Dungeon Lord

The Wraith's Haunt: A LitRPG Series, Book 1

By: Hugo Huesca

Narrated by: Jeff Hays, Annie Ellicott

Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's Summary

Dark forces have extended Edward Wright an offer of incredible power at a terrible cost...and Edward has chosen to make them regret it.

When Edward is swept into the world of Ivalis as a Dungeon Lord, the Dark's most powerful servant, he has no servitude in mind. He'll oppose the evil plans of the Dark god, Murmur, whatever it takes.

Through only his wits and his guts to help him survive a weakened arrival, Edward must rise to power if he is to earn the right to live another day. But in the battle between Dark and Light, what can Edward choose if both sides are cruel, uncaring monsters? Cold gods laugh in the distant world of Ivalis. Heroes chase after power and experience, while Kings send their armies to their deaths in the name of the Dark and the Light.

But no one expects the rise of the Dungeon Lord.... And in the world of Ivalis, maybe a single man can forge his own path.

With the One Man Theater himself at the helm, joined by the sensational Annie Ellicott as two of the most disturbing monsters ever produced by Soundbooth Theater, we hope you never forget this horrifying LitRPG experience.

The Soundbooth Theater team for this production:

• Jeff Hays - Narration, Characters, Production Supervision
• Annie Ellicott - Amphiris the Spider Queen, Ilene the Mindbrood
• Dalton Lynne - Proofing, Editing
• Alex Tate - Production, Editing, Mastering

©2017 Hugo Huesca (P)2018 Soundbooth Theater

Over all too soon!!

I'll be honest here, I am beginning to listen to just about everything I can find that Jeff Hays records. The man is vocal monster, and his range is scary. DL sees him providing ever newer voices to his repertoire and th world is better for it. The man is a vocal monster, and I think his taste in choosing what to read is almost at the same level. I don't know how he picks his books, but I have never heard him narrate a dud. Annie Ellicot does a great job here, too. the pair work seamlessly together that is reminiscent of Old Time Radio Dramas, but much much better.

DL 1, looks to be like the first in a long line of books; I am happy to say. It has a great style, lots of humor, and a gross and terrifying monster to trouble our "evil" Dungeon Lord and his minions. Hugo keeps the book nicely paced, and it is always interesting. Additionally, it handles the "I live in a video game" troupe in a cool way. One of the things I really enjoy is getting to watch the main character level up, and I had to laugh when the MC complains that he hardly got any experience for killing a high level monster. The explanation he gets was completely justifiable, and not something you see in these LitRPG novels nowadays. The hero is clever, intelligent, and brave but not suicidal or stupid. He behaves in a logical and reasonable manner.

This is a great book, and I most highly recommend it to you. Go read it now, so we can get more of Lord Wraith's adventures.

Annoying narration

Can't get over the annoying narrators and the sound effects. Could have been an interesting series but won't listen to any more.

Bad even for a LitRPG

They must have bought these 5* reviews. Story is uninteresting, the universe bland, main character is annoying in a self righteous ignorant sort of way and he spends most the book with what are basically npcs. If you want a good dungeon building Litrpg get Dungeon Born. If you just want a Littpg go with just about any other one... dont believe these 4/5* reviews.

Hhrrmmmmnn...

Jeff Hays does a great job as always.

Oh boy the odd battle writing...I never felt that I didn't know what was going on. But I did find the battles often describing an action and then immediately contradicting that action or altering it. It was jarring but not to the point where it didn't make sense to the reader/listener.

This definitely needed to be longer. There was a lot that happened, and a lot that didn't happen.

The main character doesn't seem to make the perfect decisions, which is great. I would have done things much differently if I were in his shoes so it highlights a gamer mindset different from my own. I just hope the rest of the series is consistent with his decision making process.

Good book

The book caught me off guard, it was entertaining, the story was pretty nice and the narration was great, it was far more graphic than any other litrpg book I've read or listened to so far though.

Different than I expected, better than some.

The aspect of playing as a dungeon lord is different enough that I was not sure how it would play out. For that plot premise, I think the book is worth a listen(if you like the LitRPG genre). I didn't feel hammered with stats and skill choices, and they somehow felt more integrated into he storyline then other LitRPG books I have listened to.

I finished book 2 and it was just as interesting, so I think its worth starting the series. On the down side, the epilogue gave a clue to book 3...and I am not interested....but, this book is good enough.

Boring.

Struggled to finish it. The story was lackluster and the delivery was monotonous. I got it from a buy one get one but still feel like I want a refund.

An Ideal Read

I'm slightly surprised this audio book isn't ranked higher. A more down to earth, level headed tale who's character isn't as brazen or quick to action but instead strategic and intuitive despite their ignorance. Yes comedy is lost in the tale as well as character building detail but this story as an air of realism ringing the supernatural in a different sense. Like all thats happening is normal and almost believable in a way. No Deity dialogue or transaction causes this I think but I'm not positive.
Its a good story either way and I'm definitely moving on to the second book.

