Dungeon Crawl

The Twenty-Sided Sorceress #8

by Annie Bellet, Hollie Jackson (Narrator)

New Rule: Never owe a vampire a favor...
Nearly a year after defeating her evil ex, sorceress Jade Crow has found some peace running her comic book store and gaming with her friends. Until the vampire who helped her win against Samir comes knocking and wants the favor repaid.
The Archivist's request looks simple on its surface. Go into an empty house and check for magic items.
There's just a tiny problem: simple is not Jade's forte. There are lies around every turn and soon she's neck deep in undead.
Not all quests are what they seem and laid to rest doesn't mean the dead stay buried...

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal, Vampires, Magic, Shapeshifters, Ebooks

273 pages, Audiobook

First published February 25, 2017

About the author

Annie Bellet is a full-time speculative fiction writer. She holds a BA in English and a BA in Medieval Studies and thus can speak a smattering of useful languages such as Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Welsh.

Her books include Avarice (Pyrrh Considerable Crimes Division: Book 1), The Gryphonpike Chronicles series, and the Twenty-Sided Sorceress series.

Her interests besides writing include rock climbing, reading, horse-back riding, video games, comic books, table-top RPGs, and many other nerdy pursuits.


Want to be notified when her next book is released, receive free stories and books, and be notified about sales and other goodies? Sign up for Annie Bellet's mailing list
Or if you want sneak peaks, regular updates, and exclusive stories, consider supporting her Patreon. Patreon is here!

Reviews

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 3 out of 5]

🎲 A Let's Play Dice with the Slightly Awesome Crow Sorceress Buddy Read (LPDwtSACSBR™) with the MacHalos of Mischief and Mayhem (aka M³) 🎲

· Previous rating: 3.3428 stars.
· New rating: 3.44656589 stars.

➽ And the moral of this reread is: beware of zombies. And of demonic ghoul things. And of necromancers. But most of all, beware of sheep. My murderous children are the ones with the undeserved bad rep in these parts (I wonder why), but believe me when I tell you that innocent-looking, all fleeced-out ruminants should not be trusted. For they have evil intentions and are as Slightly Very Vicious (SVV™) as they are Super Extra Machiavellian (SEM™). Also, they sometimes do, um, strange things with old men (you don't want to know). Also also, they bleat their nasty little heads off 24/7. Which I personally find suspicious as fish and stuff.





Ha! What did I tell you?!



[Original review: March 2017]

Actual rating: 3.3428 stars. It's Mathematical Rating a la Choko (MRalC™) time!

So. I'm pretty sure 99.99% of you still have not heard of this series, despite my many gloriously fascinating crappy non reviews for its many instalments. And I think I can safely assume that most of you Little Barnacles don't give a bloody shrimp about what engrossingly compelling stuff I might have to say about this little book here. Which leads me to the conclusion that 99.99% of you will not even bother reading whatever crap I come up with today. Which is slightly awesome It means I can reveal my real identity, and no one will notice. The 0.01% of you Tiny Decapods who are reading this thing will probably not believe it, but writing crappy non reviews on Goodreads isn't actually my day job. No it isn't. And my real name isn't Sarah, either (although I am quite nefarious indeed, thank you very much). I am actually named Ivanka T. I work for my beloved daddy (and the good of humanity), free of charge (because I'm loaded generous like that), in a big white house. Did you seriously think my reviewing mojo being a blonde with a silly smirk on her face was accidental? Oh, please. Give me some credit, will you? I may only have two grey cells, but I know how to use them, my Lovely Arthropods .

But anyway.

Okay, so this book is definitely not the best in the series, and probably my least favourite so far, to be disgustingly honest. It reads more like a side story than like an actual instalment in this series, and adds little to the general series arc. Still, it is good, mindless, entertaining fun, if not in a Physics Nobel Prize kind of way.



