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Dungeon Noble #1
Dungeon Noble: Squire
Ascension is a blessing of the gods, a chance to strive for glory.
Jake Khesh is an orphan living from day to day, yearning for the chance to do more, to be more. Blessed by the gods with the chance to Ascend, Jake seizes the opportunity.
With an unfamiliar Class, a mysterious Patron, and limited knowledge, Jake faces the task of hiding what he is from the Triarchy Inquisitors while gaining the power to reach the next Tier. For him, unlocking the truth of his origins is just as important as fame or fortune.
Dungeons offer wealth, power and are at the core of Jake’s new Class. Conquering them means facing down death and pushing on, no matter what.
Jake has a path to freedom, glory and power, and he won’t let anything stop him from following it, even if the entire world seems to be against him.
Dungeon Noble is a lite-LitRPG
Jake Khesh is an orphan living from day to day, yearning for the chance to do more, to be more. Blessed by the gods with the chance to Ascend, Jake seizes the opportunity.
With an unfamiliar Class, a mysterious Patron, and limited knowledge, Jake faces the task of hiding what he is from the Triarchy Inquisitors while gaining the power to reach the next Tier. For him, unlocking the truth of his origins is just as important as fame or fortune.
Dungeons offer wealth, power and are at the core of Jake’s new Class. Conquering them means facing down death and pushing on, no matter what.
Jake has a path to freedom, glory and power, and he won’t let anything stop him from following it, even if the entire world seems to be against him.
Dungeon Noble is a lite-LitRPG
- GenresFantasy
674 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 10, 2025
418 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
J. Parsons
15 books67 followersA long time lover of fantasy adventures, I've finally moved from just writing for family and friends to publishing my books online.
I hope you enjoy my work.
I hope you enjoy my work.
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 20, 2025
No Stats, No Stakes, No Thanks
Dungeon Noble Squire sounds cool in theory—who doesn’t love a dungeon-powered underdog story? But in practice? It’s a slog. The whole thing feels like a first draft of a LitRPG that forgot to include the fun parts.
The progression system runs on in-game cash, which means rich kids can just buy their way to the top while everyone else grinds forever. The MC’s "special" class? More like a scam—it costs double to level up with zero payoff for most of the book. Dungeons are supposed to be terrifying, sentient death traps, but they’re treated like ATMs. High-level players farm low-level ones endlessly because… why not? The only thing stopping them is an "honor system," which is about as believable as a free-to-play mobile game claiming it’s not pay-to-win.
And where’s the crunch? No stats, no Identify skill, no way to even gauge how strong anything is. Delving feels like wandering blind through a spreadsheet. Combat is painfully slow—imagine watching someone spend 200 pages learning how to hold a sword properly. Death doesn’t matter because respawns are cheap, and you can just hire a babysitter to hold your loot. Where’s the tension? The risk?
The worst part is the teasing. Every time something interesting pops up—secret bloodlines, the MC’s mysterious backstory—it gets shoved aside with a "we’ll explain later." Spoiler: They usually don’t. By the time I hit the 75% mark, I was just waiting for something—anything—to happen.
The writing itself is fine, but the pacing is glacial, the system’s full of holes, and the characters are paper-thin. There’s a decent story buried here, but it’s drowning in filler. 3/5—maybe next time.
Dungeon Noble Squire sounds cool in theory—who doesn’t love a dungeon-powered underdog story? But in practice? It’s a slog. The whole thing feels like a first draft of a LitRPG that forgot to include the fun parts.
The progression system runs on in-game cash, which means rich kids can just buy their way to the top while everyone else grinds forever. The MC’s "special" class? More like a scam—it costs double to level up with zero payoff for most of the book. Dungeons are supposed to be terrifying, sentient death traps, but they’re treated like ATMs. High-level players farm low-level ones endlessly because… why not? The only thing stopping them is an "honor system," which is about as believable as a free-to-play mobile game claiming it’s not pay-to-win.
And where’s the crunch? No stats, no Identify skill, no way to even gauge how strong anything is. Delving feels like wandering blind through a spreadsheet. Combat is painfully slow—imagine watching someone spend 200 pages learning how to hold a sword properly. Death doesn’t matter because respawns are cheap, and you can just hire a babysitter to hold your loot. Where’s the tension? The risk?
