Wake a Dungeon. Form a Guild. Fight to Restore the World.
Kai was the least likely young man to ascend. Raised on his uncle’s potato farm, he began his career as an adventurer with empty pockets and little skill. But a foolish attempt to prove his bravery leads Kai to unlock hidden power within himself and acquire a most unlikely ally.
Rhona is a battle-scarred soldier who’s as likely to toss a quip as she is to throw a punch. After setting aside a promising career in the army to pursue the Path of the Bleeding Tiger, she sets out to stop a war and seek atonement for a bloody past.
When Bancroft the Earth Core awakens, he can’t wait to clean up his dungeon and begin building things anew. A recovered item from his past reminds him that more is at stake, however, putting an end to such pleasantries.
Join The Guild Core, a small band of friends determined to restore the world to an age of dragons, heroes, and honor.
The Guild Core is a novel by TJ Reynolds Fantasy LitRPG author of Eternal Online books 1-3. The Guild Core was inspired by the Divine Dungeon series, the Wheel of Time, and classic films like The Labyrinth and The Neverending Story.
This story takes place in an Epic Fantasy world governed by gaming mechanics. It contains light to moderate LitRPG, Gamelit, Cultivation and Dungeon Core elements. Features realistic violence, 3 MC POVs, and more than a few quaint jokes. Language and adult content is appropriate for teen readers.
An enjoyable read... even with one of our main characters clumsy floundering. It's a little slow going, but it picks up near the end. It's going to be an interesting series for sure.
It was cute, fun, but a little slow, a little predictable. I liked it but it didn’t blow my socks off. I can see how this would be a nice comfort read, like going back to the Forgotten Realms books I read as a teen.
I do appreciate all the world building and the character development. The plot moved slowly and that allowed for these other two elements to get a very solid start. Perhaps the rest of the series will have faster plots or more extraordinary things happen. The litRPG aspects were built in for whenever a character leveled ip but weren’t cumbersome or boringly long.
Kai was the first character I got attached to. He’s struggling to make ends meet, like literally. His clothes are falling apart, he never know for sure where his next meal is coming from, and his little hovel is questionable as living quarters. But then one bad choice and a bit of dare leads him into a long-abandoned dungeon and that’s when one crazy good thing happens to him. In floats Ban (Bancroft, an awakened Earth Core). The two become fast friends.
Meanwhile, Rhona is struggling to find a peaceful center after years of battle. She’s got a decent amount of coin in her pocket after a small band of highwaymen misjudged her as an easy mark. Silly bandits. Rhona continues on with their mounts and few belongings, donating the mounts to an orphanage. Her immediate quest is to find a guru of sorts, but what she finds isn’t quite what she expected. Still, the experience leaves her with deeper meanings and a little lighter heart. I liked Rhona too, but her storyline was pretty slow and tame to start with.
Overall, the tale continues like this – mostly slow and rambly with small moments of action or a few minor surprises. I did like the little bits of banter but the story did leave me wanting more. This feels like a very long prologue to something bigger, grander. I really hope book 2 gives us that. 3.5/5 stars.
The Narration: Steve Campbell was a really good fit for this story. He had distinct voices for all the characters and his female voices sounded feminine. His variety in character voices was pretty impressive for this story, which had a big cast of characters. I especially liked his old lady voice and Ban’s voice. The pacing was perfect and there were no technical errors with this recording. 5/5 stars.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by T.J. Reynolds and Steve Campbell. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
I was granted complimentary access to a copy of Dragon Bourne by the author through Audiobookworm Promotions in exchange for an honest review as part of my participation in a blog tour for this title. Thank you to T.J. Reynolds and Audiobookworm for this opportunity! This has not swayed my opinion. My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.
Normally I start my reviews off with a teaser-style synopsis in three sentences or less, but there’s a lot going on in the book, the official synopsis that’ll be included in any place you’re reading this review does a good job, and I’ve got other things to talk about that aren’t just a gloss over of the plot, so let’s skip that.