Bloody shrimping hell, Auntie Gertrude, can't you see I'm in the middle of a crappy non-review here?! So sorry about that, my Comely Branchiopoda. Auntie Gertrude (of the inebriated South Pacific branch of the family) is currently visiting, and although she is supposed to be caged at all times, it seems she once again managed to escape the murderous crustaceans' surveillance. Where the fish is Fleet Admiral DaShrimp when you need him?!

The reasonsssss I went for a 3.3478-star MRalC™ instead of opting for a Revoltingly Distasteful Should Be Outlawed Three Star Rating (RDSBOTSR™) are:

✔ My girl Jade Crow, aka my mostest favoritest Native American nerd/gamer/sorceress. She rips hearts out and eats them, which is slightly scrumptious. She flies, she glides, she sees in the dark and does cool fire & lighting stuff and time magic and all sorts of other excitingly awesome sorceress crap. Which is, you know, somewhat luscious.
✔ Zombie horde. QED and stuff.
✔ Ghouls with bad breath who scream like dying rabbits. And our Shrimpy Lord knows how much I love it when fluffy bunnies scream. Or die. Or suffer horribly. You get the idea.
✔ Blood and gore. YUM.
✔ Running around while carrying hearts of unknown origin in fluorescent jars is all kinds of cool.
✔ Cut cut cut slice slice slice skewer skewer skewer. Sigh. So beautiful.
✔ Necromancers are hot. Sometimes.
✔ Sheep in lieu of social life. Yuck yuck yuck EW EW EW. I love it. Then again maybe not.



The end. You're welcome.

» And the moral of this So Glad No One Will be Reading this Crappy Non Review Because Petronilla my Reviewing Mojo is still Holidaying in the Andaman Sea Ergo I Somewhat Lack Inspiration Crappy Non Review (SGNOWbRtCNRBPmRMisHitASEISLICNR™) is: if you are a Native American sorceress and eat other people's hearts as a hobby, there's a good chance I'll lock you up in my harem for life.

· Book 1: Justice Calling ★★★★
· Book 2: Murder of Crows ★★★★
· Book 3: Pack Of Lies ★★★★
· Book 4: Hunting Season ★★★★★
· Book 5: Heartache ★★★★★
· Book 6: Thicker than Blood ★★★★
· Book 7.5: Harper's Tale ★★★★
· Book 9: River of No Return ★★★★
· Book 10: Balancing the Scales ★★★★



[April 3, 2016]

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars... This story was very entertaining if not a bit disjointed at times... The author pulls in multiple supernatural entities including sorcerers, shifters, necromancers, zombies, ghouls, and vampires to name a few... The past rears it's ugly head and calls debts due for both Jade and Alek taking readers on two compelling journeys but with little interaction between the two... Both were engaging, action packed, intense, and complex in their own ways, and I thoroughly enjoyed each storyline... However, there were aspects of the overall read that left me a bit confused... At times, there was information presented as if the reader should have knowledge of it, but it fell short for me leaving me slightly confused as to the author's intent... I figured in the end these two storylines would intersect and bring the reader full circle but that did not occur... Instead, I am left thinking that the author was using the storylines as a foundation for future reads and building of the central storyline... Overall, enjoyable and entertaining and leaving me wanting to read the next book in the series:)

[Elinor · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
good being back in this world with those characters

[Elena Linville-Abdo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stars: 3 out of 5.

It wasn't as good as the previous book, which I kind of expected. After all, last book was the culmination of a story arc that had started in book 1 - the final confrontation with Samir. It would be hard to beat that emotional punchline. 

But even with low expectations, this book felt more like a side-quest than an actual main instalment into the series. Oh, don't get me wrong, it was a fun and quick read, and we had zombies! And teamwork! And Nazi werewolves! And both Jade and Alek were awesome in their own ways as well. But it felt a little bit.. pointless, maybe?

