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Dungeon Diving in a Magical Kingdom as a Side-Hustle #1
Dungeon Diving in a Magical Kingdom as a Side-Hustle
Despite managing to claw his way out of the rough neighborhood he grew up in, Ethan Kilburn's life is a monotonous grind until he discovers a magical cuff that transports him to a magical kingdom with a cultivation system for leveling up... just like a video game.
In this new world, he'll find everything he ever wanted out of life and wealth, adventure, excitement, meaning, and all the monster girls he could ask for.
Discretion Harem ElementsTasteful, yet heavily skewed towards graphic love sceneStrong male lead
In this new world, he'll find everything he ever wanted out of life and wealth, adventure, excitement, meaning, and all the monster girls he could ask for.
Discretion Harem ElementsTasteful, yet heavily skewed towards graphic love sceneStrong male lead
290 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 4, 2024
177 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 15, 2024
This book was pretty average for haremlit. The title is a little misleading, as it isn't really a reverse portal, it's a bi-directional portal. The MC can travel to another realm, and he can bring people back with him, and then return with them.
The MC was just ok. The entire book takes place over the course of 2-3 days, and yet he's head over heels in love with the very first woman he meets, and has a 2nd ready to go by book's end.
The two harem members are just ok. One is a cat-girl, and the one queued up is an elf. There is little in the way of relationship building. The cat-girl is a former slave he frees from a moving cell, and it turns out she's a strong adventurer. The elf is a barmaid that hasn't adventured yet. No intimate scenes until near the end of the book, at which point it was anti-climactic.
The author devotes a lot of time to meal descriptions, or what I consider "food porn". Too many pages are devoted to how the food tasted, how beverages tasted, etc. There are some moments early that leave you scratching your head. (Who calls the left and right side of a cart "port" and "starboard"? Anyone?) He doesn't consider an axe to be a bladed weapon. There are continuity issues in the plot. There are battle monologues.
There is a sequel planned, but it took me 3 days to read this. 3 days where I looked for things to do besides read this book. That's not promising. I don't think I'll read the sequel.
The MC was just ok. The entire book takes place over the course of 2-3 days, and yet he's head over heels in love with the very first woman he meets, and has a 2nd ready to go by book's end.
The two harem members are just ok. One is a cat-girl, and the one queued up is an elf. There is little in the way of relationship building. The cat-girl is a former slave he frees from a moving cell, and it turns out she's a strong adventurer. The elf is a barmaid that hasn't adventured yet. No intimate scenes until near the end of the book, at which point it was anti-climactic.
The author devotes a lot of time to meal descriptions, or what I consider "food porn". Too many pages are devoted to how the food tasted, how beverages tasted, etc. There are some moments early that leave you scratching your head. (Who calls the left and right side of a cart "port" and "starboard"? Anyone?) He doesn't consider an axe to be a bladed weapon. There are continuity issues in the plot. There are battle monologues.
There is a sequel planned, but it took me 3 days to read this. 3 days where I looked for things to do besides read this book. That's not promising. I don't think I'll read the sequel.
December 19, 2024
Had a bit more promise in the beginning, but lost what little momentum it had to mediocrity pretty quickly. Not terrible, but there are better examples of this sort of thing. It is apparently the author's first book, so it may get better from here. Or not; not sure I can be bothered to find out, but I'll let you know.
July 15, 2025
I actually like this story but it has some issues.
This is more like a True/Original type Portal Fantasy. No reverse about it. That said its not a Portal anything but a Teleportation Fantasy where the MC can move back and forth from his original Earth's place of origin and a Sword & Sorcery world by use of a bonding artefact.
Axe ......
My Lord > Lord.. Skip the 'My' unless people actually are his in some manner.
There is a continuity issue to do with the money that the MC retrieves as a result of rescuing Ellora who becomes his first sidekick. The loot that was recovered was supposedly that of delving level one and two or more of the local Dungeon. But compared to the take that our MC and Girl Friday rake in, just from the first level, during their first delve later on in the story there is a glaring inconsistency.
This is just one example of the monetary logic errors that just harm immersion.
MC -
To much the goody two shoes imho apparently though its southern manners..
He's also somewhat dense>stupid but that may partially be due to the author missing small things as in not considering the ramifications of things. Like how he seemingly forgot about Ellora's wound. How he doesn't consider what he spouts out in conversation and so on. 🙄🙄 levels of wtf. Even singular expletives like Jesus!! when dude is in an alternate fantasy type world he has just teleported to. He does all of these things in the open without any real care. On the whole though it smacks of contrivance for plot progression.
There are also an annoying number of scenes where the MC is inactive.. Very much as being stuck in a Computer Games cringe inducing pre boss-battle cutscene with you being locked out of controlling your char. So instead of say, lighting up the enemy with fireballs as it emerges, the MC just looks on like a blithering idiot, even going so far as getting hit by the slowmo boss's first attack. Its super forced.
Other oddities includes switching the name of the second sidekick from Mirralel to El without, a to me, discernible reason. Maybe I missed something..