The worst part is the teasing. Every time something interesting pops up—secret bloodlines, the MC’s mysterious backstory—it gets shoved aside with a "we’ll explain later." Spoiler: They usually don’t. By the time I hit the 75% mark, I was just waiting for something—anything—to happen.
The writing itself is fine, but the pacing is glacial, the system’s full of holes, and the characters are paper-thin. There’s a decent story buried here, but it’s drowning in filler. 3/5—maybe next time.
February 17, 2025
He trains, he clears low-level dungeons, sometimes he gets a bit of mystical gubbins from an enigmatic figure. I didn’t find it very interesting I’m afraid.
March 6, 2025
The advancement feels pay-to-win. The dungeon runs feel like kiddie versions. The battles are badly depicted. The late game conflict is meant to be complex and political, but just confess off as convoluted.
April 28, 2025
Good story. Slow, very slow.
The overall story in the world building was good. I like the uniqueness of the main character however it took 450 pages for the main character to even become remotely adept at anything.
Almost the entire book The main character has no agency and it's just floundering with going through the motions with no idea of what's happening and what can be done to improve the situation. Supporting cast characters were interesting but really just filled in dialogue gaps and push the plotline along. The book was incredibly slow, there really was no thrilling aspect because you could not die in the dungeon which created all the danger. But there really is no danger except you would not profit from the dungeon run. The entire plot was filled with plot armor in that the unknown factors could change to facilitate any plot movement or holes.
There may have been a story here but the slow pace, over explaining everything but still not telling the main character where his future may be, which just a drag on time and boring overall
The overall story in the world building was good. I like the uniqueness of the main character however it took 450 pages for the main character to even become remotely adept at anything.
Almost the entire book The main character has no agency and it's just floundering with going through the motions with no idea of what's happening and what can be done to improve the situation. Supporting cast characters were interesting but really just filled in dialogue gaps and push the plotline along. The book was incredibly slow, there really was no thrilling aspect because you could not die in the dungeon which created all the danger. But there really is no danger except you would not profit from the dungeon run. The entire plot was filled with plot armor in that the unknown factors could change to facilitate any plot movement or holes.
There may have been a story here but the slow pace, over explaining everything but still not telling the main character where his future may be, which just a drag on time and boring overall
May 12, 2025
Yet another book where Amazon is being Amazon, or should I say the Kindle App is being the Kindle crap. So, this review will only be on Goodreads.
I must confess that I listened to the naysayers and dropped this book a little on my TBR list. I am truly sorry that I did so. This was a fun read. There were some small issues but they didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book. If you are a fan of LitRPG, you are probably going to like this book. The characters are pretty well fleshed out, and, for the most part, pretty likable. All in all, this was a very solid book.
As for the bad. There are some pacing issues. Parts where it could have been shorter or longer. The system is a bit hard to get used to, at least at first. Again. These are relatively minor quibbles, at worst.
Highly recommended.
To the author: The introduction of Moby was epic. That gave me a good chuckle. Kind of reminded me of an Eddie Izzard skit.
I must confess that I listened to the naysayers and dropped this book a little on my TBR list. I am truly sorry that I did so. This was a fun read. There were some small issues but they didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book. If you are a fan of LitRPG, you are probably going to like this book. The characters are pretty well fleshed out, and, for the most part, pretty likable. All in all, this was a very solid book.
As for the bad. There are some pacing issues. Parts where it could have been shorter or longer. The system is a bit hard to get used to, at least at first. Again. These are relatively minor quibbles, at worst.
Highly recommended.
To the author: The introduction of Moby was epic. That gave me a good chuckle. Kind of reminded me of an Eddie Izzard skit.
March 30, 2025
Just Ok
The story and characters are ok. For most of the book, it was hard to understand why I was reading about the MC. Sure he had a special class, but it didn't feel like it was. The story progression was really slow as well as the character growth. The dungeon delving came across as more of a tutorial because you just revived. Low stakes. Many of the challenges were solved by plot devices or dues ex. The overreaching plot seemed implausible that 3 or 4 people would be able to do anything about.
The story and characters are ok. For most of the book, it was hard to understand why I was reading about the MC. Sure he had a special class, but it didn't feel like it was. The story progression was really slow as well as the character growth. The dungeon delving came across as more of a tutorial because you just revived. Low stakes. Many of the challenges were solved by plot devices or dues ex. The overreaching plot seemed implausible that 3 or 4 people would be able to do anything about.
March 3, 2025
This is a really good book
The pacing is great, the character development is refreshingly substantial, and the plot is engaging. You won't see a lot of the tired tropes endemic to the genre.
The book is basically a long training arc, but the tone maintains a certain gravity that keeps the purpose for the protagonists' adventure front and center. Looks to be a very fleshed out world and I'm looking forward to the next book.
The pacing is great, the character development is refreshingly substantial, and the plot is engaging. You won't see a lot of the tired tropes endemic to the genre.
The book is basically a long training arc, but the tone maintains a certain gravity that keeps the purpose for the protagonists' adventure front and center. Looks to be a very fleshed out world and I'm looking forward to the next book.
May 18, 2025
Really looking forward to more of this series!
I do hope this is just book 1 of a series, because it’s a really good one. The story is creative and fresh. The characters are really interesting and the writing is solid. Since book 2 is not yet out, I’ll look for other books by this author!
I do hope this is just book 1 of a series, because it’s a really good one. The story is creative and fresh. The characters are really interesting and the writing is solid. Since book 2 is not yet out, I’ll look for other books by this author!
February 17, 2025
Wonderful read, interesting world
Really enjoyable, looking forward to the next books, hopefully this isn't a one shot. A truly interesting world and class system. Hope we get more 🙏
Really enjoyable, looking forward to the next books, hopefully this isn't a one shot. A truly interesting world and class system. Hope we get more 🙏
March 4, 2025
Mostly enjoyable
Good hook lead to a good story. The magical framework works though it flexes in spots. Epilogue wasn't bad but the preview of the next book was just annoying. All in all though it was worth reading.
Good hook lead to a good story. The magical framework works though it flexes in spots. Epilogue wasn't bad but the preview of the next book was just annoying. All in all though it was worth reading.
March 22, 2025
solid book
An entertaining book worth reading. There are a few grammatical errors but that didn’t distract me from enjoying the story. I’m looking forward to hearing more of the Dungeon Noble.
An entertaining book worth reading. There are a few grammatical errors but that didn’t distract me from enjoying the story. I’m looking forward to hearing more of the Dungeon Noble.
March 22, 2025
Competent, but fairly average. Nothing really grabbed my attention about this, but nothing really bothered me either, so it's a wash. Not sure I'll continue with this if it develops into a series, but I won't rule it out.
March 28, 2025
Not bad but MC meh
I liked the unique system and progression. Interesting world. But I just don’t mesh with the MC. Jake feels so flat and boring. I didn’t even want to finish the book (I did) because I was so over him.
I liked the unique system and progression. Interesting world. But I just don’t mesh with the MC. Jake feels so flat and boring. I didn’t even want to finish the book (I did) because I was so over him.
May 28, 2025
great start to a series well written world and magic system
This is a good book I look forward to his next in the series. I hope in the next we get more personality from the characters.
This is a good book I look forward to his next in the series. I hope in the next we get more personality from the characters.
February 19, 2025
A very good read, lots of dungeon diving plus action, only problem I have is there a second book? I certainly hope so! I do recommend the book
March 11, 2025
Slow
You have to wait till 50% for the MC to finally achieve a simple task and it’s a let down. Progression and explanations are way too slow. Interesting premise, poor execution.
You have to wait till 50% for the MC to finally achieve a simple task and it’s a let down. Progression and explanations are way too slow. Interesting premise, poor execution.
March 14, 2025
Slow
The main character is not too bright he is always getting hurt , he chose a weapon that he is not good with. Always trying to hide his class
The main character is not too bright he is always getting hurt , he chose a weapon that he is not good with. Always trying to hide his class
March 16, 2025
dull
This book is very slow. The MC doesn’t seem that smart. His abilities are lackluster and the character development and world building are lacking.
This book is very slow. The MC doesn’t seem that smart. His abilities are lackluster and the character development and world building are lacking.
October 21, 2025
This wasn’t terrible, for a LitRPG.
The main character has no depth. His drive is purely his vain desires. Basic orphan story with zero depth to any of the characters.
The main character has no depth. His drive is purely his vain desires. Basic orphan story with zero depth to any of the characters.
January 9, 2026
Boring and very slow, ultimately forget able. DNF at 30 %...
January 12, 2026
Great read
Really enjoyed reading this, and shows an appearance side to an RPG world, where the character starts as an underdog
Really enjoyed reading this, and shows an appearance side to an RPG world, where the character starts as an underdog
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews