk. That makes the idea of her being involved in any sexual content very uncomfortable.
So ultimately I can't recommend this.
December 11, 2019
Enjoyable
Interesting characters, different type of MC than usual, and a li'l baby dungeon core made this a different, but enjoyable read. For a first book from an author, I don't think I noticed too many, if any, errors.. though I read fast and tend to gleam over them more often than not. Still.. worth a 5/5 from me.
Interesting characters, different type of MC than usual, and a li'l baby dungeon core made this a different, but enjoyable read. For a first book from an author, I don't think I noticed too many, if any, errors.. though I read fast and tend to gleam over them more often than not. Still.. worth a 5/5 from me.
October 2, 2023
Summary: "get on with it!"
If the book had been a third of its length it might have been more enjoyable. The constant droning about self doubts, desires and feelings was rather exhausting.
This story is a perfect escape from reality for lonely adolescent men as it is about a dungeon full of diverse boob monsters who all desperately want to mate with the protagonist.. I found the fact that most monsters always want to kill the female companions of the protagonist to have him for themselves or their mistress really hillarious*rofl*. It is also funny that the females in this dungeons (apart from the goblin) are all supposed to be (partly) beautiful -the protagonist even finds the booby spider queen (partly) attractive... The literal bitch in heat character is a bit over the top in my taste..
I was no fan of the fact that more than half! of the book that went on and on about impressive boobs, theoretical mating, endless self doubts of all included parties and constant meaningless chatter but missed any real progress or intelligent planing.. The moronic decision to waste needed mana on absolutely unnecessary things while knowingly being in danger and the horrible fight in which the protagonist seemingly mostly looked around dumbfoundedly were really aggravating.
You may call me cold hearted but i deeply regretted that the annoying and offputting minions survived somehow due to plot armor..
I didn´t care about the happy ending scene at the end and skimmed over it.
If the book had been a third of its length it might have been more enjoyable. The constant droning about self doubts, desires and feelings was rather exhausting.
This story is a perfect escape from reality for lonely adolescent men as it is about a dungeon full of diverse boob monsters who all desperately want to mate with the protagonist.. I found the fact that most monsters always want to kill the female companions of the protagonist to have him for themselves or their mistress really hillarious*rofl*. It is also funny that the females in this dungeons (apart from the goblin) are all supposed to be (partly) beautiful -the protagonist even finds the booby spider queen (partly) attractive... The literal bitch in heat character is a bit over the top in my taste..
I was no fan of the fact that more than half! of the book that went on and on about impressive boobs, theoretical mating, endless self doubts of all included parties and constant meaningless chatter but missed any real progress or intelligent planing.. The moronic decision to waste needed mana on absolutely unnecessary things while knowingly being in danger and the horrible fight in which the protagonist seemingly mostly looked around dumbfoundedly were really aggravating.
You may call me cold hearted but i deeply regretted that the annoying and offputting minions survived somehow due to plot armor..
I didn´t care about the happy ending scene at the end and skimmed over it.
March 1, 2020
I did enjoy this book but with some caveats. In dungeon core books, we expect the protagonist to be the sapient crystal/magical orb/overseer of a traditional fantasy dungeon, as you might expect to find when playing Runekeeper, Dragon Warriors, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and so on.
That core usually has to defend itself against the wave of horrible adventurers who just want to kill the pets it grows and steal its treasure.
In this book, the hero ends up as the Dungeon Master (a hat tip to D&D) and has to acquire monsters to help him protect his new life. That's fine. But everyone else has knowledge of this and he doesn't. The people on his new team, could tell him things, but hold back information in a way that might feel a little artificial to some readers.
We expect levelling up in gamelit (which dungeon core is a sub-genre of) and though he learns more about his new abilities, slowly, that doesn't happen throughout the book
He does acquire the beginnings of a harem, but while it's not fade to black, don't expect steamy scenes throughout the book. Our hero, Gabriel, recruits but doesn't sleep with his harem early on,
I would imagine this will change in book two, and the sexy times will be more evenly spread throughout the book. For this reason, I've tagged it as a 'slow-burn' to indicate that the romantic relationships aren't fulfilled in this book. In harem and reverse harem I would generally expect more romantic progress by the mid-point and more than one scene to illustrate that.