I loved this book, but I had absolutely no idea how to formulate my thoughts when I was done, so I hopped on Goodreads to see what previous reviewers were saying about it. I had no idea that this (dragon core) was a wider genre with established norms and tropes and I feel like a n00b now because I don’t know if the things I loved about this book are standard issue or not. I did grow up with geeky friends and spent my early twenties dating a World of Darkness (White Wolf) Storyteller (think D&D Dungeon Master, but different company’s umbrella of games) so I’m familiar with tabletop and live action RPG, I just had no idea that more than one person had thought to novelize the concept beyond companion books from the publishers of Dungeons and Dragons, World of Darkness, etc. (By the way, protip to other significant others of DMs/storytellers/etc., when you agree to NPC for them play 20 questions and make sure you know who you’re playing. Being set loose with a stats sheet and no back story only to be kidnapped by the player vampires because you’re actually the rival court’s queen and you should know important things… We’re still friends, that was over a decade ago and I still haven’t let him live that down. Hey, Chris?)
Okay, review, I’m supposed to be reviewing. Other reviewers are discussing how the dungeon is usually the main character and this book flips that trope on its head by primarily following a chosen one instead. Obviously I wouldn’t have known that and as a first timer to the genre nothing felt wrong with the character arrangement, but I do think it’s interesting that the dungeon normally would be the MC. If this genre is a spinoff of Dungeons and Dragons in particular then that kind of makes intuitive sense in that the person telling the story and leading the campaign in D&D is the Dungeon Master and the game’s dungeon (setting) is the source of all of the plot elements (be they NPCs or environmental obstacles.) It really is interesting then that Dragon Bourne pushes the dungeon character off to the side in a supporting role. I suppose that’s the freedom of translating this type of story telling into a novel (and not a choose your own adventure one at that) because in an RPG campaign you have actual people behind so many of the other characters making choices and forcing changes upon the story. The only way to think of that sort of story telling as having an MC without alienating all but one player is to think of the DM or the dungeon itself as the MC. (If you’ve made it this far through the review and you’re utterly lost because you aren’t even familiar with RPG but you’ve at least caught on that this would make the MC the antagonist, keep in mind that main characters don’t have to be protagonists regardless of genre.)
Some things that I enjoyed about this book and its world and characters that I’m now thinking may possibly be parr for the course in the dragon core/LitRPG genre: * The cores being tied to single elements means this book uses an elemental magic system (at least in part) and I’m a sucker for elemental magic. * Not only does the plot involve characters levelling up and literally applying points to their stats and experiencing an immediate change (obviously this must be standard to the genre) but some of the characters have to be instructed about this process and their initial excitement about it followed by a more careless approach as it becomes routine is hilarious and spot-on for how new players handle it in actual RPGs. * I love the fact that when characters choose to change their class and do something else with their lives their stats sheet shows the skills and abilities they used to have that have now been deleted.
The plot absolutely reads like the progression of an RPG campaign with several different players who have their own goals in mind. The world building and description in this book is so thorough and vivid. There’s a lot of humour used, too. Mostly it comes out in what the different characters are thinking or saying but there’s the occasional clever use of situational humour as well.
At 16 hours and change this is a fairly long audiobook. Due to the timing of this tour stop in comparison with other review stops I ended up cramming it into a shorter timeframe than I really should have allowed for and I found myself getting bored at times. I think that’s okay for a book in this genre. RPG campaigns don’t start and finish in just one session unless you’ve specifically gathered for a marathon session. It makes perfect sense that an adaptation of that into a format that is simply read or listened to passively would be best consumed in chunks. The fact that I got bored at places is not a negative reflection on the writing nor on the narrative performance (which was excellent, by the way.) It’s a reflection of the fact that it should feel epically long and require breaks.
Since I’ve mentioned it: the narrative performance. I started playback at my usual 1.5x speed but ended up on 2x as I was trying to push through with enough time left to compose a thoughtful review. This performance was easy to listen to and follow at those speeds, but I don’t feel like I would have been able to go faster, which leads me to the conclusion that Steve may narrate faster than the average narrator I’ve come across. (Remember this is my first dive into the genre, so that’s not a statement about LitRPG narrators.) His voice was clear and he made each character sound unique without doing the annoying overly pitched-up thing men frequently do when voicing a female character. One of the characters ended up sounding a little like C-3PO, which I loved, but I’m not sure it would come across that way played at normal speed. Perhaps it’s a fun little unintended easter egg for us speedy listeners.
Overall, I loved this book. As someone who is familiar with RPGs but had no idea there was a LitRPG or dragon core genre out there to explore I can assure you this is a great place to start if you’re also in that position. I didn’t spot any of those things above that are apparently up for debate without seeing other reviewers bring them up, but I wasn’t lost at all in the book itself, which means this book does an excellent job of relying on the tropes of RPGs and otherwise standing on its own as a piece of fiction to pick up and read without prior experience.
