What do you think?
Rate this book
The Body's Dungeon #1
Bio Dungeon: Symbiote
In the icy north exists a young orphan, and a war on a microscopic scale.
Marstin Hardgrove was orphaned at a young age, forced to live on the streets, and needed to turn to thievery to survive. When a special job assigned to him by the Thieves’ Guild went awry, the guild leadership punished him with a beating, compelled him to eat dirt and rocks to soothe his hunger, and left him to die in an abandoned mine. Unbeknownst to the young thief, when he was forced to eat that handful of dirt and rocks…he also ended up swallowing a tiny dungeon crystal.
Thrown into a highly unusual world filled with cells, bacteria, and other dangerous pathogens, the tiny dungeon crystal is, at first, confused by his surroundings. After seeing how the different complex systems of the body work together, the crystal is quickly fascinated; it isn’t long before he decides that, instead of trying to escape, he wants the body for himself. He wants to possess the living being for his own use as a crystal, wholly unlike anything the world has ever seen before.
To get to that point, however, the fledgling dungeon crystal has to learn how to survive against the different enemies trying to destroy him. Not only will he have to defeat the hostile pathogens standing in the way of his complete domination; but also, as a foreign invader to the body, himself, Marstin’s natural immune system sees the crystal as a threat. The only way to survive is to create his own immune cell defenders, and to place traps to prevent anything from reaching his dungeon crystal. In short: He has to turn the body into a dungeon.
But will his new Bio Dungeon be enough to keep him – and the body he wants to possess – alive?
Contains LitRPG/GameLit elements, such as character progression, statistics, and resource management. Also contains an in-depth, science-based portrayal of how the immune system responds to foreign pathogens via different white blood cells and other microscopic protectors. No harems, sexual content, or foul language.
Marstin Hardgrove was orphaned at a young age, forced to live on the streets, and needed to turn to thievery to survive. When a special job assigned to him by the Thieves’ Guild went awry, the guild leadership punished him with a beating, compelled him to eat dirt and rocks to soothe his hunger, and left him to die in an abandoned mine. Unbeknownst to the young thief, when he was forced to eat that handful of dirt and rocks…he also ended up swallowing a tiny dungeon crystal.
Thrown into a highly unusual world filled with cells, bacteria, and other dangerous pathogens, the tiny dungeon crystal is, at first, confused by his surroundings. After seeing how the different complex systems of the body work together, the crystal is quickly fascinated; it isn’t long before he decides that, instead of trying to escape, he wants the body for himself. He wants to possess the living being for his own use as a crystal, wholly unlike anything the world has ever seen before.
To get to that point, however, the fledgling dungeon crystal has to learn how to survive against the different enemies trying to destroy him. Not only will he have to defeat the hostile pathogens standing in the way of his complete domination; but also, as a foreign invader to the body, himself, Marstin’s natural immune system sees the crystal as a threat. The only way to survive is to create his own immune cell defenders, and to place traps to prevent anything from reaching his dungeon crystal. In short: He has to turn the body into a dungeon.
But will his new Bio Dungeon be enough to keep him – and the body he wants to possess – alive?
Contains LitRPG/GameLit elements, such as character progression, statistics, and resource management. Also contains an in-depth, science-based portrayal of how the immune system responds to foreign pathogens via different white blood cells and other microscopic protectors. No harems, sexual content, or foul language.
420 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 5, 2020
412 people are currently reading
185 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
May 21, 2020
Such a good premise. Unfortunate execution.
I made it just over 30% into the book, and I only made it that far holding out hope because of the good premise. Instead of a fantasy, I feel like I'm reading a medical book for dummies. They "dungeon" is the body. Instead of reading about doing something about affinities, or how they help the host, how they're making it stronger, it's just trying to save the host from the hosts' past. It might end well but the current pace isn't exciting enough to get there.
I made it just over 30% into the book, and I only made it that far holding out hope because of the good premise. Instead of a fantasy, I feel like I'm reading a medical book for dummies. They "dungeon" is the body. Instead of reading about doing something about affinities, or how they help the host, how they're making it stronger, it's just trying to save the host from the hosts' past. It might end well but the current pace isn't exciting enough to get there.