A litRpg

This was a good book. One stranger to another it’s worth the buy. And will most likely quickly climb the ladder to become one of the top stories in its category. I think the narration was excellent and stayed consistent throughout the story.
The plot itself was believable enough.
What I really enjoyed was the different monsters and how the narrators used their studio to maximize the creepiness of each monster.
Buy it, love it.
There was one sex scene which wasn’t to much or to long and it’s a very very small portion of the book.
Excellent book

Wasn't a bad story, Sound Effects were awful.

The story wasn't bad. Typical trapped in a Game scenario that is normal for the LitRPG genre. It wasn't a bad book, it's only real detractor was the absolutely awful high pitched squeal / whine that insist on using when some of the characters talk and absolutely annoying echo effect when the MC is thinking to himself.

While I enjoyed the book, I won't be getting the second one in the series... my ears are cringing just at the thought of hearing those sound effects again.

TL:DR - Decent story, decent narrator, absolutely horrible sound effect choices.

One of best audiobook series I've ever listed to

I've listened to all 4 of these audio books and I have to say this series is top 3 I ever listened to. Period. And I actually do not like "gamification / LitRPG" concept in fantasy. That says a lot. The performance of the Soundbooth Theater is WOW, just... WOW. They really brought the book to life, I loved all the voices and effects. It may sound cheesy but in my opinion it's not just an audiobook it's an experience.

What I really did love about the book was that everything made sense. All actions had long-lasting reactions in the world. Character building was exquisite. It was amazing that even in book 4 so much from ALL previous books made perfect sense as if the author had everything figured out 4 books in advance. The mind brood idea was genius and how it fit in the world history and the impact of it. The main villain of book 4 was just soooo awesome. It was easy to almost agree with the main villain and think "maybe he is actually right !?" and that's what I call good writing. No soulless "haha I'm evil I want to destroy everything" but deep, meaningful stuff with seemingly real history, their own philosophy etc. Edward's crew and inquisition also had their share of great personalities.

Hugo, please do not even think of writing any spin-off books and concentrate on completing this story :) If Soundbooth team will narrate this this could end up being my favorite series ever. Big round of applause. *CLAP CLAP CLAP*

My standard for LitRPG

I'm relatively new to reading LitRPG series and its safe to say that while I have a soft spot for it and there are a lot of interesting ideas out there, much of what I have encountered is not....great. This an exception.

The main character is well established, his personality strength and more importantly his flaws are highlighted meaning his interaction with the world makes sense.
The RPG system is well thought out and how its implemented is well considered, making it feel like an integral part of the world rather than being written by an author who merely likes to talk about XP. There is a true sense of peril and consequence (a factor missing from many VR based LitRPG series).
The world itself is fascinating and if you are familiar with the Dungeon Keeper game series, it will make you feel right at home. The supporting characters are fun and while lean on tropes (to be fair, they are hard to avoid), have personalities and backstories of their own. Finally there are some aspects of imagination which are truly unique and in one case absolutely terrifying.

This is all held together by Stirling and captivating narration.

The clearest way for me to put it. This is the series by which I mark other LitRPG titles. If its not on-par with the Dungeon Lord series, it doesn't get 5 stars.

sceptical at first but loved this book!!

at first i wasnt sure what to expect but after the first chapter or 2 i found i couldnt stop listening! finished the whole book in 2 days listening the entire time i was at work both days

Not a Lit RPG

The story lacks substance and there are almost no elements to make it a Lit RPG book. I would not recommend if you are looking for a Lit RPG.
The main character also accepts his change very easily with no explanation to the reader as to why he is so accepting of a completely new dimension.
The narration isn’t great either with an unnecessary amount of reverb/echo used - this is very annoying if you listen through headphones.

My second delve into LitRPG

Any additional comments?

This is my second LitRPG book and I enjoyed it very much. My first experience was The Land, but there is little comparison between the two. Both feature fantastic narrators. The Land's story and character's had me hooked a bit tighter, but I liked how Hugo didn't flood me with stats. He achieved a very nice balance. I'm very interested in seeing how the dungeon lord continues to build his army. There's plenty of surprises i this book that I suspect will keep coming.

One of the best litrpg books

Excellent characters, excellent world, excellent narration and probably the best paced litrpg I've read. A must listen for litrpg fans.

Relatively intresting

The narrator was of a high standard. The story was intresting but I found it to be missing a certain something. I have to admit I found the brain slug to be very cool.

what a ride, short but sweet

great book really lets you get lost in this world and hits you like a brick with the reality of that world.

Amazing performance

While I have given a five star rating to the performance of other books before, I can honestly say that nothing I have listened to has ever even come close to the quality of this one. From the slight echo when talking in caves to the disturbing voice of the monsters this has truly been an excellent experience!

Not a bad book.

The story is really good very well written. It's nicely paced.
The narration is superb by both narrators, bringing life to the characters and giving a nice addition to the book
I will get the rest in this serise.