I enjoyed the book overall and I recognise that it's really hard to satisfy gamelit/litrpg trope expectations. I still feel like an outsider even as a reader but I think this was a strong first effort. I know the LitRPG Podcast gave a favourable review and they certainly are experts.
I think most people who want to read dungeon core with a little harem thrown in, will be satisfied with this first book, provided they don't mind waiting for the payoffs at the end. I will certainly read the next one and I hope Bastian finishes it soon. :)
That core usually has to defend itself against the wave of horrible adventurers who just want to kill the pets it grows and steal its treasure.
In this book, the hero ends up as the Dungeon Master (a hat tip to D&D) and has to acquire monsters to help him protect his new life. That's fine. But everyone else has knowledge of this and he doesn't. The people on his new team, could tell him things, but hold back information in a way that might feel a little artificial to some readers.
We expect levelling up in gamelit (which dungeon core is a sub-genre of) and though he learns more about his new abilities, slowly, that doesn't happen throughout the book
He does acquire the beginnings of a harem, but while it's not fade to black, don't expect steamy scenes throughout the book. Our hero, Gabriel, recruits but doesn't sleep with his harem early on,
I would imagine this will change in book two, and the sexy times will be more evenly spread throughout the book. For this reason, I've tagged it as a 'slow-burn' to indicate that the romantic relationships aren't fulfilled in this book. In harem and reverse harem I would generally expect more romantic progress by the mid-point and more than one scene to illustrate that.
I enjoyed the book overall and I recognise that it's really hard to satisfy gamelit/litrpg trope expectations. I still feel like an outsider even as a reader but I think this was a strong first effort. I know the LitRPG Podcast gave a favourable review and they certainly are experts.
I think most people who want to read dungeon core with a little harem thrown in, will be satisfied with this first book, provided they don't mind waiting for the payoffs at the end. I will certainly read the next one and I hope Bastian finishes it soon. :)
November 28, 2025
I really like this even though i hate dungeon core books but this one is amazing only thing I don't like is how the Medusa is slowing down the spice i really hope she's not going to be coc* blocking all the girls i hate it when one of the girls slows stuff up being weird and picky trying to hog the MC to themselves but other than that its a great listen 🎶 and its funny. Update im lowering this to 4* ugggg why did the author have to do a trauma woo-woo Medusa playing games and holding up the story with her issues instead of just explaining what happened to her she played high and mighty and told lies knowing the mc had just been betrayed uggg just spit it out so we can move on so I did skip around because about 2 1/2 hours of pointless woo-woo happens around 7 hours in and really
slows the story down and then picked it back up around 9hours and 25mins meanwhile 9+ hours still no spice 😑 and losing interest so skipping through again to the last hour and 50mins still no spice and a fighting scene that lasted way to long skipped through that boring and finally the last hour and once again Medusa ruined the spice again good lord he should of let her die this is ridiculous he's the virgin and she's acting like she is plus she thinks she gets to go first so keeps blocking his other bond mate this is ridiculous and of course it will be some weird let's make love woo-woo BS which i hate she blue-balled him so much he's reduced to to imagining what it might be like he's constantly apologizing to Medusa for her delicate sensibilities good lord why the author did this is weird and if your like me and came here for the adventures and spice its a Slowwwwww Burnnnnn the last 30 minutes we finally get some spice and it was way to slow woo-woo let's make love ewww and still it took forever she even slowed the smexy scene down wth why ? finally glad its over now we can move on to his hell hound i wasn't even interested in Medusa i dont know if I even want to listen to the rest of the series because of Medusa she slows the story down and I don't really like her. She even ruined his first time and practically forced him to tell her he loved her before she would give him some wow yeah I will not be finishing this series
slows the story down and then picked it back up around 9hours and 25mins meanwhile 9+ hours still no spice 😑 and losing interest so skipping through again to the last hour and 50mins still no spice and a fighting scene that lasted way to long skipped through that boring and finally the last hour and once again Medusa ruined the spice again good lord he should of let her die this is ridiculous he's the virgin and she's acting like she is plus she thinks she gets to go first so keeps blocking his other bond mate this is ridiculous and of course it will be some weird let's make love woo-woo BS which i hate she blue-balled him so much he's reduced to to imagining what it might be like he's constantly apologizing to Medusa for her delicate sensibilities good lord why the author did this is weird and if your like me and came here for the adventures and spice its a Slowwwwww Burnnnnn the last 30 minutes we finally get some spice and it was way to slow woo-woo let's make love ewww and still it took forever she even slowed the smexy scene down wth why ? finally glad its over now we can move on to his hell hound i wasn't even interested in Medusa i dont know if I even want to listen to the rest of the series because of Medusa she slows the story down and I don't really like her. She even ruined his first time and practically forced him to tell her he loved her before she would give him some wow yeah I will not be finishing this series
January 4, 2024
I read this book immediately after finishing the Soulbound 1: A Fantasy LitRPG Harem Series series, and somehow I couldn't help but compare them, not because they're particularly similar, but because they're in some ways almost mirror images of each other.
As I noted in my review of Soulbound, I liked the plot and found the relatively heavy LitRPG system interesting, but disliked the bland characters and especially the incredibly error-filled writing.
This book has excellent characters and very solid writing (no glaring continuity errors here, thankfully), but a LitRPG system that doesn't seem especially impactful, and not a huge plot. Eh, someone stabbed someone else to steal something valuable to get some money, but the stab victim survived and needs to steal the valuable thing back, okay...?
But of the two books, I much prefer this one. I can overlook a weak, somewhat generic plot and a tacked on LitRPG system if you give me some protagonists I can actually like and empathise with and don't constantly throw continuity errors at me.
If you're at all open to this sort of book, you should give it a try. It's fun, light hearted, not too serious, and most of all, enjoyable. Gives me some Rise of the Weakest Summoner: Volume I vibes (and considering how much I like that series, that's high praise from me).
As I noted in my review of Soulbound, I liked the plot and found the relatively heavy LitRPG system interesting, but disliked the bland characters and especially the incredibly error-filled writing.
This book has excellent characters and very solid writing (no glaring continuity errors here, thankfully), but a LitRPG system that doesn't seem especially impactful, and not a huge plot. Eh, someone stabbed someone else to steal something valuable to get some money, but the stab victim survived and needs to steal the valuable thing back, okay...?
But of the two books, I much prefer this one. I can overlook a weak, somewhat generic plot and a tacked on LitRPG system if you give me some protagonists I can actually like and empathise with and don't constantly throw continuity errors at me.
If you're at all open to this sort of book, you should give it a try. It's fun, light hearted, not too serious, and most of all, enjoyable. Gives me some Rise of the Weakest Summoner: Volume I vibes (and considering how much I like that series, that's high praise from me).
February 29, 2020
A fun read
I don't write many reviews because I read way too many books (300-400 a year) but I always leave a rating. I don't give 5's arbitrarily I save those for authors and stories in line with James Lee Burke, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Jim Butcher, among many others. I only generally give out a 1 for well I don't usually finish those. Recently I came across some reviews with people slamming authors with low ratings and bad reviews when in reality the books were quite good and enjoyable. These aren't books for people expecting something they are not, once there were books called penny dreadful or others like pulp fiction and some store detective novels every genre got it's start some where and all fantasy and science fiction requires you to suspend believability to enjoy. I
This author created a wonderful compelling story that has feeling and if you give it a chance you will feel it as well.
I don't write many reviews because I read way too many books (300-400 a year) but I always leave a rating. I don't give 5's arbitrarily I save those for authors and stories in line with James Lee Burke, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Jim Butcher, among many others. I only generally give out a 1 for well I don't usually finish those. Recently I came across some reviews with people slamming authors with low ratings and bad reviews when in reality the books were quite good and enjoyable. These aren't books for people expecting something they are not, once there were books called penny dreadful or others like pulp fiction and some store detective novels every genre got it's start some where and all fantasy and science fiction requires you to suspend believability to enjoy. I
This author created a wonderful compelling story that has feeling and if you give it a chance you will feel it as well.
December 23, 2019
A good book, though it falls short of being amazing. No crime in that of course, as it was still well written and diverting.
The MC is a bit clueless; considering the two decades of magic study I would think he'd pick things up a bit faster, although the relationship stuff would of course be a challenge with that background.
The author says at the end of the book to let him know what we'd like to see more/less of, so here's my $0.02. I'd like to see the core "bonded" stabilize into a sensible dynamic and Gabriel to learn to focus on the things that are trying to kill him and not ADD-ing all the time. My suspension of disbelief that he won't be killed in the dungeon/combat as his attention wanders was sorely tested and I think it was abused enough in this book.
Still, a fun read and I'll certainly check out the next one.
The MC is a bit clueless; considering the two decades of magic study I would think he'd pick things up a bit faster, although the relationship stuff would of course be a challenge with that background.
The author says at the end of the book to let him know what we'd like to see more/less of, so here's my $0.02. I'd like to see the core "bonded" stabilize into a sensible dynamic and Gabriel to learn to focus on the things that are trying to kill him and not ADD-ing all the time. My suspension of disbelief that he won't be killed in the dungeon/combat as his attention wanders was sorely tested and I think it was abused enough in this book.
Still, a fun read and I'll certainly check out the next one.
November 18, 2025
I just finished 16 books of Wandering Inn and I was surprised to see so many of the same features, such as, ranked adventurers (Copper through Gold), mages, dungeons, dungeon monsters, healing potions, etc. I like that these features are common. Book One of the Wandering Inn, at least the first half, was kinda annoying, superficial but it got WAY better. I don't know if I am going to find out if this book does the same as I may not want to shell out money on book 2? It was fun but but a bit too predictable and shallow. Thank God the dungeon sex scenes were at a minimum, although there was a lot of sex talk throughout most of the book. I picked this book up because it was free and because it was narrated by Andrea Parseneau. Her narration was good but often annoying, just like in the first half of WI 1. I'm waiting for WI book 17...one week to go.
July 4, 2025
assumed this would be a RPG type story, it ended up forcing me to be in the sex craved head of a 12 yo boy or a 38 yo virgin living in his mom's basement. its giving immature male writing what they THINk romantasy is to women.
when there was actually a story it was interrupted for long, drawn out unnecessary fantasies about the idiotic 25yo MMC lusting over all of the FMC without having the nerve to act on anything. as I'm writing this i realized the MMC is literally the only male (with the exception of the main, known nemesis).
if you can make it to a part where the narrator describes combat scenes, very reminiscent of a good DM while playing D&D...but those sections are few and far between.
it was painful listening to this and I feel dirty having subjected myself to it.
when there was actually a story it was interrupted for long, drawn out unnecessary fantasies about the idiotic 25yo MMC lusting over all of the FMC without having the nerve to act on anything. as I'm writing this i realized the MMC is literally the only male (with the exception of the main, known nemesis).
if you can make it to a part where the narrator describes combat scenes, very reminiscent of a good DM while playing D&D...but those sections are few and far between.
it was painful listening to this and I feel dirty having subjected myself to it.
January 2, 2020
Delightful New Work
This is a thoughtful and well-written story that balances action, humor, drama, harem, and magic in excellent ways. The pacing is especially good, as nothing happens too quickly for belief; the action and interactions happen at a nice solid pace. Most interesting is the spell mechanics, illustrating that training and skill play as much in magical support as does raw power - probably more so. Also nice is that the characters are treated respectfully (albeit humorously): there are deeper qualities to all of them that set the stage for some excellent interactions in the future. Yep: definitely going to watch this series.
Recommended (16+)
This is a thoughtful and well-written story that balances action, humor, drama, harem, and magic in excellent ways. The pacing is especially good, as nothing happens too quickly for belief; the action and interactions happen at a nice solid pace. Most interesting is the spell mechanics, illustrating that training and skill play as much in magical support as does raw power - probably more so. Also nice is that the characters are treated respectfully (albeit humorously): there are deeper qualities to all of them that set the stage for some excellent interactions in the future. Yep: definitely going to watch this series.
Recommended (16+)
January 6, 2020
A great start
I enjoyed the book quite a bit. The main issue I had was the constant use of abbreviations for terms that I was still coming to understand and backtracking to figure out what they meant. The magic system needs a little more clarification as to how it works as well. Now for the good part: very well written characters, a believeable romance between the MC and his first monster girl, and lots of seeds planted for upcoming stories. I liked how the relationship developed between Grimm and Sythuza and wasn’t just immediate bedroom shenanigans just to sell a few more copies. Looking forward to the next book!
I enjoyed the book quite a bit. The main issue I had was the constant use of abbreviations for terms that I was still coming to understand and backtracking to figure out what they meant. The magic system needs a little more clarification as to how it works as well. Now for the good part: very well written characters, a believeable romance between the MC and his first monster girl, and lots of seeds planted for upcoming stories. I liked how the relationship developed between Grimm and Sythuza and wasn’t just immediate bedroom shenanigans just to sell a few more copies. Looking forward to the next book!
September 3, 2025
This is a harem power fantasy. It's mostly about various women throwing themselves very blatantly at the MC. That's what the book promises, that's what it delivers. There is explicit sex and humor.
I could have gone without quite a bit of the sexually explicit stuff, but that would have shortened the book by a lot.
The narrator is what made this book great for me. I found the various characters, mostly the girls, to be fun and entertaining.
MC is not the brightest, but cut him some slack for being a noob and he's not too bad. At least he's not an ass.
I could have gone without quite a bit of the sexually explicit stuff, but that would have shortened the book by a lot.
The narrator is what made this book great for me. I found the various characters, mostly the girls, to be fun and entertaining.
MC is not the brightest, but cut him some slack for being a noob and he's not too bad. At least he's not an ass.
August 31, 2023
Starts fine enough. The magic system is intricate and novel, the Monster Girls are more than regular women with different colored skin, and the MC has an interesting path of progression ahead of him.
Half-way in the plot stops dead. Hours of exposition. Lots of info repeated. Worst of all the action, when it finally comes, is really boring. It's a slog with wasted potential. Maybe the rest of the series is better, but I don't know if I'll continue.
Half-way in the plot stops dead. Hours of exposition. Lots of info repeated. Worst of all the action, when it finally comes, is really boring. It's a slog with wasted potential. Maybe the rest of the series is better, but I don't know if I'll continue.
September 17, 2023
Surprising
Honest it was expecting the only read the first two chapters or so and put it down it's just another crappy dungeon harem. But this has been surprisingly good. While one of the characters is a bit one dimensional and doesn't have much in the way of backstory as of yet. The other almost has more than the main character. Thoroughly looking forward to reading through the rest of the series.
Honest it was expecting the only read the first two chapters or so and put it down it's just another crappy dungeon harem. But this has been surprisingly good. While one of the characters is a bit one dimensional and doesn't have much in the way of backstory as of yet. The other almost has more than the main character. Thoroughly looking forward to reading through the rest of the series.
January 30, 2025
Started out ok but ran out of steam
The MC gets murdered and sacrificed by his delving team. Hes saved by a dungeon core to become her Dungeon Master. He gets 2 bonded monsters soon after, but the wanker that set him up is invading the dungeon. I lost interest because the MC is an idiot, the characters are silly and the story while not terribly written lost my interest. I skiped thru it to find out how it ended but it just got boring. It was just juvenile.
The MC gets murdered and sacrificed by his delving team. Hes saved by a dungeon core to become her Dungeon Master. He gets 2 bonded monsters soon after, but the wanker that set him up is invading the dungeon. I lost interest because the MC is an idiot, the characters are silly and the story while not terribly written lost my interest. I skiped thru it to find out how it ended but it just got boring. It was just juvenile.
July 25, 2025
Story is written as if a man child that lived in his mom’s basement wrote it. This man child got upset with the people he was playing D&D with and then chose to make them the villains and “show them who’s boss”. Also it’s just overly pervy with it’s constant reminder of the two main female characters. The narrator for the audiobook killed it with their voice acting they get 5 stars, which is why this book got 2 stars instead of one.
January 18, 2020
This was fun
I rather enjoyed this story, and look forward to its follow-ups. I look forward to seeing more of this world. First, I would like to see a bit of where Gabriel's story is heading, with seeing who gets added to his harem. After that, I would like to see stories of other characters and their experiences with this world. It's definitely a good start to a series
I rather enjoyed this story, and look forward to its follow-ups. I look forward to seeing more of this world. First, I would like to see a bit of where Gabriel's story is heading, with seeing who gets added to his harem. After that, I would like to see stories of other characters and their experiences with this world. It's definitely a good start to a series
February 19, 2020
Nice begging to a new series
This book starts out strong and remains that way throughout. This novel seems to be more of a slow burn harem adventure, it has a lot of action as well as some neat world building and a bit of lot to elements. I'm really looking forward to future books in the series.
This book starts out strong and remains that way throughout. This novel seems to be more of a slow burn harem adventure, it has a lot of action as well as some neat world building and a bit of lot to elements. I'm really looking forward to future books in the series.
April 12, 2020
talented new author.
This book was like a breath of fresh air. The storyline was a new twist to a much written about genre. The characters were different from those in most stories,they contained the best and worst of human emotions. This book was hard to put down, and should be enjoyable to anyone.
This book was like a breath of fresh air. The storyline was a new twist to a much written about genre. The characters were different from those in most stories,they contained the best and worst of human emotions. This book was hard to put down, and should be enjoyable to anyone.
October 4, 2020
A good read
I enjoyed reading this story. It was interesting, entertaining, graphic at times but not in a bad way. The characters were interesting, relatable maybe, in some aspects anyway. I want to see where the story goes,where the characters go next. How will they accomplish their goals? Will they accomplish them or will they take a different path? Have to read and see.
I enjoyed reading this story. It was interesting, entertaining, graphic at times but not in a bad way. The characters were interesting, relatable maybe, in some aspects anyway. I want to see where the story goes,where the characters go next. How will they accomplish their goals? Will they accomplish them or will they take a different path? Have to read and see.
April 13, 2023
Not bad
Interesting story and I really like the take on magic. I wasn't really appreciative of the combat scenes they felt light on action and heavy on gore. But that is no reason not to read a very good book.
On a side note with all the treasure the gorgon has they could just by back the orb.
Interesting story and I really like the take on magic. I wasn't really appreciative of the combat scenes they felt light on action and heavy on gore. But that is no reason not to read a very good book.
On a side note with all the treasure the gorgon has they could just by back the orb.
February 6, 2024
Above average for dungeon core, below average for haremlit. Weirdly juvenile at times, cringy at others. The world building is the strongest part of this, doesn't fall into the trope where there doesn't seem to be much of a world outside the dungeon. The banter is okay, and there was enough chemistry to let me finish it.
December 19, 2019
Very good story line and pace
I was very happy with the book. Both the story line and pace of the action are well done. The main character isn't severely over powered like in a lot of books. Very much looking forward to the next book.
I was very happy with the book. Both the story line and pace of the action are well done. The main character isn't severely over powered like in a lot of books. Very much looking forward to the next book.
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