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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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*

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

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.

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.

Shallow

I can't wrap my head around why such a talented voice team would waste time with this story.

This has to be the most contrived premise out of any LitRPG I've read, and my standards were already pretty low.

Some guy wanted to write a story, so he wrote a story. He put together some recycled ideas and voila! You've got this. There's little to no research to back the world building. It all feels shallow, like a game you play out of boredom and not because it's good. (Ironic because that's the kind of game they were playing)

The dialogue is cringe. The author couldn't even be bothered to disguise the exposition as realistic conversations. You're abducted by a strange entity and witness horrors beyond description, but the thing that phases you is that the mobster's neck is crooked, and you tell him as much. The sentence structure is the kind you'd expect from an inexperienced writer. When characters say "here's what's interesting" to describe uninteresting facts about the world, all I can hear is the author patting himself on the back for managing to squeeze in some extra info about a world he must be proud of. The lines are convoluted and there are just too many words for everything the MC does, as if that would make it more believable, but then the author forgets to illustrate any of the feelings that accompany the character's decisions. Almost like he didn't know what to focus on. Saying the same obvious thing multiple times doesn't flesh things out.

Far be it from me to ask for levity in every story, but in the absence of everything else, you'd at least expect some humour. Don't expect humour. It's not a dark story. It's just... dry.

Buy this if you absolutely must listen to LitRPG and you somehow ran out.

HORRENDOUS writing, amazing performance

As usual, Jeff Hays doesn’t disappoint. Unfortunately his talents are wasted on this OSTENTATIOUSLY virtuous main character, the motivations for this MC to do what he does makes my ears bleed. Cool concept but it all falls as flat as a puppy dropped from a forty floor high-rise.

The most boring story ever

Besides the monotonous delivery and god awful girls voice portrayal the story is bland and unexciting. You can see that the author either didn't play that many games or read any good litrpg stories because he doesn't have much of a clue in regards to this genre. In total this was a total waste of time and money.

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.