July 9, 2021
For a dungeon core novel, we hardly spend any time on it. Less than half of the book is spent on that side of things.
August 10, 2020
A botched book, mostly.
There's two different stories here, but they are, and remain entirely separate, despite the premise linking them. You have a very basic fantasy, with simplistic tropes, previsible twists, on one side, and then a dungeon core story that's relatively standard, with a potentially fascinating setting, but utterly wasted... because of its setting. The biology part are realistic and end up relatively boring.
The mix of the two end up being worse on all points than each individual part, and you are left wondering who, exactly, the story was intended originally. My idea is that it's for kids (like 10-years old) that like dungeon core stories, if that demographic really exists.
Meh. And that's not something I often says for dungeon core stories.
There's two different stories here, but they are, and remain entirely separate, despite the premise linking them. You have a very basic fantasy, with simplistic tropes, previsible twists, on one side, and then a dungeon core story that's relatively standard, with a potentially fascinating setting, but utterly wasted... because of its setting. The biology part are realistic and end up relatively boring.
The mix of the two end up being worse on all points than each individual part, and you are left wondering who, exactly, the story was intended originally. My idea is that it's for kids (like 10-years old) that like dungeon core stories, if that demographic really exists.
Meh. And that's not something I often says for dungeon core stories.
January 5, 2021
The book is kind of weird. 2.34/5.00 maybe. (That means between bad and mediocre to me btw. Also, I hate the whole rating system goodreads uses)
First, human MC is a fekin idiot. You find some discarded magical potions in a junkyard, you DON'T EVER drink them! Potions (and magic stuff in general) are pretty expensive, so if the potions were ok to consume, with only minor defects, they wouldn't be discarded! Other than his idiocy, he was ok, if a bit bland.
Second, dungeon core MC gets too much of the focus. The body dungeon idea was interesting at first, but it got tedious really fast. I was almost praying to fsm for human MC chapters by the end.
Dnf @ 80%, becouse I got tired of one of the biology lessons.
First, human MC is a fekin idiot. You find some discarded magical potions in a junkyard, you DON'T EVER drink them! Potions (and magic stuff in general) are pretty expensive, so if the potions were ok to consume, with only minor defects, they wouldn't be discarded! Other than his idiocy, he was ok, if a bit bland.
Second, dungeon core MC gets too much of the focus. The body dungeon idea was interesting at first, but it got tedious really fast. I was almost praying to fsm for human MC chapters by the end.
Dnf @ 80%, becouse I got tired of one of the biology lessons.
September 10, 2020
So here you are, starting the story with an unlucky thief, and you think that things are starting up alright. And then you suddenly get dumped into a totally different narration style, an you're confused, righ? And then you come across this:
He magically manipulated his crystal body to move with the dirt, avoiding the magical sorting as best he could without triggering the magical alert.
Emphasis is my own.
What. The. F?
What is this, kindergarten? Just prefix mundane stuff with “magical” and voilà, we’re in a fantasy world?
At this point I know all I need to know about this book.
Nope.
He magically manipulated his crystal body to move with the dirt, avoiding the magical sorting as best he could without triggering the magical alert.
Emphasis is my own.
What. The. F?
What is this, kindergarten? Just prefix mundane stuff with “magical” and voilà, we’re in a fantasy world?
At this point I know all I need to know about this book.
Nope.
May 20, 2020
Excellent story and interesting information about the body
The story was well written and the two protagonists are both interesting.
Considering that Progen, the dungeon crystal, ended up shrinking to microscopic size, he and the other protagonist, Marstin (whose body Progen is in) haven't yet spoken with each other and their stories only briefly intersect when Marstin is fighting off infection.
I really enjoyed Progen's travels through the body and his learning about some of its systems. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series!
The story was well written and the two protagonists are both interesting.
Considering that Progen, the dungeon crystal, ended up shrinking to microscopic size, he and the other protagonist, Marstin (whose body Progen is in) haven't yet spoken with each other and their stories only briefly intersect when Marstin is fighting off infection.
I really enjoyed Progen's travels through the body and his learning about some of its systems. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series!