There were really no stakes in this for Jade and her crew. She could have walked away from that house as soon as she discovered that something was amiss. It wasn't a matter of life and death. In fact, I would argue that the attack on Alek was more important than the house robbery, because it had deeper-running ramifications, so it should have been explored more. Instead, it was treated like a side quest in the main dungeon crawl. 

I still thoroughly enjoyed the book though, mostly because of the characters and their interactions. The bander is priceless. You can really see that these people know and love each other and trust each other implicitly as well. It was fun to see them play to their own strengths and tackle difficult situations together. It also shows big emotional growth from Jade, because she finally trusts her friends enough to stand up for themselves and not have to lie to them to protect them. 

I just hope that there is a bigger story still to tell in the last two books of the series and that this instalment was just the calm before the storm that is about to descend on our unsuspecting crew of gamers. Either way, I will be there for the ride.

If you liked this review, check out my blog.

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where's the boss?

I really want to give this a 4 or 5 but but I feel like this is too short. There's no big bad, we killed the mini boss but we haven't even seen the big one. Maybe it's just me and the fact that my reading was very fragmented but it felt like there was more comming and then stopped. Not like another book way but like an act 3 kind of way.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't really recommend this book. The POV character is WAY overpowered, and she has an equally overpowered weapon, so there's not much in the way of suspense. It's just silly fun.

[Anthea · Rating 3 out of 5]

End of the line for me

This book I felt lost a lot of the momentum from the previous books. It didn't quite hold my attention, and I must admit that I had to have a lil break from it here and there, something I definitely didn't have to do with the others.

[Dena · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5* I am really loving this series!

[keikii Eats Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Side Quest!
Also the writing in this book has leveled up a few levels. It's just I have no reason to believe as of finishing this book that it exists for any particular reason.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

After spending the last 7 books joining our protagonist Jade Crow, and ostensible Twenty-Sided Sorceress (her D20 die necklace talisman), on her marathon effort to rid the world of the evil that was her ex-lover and mentor Samir, we have a book that is enjoyable and fun and reads like it is a side quest to the main adventure. I enjoyed ‘Dungeon Crawl’ by Annie Bellet, in some ways more than the previous seven. There was a lot more banter and light-heartedness between Jade and her friends and it was nice to revisit everyone, although I found there was some noticeable absences – Rosie, Iollan, Softpaw. I am not too sure it really progressed Jade’s character arc but as with all the other books, it was only a novella length story at a little over 250 pages and took me about 2.5 hours to read.

The story is supposed to pick up around a year after the events of Book 7, ‘Magic to the Bone’ – although that makes no sense as that story took place in the middle of winter, but the first sentence mentions that it is a balmy day at the end of August? I am assuming this is just an oversight by Ms Bellet? Anyway, Jade is having a grand reopening party at her comic book store, ‘Pawned Comics and Games’, after Samir destroyed it in Book 5, ‘Heartache’. Jade, Eeze and Levi are settling into a pizza and LAN party night when Harper shows up. Everyone is ecstatic that she is back even if it is awkward at times, and I hope one day we will get to read about what she did between the books.

‘“I tried to run,” she added, “But I figured out that if you’re running from something, it just follows you.”

The group has settled into a normal routine in the intervening time, and all is smooth sailing until The Archivist shows up wanting Jade to fulfil her debt to him from the event’s of Book 6, ‘Thicker Than Blood’. On the surface it doesn’t seem like anything significant. The Archivist inherited a house that belonged to a magic user and wants Jade to check if there are any magical items that are dangerous or just unknown.

‘The job sounded simple enough. Go to some house, figure out what was and wasn’t magical. Try to neutralize anything dangerous or unknown. I’d done similar, as he’d said. Should be easy enough.’

Famous last words right! Jade gather’s her group and goes on the titular Dungeon Crawl, finding out that things aren’t as simple as The Archivist led her to believe. There are several new supernatural beings that are introduced throughout the book which spice things up, although I do wonder if we will ever see them again as we seem to be introduced to new groups in each book without a lot of back story – still want more on Brie, Ciaran and Iollan and their deal.