Then not handling the cross world transfer of gold/wealth with any common sense whatsoever. No thoughts about how that could go wrong not even thinking to ask his friend who'd managed it for 200+years.
Same with firearms, while dude is an everyday carry kind of person in his regular life. Or how he might handle his mentors offer from the start of the book until the very last sentence of said. This unbelievable sort of thoughtlessness just makes the story feel off/lacking.
Pacing is to top it off slow and as a result the read doesn't make for what I'd consider a full book more like the build up/setting the scene to one. So its like the first 30% of an old school average novel.. I just wonder if the follow on book will turn out as the equivalent middle of a book while a third will be the wrap up ending.
PS.
The audio narration is fairly good though the performer drops the letter T in a lot of words.
Like forgo__ en and ki__en. Forgotten and kitten.
This is more like a True/Original type Portal Fantasy. No reverse about it. That said its not a Portal anything but a Teleportation Fantasy where the MC can move back and forth from his original Earth's place of origin and a Sword & Sorcery world by use of a bonding artefact.
Axe ......
My Lord > Lord.. Skip the 'My' unless people actually are his in some manner.
There is a continuity issue to do with the money that the MC retrieves as a result of rescuing Ellora who becomes his first sidekick. The loot that was recovered was supposedly that of delving level one and two or more of the local Dungeon. But compared to the take that our MC and Girl Friday rake in, just from the first level, during their first delve later on in the story there is a glaring inconsistency.
This is just one example of the monetary logic errors that just harm immersion.
MC -
To much the goody two shoes imho apparently though its southern manners..
He's also somewhat dense>stupid but that may partially be due to the author missing small things as in not considering the ramifications of things. Like how he seemingly forgot about Ellora's wound. How he doesn't consider what he spouts out in conversation and so on. 🙄🙄 levels of wtf. Even singular expletives like Jesus!! when dude is in an alternate fantasy type world he has just teleported to. He does all of these things in the open without any real care. On the whole though it smacks of contrivance for plot progression.
There are also an annoying number of scenes where the MC is inactive.. Very much as being stuck in a Computer Games cringe inducing pre boss-battle cutscene with you being locked out of controlling your char. So instead of say, lighting up the enemy with fireballs as it emerges, the MC just looks on like a blithering idiot, even going so far as getting hit by the slowmo boss's first attack. Its super forced.
Other oddities includes switching the name of the second sidekick from Mirralel to El without, a to me, discernible reason. Maybe I missed something..
Then not handling the cross world transfer of gold/wealth with any common sense whatsoever. No thoughts about how that could go wrong not even thinking to ask his friend who'd managed it for 200+years.
Same with firearms, while dude is an everyday carry kind of person in his regular life. Or how he might handle his mentors offer from the start of the book until the very last sentence of said. This unbelievable sort of thoughtlessness just makes the story feel off/lacking.
Pacing is to top it off slow and as a result the read doesn't make for what I'd consider a full book more like the build up/setting the scene to one. So its like the first 30% of an old school average novel.. I just wonder if the follow on book will turn out as the equivalent middle of a book while a third will be the wrap up ending.
PS.
The audio narration is fairly good though the performer drops the letter T in a lot of words.
Like forgo__ en and ki__en. Forgotten and kitten.
August 13, 2024
The planet Aetheria makes Ethan's dream come true with adventure of dungeon exploration an magic .
Ethan a roofer by day running his own company trying to make a living for himself, sister, an their mother plus owning storage sheds as well . With all that he's got going on keeps him busy . A surprise offer of his friend an still his boss also running a roofing company is retiring and selling his family home an Ethan is offered first dibs on purchasing the house . With the offer on the table he had to look into his finances first . At the same time one of his tenants from the storage sheds passes away leaving him to find an heir to the property at hand but his son's not interested so he buys it instead for himself it changes his life forever . Ethan looks thru his new property an finds a bracelet an tries to on which digs into his wrist an he's surrounded in bright light and is transported to a distant universe an planet with magic, dungeons, an monsters . The planet Aetheria with all walks of creatures as well . recommend reading excellent book . Looking forward to the next one .
Ethan a roofer by day running his own company trying to make a living for himself, sister, an their mother plus owning storage sheds as well . With all that he's got going on keeps him busy . A surprise offer of his friend an still his boss also running a roofing company is retiring and selling his family home an Ethan is offered first dibs on purchasing the house . With the offer on the table he had to look into his finances first . At the same time one of his tenants from the storage sheds passes away leaving him to find an heir to the property at hand but his son's not interested so he buys it instead for himself it changes his life forever . Ethan looks thru his new property an finds a bracelet an tries to on which digs into his wrist an he's surrounded in bright light and is transported to a distant universe an planet with magic, dungeons, an monsters . The planet Aetheria with all walks of creatures as well . recommend reading excellent book . Looking forward to the next one .
