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Divine Seed #1
Tree Dungeon
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
The gods should have agreed to fight the giants and let Ragnarök run its course and bring about the end of time. For a new world could only rise from the ashes of the old. But because the gods prophesied to die refused to take part, Yggdrasil—the World Tree—was forced to act before the stalemate led to the annihilation of the nine worlds and its very existence.
And so I was born.
One of the many seeds dispersed by the mighty World Tree, I was teleported through different planes and universes to find a new home where to settle. Eventually, I landed in a strange forest known as the Feverwood. However, this place is nothing like my home world. Here, there are no mighty Vikings or Valkyries, but humans, elves, orcs, and other strange creatures.
If I want to flourish and carry on the World Tree’s legacy, I will have to grow my roots and expand my branches towards the sky. But if, at first, I rely on the ambient magic to power my growth, as my Mother did before me, I quickly learn that there’s a far more efficient way…
This is the story of how I find how to attract adventurers into my mouth and absorb their raw essence as they succumb to the challenges I pit them against. This is the story of how I make the acquaintance of many a friend and foe, both mortals and gods. This is the story of how a stranger in a strange land must face many a peril to ensure its own survival. This is the story of the Tree Dungeon.
The gods should have agreed to fight the giants and let Ragnarök run its course and bring about the end of time. For a new world could only rise from the ashes of the old. But because the gods prophesied to die refused to take part, Yggdrasil—the World Tree—was forced to act before the stalemate led to the annihilation of the nine worlds and its very existence.
And so I was born.
One of the many seeds dispersed by the mighty World Tree, I was teleported through different planes and universes to find a new home where to settle. Eventually, I landed in a strange forest known as the Feverwood. However, this place is nothing like my home world. Here, there are no mighty Vikings or Valkyries, but humans, elves, orcs, and other strange creatures.
If I want to flourish and carry on the World Tree’s legacy, I will have to grow my roots and expand my branches towards the sky. But if, at first, I rely on the ambient magic to power my growth, as my Mother did before me, I quickly learn that there’s a far more efficient way…
This is the story of how I find how to attract adventurers into my mouth and absorb their raw essence as they succumb to the challenges I pit them against. This is the story of how I make the acquaintance of many a friend and foe, both mortals and gods. This is the story of how a stranger in a strange land must face many a peril to ensure its own survival. This is the story of the Tree Dungeon.
280 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 22, 2019
402 people are currently reading
300 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
November 25, 2020
Interesting, but the MC has very little agency and mostly reacts to outside forces, and rarely works toward a personal goal. This made the story a bit dull, but I liked it overall.
January 14, 2020
Don't let the category fool you. If you're looking for an actual LitRPG book, with levels, stats and the like, this isn't the book you want to read. On the other hand, if you like dungeon lit books, and you don't mine your dungeon being a tree, (yeah, it's been done, but not quite like this), then you should enjoy this title. I expected a bit more game mechanics, (there wasn't much of that), but the story stands on its own without it. Don't know if it will appeal to everyone who likes the LitRPG genre, but I liked it, for what it's worth.
March 3, 2020
The author needs to learn about anthropocentrism, and how badly it influenced his writing from the POV of a creature that supposedly has never had a body nor a mouth.
This killed my interest in the book in one massive chop by the second chapter.
This killed my interest in the book in one massive chop by the second chapter.
September 2, 2019
Good just seemed to have discrepancies
Over all enjoyed the story and thought it was unique. I just thought there were things that didnt make sense about the revivals and then like people thinking that simply killing someone would solve the problem when they can be reborn. Like a guy dies 17 times and then decides to move to the afterlife instead of just giving up on the dungeon and living a regular life or hitting another dungeon. I think some of the dynamics of the powers and abilities and benefits of followers should be fleshed out some more. Everything seemed a little thin but it is the first novel and it introduced alot for future novels. Good book and ill certainly check the next out
Over all enjoyed the story and thought it was unique. I just thought there were things that didnt make sense about the revivals and then like people thinking that simply killing someone would solve the problem when they can be reborn. Like a guy dies 17 times and then decides to move to the afterlife instead of just giving up on the dungeon and living a regular life or hitting another dungeon. I think some of the dynamics of the powers and abilities and benefits of followers should be fleshed out some more. Everything seemed a little thin but it is the first novel and it introduced alot for future novels. Good book and ill certainly check the next out
May 7, 2024
I enjoyed this book. The only negative I have about it is that at just over the halfway point it kind of plateaued and I had a harder time focusing on finishing it. But the plateau didn't last too long.