Now, rather than focusing solely on Jade, we also get a divergent storyline of Alek and some of his past decisions when he was a Justice for The Council of Nine coming back to take retribution. I really didn’t feel like this complemented the main theme of the book and wish that the material had been used for an (even shorter) story separate to the events of the book. If you took away the whole subplot it had no bearing on Jade’s adventure and caused the pacing to be somewhat incoherent.

Overall, I enjoyed ‘Dungeon Crawl’. It almost read like it was a stand-alone story within the Jade Crow universe. After the high stakes of the previous entries this was light and fun and a breath of fresh air. If you have enjoyed the rest of the series, you will like this one too. I wouldn’t recommend you read ‘Dungeon Crawl’ without familiarising yourself with Books 3-7 as a minimum, however.

4 out of 5 stars!

[SM · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't happy with the small page count and a price I considered high. But I wanted to know what happened next to Jade Crow. The book turned out to be pretty dense with action, a lot seemed to get done in a few pages. Go team Jade.

Kindle e-book. Cause I'm reading the series.
=========================
New Rule: Never owe a vampire a favor...
Nearly a year after defeating her evil ex, sorceress Jade Crow has found some peace running her comic book store and gaming with her friends. Until the vampire who helped her win against Samir comes knocking and wants the favor repaid.
The Archivist's request looks simple on its surface. Go into an empty house and check for magic items.
There's just a tiny problem: simple is not Jade's forte. There are lies around every turn and soon she's neck deep in undead.
Not all quests are what they seem and laid to rest doesn't mean the dead stay buried...

[Angi Burns ~Rabid Readers Book Blog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dungeon Crawl (Twenty Sided-Sorceress book 8) by Annie Bellet
Reviewed by Angi

I feel like I have been waiting forever for the chance to read this book. I stumbled on this series couple years ago in a fb new release party. I think I devoured all that were available in one week.

If you are a gamer, a geek or a little of both this series will entertain. It's funny, action packed and many geeky gaming references.
I was so worried the story ended in book 7 when Jade defeated her ex and big bad of the series. How happy I was to see the gang return. The boys Ezee and Levi are still the same go get em I got your back boys. Harper returns maybe a little jaded but still has Jade’s back. Alex is still the hunk we all want.

Jade has excepted that her friends will always have her back and she's now learned to not leave them in the dark. This doesn't mean she's happy about it.

The Archivist is back, and he is here to to collect on a debt. But maybe they shouldn't trust a vamp. Because what that leads to is dungeons and zombies and ghouls.

Annie has a wonderful way of telling a story that is fast paced and funny. The gang has the heart and strength, that makes you want to join them in their escapes. So the reality behind and escape into Jade's world for awhile I promise you will not be disappointed.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm already a fan of Annie's writing style and this urban fantasy series. Dungeon Crawl is the 8th audiobook and picks up almost a year after the previous story ended. The books in the Twenty-Sided Sorceress series need to be read in order to understand the plotline.

This audiobook is read by one of my favourite narrators - Hollie Jackson. I love the pace that she reads, the emotions she portrays during the various scenes and the voices she gives the characters.

The main series threat to our protagonist, Jade, was dealt with in the previous book. Therefore, we see the focus shifting in this story. A new danger has been uncovered and Jade and her friends have zombies to contend with! I enjoyed being disgusted and terrified, listening to this one. Annie is excellent at building tension and writing dynamic fight scenes. I also enjoyed the softer, emotional scenes, especially those between Jade and her bestie Harper or Jade and super-hot shifter boyfriend Alek. This story had it all.

Dungeon Crawl has taken us on a different path and I'm excited to listen to the final two audiobooks in the series. I'm hoping that Jade's heritage plays a bigger part and I'm keen to watch her, her friends and the rest of the townsfolk rebuild their lives.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great installment. These are so consistently entertaining, they're becoming the most reliable in my collection. I love Annie's sense of humor and her ability to weave it into engaging but light - enough storylines that highlight both the strength of Jade and that of her crew. The comedic relief is always perfectly timed. The references are gold for a geek like me. Points to anyone who catches the Lewis Carroll joke. Haven't been able to get that outta my head ever since.

Everything and everyone gel really well and I like that we got more Alek this time. Those two are so adorable it's insane.

Also zombies.

The only way to possibly improve on this series would be to add zombies.

And I'm really loving the hints at forthcoming plot and the building arc. Love this series. Love it forever. Looking forward to Harper's Tale and the next Jade adventure this April and summer.

[Leah Speller · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is the difference between a novella and novel? Well, that I can't answer, but I can say this book read more like a novella. It was like two short story ideas that ran at the same time. It was certainly more like what I call "a slice of life." There was really no great large story arc just this one little main point for each story.

I think what is starting to show is there is really no depth in the story. The idea is certainly there. And it is followed from beginning to end. But it seems to be more of like a straight shot instead of a meandering river that gives you a chance to flesh out a story more. Like perhaps give more depth about the history of Alex and why those guys were trying to kill him. Perhaps take us back there and show us. I am no author by any means but I do enjoy learning more about the who, what, where, when, why, and how in any story.

[Donald O'Dell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always ready for a new Jade Crow book.

I love to read Annie Bellet's, Jade Crow novels. Partly because as a sixty-something year old man, I like the fact that Jade Crow is a mature woman. She is about 50, but looks like she's in her twenties, and her partner Alek is about the same age. She is a sorceress and she's slowly and Alek is a were-tiger and is in very good shape. She has a lot of friends, human and supernatural but looks out for all of them as if they were her family, and they are. Themes of teamwork and trust in each other are all through the series, but more so in this book. Which has two crises going on at the same time. There are no real surprises in the book, just continued character development and growth.

[mlady_rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I marathoned the first 7 books in this series, I waited a beat for #8. Mostly because I feared another cliffhanger. Books 5-7 were one long episode. Luckily, no cliffy this time.

Time has passed relatively peacefully in Jade's world since she defeated Samir. The shop has been rebuilt, incluing some choice upgrades. And besides a few nightmares, life has returned to normal. Not for long.

The Archivist calls in Jade's favor, asking her to investigate a house he purchased from the estate of a former magic user. He wants Jade to clear the house, looking for magical boobie traps, and return any specimen bottles she finds to him. But, you know that's way to easy for a payback favor.

Quick, enjoyable read.

[Sherry Leclerc · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how, in the Twenty Sided Sorceress series, Annie Bellet makes her characters seem relatable. There's a sorceress, shifters, witches, and in this latest book...other things (no spoilers), yet her main character and her friends feel like normal, every day people. I'm guessing it's the way we hear Jade's internal monologues: we hear her insecurities, her uncertainty, her internal debate when she isn't sure of something. Then there are her interactions with her friends, the game nights, the day job, and the way they relate even when they are in the thick of things. I really enjoy reading her characters.

[Anniken Haga · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars

I had originally planed to wait with the rest of this series until the last book was out. I know the author is working on it and plan to have it out before 2021, but then life happened and I've been burning through audiobooks like a crazy person, and I found that I'm really in an ''easy supernatural''-mood, and so I knew this series would fit into that.

I was a little on the fence about this book when it came to story as well, I have to say. I wasn't sure what would happen after the last book, so I was pleasently surprised to see all the characters again, as well as the story in general, which was really interesting.

And that's what I can say without spoiling.

[Soulfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure why this book was necessary. I kind of wish Bellet had just moved on from the main characters because I feel like this didn’t really bring much to the table. It was more of Jade kicking magical butt, but there was no character growth and it felt weird after the big fight from the previous book. It was almost like a big epilogue with a random bad guy in it.
Also, Alec’s mysterious bad guys that show up were really random and didn’t really have any kind of bearing on the overall story.
Overall, I was disappointed.
2.5/5

[Ronnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to review the eighth book in a series. What is there to say that I haven't already said?

I read the first four books in audio format, and it was nice going back to that for this one! Hollie Jackson does a very good job.

I wish I could find Harper's Tale literally anywhere (some places say it'll be published in 2024, but I'm sure that it was published before this book came out so that's annoying).

Alek's POV was much better in this book than the last time we got it. Excited to go on to the next!

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm rounding up to four stars. The dragon crawl was pretty spot on, but the bits from Alek's perspective didn't appeal to me very much. I don't find him to be a particularly compelling character: he's mostly just muscle in a series about people who are sassy nerds (and also freakishly powerful). I really wish that the story had been fleshed out a little bit more so that characters could have had more interaction since that's a huge chunk of the fun of reading these stories. Still, it was a decent adventure and added some mildly interesting things to the world the series is set in.

[Tracey Callison · Rating 4 out of 5]

8th in the series; strengths are still there (bond between characters), so are weaknesses (plot canyons, a main character who acts and thinks like she's 20, not the 50 she supposedly is). If you liked the others, you'll like this one. Continues to read like an RPG; we go here, stuff happens, we do this other stuff, then this stuff happens, now oops this other thing is happening.. etc. Not much forward momentum in personal growth.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story by Anne Bellet! This is two stories in one and both are well written. Alex's past comes back to haunt him but he will survive. Harper is back and Jade is very happy! Jade completes a favor owed to another and trusts Harper and the twins to help her. Trust and wanting your friends to be safe is very important. Read this excellent book as I am looking forward to reading Harper's story and the next in the sorceress' series!

[Eric Guy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short for a novel - more novelette.

Still the writing is engaging. It does not hold up to the promise of the earlier books though, it's almost as though the writer is not sure where to go now that the main "Big Bad" has been defeated. Whereas I wholeheartedly recommend the first set of novels (1-5 maybe 6) up to the encounter with Samir, the latest seem almost forced. I still hold out hope though.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these quick light adventures. The books read like an AD&D adventure and the author cleverly incorporates puns, gamer slang, and in-game references that cheer me so much, and make me giggle .
So much fun, a delightful break from tedious “real life”.
Crawling through a dungeon battling ghouls and zombies searching for a powerful magic item. Happy happy joy joy.
My only complaint is that they are too quickly over.

[Jim Kratzok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice addition to the series.

Since Jade conquered Samir in the last book I was wondering where the series would go next. It seems the Noah Grey, the Vampire archivist from the previous story, is going to be playing a continuing role. He sends Jade and company on a few quests in this book and they also get to deal with a selection of bad guys from Alek's past. All in all this story was satisfying but not too filling.

[Gabby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. It really shows how the effects of the battle with Samir (Boss Battle) really affected the group not just Jade. I loved the new Harper, she seems far more whole in a way since the changes and it is nice to see the business with the vampire somewhat closed. I will be interested to see if more occurs. It really was a dungeon crawl and the parallels with D3 (Diablo) was amazing. Crazy hardcore idiots.

[Starfire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an aptly named story: it could be a dungeon crawl from pretty much any D&D or other TTRPG campaign session ever. I loved the way Ms Bellet just leaned into that over the course of the book - especially towards the end with lines like 'never split the party', 'tank goes first' and of course the delighted 'forgot to check for traps'!

I'm kind of sad I only have two more of these to read.

[Kat Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a geek. As a geek, these are some of the best UF out there. And this one was a gamers great. With Samir out of the way, at least for now, Jade and company go on a quest for the Archivist. While the quest is more than they bargained for, it's the ultimate adventure for gamers. It has magic and necromancy and even a mini zombie apocalypse. Everything a good campaign needs.