-- I read this title for a blog tour! To read the rest of the post and gain easy access to the rest of the tour, visit: https://www.westveilpublishing.com/?p...
At first I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as it turns out, I was pleasantly surprised. I loved that there were 3 POV’s from the main characters. This story was well written so that we could easily follow along on this fantastic adventure. As with most series like this, the first book is usually filled with explanations and back stories of each character which allows the reader/listener to understand and appreciate the story to the fullest. This book has all that and more. The joy of Bancroft coming to life and the beautiful, strong willed & witty Rhona were both so much fun, but my favorite character was Kai. Kai was so excitable in everything from taking on the town bullies to unlocking his hidden powers. He has a big heart and although not exactly built like a soldier, he is very brave. The narration was absolutely perfect. Steve Campbell’s voice acting talents are brilliant as he brings each character to life. I know these characters, I love this story and I’m now on this journey with them. Well done everyone! This is book 1 with an HEA but this adventure continues. I highly recommend this book.
Audiobook provided as part of the Audiobookworm Promotions Tour. Review first posted at Girl Who Reads. A free copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
Kai was raised on a potato farm but stumbled across a destroyed dungeon when he wanted to prove himself to the village bullies. Bancroft, a resurrected earth core, wants to clean up the wreckage of his dungeon and create things again. Rhona is tired of killing and death, so she gives up her commission in the army to take on the Path of the Bleeding Tiger to atone for the damage she had done. The three of them eventually get together to bring the world back to one of honor and dragons.
This is part of the LitRPG group of fantasy novels, where the game mechanics of MMO's and RPG's determine how the world works. Characters work on their progression via combat, etheric essence from the defeated enemy entering the conquering person. These are the experience points that you would earn if playing a game. Or Ban, as a sentient dungeon that is usually bonded to dragons, needs to have particular types of materials to create other objects. He even explains the random mechanics of loot drops to Kai at one point and teaches him about the history of dragons, gods, and how earth cores work. How he absorbs items and creatures reminds me of the anime "That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime." (It's really cute if you want to watch it, by the way.) As the first novel in the Guild Core books, the explanation of all the mechanics are worked in so the listener (in my case, since I had the audiobook, though there is also a print version) understands how this works in case they don't know how games like this work. It's naturally worked in, because Kai is an utter newbie, and killing rats, in the beginning, is as much luck for him as growing skill. I started laughing when Kai discovers what his attribute statistics are because it reminds me so much of character creation for RPG's.
Rhona converts her essence into powerful blows now that she's leaving swords and armor behind so that what looks like light taps will break bone and create internal injuries. It's a really interesting look at how monk mechanics work in fiction; they don't call it that in the text until she looks at her own stats. (And you can tell I've spent far too long playing Pathfinder, so I recognize different classes at work before they're named!) She has to fight off considerable misogyny from people outside of the army, and even her own father. Her father's racist views on nonhumans is denounced in the text and by Rhona herself and is yet another reason for her to leave the established power structure and strike out on her own. For much of the story, her thread is separate from Kai and Ban's. Because of her experience, her fights are far more interesting to listen to than Kai going up against rats at the beginning of the book, so I was frustrated at how long it took for their paths to cross.
Different inflections and accents mark each of our main POV characters, so even if I didn't hear the chapter title, I knew who was speaking. Steve Campbell does a great job with the narration and pacing throughout the novel and hit the right pacing for the jokes within the text. While the audiobook is over sixteen hours, I hardly noticed how time passed as I was listening. I have played various MMO's and RPG's for decades, so it was easy for me to pick up on the mechanics they were talking about and I could focus more on the sword and sorcery aspect of the story, as well as the characters' emotions and story arcs. For those not as familiar with game mechanics, it's naturally explained in simple enough terms as the story progresses and doesn't always feel like an info dump. I really enjoyed listening to this novel, and I think others will, too.
I get the feeling the author wanted to do too much with this first book of this Fantasy-game-like-dungeon-dungeon-core-cultivation-training-and-the-two-other-main-characters book series... Usually it's a Dungeon delving story series or a Dungeon Core story series (because these two have opposite viewpoints, one from the point of view of the adventurers or dungeon delvers and the other from the point of view of the Dungeon Core or the Dungeon Master)...Then, Kai was an orphan that was incapable, had no training, was not that smart, nor strong, nor did he have any special abilities...So, the author trained him all the time, as if this wasn't long enough, goes back in time several times to tell the readers the moments when he was born, when his Mom died, and several other moments that Kai had forgotten, throughout his life. As if this was not enough then there is everything Bancroft (the Dungeon Core does) governance, upgrades, of the Dungeon, and servicing Kai, giving Kai training, designing his living quarters, etc. etc. etc. creating the monsters that Kai fights and conquers to level up, etc. etc. etc. And then the author includes two other people's lives, viewpoints and treats them as main characters as well...and the story moves as slow as molasses...with little to no action...a lot of flashbacks and past memories, a lot of training inside the Dungeon...etc... Usually Dungeon Delving stories do not have Dungeon Core Stories and LitRPG details because everything is just too much information...But either the author wanted to do it all in this story series, or simply could not say no, to prioritize the story in one specific aspect instead of the story being all over the place (past, present, Dungeon, training, memories, traveling, etc. etc. etc.) The author never really explains why are Dragons linked to Dungeon Cores... Author writes about Fundamental Dragons, when the term usually used are Elemental Dragons, Archaic Dragons, etc...and then after, the author also makes Kai choose what type of Elemental Dragon to become...what profession, abilities and skills to have, etc. etc. etc. It feels overwhelming to have an "ALL YOU CAN EAT - POTPOURRI-BUFFET-BBQ-"... I find it strange that an orphan that was a farmer, had learned how to read, then weirder that this "country bumkin" is thinking about creating runes, and advanced magic, when almost no time has passed since the Dungeon Core was resuscitated/resetted/restarted... The constant child abuse that Rhona was exposed to, from her "biological Dad" made me cringe. I do not know why the author repeated the abuse, repeated the constant abuse, continued to write about the constant child abuse... "Shivving" is used over 60 times and it never means "having sex"...Usually it is a term used by people in jail and it means that they create a "knife" (Shiv) from materials found around the jail and use it to "stab" other people in jail... The author even uses "Shivving" as an adjective to describe "Shivving Dungeons"... (Dungeons that "stab"??) (Dungeons that "scr*w you over"??? Weird no??? The last point I would like to mention is that the author titles this first book Guild Core (not Dungeon Delving or Dungeon Core), and it is his intention to make this story, the "dragon" Kai, the Dungeon Core, Ban, the resetted/restarted Dungeon a "Guild Dungeon"...where a guild is "An association of persons of the same trade or pursuits, formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards." So, not a stand-alone Dungeon, but a Dungeon part of a "system of Dungeons"... Too much for one book no???
Kai is a young man determined to make it on his own, even if he's struggling to make ends meet---until a single bad decision sends him into the depths of a ruined dungeon. There, however, he inadvertently contacts the shattered core.
Rhona is an ex-soldier trying to walk the path of a monk. She's determined to live a different life than the one her abusive father laid out for her. But his legacy and her fate intertwine in strange ways . . .
This was pretty good, although the wuxia styled progression system mixed with a bit of LitRPG left me feeling like the story should've either committed harder to the LitRPG or removed it. Bancroft, for instance, feels a lot like arbitrary numbers thrown around, since we never get its stat sheet, and things aren't explained until it's actually spending them. So there's no way the reader can attempt to guess where those plans will go. With Kai, at least, we can see where he is, what he's got available, and have opinions about his progress.
And if you aren't into LitRPG, this is still a solid fantasy story about two young people and one dungeon core who end up banding together to ensure their own survival and probably eventually save the world.
The characters are well-drawn. Everyone comes to life: from Kai's insecurity and eagerness to Bancroft's creativity and loneliness to Rhona's struggle to master her new path. I was also particularly pleased by how a few twists resolved near the end. It did take a long time for Rhona's story to intertwine with Kai and Bancroft, but once she does it starts to feel more like they'll be a team going forward.
Overall this was interesting and I'm looking forward to the sequel. I rate this book Recommended.
I loved this series. I believe it was one of the first, LitRPG's, that I had read, and as an avid gamer, I was hooked. I went from this to TJ's Shattered Sword series, but it was the Guild Core series that set me on fire, and it is something I think about as I write my own stories. I love, how the characters progress. How they explore the world, and how they grow.
I believe that growth is what truly sets apart the LitRPG genre from the rest of the sci-fi / fantasy, sub genres. Yes, there can be the highlighting of various social, or psychological, political, sometimes scientific, or even, the exploration of religious themes, but these tend not to be the focus of this genre, as it often is with the other sub genres.
Why do we love video games? And, I'm a grinder, generally. I also love the loot and shoots, games such as the Borderland Series, to name one. MMO's are still a thing with me, and, this is what I see in books such as "Dragon Bourne".
I see a character, thrown into the world, struggling, facing tremendous odds, and, through exploration, through a willingness to face an unknown, to seek answers, and then, to,
ACT,
He grows.
And we delight in their choices, these... heroes, heroines. Often underdogs, to begin with. But, not victims, for they seek a way forward, rise up, strike out, and we watch as they deliberate, as they, discover, as they choose, and fail, and return, time and time again, Always, Taking us, with, them.
And, here, the writing is good. The journey is smooth, and we laugh, and we cry, and we shout and we put ourselves in the hero's shoes. Make their choices with them. Spin the dice, with them.
Great world building, and great characters and character development! Also, the author does a good job cf balancing perspectives between the 3 main characters.
The idea is that dungeons have most of the dungeony aspects from other books, but their main purpose is to take care of their bonded dragons. Then something happens (historically speaking), and all the dragons are targeted and killed, and their dungeons are then destroyed or enslaved. So the story begins, with a continent in three-sided war, a bunch of abandoned ‘shivvered’ dungeons, and in the middle of it, a boy is dared to enter and touch one of the broken cores. Except when he does, something unexpected happens!
The only thing I would say that could be improved would be that the MC’s are pretty crazy naïve, which is kinda expected of Kai, and maybe Ban, but our 3rd MC was in a medieval army, which tends to make a girl a lot more jaded than she acts. But hey, maybe she’s just resilient. I’ll just accept it, since it’s a pretty small thing anyway.
(disclaimer: read the story initially on Royal Road before purchasing it)
While dungeon core stories tend to feature the dungeon as the main character, with potentially adventurers as a secondary main character, this one flips the usual order. Here, we follow a chosen one main character, who stumbles upon a dungeon, and then the core becomes an assistant and secondary character in the main adventurer/potential team story.
The setting is well crafted, but the story itself uses all the standard tropes of the genre, and, in general, did not advance the plot very far. The character are okay, but the story was unexciting - solid, but not extraordinary. Most of the excitement comes from promising hints for the next book. That's fine, but that leaves the first book as a slight disappointment.
Mistakes: I only found one mistake in the entire book. There was a random had stuck into a sentence.
Plot: I honestly put off reading this book for some time, based purely on the cover. I'm starting to dislike dragons. Everyone seems to be writing them into their stories these days, as a bonded pet. I was afraid that this book was going to be one of those. It isn't. I was nicely surprised. A young man finds he has the ability to revive shattered dungeon cores, while a young last with a haunted past strives to not follow in her father's footsteps. There is plenty of action and some dungeon building.
Characters: The team up between the two characters felt a bit forced. The rest flowed pretty smooth though. I like the characters enough to follow along, but they also are easily forgettable when you pick up another book.
I really hope our protagonist takes revenge for getting beat up and his stuff stolen. I really dislike authors having bad stuff happen to the protagonist, and when the protagonist can address the wrongs done to him, lets the bad guys walk off.
A father living through the actions of his daughter, and forcing his daughter to take more dangerous jobs so he can get a thrill from the retelling of events... Don't know why this stood out to me.
I feel that if I didn't read the Divine Dungeons series (and saw the dungeons going through everyday life), somethings in this novel would have stumped me, where the dungeon is concerned.
I finished the book, but I'm not sure that I want to continue the series. Something in this book is just off in some way. I can't put my finger on it, but reading a sequel is unappealing.
Parents: This easily hits R rating levels due to L,V,S - bad language (although no f-bombs), the violence has fairly intense levels of gore (rated X in detail), and then the sexual content has allusions to paid intimate relationships, specific focus on female anatomy—bosom shaking as she worked, hips that could hold off winter, etc. allusions to orgasm, tits. Along with a first time story using vague details.
The story is surrounding Kai, who has big dreams for a farm boy and struggles to work towards becoming more that a beginning adventurer. Really fun RPG style book but definitely for adult readers.
The narrator has good differentiations and pacing, Pleasant voice.
—I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
What an adventure! The author has built characters that you love and some that you hate. Kai was a downtrodden orphan, befriended by few and bullied by several, ignored by most. At least until he saved Ban, a dungeon that had been destroyed. He discovers who his parents were and that he is a half dragon. Adventures and battle occur, then he meets Rhona, a former soldier turned monk. The main characters come alive in this well written book. On to the next in the series , with hope that it is as good. Giving this one five stars.
I normally struggle with dungeon core storylines as they feel so constrained by the fixed location. This novel took some interesting twists on the genre and overcame this limitation. The story is predominantly combat orientated, no crafting or town building etc. generally focussed on three main characters with turn about POV. This left me a little less engaged as I prefer a single MC perspective but I was thankful there was no overlapping narrative where every perspective of an event is covered. Overall I enjoyed it and can recommend this novel.
It took a few chapters for the plot to get interesting for me. Once it did, I found the rest of the book to be nicely paced and easy to read.
I liked all the three major POV characters (Kai, Rhona and Ban). Having already read a ton of progression fantasy series, the magic system didn't catch my attention much, except for the dungeon core bonding and Rhona's path. It also didn't help that after Kai met Ban, the progression seemed really sped up.
I liked that the stat sheets were presented only when relevant. Overall, I'd say the book would appeal to most progression fantasy fans.
The writing is decent if somewhat lazy in certain areas. Sometimes the author would describe a character as giving off some sort of impression they want you to feel instead of actually using literary devices to make you feel those things.
Mostly though, the story struggles with having an extremely over-the-top high school bully character that would make the disney channel writers say "don't you think that's over the top?"
This book is a bit uneven with three POV characters with mostly separate storylines that each give off a different feeling, telling you "this book is going to be like this" but "this" referring to different things. If each were on their own, none of them would be bad, but I think they suffered a bit when compared to each other. Hopefully, all that will be solved if the next volume has the three POV's share the same story from the start.
This review is but a speed bump from me downloading book 2
I hear read this while at Dragon con 2021. Kind of fitting with Kia's heritage. Actually got to meet the author here and he was super nice. At first, I wanted just the Kai chapters when the Rhoda chapters hit, but the author did a good job of leaving on a minor cliffhanger. As son. as she got.on her own, that changed.
Good progression and leveling. Looking forward to the next one.
I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next one. The author does a great job world building as well as having some great fight scenes while also setting up a dungeon core story. Definitely following in the footsteps of a certain author who's name rhymes with trout.
There is one thing that usually turns me off when it comes to books. An author using multiple points of view. However TJ has a way of doing this that doesn't bother me at all and it actually makes the book better. Without going into spoilers, the story in this book made me want more. I cannot wait until the second comes out. Write fast!!! ;-)
I enjoyed this tale, and it was a good start to a series. I think it fits in the dungeon genre - but branches enough into GameLit generally that I think it’s a good read for people who are less interested in a dungeon only story.
It has multiple characters with progression arcs, and is a fun read from start to finish. Look forward to book 2
A great original take on the litrpg genre. I enjoyed it immensely, and would have gladly given it 5 stars were it not for the epilogue. I understand its a series, and one wants to continue interest in the story, but this epilogue struck me more as the start of a new book: far too much introduction of information. It would have been a perfect book otherwise.
2.5 to 3 Stars, it was okay at times but not at others. The over all was just okay and nothing special. Unsure if I would continue with more from this author. It was pretty standard stuff for the most part and nothing to right home about as they say. It was almost a DNF as some points too but that may have been more about me than the book.
Good YA book. Good, but I had some issues with it. There was good interplay between the characters and a reasonable (for YA) plot. The MC didn't seen to feel any of real feelings that I'd expect, but was driven solely by a desire to succeed. The growth of the dungeon was also far faster than I would expect.
The premise is fun. The story moves well enough. I did not like the casual foul and raunchy talk. I get he's trying to establish what it's like in the army and how rough and tumble they are, but it is not good. I fast forwarded a few parts. Interestingly, if you keep going in the series, the 3rd book is much cleaner. But the first two had several skip parts.
I really enjoyed this book, it is a mix of cultivation and dungeon core. I have never really got into the dungeon core books but cannot wait to read the next book in this series!
Fusing two subgenres together, this book was a fantastic read. Multi perspective tends to become hard to follow after a while, but here it was done well. The pacing ended up a little spiky at points, but the story and plot play into this and made it work.
Fun book great characters story of redemption story of finding oneself this book I highly recommend to anybody who is LITRPG. The mechanics are not all in your face but they are they’re very subtly and used very well