December 8, 2025
I like it but its strange being favored by the king or someone in power or killing someone is the only way to get a special bracelet is the only way you can level up and see the system 🤔 sounds purposely regulate and not at all fair but and this story dragged on way to long with alot of overly detailed information on what stuff looked like smelled like tasted like my mind wandered alot because of this needless to say i skipped around to the 1 smexy scene which was pretty good no old timey words or fade to black but why the author chose to wait till the last 16 minutes of the book was a strange choice and how is dude in love in 1 day ? The narrator who did the mc's voice was also cringe worthy the females voices where great tho so that had alot to do with not really liking the book will not listen to book 2
July 22, 2024
Great start of a series!
This one hit all the notes for me. The story flowed very well and the characters were great. I definitely got a feeling for who Ethan is and I really enjoyed him exploring the new world. I also love when the main character can move back and forth between the magic world and earth. It makes for a fun story with interesting ideas. Can’t wait for the next one, I’ll be keeping an eye out for it.
This one hit all the notes for me. The story flowed very well and the characters were great. I definitely got a feeling for who Ethan is and I really enjoyed him exploring the new world. I also love when the main character can move back and forth between the magic world and earth. It makes for a fun story with interesting ideas. Can’t wait for the next one, I’ll be keeping an eye out for it.
January 6, 2025
I enjoyed it
The pacing was a little fast for my tastes, could have slowed it down a little and added like 30-50 more pages. The story is similar to others in the genre but has plenty of unique stuff to stand out. I greatly look forward to the next book and any future books from this Author.
The pacing was a little fast for my tastes, could have slowed it down a little and added like 30-50 more pages. The story is similar to others in the genre but has plenty of unique stuff to stand out. I greatly look forward to the next book and any future books from this Author.
July 6, 2024
Well worth reading
A very well rounded storey, it has it all and well written too. The reverse portal is also a very good point, as it breaks up the action nicely.just have to wait for eagerly for the next books
A very well rounded storey, it has it all and well written too. The reverse portal is also a very good point, as it breaks up the action nicely.just have to wait for eagerly for the next books
July 11, 2024
Great first book for a series
Loved it. The MC was strong without being a know it all narcissistic tool. The women were strong, knowledgeable, and exciting. The story is good and original and engaging. I can't wait for book two to come out.
Loved it. The MC was strong without being a know it all narcissistic tool. The women were strong, knowledgeable, and exciting. The story is good and original and engaging. I can't wait for book two to come out.
July 14, 2024
Excellent
This story, so far, doesn't do much to break the mold, but everything is executed well. The characters had me rooting for them almost instantly and I am genuinely looking forward to seeing how far Ethan can take his new side hustle.
This story, so far, doesn't do much to break the mold, but everything is executed well. The characters had me rooting for them almost instantly and I am genuinely looking forward to seeing how far Ethan can take his new side hustle.
August 15, 2024
Review
Fast paced and enjoyable story. Good main character, if a little too white night for my tastes. Novel only suffers in length, this is more of a short story as there is no closure of any type. The book ends like it was written as a web series.
Fast paced and enjoyable story. Good main character, if a little too white night for my tastes. Novel only suffers in length, this is more of a short story as there is no closure of any type. The book ends like it was written as a web series.
September 15, 2024
Well done
For a first book in a series and first book period, this was really well done. I really enjoyed reading it that I sid it in one sitting, lol. Damn now I have to wait for book 2, lol.
For a first book in a series and first book period, this was really well done. I really enjoyed reading it that I sid it in one sitting, lol. Damn now I have to wait for book 2, lol.
January 18, 2025
So Much Better than Expected!
I started this on a whim and didn’t have any major expectations, but it was a well rounded fun read. I love the earth and magic world life being interconnected. The build up so far is great and I can’t wait to read more in this series!
I started this on a whim and didn’t have any major expectations, but it was a well rounded fun read. I love the earth and magic world life being interconnected. The build up so far is great and I can’t wait to read more in this series!
August 9, 2024
WOW!
Ethan thought he was just buying a storage bin from a deceased friend. Wow was he surprised. He found the friend who was not dead and 2 wonderful female friends.
Ethan thought he was just buying a storage bin from a deceased friend. Wow was he surprised. He found the friend who was not dead and 2 wonderful female friends.
October 7, 2024
New book
This was an impressive new read for me I'm looking forward to the second book and hope there's more books to come after that.
This was an impressive new read for me I'm looking forward to the second book and hope there's more books to come after that.
December 4, 2024
Fantastic!
What an amazing book! I absolutely loved this book and such wonderful characters! I can not wait for the next book to come out
What an amazing book! I absolutely loved this book and such wonderful characters! I can not wait for the next book to come out
February 26, 2025
DNF @28%. Not really bad, but not really good, either. A pretty generic 2024 soy boy simp MC in a generic 2024 game world.
May 4, 2025
great book
Good start to a hopefully long series, I can wait to see how strong they will grow in the future
Good start to a hopefully long series, I can wait to see how strong they will grow in the future
July 17, 2025
This is as paint by numbers as it gets
If you have read a isekai power fantasy before you have read this one. Nothing new or original here, nothing groundbreaking...it's just decent
If you have read a isekai power fantasy before you have read this one. Nothing new or original here, nothing groundbreaking...it's just decent
didn-t-like-it
August 20, 2025Note to self: nah.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews