Brave Adventurers Come Together to Vanquish Ancient Evil (And to Look for Treasure).
Fleeing wrongful arrest, Rasmus the Wizard and Viddo Furtive stumble across an underground city so ancient, that nobody even remembers its name. Drawn onwards by curiosity and a thirst for adventure, they explore its deserted streets, unaware that they have discovered a place full of danger. This lost city hides many things – deadly secrets that have wiped out its citizens as they searched for their long-forgotten gods.
Trapped far beneath the earth, wizard and thief face creatures of great power and malice. But Rasmus and Viddo are not defenceless, for each is at the pinnacle of his profession and as deadly as they come. Can they uncover what happened to these forgotten people and escape with their fair share of the loot?
Dungeon Explorers is a light-hearted, action-packed fantasy adventure, filled with magic, swordplay and treasure hunting. It forms the first part in a new series, but can be read as a standalone book.
Anthony James spent his youth reading what might now be called classic sci-fi and fantasy books. These days, he spends time in his study with the door locked against rampant and ferocious toddlers, writing books of his own.
That's the third person stuff out of the way.
For anyone who's read any of my books, you'll know that I write action science fiction that pulls no punches and which doesn't cram the good stuff into the last couple of chapters. The action starts early and it doesn't let up. I also take care to mix in plenty of humanity. The characters I write are all distinctly believable, often facing uncaring enemies and overwhelming odds. When they win, it's because they did their best.
Go on. Punch an alien today. Better yet, check out my series of books, each one filled with action, technology, warfare, aliens and against-the-odds survival. Lots of kick-back-and-enjoy weekend or evening reading.
This book reminded me of Terry Pratchett. The story follows two adventurers as they explore a dungeon. There is a very good camaraderie between the two with jokes and trust that shows they are friends. The only thing that doesn't make this a 5 star is that it seemed a bit incomplete. They never finished exploring/defeating the whole dungeon and the author never explained how they didn't starve or dehydrate in the dungeon, though the author did mention it quite often.
Fantasy fiction has been greatly influenced by Dungeons &Dragons, including several book series based on D&D campaigns. But very few novels have dealt with the dungeon exploration aspect of it, where characters explore underground ruins and encounter monsters, traps, and treasure. Even actual D&D novels tend to downplay it.
But this novel is focused pretty much entirely on dungeon exploration. Two very experienced adventurers, a master thief and a powerful wizard end up exploring a cave, which turns out to be much more than that, a large dungeon complex. So they explore, partly out of curiosity, partly to look for loot.
If you've ever played D&D, you will recognize many, many D&Disms. From the abilities of the thief character to most of the spells used by the wizard
If it were just dungeon exploration, it might get boring, but the two characters have a pretty good repartee between each other. Maybe not Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, but often funny.
Only downside is the ending, which is awfully abrupt
Excellent adventure and companionship, though the loot could have been a little more lucrative. I do admit to skimming some descriptions of rooms and such, but the dialogue between the two friends is top-notch. The humour both in the interactions and the narrative voice is rather reminiscent of Terry Pratchett.
The errors I found, I made note of and added suggestions in the Kindle highlights feature.
This is a very well written story, almost an LRPG, I would say the only reason it is not is that the author does not use number or a character sheet in any way. I have read all three books in this series and I would recommend that if you give this author a chance he won't disappoint.
This was a very enjoyable read. The verbal interplay between the two main characters is entertaining and engaging. The story is well put together with good pacing, never a dull moment.