November 30, 2020
Loved the premise, hated the execution. I don't feel like anyone really grew in this book. It felt like the story was being overrun by the medical jargon. The main character goes from creating cells to owning more than one system. There are just too many jumps in time, the host main character could have felt more real if we actually went with him on his two months of adventuring. Instead we are told about it in about a paragraph. The one conflict the host MC comes into contact with he isn't shown as being conflicted morally or mentally.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 11, 2020
First, I feel compelled to say that I view this as a Jeffrey Logue book even though Jonathan Brooks is also listed as an author. Mr. Brooks seems clearly to be in the quantity over quality category since he seems to have a new book out every week and the two books by him I've read were so bad I won't be reading another. Mr. Logue, on the other hand, wrote "The Slime Dungeon" which is one of the better dungeon books I've read to date.
Marstin is an orphaned street urchin who has graduated to being a member of the thieves' guild. Marstin is assigned a job which goes wrong through no fault of his but still the thieves' guild heads punish him by abandoning him outside of town to die. Marstin complains about this unfair treatment and, as a result, one of the brutal guild leaders forces Marstin to eat some dirt. This dirt, however, contains a fragment of a dungeon core.
The dungeon core fragment is too small to effect the world at large but inside the self-contained world of Marstin's body everything is scaled down significantly, granting this dungeon core a new lease on life. The core quickly comes to the conclusion that its best path forward is to take over Marstin's body but to do this Marstin must live. So the core begins to aid Marstin's body in fighting off diseases. However, the invading diseases are directed by some kind of intelligence. The core deduces that Marstin is cursed and that this curse has taken up residence in Marstin's brain and has gained a certain amount of awareness. The core works its way through the body's systems, gaining control of the digestion system first (and helping Marstin rid himself of the dirt he was forced to eat). The core's battles with diseases leads it to take control of the respiratory and circulatory systems as well, except the brain which seems to be able to block the core completely.
Marstin, unaware of the battles raging inside him, manages to make it back to his home but can't go back to the thieves' guild as the leaders will kill him on site. Marstin is aided by the baker's daughter, who appears to be sweet on Marstin. Inspired by the baker's daughter, and lacking any other option, Marstin joins the adventurers' guild. Due to the possibility of Marstin being a thieves' guild spy he is tested and passes. Marstin, while not trusted, is given provisional membership and goes on a quest and performs well. Along the way Marstin, who has no memory prior to being a street urchin, begins to remember his origins (which is essentially just background and set up for a sequel). The thieves' guild leaders then grab Marstin and try to convince him that everything they did was to get Marstin into the adventurers' guild in a believable way. Note that this part of the book was particularly well written so that it seemed feasible for Marstin to buy the load of crap he was being sold. Fortunately Marstin doesn't fall for it and instead, with the help of the adventurers' guild, lays a trap for the thieves' guild and largely wipes them out in that town.
Bottom line: A good read and I am looking forward to book 2.
Marstin is an orphaned street urchin who has graduated to being a member of the thieves' guild. Marstin is assigned a job which goes wrong through no fault of his but still the thieves' guild heads punish him by abandoning him outside of town to die. Marstin complains about this unfair treatment and, as a result, one of the brutal guild leaders forces Marstin to eat some dirt. This dirt, however, contains a fragment of a dungeon core.
The dungeon core fragment is too small to effect the world at large but inside the self-contained world of Marstin's body everything is scaled down significantly, granting this dungeon core a new lease on life. The core quickly comes to the conclusion that its best path forward is to take over Marstin's body but to do this Marstin must live. So the core begins to aid Marstin's body in fighting off diseases. However, the invading diseases are directed by some kind of intelligence. The core deduces that Marstin is cursed and that this curse has taken up residence in Marstin's brain and has gained a certain amount of awareness. The core works its way through the body's systems, gaining control of the digestion system first (and helping Marstin rid himself of the dirt he was forced to eat). The core's battles with diseases leads it to take control of the respiratory and circulatory systems as well, except the brain which seems to be able to block the core completely.
Marstin, unaware of the battles raging inside him, manages to make it back to his home but can't go back to the thieves' guild as the leaders will kill him on site. Marstin is aided by the baker's daughter, who appears to be sweet on Marstin. Inspired by the baker's daughter, and lacking any other option, Marstin joins the adventurers' guild. Due to the possibility of Marstin being a thieves' guild spy he is tested and passes. Marstin, while not trusted, is given provisional membership and goes on a quest and performs well. Along the way Marstin, who has no memory prior to being a street urchin, begins to remember his origins (which is essentially just background and set up for a sequel). The thieves' guild leaders then grab Marstin and try to convince him that everything they did was to get Marstin into the adventurers' guild in a believable way. Note that this part of the book was particularly well written so that it seemed feasible for Marstin to buy the load of crap he was being sold. Fortunately Marstin doesn't fall for it and instead, with the help of the adventurers' guild, lays a trap for the thieves' guild and largely wipes them out in that town.
Bottom line: A good read and I am looking forward to book 2.
July 9, 2020
I'm completely new to the Dungeon Core sub-genre, and only have some experience with LitRPGs (I'm still not quite convinced they are for me).
Bio Dungeon: Symbiote can be best described as a book of 2 parts. One is an oddly satisfying fantasy story with mild LitRPG trappings (they are barely there, and add to the story, rather than cause a distraction). The main character Marstin is downtrodden, and you feel for his plight. You want him to succeed, and his progression in the story is whimsical, but pleasing.
The other part, is (at times) akin to being bludgeoned with a Biology text book. This extract from the Blurb says it all:
"Contains an in-depth, science-based portrayal of how the immune system responds to foreign pathogens via different white blood cells and other microscopic protectors"
It isn't kidding, it does go in-depth, but makes getting consequently through the story a bit of a slog. In comparison to other Dungeon Core books. I can only assume the premise of this one (a dungeon inside a living body) is fresh and original?. In comparison to the more traditional fantasy story however, its just didn't hold my attention as much.
That's not however to say elements of the book aren't enjoyable, they are. I would even possibly try another book in this series. It all depends on how much the Fantasy Story, and the Dungeon Core element, intersect in future novels.
Narration is decent, I cant fault Miles Meili's performance
Bio Dungeon: Symbiote can be best described as a book of 2 parts. One is an oddly satisfying fantasy story with mild LitRPG trappings (they are barely there, and add to the story, rather than cause a distraction). The main character Marstin is downtrodden, and you feel for his plight. You want him to succeed, and his progression in the story is whimsical, but pleasing.
The other part, is (at times) akin to being bludgeoned with a Biology text book. This extract from the Blurb says it all:
"Contains an in-depth, science-based portrayal of how the immune system responds to foreign pathogens via different white blood cells and other microscopic protectors"
It isn't kidding, it does go in-depth, but makes getting consequently through the story a bit of a slog. In comparison to other Dungeon Core books. I can only assume the premise of this one (a dungeon inside a living body) is fresh and original?. In comparison to the more traditional fantasy story however, its just didn't hold my attention as much.
That's not however to say elements of the book aren't enjoyable, they are. I would even possibly try another book in this series. It all depends on how much the Fantasy Story, and the Dungeon Core element, intersect in future novels.
Narration is decent, I cant fault Miles Meili's performance
February 28, 2023
~Disclaimer: I received a free audiobook copy of this book.~
Jonathan Brooks is clearly a favorite of mine. Jeffrey "Falcon" Logue isn’t someone I’m familiar with, but I may need to check him out.
This is a fun take on a dungeon. I found the dungeon elements interesting and enjoyable. However, the host's pov was initially less interesting to me. Heists are really not my thing, but once the story got past that I grew to like him.
This book has a much slower start than a majority of the litrpg I pick up to read.
This book is heavy with medical and biological terms. I can’t really speak to the accuracy because I took one biology course in high school and then moved on to chemistry. So, my knowledge is pretty superficial. However, I see a lot of complaints about people NOT enjoying the medical side of things and thought I should point out that is the premise of the story and that aspect is focused on heavily. Use your best judgment on whether or not you will enjoy that.
Miles Meili continues to be a solid narrator. He creates good characterization with his voices.
Jonathan Brooks is clearly a favorite of mine. Jeffrey "Falcon" Logue isn’t someone I’m familiar with, but I may need to check him out.
This is a fun take on a dungeon. I found the dungeon elements interesting and enjoyable. However, the host's pov was initially less interesting to me. Heists are really not my thing, but once the story got past that I grew to like him.
This book has a much slower start than a majority of the litrpg I pick up to read.
This book is heavy with medical and biological terms. I can’t really speak to the accuracy because I took one biology course in high school and then moved on to chemistry. So, my knowledge is pretty superficial. However, I see a lot of complaints about people NOT enjoying the medical side of things and thought I should point out that is the premise of the story and that aspect is focused on heavily. Use your best judgment on whether or not you will enjoy that.
Miles Meili continues to be a solid narrator. He creates good characterization with his voices.
August 9, 2020
This book surprised me. The beginning started off feeling weird and clunky overall, but it redeemed itself in the middle. The ending with Marstin and what happens doesn't sit all that well with me from a character perspective, but it was interesting and has me wanting to follow the series -- assuming the weird/interesting note left off on was meant to set up for a second novel. It's weird because it feels like it breaks Marstin's character too much from what was built up in the story. Like.. the bits we saw, he didn't have the backbone to do such a thing. But it seemingly skipped over a vital part of character development when information is shared "off screen" so to speak, so I'm at a crossroads as to how I feel.
Overall, the unique concept of the novel was enough to pull the book out of a 3 star rating. But not quite enough for a full 4 stars. I'd set this book somewhere around 3.5 -- just above average. Maybe 3.6-3.7 if I did decimals and felt nice.
Overall, the unique concept of the novel was enough to pull the book out of a 3 star rating. But not quite enough for a full 4 stars. I'd set this book somewhere around 3.5 -- just above average. Maybe 3.6-3.7 if I did decimals and felt nice.
October 8, 2022
This book was decent, but the dungeon stuff seemed fairly inconsequential. The dungeon was just keeping its host from dying through the book. I thought it would be way cooler if it was a normal sized dungeon that was biological in nature. Still, the dungeon's host had an interesting enough story, and the dungeon's presence offers the possibility for some really interesting stuff in the future. This book holds the potential for a great series but does not quite get there yet. I did like that it talked about the different cells and what they do though. It may be a great way to get someone interested in and learning a bit about cellular biology. I am not sure if I would recommend this series yet because there are plenty of dungeon core books that I enjoyed much more than this, but it has the potential to be a very unique and awesome series. Unfortunately, I will not know if it reaches its potential until I have read the next book at the very least.
April 11, 2021
One part Asimov's _Fantastic Voyage_, One Part Disney's Short Film "Defense Against Invasion," One Part LitRPG -- All Dungeon Core
This novel shares elements of Isaac Asimov's _Fantastic Voyage_, a 1943 Disney Short Film titled "Defense Against Invasion," and a LitRPG story melded into an inventive, and unique, Dungeon Core novel wrapped around a Murder Mystery plot. The Mystery is not resolved in this novel, so a sequel novel (or two) will be required to resolve that plot point.
This Novel will likely appeal to fans of the Fantasy, LitRPG, Dungeon Core, and, possibly, Mystery genres. Fans of RPGs may enjoy reading this novel as well.
This novel shares elements of Isaac Asimov's _Fantastic Voyage_, a 1943 Disney Short Film titled "Defense Against Invasion," and a LitRPG story melded into an inventive, and unique, Dungeon Core novel wrapped around a Murder Mystery plot. The Mystery is not resolved in this novel, so a sequel novel (or two) will be required to resolve that plot point.
This Novel will likely appeal to fans of the Fantasy, LitRPG, Dungeon Core, and, possibly, Mystery genres. Fans of RPGs may enjoy reading this novel as well.
June 22, 2020
Edutainment
Bio Dungeon is a unique twist on the Dungeon Core genre, and it works masterfully. It makes you think about how your body operates in its day-to-day fight to survive against a billion invisible enemies. At the same time, you learn how a few elements of your immune system function (at a very general level).
At another level, the body in question (Marstin) is well written and seems realistic. He’s smart, but the world is stacked against him in believable ways.
So: buy this book. It’s fantastic.
Bio Dungeon is a unique twist on the Dungeon Core genre, and it works masterfully. It makes you think about how your body operates in its day-to-day fight to survive against a billion invisible enemies. At the same time, you learn how a few elements of your immune system function (at a very general level).
At another level, the body in question (Marstin) is well written and seems realistic. He’s smart, but the world is stacked against him in believable ways.
So: buy this book. It’s fantastic.
March 15, 2021
Cool ideas but lacks focus
Somebody paid attention in their microbiology and immunology courses. The concept of a body as a dungeon is very interesting, but limits the scope of events tremendously, which is why we have the B story of the host and his adventures. As a result, both stories feel half full, and lack immersion. As soon as one plot gets interesting, we're whisked off to the other plot. We never really get to explore the Hosts trails and he essentially develops offstage. Despite this, I'd pick this up just for the novelty and fresh approach at this LitRPG genre
Somebody paid attention in their microbiology and immunology courses. The concept of a body as a dungeon is very interesting, but limits the scope of events tremendously, which is why we have the B story of the host and his adventures. As a result, both stories feel half full, and lack immersion. As soon as one plot gets interesting, we're whisked off to the other plot. We never really get to explore the Hosts trails and he essentially develops offstage. Despite this, I'd pick this up just for the novelty and fresh approach at this LitRPG genre
May 9, 2020
Nothing short of a masterpiece
Everything about this book from its attention to medical detail, the well story of the dungeon itself and of course the protagonist Crystal and his trusty sidekick neuron are amazing. Honesty kinda sad I missed the chance to beta read this book, and I can't wait for the next in the series.
As a collaborative effort between two of the best dungeon core writers around this book was amazing.
Everything about this book from its attention to medical detail, the well story of the dungeon itself and of course the protagonist Crystal and his trusty sidekick neuron are amazing. Honesty kinda sad I missed the chance to beta read this book, and I can't wait for the next in the series.
As a collaborative effort between two of the best dungeon core writers around this book was amazing.
May 19, 2020
Let's learn about the immune system.
An enjoyable adventure. I liked the human hosts parts of the story. Those were fun and I really liked the characters. The core parts of the story were interesting enough to take in the how the immune system works. I think it's cool how gamification gives an extra hook and a way for the reader to visualize and conceptualize the various parts of the immune system. Worthwhile reading.
Score: 8.2 out of 10
An enjoyable adventure. I liked the human hosts parts of the story. Those were fun and I really liked the characters. The core parts of the story were interesting enough to take in the how the immune system works. I think it's cool how gamification gives an extra hook and a way for the reader to visualize and conceptualize the various parts of the immune system. Worthwhile reading.
Score: 8.2 out of 10
July 6, 2020
Less entertaining than playing the computer game "Spore" and this read a bit like someone tried to novelize one such game.
It is an interesting take on the now become a trope soon to become a dead horse trope of the 'dungeon core' so the author should get some props for that.
But neither of the MC's were anyone I cared about, if there was a villain he was still 'hidden, possibly in the brain' by the time I gave up, etc.
It is an interesting take on the now become a trope soon to become a dead horse trope of the 'dungeon core' so the author should get some props for that.
But neither of the MC's were anyone I cared about, if there was a villain he was still 'hidden, possibly in the brain' by the time I gave up, etc.
August 4, 2020
Story isn't bad, but it feels like someone dropped out of pre-med and is vicariously pretending to be a Doctor, the way it is very by the book biological terms and technical naming conventions. Might be a half decent kids introduction to biology, if not for the fact that there is a single, sort of TERFy line in the middle of the book that I don't want to expose to my kids. Some potential overall, that I feel was lost by the end.
April 29, 2021
This review is for the audiobook version. I quite liked this book if I’m being honest. I’m currently undertaking a chemical engineering masters degree (with a module in biochemical engineering) so it was quite interesting how many of the biological functions of the human body were depicted. The main story wasn’t anything new; it was basically a generic dungeon story. Regardless, I’d like to see more so I’m definitely getting the second book ( *cough, after my exams of course)
May 11, 2020
Dual point views inside and outside body
Interesting 2 stories side by side. The dungeon core in the body and what is happening going on with the body .
Written so learn things as well with understandable description of how body systems function . Looking forward to next book
Interesting 2 stories side by side. The dungeon core in the body and what is happening going on with the body .
Written so learn things as well with understandable description of how body systems function . Looking forward to next book
May 21, 2020
Great Book. Love how well everything was designed.
The idea was intriguing before I read the book. After completing the book, I loved it. It was very well done. The progression was nice for “both” of the MC’s. This holds a lot of potential. I can’t wait to start the next one.
The idea was intriguing before I read the book. After completing the book, I loved it. It was very well done. The progression was nice for “both” of the MC’s. This holds a lot of potential. I can’t wait to start the next one.
May 29, 2020
A 3.5 for this one. It'd get a 4, as Marstin is a sympathetic character, but I found it bogged down in the internal "dungeon" fight. If you like dungeon-building books and can get past the similarities to Osmosis Jones (something I never saw more than a few minutes of myself) you'll likely enjoy this more than I did, but it wasn't bad by any stretch.
August 18, 2020
One of the silliest dungeon books I have read in awhile, and I loved it!
The whole concept is so funny, the characters are great and the story is told well. The internal battle viewpoints are very well done. The only complaint obvious put out there is a lack of background story from the "body". It is hinted at but never revealed. Still loved it though.
The whole concept is so funny, the characters are great and the story is told well. The internal battle viewpoints are very well done. The only complaint obvious put out there is a lack of background story from the "body". It is hinted at but never revealed. Still loved it though.
November 4, 2020
Inventive Story
This story of a street kid who was forced to swallow a dungeon core was slightly boring yet very interesting. It’s like two stories in one. The kid’s story as a thief and the dungeon core’s who is trying to take over his badly damaged body in which he must fix first. Very Intriguing
This story of a street kid who was forced to swallow a dungeon core was slightly boring yet very interesting. It’s like two stories in one. The kid’s story as a thief and the dungeon core’s who is trying to take over his badly damaged body in which he must fix first. Very Intriguing
January 27, 2021
When a dungeon core writer watches/reads Cells at Work!, Vol. 1, this is what you get. A seriously really great idea with solid writing and likable characters. I highly recommend.
July 19, 2021
This gives me Osmosis Jones vibes, one white blood cell out to stop all the plagues effecting the body. Only this time it's a dungeon core that wants the body to be his own dungeon.
This series is split into two stories that alternate. The story of the young boy who is just trying to survive his path in the thieves guild, and the story of the dungeon core that is lodged inside him.
It is well done, giving you a glimpse of how the internal effects the external, and vise versa. And I learned a lot more about the immune systems of a human body than I ever thought I would.
This series is split into two stories that alternate. The story of the young boy who is just trying to survive his path in the thieves guild, and the story of the dungeon core that is lodged inside him.
It is well done, giving you a glimpse of how the internal effects the external, and vise versa. And I learned a lot more about the immune systems of a human body than I ever thought I would.
January 2, 2022
As someone that hates dungeon core books, I enjoyed this one due to its unique take on the genre, while being extremely educational at the same time.
I'd actually recommend this for teens to read to further they're biology knowledge in a fun way. It's basically a more mature version of The Magic School Bus.
I'd actually recommend this for teens to read to further they're biology knowledge in a fun way. It's basically a more mature version of The Magic School Bus.
May 26, 2022
Really strong concept. Usually in dungeon core, I like the dungeon’s perspective and the dungeon the most. I actually liked other guy’s perspective the most here. I was hoping for more than the core fighting off illness. I also have hopes that the core will transform its host into something really cool. The series is still young and I am excited to see where it goes.
May 6, 2020
First time I've ever seen this form of Dungeon Core story. Very enjoyable with reasonably fleshed out characters. No snarky dungeon helper/pixie in this one. Descent job of splitting the POV from the Core and the Host. No massive info dumps other than the Core's internal monologue.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews