Christmas Core

A Holiday Dungeon Core Novella

By: Jonathan Brooks

Narrated by: Miles Meili

Length: 3 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

A love of Christmas is translated into a unique dungeon experience…

Elmer Robbins loved decorating for every holiday with his wife, Mary, by going all-out with décor at their cozy little house as well as filling his office with holiday cheer. But, when his beloved Mary passed away unexpectedly the year before, it became difficult for Elmer to summon the same sort of enthusiasm in decorating for all of the holidays without her beside him.

However, due to an accident at work, Elmer’s soul is transported to a strange world, where it inhabits an even stranger object called a "Dungeon Core". Soon after his arrival, the new Dungeon Core discovers something he didn’t think was possible: a way to reconnect with the soul of his wife, Mary.

In order to do that, though, Elmer will need to survive and increase the level of his newly acquired form. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know much about fantasy worlds, magic, and monsters; what he does know a lot about, however, is Christmas.

Christmas Core is a short novella set in a unique universe that contains LitRPG and Dungeon Core elements such as stats and character progression.

©2021 Jonathan Brooks (P)2022 Jonathan Brooks

A fun take on dungeon core focusing on holidays!

Jonathan Brooks knows great dungeon core, and book 1 of the Holiday Dungeon Core series, Christmas Core, is amazing! Quite original, the dungeon is focused on Christmas of course, and the locals on the world the MC was sent to as a dungeon core have no idea what Christmas is nor any of its traditions or tropes. Looking forward to book 2 in the series, Valentine Core! Audio Version: Miles Meili always does an amazing job narrating, bringing characters and story mood to life.

Brooks Delivered Again

Brooks delivers another masterpiece. As with his other works, he turned a seeming ridiculous concept into a fully realized story. A Christmas-themed dungeon seems far fetched to the uninitiated, but he made the concept work. I am looking forward to the sequel!

To short!!

Just as you are getting into the story it ends!!! I understand it's a novela but I just wanted more. Looking forward to the next addition.

Amazing listen

I liked how Elmer used his knowledge to make a Christmas dungeon, and I noticed that it was a holiday dungeon so I was hoping that there was more than just Christmas, I know Valentine's is next, but there is many other holidays more if outside the United States. I listen/read the book this time, I like the added sound parts that enhanced the listening experience

I was entertained

~Disclaimer: I received a free audiobook copy of this book.~

As I enjoyed the other dungeon books by Jonathan Brooks (The Dungeon Fairy and Dungeon Crafting), I couldn’t resist the free audiobook. April isn’t really the ideal time to read a book based on Christmas, but I suppose it is Easter this Sunday and therefore I’ll claim the timing is right.

I had fun with this. It follows most of the standards you would expect for a dungeon core book, but the holiday themed dungeon makes it fun. I think the dungeon minions, traps and whatnot are imaginative takes comboing Dungeons+Christmas.

It falls in the category of a bubblegum read for me short (150ish pages), relies heavily on its premise (holiday dungeon), and doesn’t have a ton of world building. But a quick read that entertains me is what I look for after a day at work and this fulfills that need.

I nabbed the sequel already because the kindle book was free ATM. I’m interested to see where the story will take us next because we haven’t had enough time to really flesh things out. Plus....I had fun and want to read more.

Narration was solid and consistent. I enjoyed his takes on the characters. I didn’t notice any audio issues.

A purposefully short but very enjoyable story

I wasn't sure what to expect given the short duration of the story, but once again Jonathan Brooks surprised me with his narrative. The shorter story meant that the story got into the dungeon core "mode" fairly quickly, but it felt like the right pace for the length of the novella. I enjoyed that the MC didn't suddenly become an expert strategist but rather a more realistic "person" given his age and life experiences. The MC's lack of knowledge of pop culture actually made me chuckle a couple of times. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novella and plan to listen to the rest of series and recommend it to anyone as a introduction to dungeon core-type books.

Fun Litrpg

This was a nice little story that I finished in one sitting. The really cool thing about Christmas Core is that it will appeal to a regular reader to this genre but because the main character is completely new to that type of world, a new reader can understand it too .

I was voluntarily given this book for a fair and honest review.

full novel

I loved this book. I think this would be cool to see as a full novel/book.

Let the seasonal party beginI with Christmas

This is one of those books that he can definitely explain expand on but at the same time it's perfect the way it isyou'll enjoy it as a nice little Is something to listen to or read It'll Is the rest of the family wakes up And can be the 1st present you get to open while you're waiting for the rest of the family To get up Christmas and the bridge the Valentine is perfect

great story

a great story can't wait for the next book in the series. Jonathan is one of my favorite writers.