April 28, 2024
Protagonist is a seed of the yggdrasil. Having been sown in an another world, it aims to become this worlds world tree (Why? N/A). Being new to this world and naive in general, it learns of magic and better ways to collect/cultivate it to grow faster, gets tricked and exploited. Engages in heresy against existing order of the divine and does other things that a tree or a dungeon as a general rule don't do.
Author portrayed the goblins, archetypal villainous/forces of evil race, as regular gathering of diverse individuals, who aren't at fault for the sins of others of their race. And the human initiated attack on Edwin's goblins didn't even bear any justification other than taking the resources from the other group (goblins).
The world tree, a protagonist without a name, completely has given up on interhuman (intertree?) communication after having have realized that the necromancer, mage of death, after whom many adventurers, whose memory it has consumed, had had gone to look with the assumable goal of eliminating him as threat to the general societal order and well-being, had tricked it. So any tree-other communication from mid book forwards is viewed through the lens of paranoid, psychopath with cost-benefit analysis. Not mellow at all.
Conclusion: 2/5. Listened on Audible included in plus catalogue. Narrated by: Neil Hellegers.
A conscious magical tree with goal of growing, starts to absorb magical essence left by other conscious beings when they expire, but not really because reincarnation is commonplace, and it's more like lost progress/experience when they expire. And gods exits and get involved because tree is divine but not god and with it's corporate lifestyle sign an agreement to create a heaven for assistance of the god who will be in charge of the heaven tree creates. tl;dr Very nonsensical plot. Terrible value for the length of the book - 2.00 $/hour ( 17.19 $ / 08 hrs 37 mins ).
Values:
Terrible: >1.66 $/hour
Bad: 1 - 1.66 $/hour
Good: <1 $/hour
Dream: 0.4 - 0.27 $/hour
Author portrayed the goblins, archetypal villainous/forces of evil race, as regular gathering of diverse individuals, who aren't at fault for the sins of others of their race. And the human initiated attack on Edwin's goblins didn't even bear any justification other than taking the resources from the other group (goblins).
The world tree, a protagonist without a name, completely has given up on interhuman (intertree?) communication after having have realized that the necromancer, mage of death, after whom many adventurers, whose memory it has consumed, had had gone to look with the assumable goal of eliminating him as threat to the general societal order and well-being, had tricked it. So any tree-other communication from mid book forwards is viewed through the lens of paranoid, psychopath with cost-benefit analysis. Not mellow at all.
Conclusion: 2/5. Listened on Audible included in plus catalogue. Narrated by: Neil Hellegers.
A conscious magical tree with goal of growing, starts to absorb magical essence left by other conscious beings when they expire, but not really because reincarnation is commonplace, and it's more like lost progress/experience when they expire. And gods exits and get involved because tree is divine but not god and with it's corporate lifestyle sign an agreement to create a heaven for assistance of the god who will be in charge of the heaven tree creates. tl;dr Very nonsensical plot. Terrible value for the length of the book - 2.00 $/hour ( 17.19 $ / 08 hrs 37 mins ).
Values:
Terrible: >1.66 $/hour
Bad: 1 - 1.66 $/hour
Good: <1 $/hour
Dream: 0.4 - 0.27 $/hour
September 26, 2019
I'm a bit torn on this one. It's well written in general, but I don't find the MC (in this case a tree) compelling so I found it a bit of a slog. There is very little action, particularly for a dungeon book, and the constant ruminating and planning the tree does got a bit dull, frankly.
Really a 3.5, but rounded up to compensate for my personal issues with the book. I've started the second one, but I don't think I can be bothered to finish it, it just isn't grabbing me.
Really a 3.5, but rounded up to compensate for my personal issues with the book. I've started the second one, but I don't think I can be bothered to finish it, it just isn't grabbing me.
February 21, 2020
Cool idea. Sorta doomed to fail. Time passes quickly to a tree but not too us.
January 6, 2021
Interesting concept but not very exciting execution
February 15, 2020
The world tree of Norse lore has shed a seed that has spouted in another realm. Becoming conscious the tree is approached by a necromancer. In return for guarding his treasures the necromancer will teach the tree magic. The tree agree and builds an internal space with traps and a vault. Eventually adventurers show up and in this way the tree begins mimicking a dungeon.
Note: from this point on I will not be concerned about spoilers so read on at your own risk.
A group of priestesses for the goddess of healing show up and make a bargain with the tree- neither will harm the other and, in return for the tree's non-aggression, the priestesses will make a temple in the vicinity and resurrect the adventurers attempting the dungeon's challenges. This proves a bad deal for the tree in the long run but the tree remains true to his word. Still when the tree needs an envoy it feels free to give safe haven to a disgruntled priestess in return for her service. This results in the goddess of healing confronting the tree but letting the matter go.
Goblins show up and take up residence in the tree and the goblin shaman helps the tree that his original benefactor, the necromancer, is actually poisoning the tree in a plot to take the tree's power for himself. As a result the tree constructs a "mage killer" room and tricks the necromancer into it. A part of the plot involves removing the amulet that allows the necromancer to live forever, but this amulet is too powerful to be destroyed and too dangerous to just be given away. So the tree creates a special set of rooms intended to identify someone worthy of taking the amulet. Upon learning of this a neighboring king travels to the tree as the amulet was stolen from his family long ago and still entraps some of his ancestors' souls.
When it comes to light that the tree's envoy is aiding the king in attaining the amulet the tree speaks to the king directly. The king was unaware of the betrayal, thinking the spirits of his ancestors were aiding him. The king also helps the tree in determining how to handle the betrayal. In this way a respect, if not a friendship, is established between the tree and the king.
The king is successful but is attacked by the envoy upon leaving the tree. The envoy wants the amulet for herself. The king, however, was forewarned by the tree and teleports the envoy into the mage killer room.
Next the tree is contacted by orcs who wish the tree to create an orc afterlife. The tree agrees but is attacked by the goddess of healing for doing so. This prompts the tree to make a deal with the goddess of thieves which allows the tree to contract thieves to still the secrets of other gods. The thieves are successful which puts the tree in a position to call for a meeting of the gods. The tree demonstrates that the goddess of healing is being impersonated by the god of deception and arranges with the gods to imprison the god of deception in a special area the tree has created for that purpose.
Through out the second half of the book intruders from another dimension have been showing up. The tree gets a gnome to investigate along with the goblin bard from the goblin tribe living inside the tree. Basically they discover an invasion is coming. The goddess of foretelling visits the tree and tells him that she can see nothing past ten years in the future. However, since she also cannot see the tree's future it is possible the tree may be able to save this reality.
The end.
So, as you can probably see, their is some resolution with the imprisonment of god of deception. But what happened to the goddess he impersonated was never definitively determined. After all, it is almost impossible to destroy a god or goddess, hence the imprisoning of the god of deception. The book also doesn't go back and revisit the after life for the orcs issue, although the tree should now be free to provide that service. Of course the cross-dimensional invaders story is only built up in this book, so not even a hint of resolution there. Given the weak resolution everywhere else, it seems likely that we haven't heard the last of the god of deception even though his imprisonment is presented as absolutely secure.
Bottom line: Better than most books in this area with excellent character development but weak resolution. Still, if you like dungeon books you will enjoy this book.
Note: from this point on I will not be concerned about spoilers so read on at your own risk.
A group of priestesses for the goddess of healing show up and make a bargain with the tree- neither will harm the other and, in return for the tree's non-aggression, the priestesses will make a temple in the vicinity and resurrect the adventurers attempting the dungeon's challenges. This proves a bad deal for the tree in the long run but the tree remains true to his word. Still when the tree needs an envoy it feels free to give safe haven to a disgruntled priestess in return for her service. This results in the goddess of healing confronting the tree but letting the matter go.
Goblins show up and take up residence in the tree and the goblin shaman helps the tree that his original benefactor, the necromancer, is actually poisoning the tree in a plot to take the tree's power for himself. As a result the tree constructs a "mage killer" room and tricks the necromancer into it. A part of the plot involves removing the amulet that allows the necromancer to live forever, but this amulet is too powerful to be destroyed and too dangerous to just be given away. So the tree creates a special set of rooms intended to identify someone worthy of taking the amulet. Upon learning of this a neighboring king travels to the tree as the amulet was stolen from his family long ago and still entraps some of his ancestors' souls.
When it comes to light that the tree's envoy is aiding the king in attaining the amulet the tree speaks to the king directly. The king was unaware of the betrayal, thinking the spirits of his ancestors were aiding him. The king also helps the tree in determining how to handle the betrayal. In this way a respect, if not a friendship, is established between the tree and the king.
The king is successful but is attacked by the envoy upon leaving the tree. The envoy wants the amulet for herself. The king, however, was forewarned by the tree and teleports the envoy into the mage killer room.
Next the tree is contacted by orcs who wish the tree to create an orc afterlife. The tree agrees but is attacked by the goddess of healing for doing so. This prompts the tree to make a deal with the goddess of thieves which allows the tree to contract thieves to still the secrets of other gods. The thieves are successful which puts the tree in a position to call for a meeting of the gods. The tree demonstrates that the goddess of healing is being impersonated by the god of deception and arranges with the gods to imprison the god of deception in a special area the tree has created for that purpose.
Through out the second half of the book intruders from another dimension have been showing up. The tree gets a gnome to investigate along with the goblin bard from the goblin tribe living inside the tree. Basically they discover an invasion is coming. The goddess of foretelling visits the tree and tells him that she can see nothing past ten years in the future. However, since she also cannot see the tree's future it is possible the tree may be able to save this reality.
The end.
So, as you can probably see, their is some resolution with the imprisonment of god of deception. But what happened to the goddess he impersonated was never definitively determined. After all, it is almost impossible to destroy a god or goddess, hence the imprisoning of the god of deception. The book also doesn't go back and revisit the after life for the orcs issue, although the tree should now be free to provide that service. Of course the cross-dimensional invaders story is only built up in this book, so not even a hint of resolution there. Given the weak resolution everywhere else, it seems likely that we haven't heard the last of the god of deception even though his imprisonment is presented as absolutely secure.
Bottom line: Better than most books in this area with excellent character development but weak resolution. Still, if you like dungeon books you will enjoy this book.
April 18, 2021
A very good tree dungeon story. The rating is not because of an original story or an action-packed adventure, but a steady, enjoyable, well-told story. That itself made it a worthwhile listen/read. Be aware, however, that as it doesn't have much action or adventure, it will not be fully engaging from the beginning. If you're looking for a story with hard stats or consistent growth or adventure/monster action galore, then find another story. But if you're looking for a comfortable dungeon story that really should be considered a fantasy story with a dungeon setting, then you will enjoy this.
That being said, this story is worthy of a 3.5, but since that's not an option in Goodreads, I'll warrant it a 4 for the smooth writing and the well told narration on audible.
That being said, this story is worthy of a 3.5, but since that's not an option in Goodreads, I'll warrant it a 4 for the smooth writing and the well told narration on audible.
June 17, 2020
A new type of dungeon core, and bonus: No stupid fairy!
I really like the pseudo dungeon core in this book. It was such a breath of fresh air in the genre. I'm liking that were moving away from dungeon fairies as well.
Story wise: I thoroughly enjoyed it. Like I said above, it was truly something new in this genre and looks like there's already a sequel so I'm off to read that.
I really like the pseudo dungeon core in this book. It was such a breath of fresh air in the genre. I'm liking that were moving away from dungeon fairies as well.
Story wise: I thoroughly enjoyed it. Like I said above, it was truly something new in this genre and looks like there's already a sequel so I'm off to read that.
January 20, 2024
Book 1 of the Divine Seed series. I will start off by saying that I loved this book. For me it fired on all cylinders. There were areas I wish he would have explored a little more. But if you have read the Divine Dungeon series then you will love this one too. They are similar and yet very distinct. Overall a big thumbs up and safe for younger readers too. Once again, loved it. Looking forward to book 2.
Joseph McKnight
http://www.josephmcknight.com
Joseph McKnight
http://www.josephmcknight.com
February 6, 2024
I loved this one a solid 5 stars. I really don't get into dungeon core stores and this one also tends to be more Gamelit more than lit rpg and not all crunchy so I passed this one over several times but Audible added this the plus section this month and I grabbed it an so glad I did. Excellent well thought out story with great pacing and balance. This was time well spent and something I would have felt good about spending a credit on.
May 8, 2024
A Somewhat Different Take On The Dungeon Core Genre
I don't want to ruin the author's twist to the typical Dungeon Core story, I will simply say he doesn't envision the core's purpose and function the way every other Dungeon Core novel I have read does.
It took a while for me to become invested in the plot, but interest built the further into the novel I read.
There are some errors in the writing/editing of the text, but I hope they will be corrected soon.
I don't want to ruin the author's twist to the typical Dungeon Core story, I will simply say he doesn't envision the core's purpose and function the way every other Dungeon Core novel I have read does.
It took a while for me to become invested in the plot, but interest built the further into the novel I read.
There are some errors in the writing/editing of the text, but I hope they will be corrected soon.
August 31, 2020
Tree-rific
I positively ate this book up. It has a fair number of unique ideas and follows through with them. Some mighty plot twists happen at various points, swaying the story like the mighty tree the book follows. It’s all great.
I positively ate this book up. It has a fair number of unique ideas and follows through with them. Some mighty plot twists happen at various points, swaying the story like the mighty tree the book follows. It’s all great.
October 21, 2020
Compelling, driven, interesting
This book was a joy to read. The world built is fascinating to learn about and the characters are entertaining to witness. It is a story of power, loyalty, betrayal, and purpose. I recommend reading about this tree dungeon.
This book was a joy to read. The world built is fascinating to learn about and the characters are entertaining to witness. It is a story of power, loyalty, betrayal, and purpose. I recommend reading about this tree dungeon.
March 20, 2024
the overall passive voice didn't do the book any favours. the story itself is interesting enough and i like that we have a tree as the protagonist, but even when shit was going down the writing style didn't make the reader feel engaged with the story
July 3, 2024
A 8hr audio book. This was a fun litRPG to read but dose not deal much with leveling but more like a dungeon crawler game. I enjoyed the authors use of the northern cultures but at times it made it less interesting.
July 11, 2024
A man pulled to a new world to become a tree, and not just any tree, but a dungeon to guard a treasure for someone powerful. If I learned anything from this book it is to protect those who have earned your trust, and not everything is what it seems.
August 4, 2020
Wanna be a tree.
November 19, 2020
Better than I thought it would be. I mean you think a book about a tree how good could it be, but this tree is no joke and knows how to network.
December 22, 2021
Unique tale depicting the rise of a divine entity in a fantasy land. Can't wait to see where the series leads!
June 4, 2022
2 1/2 stars. It is interesting to see things from the side of the dungeons, particularly as they grow.
August 2, 2023
Overall a very sweet book. I found it light and enjoyable without feeling too much like brain candy.
February 18, 2024
Fun Premise. Enjoyed my time in the story. No hard swearing. No sex. So, that makes me happy too.
September 16, 2024
Not the worst book I’ve read, but not very good either. It feels like the fantasy of an atheist with a persecution complex who has control issues and sees himself as the tree.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews